Nightwing #70: The Joke’s On You

So on it’s own it might seem as if this issue is just a filler to whatever Joker is cooking…well that’s not entirely incorrect but if you’ve been keeping up with Batman then you know this is a much bigger and more precarious situation than one would assume at first.

Jurgens plays this one a bit faster and looser than usual but its not to the stories detriment. The Fauxwings are mostly the focus here for most of the issue and it does address what we saw coming; The longer they play Nightwing, the more dangerous things are becoming. Now with Joker coming to town, you can bet things are getting too serious too fast for the gang.

This issue we see artist Ryan Benjamin take the lead and he does a solid job. The vibe is still similar to Ronan Cliquet but not apeing it. The Sap-wing/Joker confrontation was drawn particularly well and highlights the skilled use of heavier inks and the overall stand out colorist work done on the night scenes. When you see Sap-wing diving off a building it will no doubt make you pine to see our boy Grayson back in and blue and black glory days again.

At the beginning I mentioned that reading Batman will improve this issue for you as well because (SPOILER ALERT) it confirms that Joker undoubtedly knows who Nightwing and the rest of the Bats actually are under the masks. So when Joker breaks in Grayson’s place and steals the “mind gem” that warped his memories in the first place……well it doesn’t bid good tidings for any of our heroes to put it mildly.