Once again, Nightwing isnt really the center of the Nightwing book. Hes making some fairly major decisions in the issue, but he is solidly upstaged by the Batgirls as Fear State draws to a close. Nightwing is a strong enough character to lurk around the edges of his own title to allow for a an issue or two. To Taylors credit, he understands this well enough to allow for a few other characters to take over fo a couple of issues. An expansion of the Batman family of titles could make for a more dynamic corner of the DC Universe. Read Full Review

I think DC should consider bringing Bruno back into the fold for the run of this comic. I know artists should not pigeonhole themselves, but Bruno simply "got" Nightwing and what was needed. Great script, and solid art in this one. However, if I had my "druthers", I need to see more Haley/Bitewing with Bruno at the helm. Read Full Review

The charm and heart in the Bat-Family under Taylor's pen is a joy to behold. Read Full Review

As surprisingly entertaining as this tie-in was for me personally, I'm so excited to get back on track with the main Nightwing story next month. I need more Heartless now! And I need those wholesome moments that Taylor so effortlessly weaves into Nightwing and his surrounding cast. Read Full Review

The conclusion of the three-part Fear State tie-in"the last before next month's experimental mega-splash issue"is pretty much like the ones before it. It's a lot of fun, with good dialogue, but it's definitely a break from the main series narrative which I find stronger. Read Full Review

I wish all crossovers were handled this way. Great stuff. Read Full Review

This is the last Fear State issue for the series. Though it was good seeing Batgirl and Red Robin, there is too much going on in Bludhaven fans need to see. Hopefully, the next Gotham menace won't have to involve Dick. But for what it's worth, this issue crafted an enjoyable team-up of Robins and Batgirls. While it didn't add anything to the Magistrate, it did give us Seer. It will be interesting to see if she comes after Nightwing down the road. Read Full Review

Truly, NIGHTWING #86 is merely for the FEAR STATE fan trying to grab every issue and tie-in. Fans of Taylor's series need not run out to snatch the issue and can simply wait until next month's story to hop back on board. Read Full Review

If you wanted to see some of your favorite characters take on a largely anonymous and faceless horde of goons while causing truly impressive amounts of property damage, this could be your jam. The team here certainly knows how to put on a show. However, the whole Fear State gag is a lesser-than version of what's going on in the Titans TV series now with a much less coherent plan and less charismatic adversaries. That's not the fault of this creative team; it's just the hand they were dealt. Still, there's nothing wrong with seeing people play a less than inspiring song with great skill. Read Full Review

Nightwing #86 wraps up Tom Taylor and Robbi Rodriguez's trip into Fear State with a solid issue with easy to follow stakes and fun banter between the Bat family members. While not required reading for Taylor's main narrative in Bldhaven, fans of Dick and Barbara's romantic chemistry will find more than enough fan service here for them. Rodriguez's art has its limitations, but the entire production is handsome enough to get by on aesthetic purposes, along with Taylor's solid character work. Read Full Review

Nightwing #86 is a simple, straightforward Fear State tie-in. All of the character interactions are fun, and it's simply lovely to see some of my very favorite characters in DC fighting side by side. Read Full Review

Its great that Fear State is a wrap for Nightwing so Taylor can return the focus to his title character. And there wont be any complaints if the rest of the Bat Family hangs in Bludhaven for a bit either. Read Full Review

Tom Taylor tries to squeeze something out of the little bit of Fear State story he's been given, but in the end, this is a pretty unnecessary issue of Nightwing.  If, for some reason, Fear State introduced you to this book, come back next issue to see what the real hype is all about.  Fans of this book will back me up on that, I'm sure! Read Full Review

Nightwing's "Fear State" tie-in wraps up here after a few issues, and it goes about the way you expect. Read Full Review

The entire fear-state felt like an unnecessary detour from the main plot, but the batfamily banter and the interactions were fun. I'm not a fan of the art, but overall it was a very good issue.

See you in Batgirls, realize this arc would have been cool to see animated.

Tie-ins have limits when they don't add a real plus to the main event (in progress in another review) and when they don't add anything significant to the "appended" title. And this is too often the case. Joker War for example did not bring anything to any of the reviews in which it was involved (Batgirl, Nightwing, Red Hood ... or even Batman who did not use it to advance his story or so little). Examples of successful ties, Nightwing in No Man's Land (or Cataclysm), the coming of Nightwing made sense in relation to what was hitting Gotham. Another successful Tie In: Nightwing in War Games or his coming to Gotham correlated with his story in Bludhaven. He was going to help Batman but also and above all he was fleeing Bludhaven and Tarentula (whom he would find despite everything there). Result, a real impact on the title Batman and on the title Nightwing which would leave Gotham and Bludhaven to go to Chicago from memory and become Renegade.
Here Tom Taylor is not doing so badly. He's not trying to make it look like this number is going to change everything for anyone. It features a simple, light, and fun three-part story with the Batfamily featured. She's part of Fear State but that doesn't matter. It's unpretentious, as light as a Barbapapa-scented soap bubble. Delicious and very quickly digested. We can't wait to return to Bludhaven. more

This whole mini-arc of Nightwing has slowed the run down to a crawl, and made it kind of a slog to get through. I am not happy with this, and I'm glad it's over so I never have to think about it again. Inshallah.

While I enjoy Fear State, I do think Nightwing suffered as a result. More excited for the next issue

Actually, I'm not reading all the Fear State bullshit, but I just read Nightwing and it's ok. But the art is inconstant: Barbara is still so much beatiful, but the rest is kinda of ugly e weird.

A good issue, but fear state is such a boring event that hurts Tom Taylor's great writing

Well, this was quite the letdown. At least this was one of the last of Bore State. Dull, uninspired writing, zero stakes, uninteresting, wonky art (when I was actually a fan of Robbi Rodriguez’s two prior Nightwing issues), this really was a heartbreaker. Though the best thing, by far, to come out of this issue, the cliffhanger words saying, “Next: Back to Blüdhaven!”

Pretty sure this will be the lowest score I’ll give Taylor’s Nightwing. It was terrific before Tyrion’s nothing-event infected the whole Bat-line. He’s not a bad writer, just a bad Batman writer. I wish him the best but as a DC fan I won’t miss him. It will be great to have Taylor writing the book he wants to be writing again because that book has been dynamite.

"Can we please focus up"

So that's where they got the armors in Batman #117. Good to know.

Part of the worthless fear state event. Just skip it is getting dumber.

This is probably the weakest issue ive ever read by Tom Taylor

unusually low because the story arc was just boring. Fear state in general has been a mess and this does try to make somethings better but not that much.

The problem with this issue is that this should have been a bargirls issue and the other two batgirls also in centre light and have Dick and Tim be the side characters because in the night wing book in didn't work, even as a setup for the batgirls book. it felt a little out of place especially how knighting was being handle right before this arc. I hope after fear state Tom Taylor and write a better nightwing arc

I thought with the change of state this was going to improve this. I was going to improve this. I was terribly wrong.

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Batman Jones - Nov 18, 2021

Flash fact: every time you think you’re going to improve a comic book by reading it you will be wrong. I just saved you a lot of money and a lot of heartache. You are welcome.

SenpaifenixJäger - Nov 18, 2021

@Batman Jones Fun fact, I'm not buying this thing, and it doesn't cause me distress, so you don't need to project your problems onto me. And finally I am not asking you for advice, so you can now, because I am not interested. You are welcome.

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My favorite character, but bad writing (I expect nothing else from Tom Taylor), awful art and a message of a story line are just killing this book.

Utterly boring and truly atrocious art.