In this review of Nightwing #131, as Nightwing and Oracle balance training their new superpowered ally Nightwing Prime against the gang warfare, Spheric Solutions weaponry, and spiritual evil pervading Blüdhaven, some plates are starting to spin out of control…
Nightwing #131 main cover by Dexter Soy (DC Comics)
NIGHTWING #131
Written by DAN WATTERS
Art and Main Cover: DEXTER SOY
Variant Covers: DUSTIN NGUYEN, CARLOS PAGULAYAN, JORGE FORNÉS
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: 10/15/25
This review contains spoilers
Nightwing #131 opens as Olivia Pearce and the Zanni prepare their Wanderer robots with Kryptonite weaponry to fight Nightwing-Prime. Meanwhile, Oracle and Nightwing train Nightwing Prime to fight crime, using a mission against Killer Moth in his submarine, smuggling Man-Bat serum to the gangs in Blüdhaven, as a test case. Though Killer Moth manages to escape, the two Nightwings manage to destroy the drugs against a horde of Clean Cut Men who have gotten hooked on the serum combined with Venom. Nightwing assigns the 11-year-old transformed superhero some homework, then meets with Commissioner Maggie Sawyer. She tells Nightwing about five mission children connected with the Zanni and Oliva Pearce, and her own building case against the Cirque Du Sin. As they conclude their planning, Nightwing hears shots, and fears Nightwing Prime will be back out patrolling. He’s right, and a Wanderer robot nails the child super-being with a Kryptonite shot to the chest.
Analysis
In a review of his early 2000s run on the Wonder Woman title, someone mentioned that Greg Rucka’s work is “unrelentingly tragic.” There’s a bit of the same feeling here, as the fun and lighthearted tone of the first part of Nightwing #131 feels perhaps overly calculated to setup the tragic twist in the final pages, as every well-intentioned choice Dick has made leads to the most telegraphed tragedy we’ve seen in these pages for a while. While Dan Watters is pulling out a lot of good writing tricks to make us care about our 11-year-old superhero, there’s still a sense of a bit of manipulative twisting of the knife going on. Depending on how he handles the aftermath, it could be more typical superhero peril, but given his enjoyment of a darker tone and consequences, I see the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come a bit here.
It is quite nice to see the focus on crime and villains instead of the focus only on police harm from the last few issues. Killer Moth’s antics are quite amusing, yet also very harmful, and the Clean Cut Crew’s continued monstrous forms are nicely handled as a threat. Dexter Soy handles the action very well, though a few transitions like Dick jumping from exiting the Killer Moth submarine to chasing him on the Nightwing Boat with mutated gangsters on his back are a bit abrupt and probably could have used more setup.
Though Watters doesn’t quite have an A, B, and C plot structure going, still relying overly heavily on a single perspective, juggling the various threats Nightwing faces does give the book more of a sense of complexity than some of the overly straightforward issues in the past have done. Overall, Nightwing #131 does feel stronger than a few of the recent issues in both execution and focus.
Series main artist Dexter Soy does a great job showing the Zanni and Nightwing in creepy puppetmaster pose for Nightwing #131‘s main cover. Superstar artist Dustin Nguyen’s variant shows Dick perched on a gargoyle in the rain, a beautiful and drippy image capturing the current downbeat tone of the book. Superman Lost and Deathstroke artist Carlo Pagulayan provides a dynamic cover of Nightwing jumping down a building, ready to strike with his escrima sticks! Lastly, Jorge Fornés provides an interesting 1980s video game inspired design. (Side note – it’s nice to see the lack of an incentive variant, though I’m curious as to the reason.)
Final Thoughts
Nightwing #131 is a return to classic superheroic conflict marks a perhaps predictably tragic turn in our story!
