‘Nightwing #61’ (review)

Written by Dan Jurgens
Illustrated by Ronan Cliquet
Published by DC Comics

So this is another issue in the ongoing saga about “Ric” Grayson.

It’s been going on for quite awhile and it may be me (heck, it most likely is), but I feel like this story has run it’s course.

There have been some good moments in it, but maybe it’s time to bring it back to status quo. I’m all for change but right now I’m trying to see the point. That being said, I did enjoy this issue for the most part.

The issue starts off in a very exciting fashion. Nightwing is jumping around the city. Suddenly, a fire based creature appears. He sees Nightwing Gold fighting it. He jumps into the fray immediately and a big fight erupts. It’s exciting right from the get go.

Jurgens knows how to begin a comic book and here, he demonstrates how. This is an exciting beginning to the story.

The two Nightwings use a fire extinguisher to take out this fiery creature. But it barely works. The creature gets even more mad. More Nightwings show up. It starts to become rather crazy and very enjoyable quickly. And the tension just keeps rising along with the flames.

While this is going on, Ric is trying to deduce just who this fire based creature actually is. He has some clues. He pokes his head around. He’s trying to figure out the creature’s motives.  Meanwhile, the creature is wrecking the city.

By the end, Ric finds someone who means something to the creature. And then the whole thing gets trapped in a predictable ending with forced melodrama. The last few pages were especially obvious. Ah well, you can’t win them all.

The art by Ronan Cliquet is pretty good. I enjoyed what he did with the art here. His storytelling is really great! Overall, it’s a pretty good story that falls a bit off the rails at the end.

RATING: B-