In this review of Nightwing #129, Nightwing continues through the Fifth Dimensional nightmare world of Titans Tower, and gets help from an expected but unexpected source!
Nightwing #129 main cover by Dexter Soy (DC Comics)
Nightwing #129
“Others, Finale”
Writer: Dan Watters
Art and Main Cover: Dexter Soy
Colors: Veronica Gandini
Variant Covers: Jorge Fornes, Juan Ferreyra, Serg Acuna
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: 8/20/2025
This review contains spoilers
Our narrator opens Nightwing #129 talking about making chicken soup for sickness, just as Dick used to get as a kid. Nightwing meets the mutated form of his dog Haley inside of Nite-Mite’s constructed realm of Titanis. Nightwing and Haley’s bond is strong, despite the mutation, and the giant dog monster uses Nightwing’s Spheric Solutions Anti-5th-Dimension stick to break out of Nightwing-Prime’s jail. Nightwing and Haley battle Nightwing-Prime, who believes he is Superman’s cousin from Krypton. Nightwing smells chicken soup, however, which flashes him back to a memory of Alfred making it for him as a kid. The narrator reveals herself as Babs, Oracle, making existential chicken soup to heal Nite-Mite from the pain he experienced (caused by the Yanni, though she doesn’t know that). The “soup” heals Nite-Mite as he understands Nightwing is a healer himself. Nightwing realizes that Nightwing-Prime is actually Bryce Moran, the 11 year old kid from the Teddy gang who wanted to prove himself to Nightwing. Bryce refuses to go back to normal and flies away, but the rest of the tower returns to normal and Babs finds Dick and Haley. She explains Nite-Mite is sleeping, so he can’t turn Bryce back yet, and Nightwing kisses her passionately.
Outside, as Titans Tower goes back to normal, Olivia Pearce of Spheric Solutions and ally of Yanni makes a speech about her partnership with Nightwing, despite Nightwing’s protestations. Nightwing resumes his watch over Bludhaven, but with Nightwing-Prime flying above, a confrontation waiting to happen.
Analysis
Chuck Dixon’s groundbreaking run on Nightwing is often remembered for the creation of Tad Ryerstad, Nite-Wing, a sociopathic vigilante whose confused attempts to imitate Nightwing cause endless trouble for Dick Grayson. It seems Dan Watters is interested in a similar thematic exploration with the character of Bryce Moran, a child gang member who has magically transformed into Nightwing-Prime from Krypton. The thematic possibilities are incredibly rich for such a doubling and foil figure, though Watters is definitely reaching into the more magical and deliberately metaphorical realms of DC than Dixon did.
Watters displays a lot of plot and character dexterity in Nightwing #129, wrapping up the Yanni/Nite-Mite disturbance through Babs’s wisdom and Nightwing’s heroic identity and role, as well as cementing future conflicts in a way that is loosely held and thus not a cliffhanger. After a few weaker issues in the middle of this arc, it’s nice to see a tighter, more efficient conclusion. The romance between Babs and Nightwing, with one slightly annoying note (where Babs refuses to acknowledge any help from Nightwing) is warmly portrayed, with Nightwing’s kiss at the end beautifully deployed. More romantic tension and catharsis than any of Taylor’s rather frustrating attempts to portray a mature romance between the two. Seeing Babs take such a major role in the unravelling of this problem gives me a lot of hope for how Watters can use her in the future of the run.
Dexter Soy’s art with Veronica Gandini’s colors remains as consistent and appealing as ever. In an age of constant art shifts even for major titles, it’s quite impressive that Soy and Watters have kept up such an impressive pace for their first year on the book. Here’s hoping for many more for them both!
The main cover by Dexter Soy shows Nightwing looking down while Nightwing-Prime floats above and behind him – showing one of the central connections of this issue nicely. Cover B by Jorge Fornes shows a Nightwing profile and symbol graffiti above a city sign showing Bludhaven directions, in keeping with Fornes’ strong design covers. Cover C features Juan Ferreyra’s Nightwing leaping down a moonlit alley, his escrima stick blasting towards the reader at lightning speed. Lastly, the 1 in 25 incentive variant by Serg Acuna shows Nightwing fighting all of the 5th Dimensional constructs from Nite-Mite’s world, a rare case of an incentive variant reflecting the interior!
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Final Thoughts
After a few rough issues in this arc, Watters and Soy have wrapped it up in a nicely if unnecessarily quirky bow.
