Nightwing's second Infinite Frontier era trade, Fear State, collecting issues #84-88 and the 2021 Annual, is disappointing given Tom Taylor's fresh start in vol.1. After setting up a bold new direction, a new villain, etc., the Batman offices force him (and Dick) to head back to Gotham to participate in a crossover for HALF the volume, with a different artist no less. While Robbi Rodriguez, and Tormey and HDR on the Annual, are good artists, their use of Redondo's techniques - ghost images of action and baton diagrams - are clunky. And though there are some good moments in Fear State, in particular the use of Nightwing's family (the Bat Family) as a support system, I still can't understand how DC's decided to fast track all the Future State stuff, which is supposed to happen years in the future, so that it all happens NOW. Gotham as a police state could have been ripped from the headlines, but instead feels like Batman's stepped into Robocop. In these three issues and the Annual's team-up with Red Hood, the best parts are those that flash back to earlier in the relationships. Taylor just makes all these relationships - even Dick and Jason as bona fide BROTHERS - work so well. If everyone seems to always be crashing Nightwing's title (the Titans, Superman, etc.), it's because he's FRIENDS with everyone, that's just his CHARACTER. And I love that. Thankfully, the collection ends with a couple issues of our boy back in Blüdhaven dealing with the fallout from his civilian identity's very public announcement before the "break", including an issue that's just one long panel, using Redondo's ability to work with ghost images, and that's what I want from this series. But as a high profile member of the Batman universe, Taylor's gonna have a heck of a time avoiding the pitfalls of crossover madness...