Every once in a while, I’m glad that I missed out on a comic’s first printing, because its second printing cover is so rad. Nightwing 79 is one of those times:

My local comic shops sold out of their copies of Nightwing 79 (both first and second printing), so I ended up having to track down this copy in Appleton, WI, while my wife was getting ready for a wedding she was in. By this time, I’d already seen DC’s announcement that the issue was going back to press and getting a new cover. And I was delighted by both this cover’s many Dick Graysons and its reference to Batman ’66.

For those who have never seen the 1966 Batman television series, which starred Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin, it featured a recurring segment in which Batman and Robin climbed up the side of a building and various guest stars would pop out the building’s window. (You can watch all 14 of those cameos here.) It’s a neat gag and recreated cleverly here, with Batgirl (a guest star in this issue) popping out the window and a pair of hands holding up Robin’s cape – a nod to the fact that the “climbing” scenes in Batman ’66 were just horizontal shots turned sideways.

DC, artist Bruno Redondo, and colorist Adriano Lucas could easily have phoned in a cover for this second printing, given it was likely to sell well regardless of how much effort they put in. However, this Nightwing art team has been going for broke since taking over the book with issue 78. And I, for one, am glad that effort extended to this lighthearted and inventive cover.

(Want to check out more posts in the Cool Comic Covers series? If so, click here.)