#dynamiteer

After many mentions in other stories, it is about time to see Nightwing's grand plan to take over Blackgate Prison from Lock-Up.

The comic opens up by showing the awful conditions that Lock-Up has been keeping the prisoners that Batman sends him. Yup, many prisoners shoved in one bunker, getting shocked for attacking up, using muscle (KGBeast/Trigger Twins) to keep everyone in line! Sounds like the American prison system.

The comic cuts to Batman and Nightwing discussing the issue. Are they going to take over the prison because of inhuman conditions that the prisoners are facing?

Nope, this is a Chuck Dixon comic, this is not about helping prisoners Batman wants Nightwing to take control of Blackgate because the Caped Crusader is worried that villains will team-up with each other and will form organized groups to take action. You know like a union! God damn Dixon and your backwards politics.

Anyway, Dick contacts Oracle to establish the plan to the audience. There is a prisoner in Blackgate that kind of looks like Dick, so Nightwing will free the guy and take his place. At some point, Lock-Up will be ambushed and Bat-family will control the prison system.

Nightwing scubas his way to Blackgate prison, while Lock-Up are welcome new convicts to their new home. Fun spy shit.

But as Nightwing approaches the prisoner he wants to replace, we are reminded that is a No Man's Land story. Lock-Up prison conditions are inhuman... but the prisoners are feed on a regular basis with a roof over their heads. But that is better than a lot of wildlands that Gotham is in.

So, the prisoner alerts KGBeast and the Trigger Twins (not enough space to discuss what their deal is) that Nightwing is here. KGBeast is a master assassin, and the Trigger Twins are good at shooting people at a distance, so Dick is in trouble. When our hero takes a breath thinking that he got away, Lock-Up ambushes Dick knocking him unconscious.

And this is where Nightwing Secret Files is placed in the NML reading order. But that issue adds nothing to this arc, so I am skipping it. Instead, I am going to update you on the Bludhaven developments that Dixon put it here to establish stuff for the longer Nightwing series.

Nite-Wing (the crazy copy vigilante that just beats anyone, not just criminals) is captured by Bludhaven's police. But the corrupt Chief of Police decides to manipulate the kid, aiming him at Blockbuster's forces. Meanwhile, Blockbuster finds out that he needs a heart transplant (and god I want to talk about where he found his new heart instead of this story. It is very fun/stupid.) and the crime boss's mom is not taking it well.

Okay, back to main story, Lock-Up throws Nightwing into a pit with all of the supervillains. Dick can't escape by climbing up the hole because KGBeast is guarding it.

There is a huge fight among the villains about what to do with Nightwing. Scarecrow wants to spare the hero, but Firefly and his crew want to kill Dick (especially Firefly, in a previous story the arsonist's body was severally burned in a fight with Dick). It comes down to Ventriloquist and his sock puppet (yes, really) to calm down everyone.

Nightwing leads the villain to attempt to blow a hole in their pit so they can escape. But then Lock-Up comes to check-up on Dick (because he doesn't want to piss off Batman), but the prisoners lie and say that did some cannibalism instead. Lock-Up decides he needs to kill the supervillains to hide his crime.

Nightwing finds some gunpowder to blow a hole with help of a Z-list villain. And they manage to get hole to open before Lock-Up can flood the pit with seawater. In the next room, Nightwing notices some chains that he can climb up.

But as he climbs up, KGBeast ambushes Nightwing as he climbs up and Firefly is chasing after Dick for revenge. So, in a pretty solid fight scene (Scott McDaniel is a great artist for acrobatic action), Nightwing throws KGBeast down into the pit, trapping the supervillians.

Lock-Up and The Trigger Twins attack Nightwing once he is out, but Dick uses a forklift to defeat the jailers. The GCPD takes over the Blackgate, and Dick goes to Barbara's tower where he collapses from exhaustion. The End!

Yeah, this sure was a story. Let's start with good bits. McDaniel's art is great for action...but it is hard to make out who is who. There are so many villains in pit, but it is hard to make out the different faces to know who each other are. And this issue makes me curious about the ongoing Nightwing story. But this story is just fine.