"Freefall: Chapter Five"

Peter Tomasi's first story-arc on Nightwing was a little bit "hit or miss" with me. On one hand, I really enjoyed the plot and the general direction of the character, but I felt the dialogue was a bit off. During my days in college, actually learning creative writing techniques and both giving and receiving creative criticism, I was always taught that expositional dialogue is a major no-no. The only time exposition is truly needed is when you are writing long prose. In terms of visual medium, i.e. comics and film, you typically want to show rather than tell. Of course, comics in the old days were heavy with exposition, but today, that's not so much the case. Now I'm not saying that Tomasi's dialogue was heavily expositional; I just found a lot of it unnecessary and out of place, but at the core I could really tell Tomasi understood the character. I also think I was missing the point of what Tomasi was doing with the book. He's not making it completely story-driven; instead he's actually focusing on the character, putting us inside the mind of Dick Grayson to let readers know what he's thinking throughout the daily grind of his life. In fact, the plot generally takes a back-seat to focus more the character, something that actually works quite well.

I've been critical of Tomasi's writing when it comes to Nightwing's inner narration. I haven't been a fan of it because it was way too expositional; everything we saw on the page was more or less being explained by Nightwing in detail. It felt kind of unnecessary. In review of the last issue, I suggested Tomasi could have done away with the dialogue and narration and done a "silent issue" to capture the very same effect. In this issue, I felt the narration is much tighter, much more about the mechanics of how Dick operates than his general opinion on matters presented to him. I like this approach, and I particularly like the scene where he busts a drug deal and adds a quip about the relationship between superheroes and plastic surgeons. There are still a few moments I could have done without, but for the most part I really enjoyed the inner narration throughout the issue. Tomasi is finding the right balance between what is necessary to the character and what falls in line with Nightwing's sense of humor. While jokes and quips are still "hit or miss," there are more hits than there are moments where I roll my eyes.

Also masterfully done is the scene featuring the woman who gives birth to the Chinese meta-humans. I love the idea behind the Chinese super-powered beings, and Tomasi really hits the mark when he explains their origins and life cycles. It's somewhat bizarre and emotional; Tomasi really offers room for readers to sympathize with the woman whose simple purpose is to give birth to these beings. She can never come into contact with them, and she watches them grow old and die over the course of a week. I'm assuming it is Talia who kidnaps the woman, especially based on the conversation she has with Dick at the end of the issue.

Speaking of dialogue, this is some of Tomasi's best thus far. There are really two main conversations in this issue. The first is with Dick's current girlfriend Deborah and the second is with Talia. The conversation with Deborah works because it offers insight to their relationship. On the surface the dialogue may seem inconsequential but in reality, the dialogue is very important for understanding the basis of the relationship. These are two young people who are looking to enjoy life with each other. There doesn't need to be anything ground-breaking in terms of their conversations. Instead, I feel like Tomasi is playing it to make it look like Deborah and Dick can talk to each other about anything, that way you get a sense of how they feel about one another without either one telling you. The conversation Nightwing has with Talia at the end of this issue is absolutely fantastic. While she may be a former lover of Dick's surrogate father's, Talia has very much become a major villain for Nightwing. While she is present in the regular Batman book, Talia's motivations and involvement with Nightwing works much better than what we are seeing in Batman. She's scared to death of her father coming for her and Damien. This is her reasoning behind trying to reanimate corpses during the last arc, and what I assume would be her motivation for capturing the Chinese woman. The dialogue between Dick and Talia at the end of this issue is so well done. Tomasi perfectly captures each character's voice, Dick's sarcasm and Talia's "holier-than-thou" attitude and creates a scene that flows very well. It also sets up the next step in the relationship as Talia threatens Dick's girlfriend in order to keep Dick off her back.

Rags Morales joins Don Kramer for penciling duties and there are three different inkers credited to the book. Now in the past, we've had issues with multiple artists on the same story and the results have been a bit off. However, the art team on this issue does a fantastic job maintaining a consistent look throughout. Kramer and Rags have similar yet different styles but the two complement each other very well in this issue. If this becomes a trend to ensure books are released on time, I actually really like how this one worked out. I love Kramer's work and I love Rags' work, and while Kramer did the majority of the issue, Rags doesn't take over and make the book look drastically different. He keeps the same look and feel of the already established story, and everything comes together rather nicely.

This is a great issue of Nightwing and I really think Tomasi is hitting his stride. His last issue of Green Lantern Corps was his best to date as is this issue of Nightwing. He knows the type of story he wants to tell and I think he's found the right voice and character-driven formula he wants to accomplish.

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