Nightwing vol. 3: The Battle for Bludhaven’s Heart

For two (actually three) volumes, writer Tom Taylor has been building up the conflict between the title character and Blockbuster, the crime boss who runs the city of Bludhaven.  That conflict reaches its next stage after Dick “Nightwing” Grayson successfully builds and opens the community outreach hub known as Haven and his nemesis orders some masked cops to go in and trash it one night.  Dick isn’t going to take this lying down, or alone as he’s got family and superpowered friends on hand to help him fight this battle.  While Bludhaven may not be big enough for Nightwing and Blockbuster, the loss of one of these titans may prove to be the opening another even worse force needs in order to make the city their own.

Vol. 3 of Taylor, and artist Bruno Redondo’s run doesn’t have anything as stylish as the issue-long panel that kicked off vol. 2, but it does have a more engaging narrative as both sides struggle for dominance.  Nightwing and company may come off smarter and more capable than your usual superheroes, but they’re also dealing with an entrenched opponent in Blockbuster who’s had time to make this city bend to his will.  So we get some satisfying back-and-forth between these two opponents, and stylishly rendered at that thanks to Redondo and guest artist Geraldo Borges.  That makes this a better display of familiar superhero action than we got last time, along with some decent buildup for the next big bad as well.