In this series' last moments, Higgins and Dauterman somehow manage to give it a coherence that it hasn't had as it unfolded.
By using Dick's conversation with Jen to review the details of Dick's life -- from the death of his parents, to becoming Robin and then Nightwing, to taking on Saiko, to averting his destiny as a Talon, and, finally, to the destruction of Haly's Circus -- they remind us that Dick's story is about survival. He lacks the single-minded certainty of Batman, so he's driven to explore new personalities, trying to find something that makes the world where a boy watches his parents die make a little more sense. Using Jen to elicit this reflection could've been a trite device, but Higgins really sells it. (I teared up a bit when Dick talked about feeling grief every time anyone ordered his father's favorite pizza combination.) If Bruce's grief is buried deep within him, Dick's is on the surface, allowing him to connect with a grieving girl in a way that Bruce never could.
Moreover, Dauterman is a find; his Dick could use some work, since he looks a little Neanderthal at times, but, generally, he has a certain fluidity to his work that not only works for Dick but also for an issue where you're covering a lot of space and time.
Best of all, Higgins doesn't offer an answer to the question of which Dick wins. Dick still hasn't found what he's looking to find, but, in texting Sonia, Higgins reminds us that Dick is as enduring of a character that he is because he's still out there looking. I'm intrigued to see where we go with Dick, particularly after the events of "Forever Evil" #6, but I'll say that Higgins really managed to wrap up this uneven series in a way that makes you forget the troubled parts and remember what you liked about it in the first place.
**** (four of five stars)
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