Nightwing #20 Review

Nightwing has continued it’s run of solid storytelling. This latest “Nightwing Must Die” arc has brought back elements of the best stories during Grant Morrison’s run on Batman and Batman Incorporated. Specifically, bringing in Professor Pyg and Doctor Hurt to act as primary antagonists has provided Nightwing and Robin challenges to the current state of their respective status quo in and out of the Batman Family. Now with Doctor Hurt making his presence known to both Nightwing and Robin how will Tim Seeley end “Nightwing Must Die?” Let’s find out with Nightwing #20.

Writer: Tim Seeley

Artist: Javier Fernandez

Colorist: Chris Sotomayor

Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10

Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10

Overall Rating: 8.5 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: After spending the last five years blaming himself for Damian Wayne’s death, Nightwing a modified red version of his costume has Professor Pyg cornered in an alter. Nightwing tells a frightened Professor Pyg that he will experience the tragedy he brought in his role in Damian’s death.

This all turns out to be playing out in Nightwing’s head as Doctor Hurt has him paralyzed, forcing Nightwing to live the same tragedy over and over again. Doctor Hurt, with Robin unconscious on a table, tells Nightwing that if he survives his experience through dawn he’ll become a finely tempered weapon.

Elsewhere, Shawn Tsang tries her best to calm Deathwing down. Deathwing doesn’t understand why Shawn is being nice to him after all he did to her. Shawn says that it’s because he is a victim forced to be something against his will. Deathwing admits he wanted to be something other than what he previously was and allowed himself to be turned into Deathwing.

Shawn dodges an attack from Deathwing. After that Deathwing admits he wants to be punished for what happened to Dinesh. Shawn admits she was like Deathwing before, hurt and angry to the point she allowed someone else to use her. Through that experience Shawn learned that she should not blame herself for what others made her do and that she could atone for her crimes.

Back inside Nightwing’s head, Nightwing continues beating on Professor Pyg until another person in the normal blue Nightwing costume shows up. This blue costumed Nightwing tells Dick Grayson that he is the heir of the costume. This only angers the Dick more, saying that the mantle only brings pain as you become lost in the role and end up dying. Dick is shocked to find, after breaking the other Nightwing’s helmet, that this other Nightwing is Damian.

On the outside Doctor Hurt convinces Dick what he is seeing is a trick.

Back inside Dick’s head, Damian starts beating Dick and talking about how ashamed he is that Dick has allowed Doctor Hurt to brake to the point he has been blinded by darkness. This Damian reveals he is a collection of Dick’s memories and that while he is Bruce Wayne’s son that Dick is his first son and Robin.

Damian then asks Dick to remember what he told him when passing the mantle of Robin along. Dick remembers it was:

“All of your father’s greatness stems from his anger. His pain. His loss. That’s what makes Batman. Someday you’ll inherit the right to be Batman. But the mantle of Robin is mine to pass on. You become Robin to save people. To catch them. Because it’s the right thing to do. I’ve been hurt. I’ve lost people I loved. But that’s not what makes Robin. Because it isn’t what makes me.”

Nightwing then says out loud that tragedy has never defined him as he punches Doctor Hurt in the face. Doctor Hurt tells Nightwing that after being buried by Joker he saw what he really was, evil incarnate.

Shawn suddenly shows up and says that Robin is still alive. Nightwing rushes over to Robin and wakes him up. Robin reveals he was just in a deep trance to heal his body from his injuries, surprising Nightwing that he can do that.

Doctor Hurt believes that Robin is of no use to him anymore. Deathwing appears and hits Doctor Hurt from behind while talking about how he stole Dinesh’s life and he is going to now steal Hurt’s. Doctor Hurt fights back and calls Deathwing pathetic. Deathwing says he let Doctor Hurt turn him into someone else to fix a broken Nightwing but that it turned out being Nightwing helped fix himself.

Deathwing then uses the “Blade of Nothing” to cause Doctor Hurt great pain. Deathwing tells Shawn and the others to run as he continues to fight Doctor Hurt.

Doctor Hurt’s place starts crumbling around them so Nightwing, Robin and Shawn make a run for it and are able to climb outside before the walls completely collapse.

A few days later Shawn takes a pregnancy test and it comes back negative. Shawn tells Dick that she needs a little space to do some painting. After Dick leaves, Shawn is left alone to think about her terrifying experiences.

Elsewhere, while overlooking Bludhaven Nightwing asks Robin if he is headed back to San Francisco. Robin says he is and leaving their city to the “Batman of Bludhaven.” Nightwing is surprised at Robin’s honesty. Robin says he knows it was a mistake to come to Bludhaven the way he did and that he possibly was looking for an excuse to visit Nightwing.

Nightwing admits even when Bruce came back he thought he was the better fit to train and look after Robin but was too young to handle the responsibilities. Robin wonders what Nightwing thinks now.

Before Nightwing can answer the question he hears a crime being committed and asks Robin if he wants to join in on the action. Robin says of course. As they swing through the city Robin says “We are still the greatest.” End of issue.

The Good: Nightwing #20 is a perfect example of how to wrap up a story arc while leaving the door open for future events. Even as Tim Seeley delves into some darker supernatural elements of the Batman Universe he never forgets what has made this series so special. That special sauce comes from the how Seeley continues to develop Dick Grayson’s world in and out of his Nightwing costume.

The battle inside Nightwing’s head was a refreshing way to add some action into an issue that was heavily focused on the emotional weight various characters were carrying. Even in this action scene Seeley injected a lot of emotion as he showed that the battle was more about Nightwing coming to terms with who he is. Having Damian show up as the regular version of Nightwing helped push this thought forward.

This sequence in Nightwing’s head also showed Seeley’s understanding of the character as “Damian” reminded Nightwing what he told him when handing over the Robin role. Nightwing’s words to Robin helped make the ending between with just the two of them mean even more. Those words made Robin admitting that he missed hanging out and partnering with Nightwing show us how close they are. Even though they aren’t blood related, these two see each other as brothers and Damian’s time as Robin when the Dick was Batman is a very important time for Damian that shaped who he was. It also made the final splash page go beyond just being for fanservice.

Similarly, it was good to see how Seeley applied that idea to Shawn’s short interaction with Deathwing. While they have different origins, Seeley was able to use Shawn’s past to make her words to Deathwing mean more. It further highlighted how important a person’s past is in shaping the future and that for Shawn she was able to embrace the future by not denying who she was. It only helped strengthen Shawn’s character and even with how she ended traumatized by these events with Doctor Hurt, Seeley has established that she will be a character that can find strength in the past.

I’m very interested to see where Seeley now takes Dick and Shawn’s relationship moving forward. It’s clear that more than the negative pregnancy, that this clash with Professor Pyg and Doctor Hurt opened Dick and Shawn’s eyes to the worst case scenario of their relationship. Now both characters are in a position where they have ask themselves and each other if they can handle a relationship while Dick continues to be Nightwing.

The scene between Shawn and Deathwing also surprisingly gave Deathwing a satisfying arc for “Nightwing Must Die.” Once it was revealed that Deathwing was just another one of Professor Pyg’s dolls I found him to be a boring grunt-type character. But with Nightwing #20 Seeley was able to give the character some added depth as we see Deathwing’s character go through an evolution. That evolution at least has me hoping we see the character pop back up in the future, whether as a villain or anti-hero.

Speaking of villains, I enjoyed how Seeley used Doctor Hurt in this issue. Unlike Raptor, who was more of a physical threat, Doctor Hurt proved to be a strong mental challenge for Nightwing. Seeley did a great job showing both the strengths and weaknesses of the character to be his brain. Because while Doctor Hurt is great at coming up with plans that could destroy our heroes his overconfidence once he has others on the ropes leaves him open to be defeated. Seeing Nightwing use this to find an opening made how Doctor Hurt was defeated feel like a satisfying conclusion.

Javier Fernandez once again delivered some great artwork that matches the tone of the emotional battle Doctor Hurt forced Nightwing to take part in. Fernandez and Chris Sotomayor choices in how to design Nightwing’s internal battle with himself made that sequence stand out more. Those choices made the moment when Nightwing gave us the speech that he spoke to Damian when passing on the Robin mantle was more powerful thanks to how the scene was framed. Fernandez and Sotomayor’s design choices made the final splash page of Nightwing and Robin swinging off to save the day have an iconic feeling to, like when we used to see the Dynamic Duo together.

The Bad: Nothing.

Overall: Nightwing #20 does a fantastic job concluding the “Nightwing Must Die” arc in a satisfying way. Though we get to see Nightwing and company overcome the threat posed by Doctor Hurt and Professor Pyg it is not done cleanly. The damage caused by these latest events leave the door open for some interesting plot points for Tim Seeley to follow up with. How that is done only creates further excitement around one of DC Comics best ongoing comic books.