Written by: Tom Taylor
Art by: Bruno Redondo, Caio Felipe
Colors by: Adriano Lucas
Letters by: Wes Abbott
Cover art by: Bruno Redondo (cover A)
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: October 16, 2024
Nightwing #118, by DC Comic on 10/16/24, concludes the fight against Heartless (and Tom Taylor's run) with a showdown for the heart (*heh*) and soul of Bludhaven.
Is Nightwing #118 Good?
What a dud!? I had my suspicions that years worth of languishing and promises that Heartless would be brought to justice in a satisfying way would be worth the wait, but no. Writer Tom Taylor gives you speeches and a few tugs on the heartstrings but ultimately shows that the big invention of Tom Taylor's run, Heartless, was nothing but a low-level villain that never deserved the attention he received. Let's agree that Heartless's true name is Forgettable.
When last we left Dick Grayson in Nightwing #117, he overcame his fear of heights with the help of Deadman. What was the cause? At first, the fear was chemically induced. The fear persisted when Dick remembered that a last-minute schedule change meant that he was the one targeted for death by Tony Zucco, not his parents. Years of repressed guilt somehow became a problem out of the blue.
In Nightwing #118, Dick returns to Bludhaven, armed with the knowledge of Heartless's true identity and the strength of the Bat Family surrounding him. The issue begins with Tony Zucco being taken into custody after the police receive video evidence that Zucco killed the flying Graysons. On the way to the police station, one of the cops in the front seat of the squad car turns his gun on the driver to set Zucco free.
Tom Taylor gets his final issue off to a wonky start. Didn't Zucco already go to jail for the murder of the Graysons? This isn't new information. I don't know why Tom Taylor thought this was a big deal to hang a major plot point on, but okay.
Meanwhile, Heartless sends out the word to his (indentured) followers that it's time to take down Haven with bats and bulldozers. He's warned not to exert himself because his heart, taken from Blockbuster, is close to failing. Heartless sends out a televised broadcast, still proclaiming himself to be Dick Grayson, warning the citizens of Gotham to get out of his way while he destroys Haven.
Again, it's not clear why Taylor hung a critical part of this finale on an easily disprovable charade. There are multiple pieces of data to show that Dick Grayson wasn't anywhere near the many Heartless killings, but it seems Taylor believes the people of Bludhaven are simply dumb.
The Bat Family scours the city to find the children Heartless took hostage as leverage (why didn't they do that earlier?) while Dick heads out to confront Heartless in broad daylight in front of a crowd of citizens. The confrontation immediately disproves Heartless's claim of being Dick Grayson, and when Dick receives a call that the children are safe, Dick loudly announces the discovery to everyone present, which gives every crook on Heartless's side the freedom to turn on Heartless.
In other words, all the weak rationale and reasons that kept Heartless in control were nullified in seconds with just a teeny bit of effort, confirming how weak Taylor's setup was, to begin with.
Heartless is now surrounded by an angry mob, and he somehow manages to run away with no resistance or injury. Dick gives chase alone because none of the gang members or criminals whose lives were upended were angry enough to follow.
The issue ends at the docks with a speech about standing up to bullies, multiple deaths, and a heartfelt goodbye at a grave site.
What's great about Nightwing #118?
What's not great about Nightwing #118?
How's the Art?
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
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Final Thoughts
Nightwing #118 brings the Heartless "saga" and Tom Taylor's run to a close with a weak, lackluster finale that shows how much of this run involving Heartless was filler to cover for the lack of story. Everything about Heartless, from start to finish, turned out to be a forgettable waste of time against a low-level bully that should have been handled inside of three issues.4/10
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"Years of repressed guilt somehow became a problem out of the blue." Loll. Not only this, but supposedly this was set off by a strain of fear toxin or close to it... you know the thing that Dick Grayson has been exposed to for YEARS. Writers think that if they just say, well it's psychological stuff you know then that means nothing is going to make sense which is just a way for the writers to write a setup without any effort to make it work when just because it has psychological roots in it, it doesn't mean anything can be written or at least if they want for it to be a story to follow, then it should make some sense with who the characters has been his whole life or at the very least attempt to do so! How else do we humans read and think if not at least based on these throughlines? If the psyche was as random as that, we wouldn't even be able to function and talk to each other semi normally.
ReplyDeleteI would also point out, everything to do with this run, not just Heartless has been a disaster dressed as feel good sugary moments that has been doing damage to the characters, just more subtly and slowly than what readers are used to these days. Don't even start me on the plot, it has been ridiculous. (As always my criticisms are only for the writing and its quality and not a personal attack on the writer themselves)
Well, it's an ending I'll give Tom Taylor that, but kind of anticlimactic. After what? Three years? I mean I'm used to storylines taking 2 or 3 years to finish. That's just the way comics are written these days. I didn't say I'm happy about it just that I'm used to it. That being said there's no reason this should have been a three year thing and part of that was the fact that they kept going off into other plots that had nothing to do with Heartless. And it seems to me that many writers after taking years to tell a story when it comes time to wrap it up the conclusion is always rushed. And correct me if I'm wrong but Heartless never intended to harm the children his plan was simply to kill their fathers in front of their children if they didn't work for him so how does freeing them take away the threat to their fathers? He can still kill them even if the children aren't captive to witness it. And Dick just showing up in the same place as Heartless exonerates him of being Heartless? Well I guess it would but still kind of a simple solution after three years of padding. And on a personal note was killing those cops really necessary? Couldn't he have just tied them up or knocked them out? It's just that I have friends and family in law enforcement and it doesn't set well with me to see them used as cannon fodder. If it's essential to the story that's one thing but here it was totally unnecessary and in totally bad taste. Well, at least Zucco and Heartless got theirs. At least until another writer decides to retcon Zucco's death or him never going to jail. And I can only assume we'll see the butler again eventually. Wait. Dick's sister is married to the bald chick? I thought she was just her bodyguard. I don't really care but was this ever established before now? I don't seem to recall if it was. Oh well hopefully the next story won't take two or more years but I doubt it.
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