Writer: Devin GraysonPlot: Nightwing delivers police evidence to Oracle, allowing them to zero in on the person who shot Jim Gordon.
The love between a parent and its offspring will often come between lovers. I'm not ready to call Dick and Babs lovers just yet, since I know they're not at that stage. More importantly, I risk public stoning. So let's just say they enjoy each other's company for now.
Nightwing tries to console Babs a few times, but she either won't acknowledge his comfort on account of her own emotional strength, or because she's so devoted to finding her father's assailant.
Devin neatly plays her history card, recalling events from No Man's Land and recent happenings in Nightwing. In the grander scheme of the event, someone from the commissioner's past comes back to haunt him. It's interesting that this same person, back in Birds Of Prey #27, should be so genuine with respect to witness reaction to the shooting.
Alfred's psychoanalysis of Bruce got under both their skins, and the gentleman's final decision prompted me to ask, "Again...?"
I still don't agree with Chuck Dixon's take on Babs, back in Birds Of Prey #11, where he had her use a particle beam satellite with murderous intent. To counter that, here in Nightwing #53, Devin shows us that Babs won't do whatever it takes - including killing someone - to get justice for her father. She's a better person than that. Yes, she's extremely angry over what happened, and as much as she might like to cause bodily harm to the suspect in Officer Down, she knows in her heart that she's a moral person. Maybe it took Dick for her to see that, but in the end, she's not out for vengeance. She just wants her father to pull through. The only question is, if he does live, will father and daughter share another common bond...will James, too, be paralysed?
