Doesn’t Look A Day Over Two-Hundred: Reviewing ‘Nightwing’ #113

Milestone anniversary issues, especially the hundreds, are few and far between for even the longest running of comic book characters. Most creators won’t be on a run long enough to even reach a 25 or 50 issue level, let alone two hundred level celebrations.

Luckily for the Nightwing creative team, thirteen issues after celebrating issue 100 (of the current volume) they’re back to mark 300 total issues of the acrobatic vigilante. Nightwing #113 (300) is a big creative party with Tom Taylor, Marv Wolfman, Michael W. Conrad, Daniele Di Niculo, Bruno Redondo, Howard Porter, Adriano Lucas, Hi-Fi Color, and Wes Abbott.

Taylor uses the main story to tackle a single day (sort of) in the life of Nightwing. One where he, and Barbara, are recognized for the good they’ve done for Blüdhaven thanks to the money Alfred left Dick. It’s also Dick’s birthday, a day he apparently uses to do things for others, and a story that sets up the awaited return of (and final confrontation with) Heartless.

A mostly fun little tale that pulls together a lot of the threads of this run, keeping to the solid characterization and love of these characters. It’s the calm before the storm since the confrontation arc, appropriately called Fall Of Grayson, will be the final by Taylor, Redondo, Lucas, and Abbott together. It was truly these issues where Taylor shined the most with the character. Able to really home in on what makes Nightwing so great and showcase a Bat-family that lives up to the family part of that descriptor.

Di Niculo has such a whimsical style of artwork. Really smooth and peppy but with enough rougher textures sprinkled in to give things an appropriate heaviness. Character proportions are slightly skewed which adds to the exaggerated fun aspect. It all flows quite smoothly when in motion, whether it’s the few action scenes we get or just characters interacting. Every emotion feels massive and is very clear on the page.

The story has a moment where Dick wants to celebrate his and Barabara’s receiving of keys to Blüdhaven by taking everyone to dinner. Appropriately, his choice is the pizza place known as Marv & George’s 24-Hour Pizza, which we’ve seen numerous times since the run began. It of course is named after Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, the writer and artist who created the Nightwing portion of Dick Grayson’s life.

While unfortunately Pérez passed away in 2022, Wolfman is still here and tackled the two pages featuring the comic book version of himself and Nightwing in conversation. Pérez is still there though, in a picture of his likeness upon the wall looking from behind them. Wolfman taking to his ‘creation” and speaking of how proud he is of how far Dick has come, is very heartwarming. It’s a reminder of the care and craft that so many put into these characters over the decades.

Regular series artist Redondo brings loving care to these two pages, his immersive and tangible artistic style infusing everything with those wholesome vibes. Every emotional beat, shared embrace, and utterance just comes off the page in waves.

Both art styles are enhanced by the color work that Lucas continues to splendidly provide through this run. So vibrant, unique, but also given a sense of grounded natural tones. Letting each space have its own feel, often through the natural or unnatural lighting choices, while easily connecting to one another.

Following the main story is a bit of a silent action-packed affair from Conrad, Porter, Hi-Fi, and Abbott.

Essentially, it’s a piece with Nightwing getting aboard a subway train hijacked by a bunch of clowns with a bomb. Porter delivers as each panel really feels like the character and world are in motion, keeping us in tight with every moment. Letting the reader feel like they are part of this heroic moment with the character. Conrad keeps this tightly paced, not wasting a moment.

Color-wise it’s denser and a bit heavier than the main story, fitting the darker night feel of the story. At the same time, there are giant bursts of vibrant loud colors which are befitting of a hero story. While there is not a single bit of dialogue to be found, Abbott gets to go wild with tons of wild SFX that each are colorful, unique, and in your face. Not to mention the countdown clock caption boxes, that naturally culminate in the story title being “00:01,” the time left on all disarmed bombs in most media.

Nightwing #113 (300) is now available from DC Comics.