Nightwing is finding out that taking back the city isn’t quite as easy as 1, 2, 3 in Nightwing #123. Lame joke aside, Dan Watters’ “On With The Show” saga continues with a closer look at another Blüdhaven street gang. This time, we get the 4-1-1 on the so-called “Flyboiz.” As Spheric and Helios seek to expand their influence in the city, Nightwing must stop a gang war from both sides of the conflict. Let’s discuss the state of things below!
You Have Failed This City
Consistently, Dexter Soy‘s art style has been a disappointing part of this run. Each issue, the artwork seems buried under overwhelmingly heavy inks offset by Veronica Gandini’s luminous colors. Despite my personal preferences, some may regard what I consider a “bug” as a unique feature. For instance, a lot of the sparse and simple polygonal background art gives Blüdhaven an oddly futuristic vibe. Intentional or not, it aligns thematically with its Robocop (1980) style plot. Even desks, computers, vehicles, and other objects take on the cramped, angular look of Roger Christian architecture. One notable choice is the sickly greenish tints over the artwork creating an uneasy scifi atmosphere. Often these tints originate from a heavy use of digital lighting from screens, almost indicating that Blüdhaven is slowly drifting away from humanity, in both narrative and illustration.
Similarly, the issue opens with a strangely dystopian campaign video from Mayor Grayson-Lin’s competition, Bisogni. Honestly, it isn’t clear why Bisogni is giving a public debrief on the gang war with a creepy televised PowerPoint presentation. Regardless, his push further nudges Melinda into Olivia Pearce’s ridiculous, but corrupt embrace. Watters frames this particular relationship like a classic Faustian dilemma, but it feels entirely avoidable. There is no credible reason Melinda’s character should pour more money into questionable escalation tactics to secure reelection. Especially when her opponent is goading you to be “tougher on crime” while Helios is already abusing the rights of the people. Ultimately, this is a turn your brain off or else plotline at this point.
Dropping Like Flies
After the surprising terrorist attack on the police last issue, Helios decides to target the Flyboiz in addition to the Teddies. In response, Nightwing checks on the teenage Teddies before seeking out the Flyboiz on his own. While the gesture is on brand for the hero, Nightwing letting a bunch of edgy gang members squat in his bunker is a slippery slope. Aside from the thirteen year old bonding with the rabbit for support, Watters writes the group as fairly irritable. Grayson does try his best to talk them down, but venting with machetes is a bad omen. In fact, Nightwing resorts to casually threatening the gang’s leader Keenan to stay in line.
At the same time, Dick tracks down the Flyboiz base after receiving an urgent distress call. First mutated into coffin flies by a drug dealer and scientist attempting to create drug dependency, The Flyboiz become a violent community of drug addicts. To make matters worse, the Flyboiz settle in an irradiated charnel house from the Chemo attack on Blüdhaven. Although, the canon of a forgotten Infinite Crisis/Nightwing: Renegade (2006) mass grave is negligible at this point. Even without much detail, it is a darkly tragic existence for the Flyboiz and their affected families. Nonetheless, Grayson gets into a pretty cool fight with the more extreme mutant versions deep in the tunnels. However, the sequencing of the fight, Nightwing’s odd strength, and the inclusion of the goofy dog hybrid are some negatives. Admittedly, the night-light Grayson uses in the tunnels is kind of toyetic, but cool looking.
Recommended If…
- You love the TMNT.
- Enjoying Dan Watters’ Nightwing so far.
- You love hard sci-fi.
Overall
Visually, the artwork quality still isn’t satisfying, but I’m trusting readers to determine what appeals to them. Narratively, the main political scheme doesn’t make much real world sense, but the sci-fi is fairly enjoyable as a consolation. The Flyboiz themselves feel like X-Men‘s Morlocks in many ways, but strongly resemble the C.H.U.D monsters in design. Overall, Nightwing feels like a Saturday Morning cartoon, but that’s not such a bad tone to have. It has just as much verisimilitude as Spider-Man (1994) or the self-seriousness of the Batman Beyond (1999) animated show. Yet, the weird insect-people have the most reasonable plotline in the series thus far. Maybe this entire run should abandon the vastly unappealing political elements and go full sci-fi instead.
Score: 5.5/10
DC Comics have provided advance copies of books for review.
English (US) · 