Nightwing #78
DC Comics
Written by: Tom Taylor
Art by: Bruno Redono
Colors by: Adriano Lucas
Letters by: Wes Abbott
Nightwing fans can breathe sigh of relief. Dick Grayson is back, and he’s under the watch of Tom Taylor. While that may be cause for concern when it comes to Nightwing’s safety, it appears Taylor isn’t out to put another beloved DC character on ice.
Instead, Nightwing #78 feels like the beginning of something new as Dick addresses some business he couldn’t as Ric.
Not long ago, Bat Family fans experienced the loss of somewhere very dear. Someone who returned briefly in the pages of Dark Nights: Death Metal, but appears to be gone for good — Alfred.
Because of his memory loss, Dick wasn’t able to grieve alongside Barbara, Bruce and others. He, instead, does that in Nightwing #78, bringing back those feelings for readers.
But even in death, Alfred is impacting Nightwing — and he’s put Dick in an interesting position moving forward.
If Nightwing #78 is a good indicator of what’s to come, Taylor’s first arc on Nightwing is going to be emotional. That’s certainly a welcome change of pace from what Nightwing readers had been getting.
If you stepped away from this title because of the Ric Grayson era, this feels like a safe time to hop back in. Taylor makes a nod to that era, but he has no reason to rely too heavily on that faze in Dick’s life — between the memory loss and Death Metal. Even if you’ve been away from the character for longer, Taylor’s first issue of Nightwing is a soft landing and comfortable shift in direction for everyone.
More importantly, it feels like this story is going to be just as much a Dick Grayson book just as much as a Nightwing book, if not more so in the former’s favor. Any Nightwing fan can give that approach a chance.