Some thoughts about Nightwing #78

Nightwing is back and his enemies are ready for him.

Dick Grayson has spent a long time without his memories but he will have to remember the people who are close to him just before others connected to his past appear.

I suppose that after the years of the terrible editorially mandated "Ric Grayson", any kind of change would be welcomed, but could that change be made by any other writer that is not Tom Taylor?

Don't get me wrong, Tom Taylor can be good... when he's handling characters that are barely used and so he doesn't have any chance to get them wrong or a title where he can exploit his shock value and decompressed writing properly. I don't think Nightwing is necessarily the best book for him, particularly because I'm pretty familiar with the character after enjoying the successful Tom King/Tim Seeley's Grayson or Seeley's Nightwing.

Credit where credit is due though, I think Taylor gets Dick fine (sorry if this sounds like an insult) since the characterization is on-point with the protagonist being his classic kind self and is not like you can get too wrong a hero who is mostly known for being nice. Plus, there are a few connections to the past that are appreciated like The Flying Graysons and Blockbuster (a classic Nightwing rogue) reappearing.

That being said, the typical Taylor tics are also present here which makes this very predictable. For God's sake, just in the first two pages you have yet another example of "Taylor hating on rich people" which was initially a joke from me but at this point you have to understand this is the level of political complexity you have to expect from the author. Second, the forced "charming" moments like the introduction of a little dog who Nightwing saves which in other books would be a cool gesture but again, from Taylor this is just too common. Finally, the story ends way too quickly without much progress in the plot.

Bruno Redondo's artwork is amazing though, he's one of the artists I'm happy to see getting bigger gigs and he's definitely a great fit for Nightwing thanks to his creative storytelling that depicts every action scene perfectly.

Taylor doesn't surprise anymore sadly but is too soon to make a call for this, let's see how it goes.