Warning! Contains Spoilers For Nightwing #111 !
Nightwing is one of Batman’s most enduring allies, and their partnership started entirely because of the trauma they both shared. Batman was once a lost child in the wake of tragedy, while Dick was in the exact same situation. No matter what changes in Batman’s life, there’s always one constant: children who needs saving, Three simple words from the latest issue of Nightwing make this heartbreakingly clear.
Preview pages for Nightwing #111 – by Tom Taylor, Sami Basri, Vincente Cifuentes, Adriano Lucas, and Wes Abbot – depicts Nightwing’s newest villain Heartless killing another civilian. Batman arrives moments too late; Heartless vanishes, and Bruce is shocked to find a child left at the scene.
Batman is once again overcome with memories of how, no matter what he does, there is always tragedy happening somewhere, and always a child suffering. He immediately recalls not just his own trauma, but the trauma of Dick Grayson as well.
“How to Take Down Every Player in the Field”: Nightwing Reveals His Anti-Hero Contingencies, & They’re Better Than Batman’s
Batman’s anti-Justice League contingency plans have led to true disaster, but Nightwing’s plans for his friends on the Titans are far better.
The Upcoming Nightwing Story Reflects On The Origin Of The Batman Mythos
The death of Batman’s parents was the defining moment in his life. Many characters have commented over the years that Batman is nothing more than the promise a little boy made after suffering an extreme tragedy. Batman’s core quest since that night has been to make sure no one else went through the pain he did. This is why it was such a pivotal moment when he met Dick Grayson, a young boy who went through the exact experience that forged Batman. Just like that, Bruce wasn’t the only boy; there was another one, and more would follow throughout the years.
Batman has provided shelter and care for many traumatized children. He took in Dick, Jason, and Damian, all because they had some deep trauma that he wanted to help fix. A short line of dialogue from the preview for Nightwing #111, “there’s a child,” sums up Batman’s life because there is always a child in danger somewhere in Gotham, somewhere in the world, and Batman can’t be there to prevent tragedy from finding them all of them. This latest murder by Heartless is exactly what Batman is always trying to prevent, a child having to see the death of a parent.
Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne Were Forged By The Same Tragedy
Throughout Batman’s long history, Bruce Wayne has has always been depicted as being deeply haunted by the child he was, and what happened to him. It’s the driving force behind everything he does. Batman can’t save the child that Bruce Wayne was, but he can save other children from suffering the same tragedy. That’s why the three haunting words of “there’s a child” sum up Bruce’s life, and reflect Nightwing’s core character as well. Because that’s why he and Batman are always fighting, so one day there won’t be a child in the middle of tragedy.
Nightwing #111 is on sale on February 20th from DC Comics.
Nightwing #111 (2024) | |
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