Some thoughts about Nightwing #51

Whatever happened to Nightwing?

Ric Grayson was shot in the head and now he can't remember who he was. Worst of all, he doesn't care who he was and he feels he can start his life all over again but other people might think differently.

First of all, there's a problem with Nightwing that I wanted to talk about.

As we all know, the character can be left alone apparently. Everytime he seems to have a decent enough direction on his own, editorial mandates automatically try to derail it. I would say that we have seen this since the New 52 (where those problems became even more apparent) but really, this goes back waaaaay before that when the character was supposed to die during Infinite Crisis and his whole city was destroyed. This is one of the reasons why Tim Seeley's run didn't end as good as it started, because he was forced to follow a route that editorial made for him.

And here we are now with a similar issue. As you might know already, Dick was shot on the head in a chapter of Tom King's Batman and lost all of his memories. This once again screams "EDITORIAL MANDATE!" because it instantly forces a new direction. Is one of the reasons why Ben Percy left the title, because he didn't want to handle it (and credit where credit is due, I think Percy did a decent job in his very last issue). Now Scott Lobdell and Fabian Nicieza decided to take over this route and while I have my concerns about it, it's still not a bad beginning.

The writers handle the obvious aspects of this direction. The fact that Dick, now called Ric, doesn't remember anything aside from a few details. The implementation of how his new mind works is interesting enough due that he apparently still has all of his knowledge concerning fighting and objects, the problem is that he doesn't remember the most important people in his life. This is well-explored when Alfred suddenly appears and Rick doesn't even know he's talking with the man who raised him. Is a solid depiction.

The way how Bludhaven is explored is also interesting due that people notice the absence of their hero and this allows for a brand new story where classic villains appear and a new character is introduced who can't tolerate the idea of Nightwing not protecting the city.

Travis Moore and Garry Brown handle the art and their work is decent although their styles clash a bit with each other's and becomes very noticeable towards the end.

Decent enough, let's see how it continues.