Review – Nightwing #128: House of Horrors
Ray: Dan Watters has given us a slightly more grounded Nightwing run for the most part, as Dick Grayson faced off against an army of local gangs and a corrupt private police force – until now. Now he finds himself in a strange world of cosmic horror – one put together by his friend and admirer, Night-Mite. The fifth-dimensional imp might not want to trap Nightwing in a nightmare world, but it seems to be out of his control at this point – he's turned Titans Tower into a bizarre tower of flesh, trapped Barbara Gordon at the top, and made it only penetrable by Nightwing. As Dick Grayson heads inside to solve the crisis and rescue his girlfriend, he quickly finds himself visited by one strange specter after another – starting with demonic versions of his old enemy Deathwing, childhood drawings of his – and ultimately, the Kryptonian Nightwing who may have inspired him in the first place. Standoff. Via DC Comics.
Nightwing's history, of course, is pretty convoluted. He learned about this heroic legacy from Superman and was inspired by him – but someone else also took on the mantle, the heroic Kandorian Van-Zee. This character hasn't appeared for a long time, but he's seemingly been pulled into this same strange reality as Dick, and the two quickly form an alliance as they make their way deeper. This illusion, created by a Nite-Mite who seems desperate to escape himself, seems like it was designed to test Nightwing and make him doubt himself – something that his sister is also going through in Bludhaven as she starts to realize that everything she's aligned herself with might be a betrayal of what she believes. This issue seems like an interesting character study – until a shocking betrayal in the last act throws everything for a loop. Weird arc, but a very interesting one.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
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