Last
issue, Ric Grayson agreed to join the Nightwings should he ever be needed. This
issue, they need him right away, and for a guy who has no desire to be a hero,
he sure is willing to put himself in danger on behalf of others. But then, he
did suffer a traumatic head injury, so it’s an easy matter to explain his
erratic actions.
The villain
of this issue is the Joker’s Daughter (though it’s reasonable to presume she’s
not really his offspring; just an unhinged groupie). For those who may not
know, the Joker’s Daughter bedeviled Dick Grayson back when he was Robin the
Boy Wonder, beginning in the pages of Batman
Family #6 (July/August 1976). Her crimes were rather benign, and she later
proved herself a hero, changed her name to Harlequin, and for a brief time was
a member of the Teen Titans.
I like the
notion of a team of Nightwings, but I would rather DC Comics either feature the
team, or “Ric” Grayson, not both. Having Grayson step off stage indefinitely
would be an opportunity for intrigue, and stories yet to be
told – similar to when Sherlock Holmes “died” in the original Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle stories.
I have no
doubt that Dick Grayson will return, as
Nightwing. It’s the nature of comic books that radical changes are almost
always temporary. Sure, Dick Grayson abandoning his Robin identity has been
permanent, but considering the Boy Wonder costume has changed hands many times,
what was Grayson to do. Join a super-secret spy organization?
Rating: 5/10