Superhero Times: a service of Action Online
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Batman R.I.P. may the story of the final downfall of Bruce Wayne, but a tie-in with Dick Grayson’s book seemed inevitable. After all, Dick Grayson was the first Robin and is often the one Batman calls on when he needs someone with a little more maturity and self determination than the current Robin. Yet, tying the current Batman-less Nightwing story into Morrison’s epic and convoluted tale is probably an exercise in failure, which is why it’s refreshing to see that Nightwing 147 doesn’t actually tie directly into the ongoing Batman story, but instead takes some of the deconstructive themes and applies them to Grayson’s story.
When Peter J. Tomasi set forth to rebuild Nightwing, he added a depth to the characters that resonated with readers, both long-time and new. Building on the strong character driven stories Tomasi has become known for, he’s added the feeling that Nightwing is one of the A-Level characters and uses this issue to show that Nightwing is on the radar of such premiere villains as Harvey Dent A.K.A. Two-Face. Two-Face is, of course, a hot property right now because of the movie The Dark Knight , but the character has been underused in the DC Universe since the time of One Year Later. His appearance here not only helps to elevate Dick Grayson, but it’s also a fine character study of Harvey Dent as well and the interaction between the two makes for an engaging appearance.
Both the characters meet on an NYC rooftop after Two-Face has summoned Nightwing in a familiar Batman-esque fashion. The conversation is not only scripted brilliantly, hitting it’s marks with ease and feeling perfectly natural, it’s also rendered by Don Kramer with flashback images showing the first meeting between Grayson, as the original Robin, and Dent, as a newly disfigured Two-Face, which almost ended with Grayson dying in a vicious beating at the end of Dent’s baseball bat. The meeting eventually leads to Nightwing taking on the role of guardian for Dent’s old flame Carol Bermingham who is in witness protection and getting ready to testify.
While Carol Bermingham may eventually turn out to be a throw away character, Tomasi has given her enough personality to make her real enough and the dangers of an assassin’s bullet exciting, and while this chapter of Nightwing’s saga may eventually turn out to be nothing more than some red herrings with a Batman R.I.P. banner on the cover, the story is solid enough and the risks seem real enough to make the story worth checking out.