*sigh*
Tomasi…
Tomasi, seriously? What is this?
Tomasi’s run on NIGHTWING has been nothing but on-and-off, good-then-bad randomness. Honestly, it makes me sad that not only is the title ending in February, but it’s going down this way. “The Great Leap” managed to pull itself together rather well for its conclusion, but the writer just had to drag out the pain of the overall arc with an unnecessary epilogue entitled, “And Into the Black”…
… which was completely pointless. What Nightwing and the gang do on their day off really isn’t all that exciting or interesting---except maybe Alfred (I really want to know how he makes those little sandwiches that totally rock)---unless the characters behind the masks really come alive. In this issue, Tomasi fails to do just that; on top of it all, he gives us one ridiculous little plot twist: Carol Bermingham, Harvey Dent’s old flame, is alive.
Oh, jeez.
They faked her death, apparently. Now, that would be kind of a clever plotline if she clearly hadn’t lost a crazy amount of blood beforehand. She was shot in the stomach, for Christ sake! That’s never good. But hey, it’s not my story -- maybe I missed something.
Anyway, Nightwing and Carol share some pizza and then our hero pays Two-Face a nice little visit. Actually, it is pretty nice in the sense that it’s the best part of the whole issue---which is really sad if you’ve read the whole issue. The dialogue is intense between the two, but still, it’s not the greatest thing in the world, so no awards for Tomasi on that front (Ha! -- That makes me laugh a little).
Then Dick meets up with Deb, who complains about the unsightliness of a burn on her arm and tells Dick that she’s leaving Gotham because she can’t stand the heat … blah, blah, blah. Insert random scene with Nightwing, Green Lantern, and Superman, and the metaphorical tension is almost too much to bear. Then it just gets worse, as does the realism. Dick takes a multi-record-breaking sky dive (and survives in perfect health), followed by a night of snacks, movies, and more metaphors---plus that giant elephant (or should I say Bat?) lurking in the corner of the room -- with Alfred and Tim. Then close curtains.
Seriously, that’s it. I reached the end and just sat there with a blank look on my face. Now don’t get me wrong -- I’m an English geek, usually I’m a big fan of metaphors. But these metaphors were poorly constructed. They were redundant, cliché, and weak, and the character interactions weren’t much better; it just got worse as the issue went on. And of course they’re missing Bruce---they’re mourning him, not really knowing if he’s alive or dead, uncertain in his absence. Tomasi just doesn’t shed any new light on the entire post-“RIP” consequences in his writing. He would have been better off cutting the epilogue and just diving right into a new storyline. I understand the need for it, but if the execution is going to be poor then it’s just a waste.
Sadly, Peter. J. Tomasi will be seeing the title through to its end. Judging by Tomasi’s predictable pattern, if this issue sucked then the next should be better, and the final note should be a letdown. Fingers crossed I’m wrong.
What did you think of NIGHTWING #151? Shoot me an email letting me know what you thought of the issue. It seems a lot of you agreed with me last time about the quality of Tomasi’s writing. How do you feel about some of the minor Bat-comics (including NIGHTWING) coming to an end?
