It’s become abundantly clear that we’ve arrived at the stage of Tom King’s Batman run where things will just keep getting worse for the Dark Knight month after month. We’ve already seen his fleeting chance at happiness with Catwoman crumble into dust and Batman almost condemn Mister Freeze to a wrongful death. You might think Nightwing’s lingering presence in the series would bring a dose of light into Batman’s murky world, but that’s clearly not the case as King and Tony Daniel begin their next collaboration.
This new issue is very much about the clash between light and dark. On one hand, you have Nightwing enjoying a little one-sided banter with his old chum as he pulls out all the stops to lift Bruce out of his perpetual funk. On the other, the return of KGBeast brings with it a newfound foreboding quality to the book. This issue is very effective in its efforts to play these two parallel storylines against one another. Even as Nightwing’s playful jousting recalls a more innocent time for the Bat-franchise, KGBeast’s actions leave the reader questioning what new disaster is about to unfold in Gotham. King made his name at DC writing Grayson, and it’s been a treat to see him reconnect with the character in classic Nightwing mode on this book.
Source: IGN.com Batman #55 Pushes the Series Further Into Darkness