In 2018, Batman #55 showed the KGBeast shoot a glancing shot off the skull of Dick Grayson, robbing the Bat's erstwhile ward of his memories between the death of his parents and that moment. He still had the muscle memory, could still do Nightwing-esque things but didn't remember dating Batgirl, being a spy, being Batman, any of it.
The cover of Nightwing #76. Credit: DC Comics
On the surface, this was ridiculous. Nightwing (and, by extension Dick Grayson) is a marginally well-recognized licensed character that has appeared in multiple other media. The chance that he would not return to his spandexed status quo was wildly implausible given the essentially static nature of most licensed characters. This issue finally allows all that tedious business to be done, allowing everyone to finally say, "at last, it's over."
This feeling of relief should not come with any great sense of joy, as it's a grim and workmanlike method that got us here, with a contrived battle between Nightwing and the perhaps again relevant KGBeast and an equally contrived emotional confrontation with the bartender Bea that had taken in the amnesiac Grayson like a well-toned lost puppy.
Dan Jurgens is a comic book legend, and his script admirably struggles to make something of this pile of scraps and tedium pretending to be a plot. Writing on one of the best selling comics stories ever doesn't help you when you have to fit the toys precisely back into their containers with no extra accessories left over. Likewise, Ronan Cliquet, Nick Filardi, and the team at Andworld Design could put only so much lipstick on this pig. They skillfully show Nightwing dun moch-ing KGBeast through a battle in ways that Spider-Man would appreciate.
The issue here is that it all just feels so … unnecessary. The hand wringing, the rooftop teardrops … it's all so overwrought given that it's literally a tale of sound and fury signifying nothing. Remember what you knew about Nightwing back in 2018? He's exactly back to that. Total reset, just like an Atari 2600. Do you really want to pay … checking notes here … four bucks for that?
One bullet robbed Nightwing of his memories and identity. One bullet erased Dick Grayson and replaced him with Ric Grayson. Now, with Dick's true identity returned, KGBeast is back with one last bullet for him. Using Bea as bait, KGBeast has made it abundantly clear that this one last bullet isn't intended for Nightwing's head — this one is aiming to puncture his broken heart!
Hannibal Tabu is a writer, journalist, DJ, poet and designer living in south Los Angeles with his wife and children. He's a winner of the 2012 Top Cow Talent Hunt, winner of the 2018-2019 Cultural Trailblazer award from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, his weekly comic book review column THE BUY PILE can be found on iHeartRadio's Nerd-O-Rama podcast, his reviews can be found on BleedingCool.com, and more information can be found at his website, www.hannibaltabu.com.
Plus, get free weekly web comics on the Operative Network at http://bit.ly/combatshaman.
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