Storyline: The Great Leap
Date: August 6, 2008
Price: $2.99
Writer: Peter J. Tomasi
Artists: Don Kramer, Sandu Florea, and cover by Rags Morales

Synopsis: A “Batman: R.I.P.” tie-in! Two-Face hits New York City - but when he takes a bite out of the Big Apple, he finds it rotten to the core. He’ll make Nightwing and all of New York pay for their crimes…unless Nightwing can save one of Harvey Dent’s old flames from an assassin’s bullet!

Opinion: Before you even open this comic, just based on the cover (which is awesome) it’s pretty clear who we’re going to be seeing in the issue. As cool as Two-Face is, this issue has its problems. Our first Nightwing tie-in to “Batman RIP” is just as confusing and messy as every other “RIP” tie-in out there (except for Detective, which basically has nothing to do with anything—thank God).

Click through the jump for a run-down of what’s going on and find out if Nightwing #147 is worth it.

In the comic, Two-Face contacts Nightwing (obviously), saying he needs his help. Yeah, pretty weird, right? Two-Face might as well just hand himself over pulling a stunt like that—but Harvey made sure he had the “insurance” to guarantee his freedom first (aka the lives of innocents).

When Nightwing asks Harvey why he didn’t just find Batman instead of putting up a makeshift signal with Nightwing’s sign, Harvey says, “I wouldn’t consider a guy running around in a technicolor dreamcoat very open-minded.” Harvey’s talking about the end of the last issue of Batman, in which Bruce Wayne has been doped up and thrown out on the streets and is running around with amnesia and a new Batsuit: the Zur-En-Arrh version.

What’s more, Harvey reveals some other things about Bats that don’t make a whole lot of sense and are rather ambiguous. Well, that’s “RIP” for you. At any rate, it’s just another thread of the whole “you don’t know Batman” thing Morrison is working up for us. (Yay.)

But back to the story. In a nutshell, someone important to Harvey—a woman named Carol Bermingham—might be in danger, and Harvey’s asking Nightwing to keep an eye on her.

As troublesome as the moment on the rooftop with Harvey and Nightwing is, this issue isn’t bad. Nightwing has his own thing going on. (Although wasn’t he foaming at the mouth in Arkham in the last Batman issue? Where’s the continuity? Meh.) And the conversation between Harvey and Nightwing is actually pretty good.

Nightwing tells Harvey before he leaves, “Y’know, it’d be easier for everybody—

“—if you finally pick a side and stay on it!”

“Don’t worry, Nightwing. I always choose a side.” Classic. Harvey, you rock.

Although there is one extremely cheesy line uttered by Nightwing that doesn’t make any sense out-of-context, so it’s not much use repeating it here. But highlight the following if you want to know about it: Harvey put two innocent people in a Double-O Sugar Refinery well, which is filling up. “Glad I’m not a diabetic right about now,” he says as he jumps in. Oh, jeez.

The rest of the story basically follows Nightwing as he watches Carol to make sure she’s safe, and the comic ends on a cliffhanger.

This issue was written by the same person (Peter J. Tomasi) and drawn by the same artists (Don Kramer and Sandu Florea) as the last one, which I really enjoyed. Overall, it’s pretty good. The story is interesting, and the only thing that’s dragging the comic down is the fact that it’s a “RIP” tie-in—so it’s not exactly Tomasi’s fault he has to adhere to the craziness that is Morrison’s plot.

I’m enjoying Nightwing (and Detective, hands-down: simply amazing stuff on that title right now thanks to Paul Dini’s writing) more than the main Batman storyline.

I think it’s worth a read. I’m looking forward to the next one!

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