I have been complaining about the pace of this series for quite some time now, but I still like Dick Grayson being a good guy, and Tom Taylor gives readers that in spades!  I hope that as we get closer and closer to issue #100, we finish up with Heartless or at least make him more interesting.  The guy has been hanging in the background for a year,  and I don't know if I care.  Let's see if that changes this month...

Nightwing #97 opens with a shit-talking Maroni thinking he can do whatever he wants because Blockbuster has his back.  Unfortunatley, Desmond is lying on his back...in the morgue!  If you thought Nightwing would be happy that Blockbuster is dead, you'd be wrong...dead wrong.  (Sorry about that one).  The murder sets up a power vacuum in Bloodhaven, and unless you've been reading the solicits, you can have fun guessing who might show up to fill it.

The issue continues with Maroni agreeing to testify against the crime families and Rene Montoya showing up to escort him to Gotham to keep him safe.  Yea, Taylor addresses how silly that is in the book but also tries to explain it in an eye-rolling way.  But it's just to set up the action in the rest of the issue.

Of course, things don't go as planned, and Dick and Babs call an audible at the line.  It's a quick but odd sequence to get Maroni to a hidden Batman safe house where they can tie him up and then make sweet love.  Maroni is tranqed, so it's not as weird as it seems.  It still is kinda weird, though.

The issue ends with one o the craziest cliffhangers ever.  I mean it!  It doesn't save another issue with so little overall progress  (no Heartless at all?!?), but it has me excited for the next issue!  Bruno Redondo and Geraldo Borges make everything look fantastic, but this book has looked good since Taylor and Redondo took over.

Nightwing #97 is an odd issue.  After the last issue's shocking cliffhanger, I expected something more significant than what we got here.  Still, the cliffhanger will undoubtedly have fans talking, and I can't wait to see how Tom Taylor explains what is going on.