It All Comes Tumbling Down: Reviewing ‘Nightwing’ #114

Alfred Pennyworth’s billions. Heart stealing villains. Family revelations. Unexplained sudden height-related fears. It’s all been leading up to this moment.

“Fallen Grayson,” the concluding chapter of this creative team’s multiyear run has begun with Nightwing #114. Heartless makes moves and Grayson must gain back what he lost in this first chapter from Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo, Lucas Adriano, and Wes Abbott.

What a journey it’s been.

Anyone that has been here the whole time (first off, thanks for reading this long) knows that my feelings on this series — while up and down — have generally been quite positive. Seeing Dick back as a bouncy bright hero, the heart of the DC Universe, has been great. As has been all his deep connections to other heroes and beyond, as well as the work done to cement his city and the threats its faces. Even the retcon to his family was one that was additive in a great way, rather than destructive as some retcons can be.

Where does this issue stand amongst the fray?

In a way, it provides the perfect microcosm display of this entire run. Conceptually sound, while dragging a bit in execution.

There are good beats such as Heartless preparing his army, and making a scene. See also Nightwing having a “not all crime is actually crime” moment and then the whole fundraiser Bat-Family scene. Even the moment where Heartless uses the media to start to tear Dick down is a far too realistic move.

My issue is that things kind of amble along and then just end, while there are also disconnected time-displaced scenes of things to come. That is very much a comic book (and other mediums) sort of thing; none of it is bad or offensive or really dragging. I think part of the issue is that this Heartless stuff has been dragged out for the entire three years of this run. We’ve even left the plotline behind for massive swaths of time over the years.

Long form storytelling is a risk in comics, with the monthly releases and constant relaunches and events. Sometimes it works, other times not so much. Right now, despite some absolute highs in the past, I’m not entirely feeling that this beat was worth it from Taylor. But we have four more issues to go. He might wow me in that time or showcase why it wasn’t going to work.

Either way, I’m here ’til the final page of this run as I have been since the beginning.

Gosh was it good to see Redondo and Lucas together again. After a strong start to this run and some beats in between, we’ve seen less of Redondo in these pages over the months. In fact, the last time he had a full issue was the point-of-view Nightwing #105, which came out almost a year ago in June 2023.

I’ve missed this vision of Nightwing’s world and I’m glad the team is all back together for this final leg of the run.

Redondo just has a way of making even the smaller moments feel deep and epic, with such high detail and weight allowing emotions to sink in, while creating the whatever atmosphere the moment needs at the drop of a hat. A smooth slickness that permeates the work without making it feel too glossy or fake, but giving it a light heroic sheen of sorts. Pairing that with Lucas colors adds so much more, because the colorist allows his signature palette styles to shift and mold to whatever work is on the page.

Colors that fit both into the column of heroic vibrancy but also very natural toned-down, creating a solid backdrop. Allowing the city and buildings to have authentic weighty feelings to them. Here we’re in Gotham mostly so it naturally has a very different darker, more ominous feel than the very lit up hiding its dark soul Blüdhaven.

Every bit of energy and power captured in the overall visuals and colors is matched beat for beat by the lettering. Character voices feel accurate and authentic, not because we have ever heard them before, but because their personality, energy, and more resonates from every word on the page. Little changes to the bubbles or font allow the voice to change, highlighting certain ways that a character might present themselves.

Giving us every bit of information we need to follow the story, but something a little extra. A little treat if you will.

Nightwing #114 is now available from DC Comics.