Quick thoughts on Nightwing #152

Overall- This comic was yet another in a line of satisfying comic books I've been lucky enough to read lately. Dealing with the aftermath of Batman's apparent death at the end of the Batman R.I.P. storyline, Dick Grayson is walking through the Batcave, thinking back on his life with the Batman. A horde of ninja assassins attack with orders to bring Dick to Ra's Al Ghul, who wants a face to face meeting with Dick. Dick beats every one of the ninjas, and decides to meet with Al Ghul. Dick and Al Ghul have an awesome talk about several issues, but mainly about the death of Batman.

Al Ghul says that he can read in Dick's face that Batman is truly no more, and Al Ghul goes on a rant about how Batman deserved a better death, an honorable death at the hands of Al Ghul himself. Ra's then challenges Dick to a sword fight, which seems to customary when you meet Ra's. You meet Ra's, he tells you his evil plot and then you sword fight him. Dick manages to actually defeat Ra's in battle, and then tells Ra's that he's just upset about the fact that Ra's can now never prove himself to be superior to Batman. Dick tells Ra's that no matter what would have happened down the road, Bruce would have defeated Ra's, as always. Ra's, being the ever respectful opponent, offers Dick the sword they fought with as a reminder of their fight, but Dick tells him to keep it and returns to the Batcave, where he sees the sword jammed into one of the computers in the Cave, Ra's way of telling Dick that the two of them will meet again.

This comic was made even stronger for me after reading Final Crisis #6. Ra's always did have a grudging respect for Batman, and I wholeheartedly believed Ra's when he told Dick that he would have been OK if Batman would have been the man who ended his centuries long life. The dialogue in this issue was TOP notch, and Peter Tomasi(writer)should be strongly commended here. Dick and Ra's acted in the EXACT ways I would have expected them to, which doesn't always happen in a comic. Peter had the PERFECT feel for exactly what each man was thinking and going through, and I would strongly recommend this issue based solely on the banter between Ra's and Dick. For a score, I think I'm going to give this comic a 10 out of 10. For a single issue, this comic's story was perfectly worded, paced and done.