Dealing with the aftermath of the attack on Nite-Mite, Dick Grayson’s life and city start to spin out of control in this review of Nightwing #130.
Nightwing #130 main cover by Dexter Soy (DC Comics)
NIGHTWING #130
Written by DAN WATTERS
Art and Main Cover by DEXTER SOY
Variant Covers: JORGE FORNÉS, JUAN FERREYRA, KEVIN WADA, ETHAN YOUNG
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: 9/17/25
This review contains spoilers
Nightwing #130 begins as the corrupt Blockbuster gang member Bisogni is elected mayor of Bludhaven while Dick Grayson’s half sister is struggling for her life after the attack by Spheric System’s chief Olivia Pearce. Spheric’s militarized police force fights the Clean-Cut Crew who are dosing on Venom/Man-Bat drugs. Nightwing intervenes in the battle, and a Spheric animal-powered drone attacks. Nightwing-Prime saves Nightwing from both the police, the drone, and the mutated gang, but flees before Nightwing can talk to him.
Batman and the Justice League arrive, and Dick assures them he’ll help Nightwing-Prime change back. He also tells Bruce he’ll visit Damian and Gotham soon.
At the graveyard, Nightwing meets Nightwing-Prime at his brother’s grave, and they talk. Nightwing almost talks Bryce into returning to his normal state, but decides to train him as a superhero instead, despite the fear of the Zanni lurking in his eye.
Elsewhere in Bludhaven, two kids see a ghostly circus and want to investigate…
Analysis
Nightwing #130 feels very much like a transitional or epilogue one. While things are mentioned as happening, like the mayoral election, it’s mostly dealing with fallout and setting up for later. The character work, therefore, must drive the piece, and for the most part, Dan Watters and Dexter Soy do an excellent job of doing so. While we’re back to only one perspective and one narrative throughline – purely Dick Grayson’s POV and actions – the changes of scene and action help so that it doesn’t feel too short and decompressed. The heart of the issue, the interaction between Dick and Nightwing-Prime/Bryce, is nicely handled, and foreshadows some very fun but also very dangerous future situations. It’s a bit frustrating that Watters feels the need for Dick to be a rebel against Batman and the League by breaking his promise to them, as it feels like everything is going to end in tragedy for poor Bryce. Thankfully, he’s no Tad Ryerstad – this is not Nite-Wing, the psychotic murderer. Nightwing-Prime, despite his fifth dimensional memories of being on Krypton, is just a good, if traumatized, kid who wants to help. Sadly for him, that’s exactly the type of innocent archetype that comic writers love to put in fridges.
The treatment of gangs vs police continues to be frustrating. Even when they’re taking terrifying steroids, it’s never depicted in the cost it has to normal people. It’s just defense against the evil police. There are no situations where lethal force from the police is presented as justified, or the police are actually acting in legitimate defense of the public or even themselves. It’s ludicrously tribal. Nightwing’s moral position seems to be “defend criminals above any other consideration” because Watters refuses to show those criminals doing the things that actually make them criminal, leading to a deeply morally immature framework for his storytelling. Given the way Watters treated the comics code in the Annual, such moral immaturity and hypocrisy has to be expected, but it’d be nice if Watters grew his perspective a bit beyond its current undeveloped state. It’s also a bit frustrating that a finished comic is released with a pretty blatant typo – “the watchtower hasn’t been picking up AND alien signal” in the conversation Dick has with the Justice League.
Dexter Soy’s art in this one, getting to draw five Justice League members, plus Nightwing-Prime and Nightwing in action, and a lot of great emotional beats, is very polished, ably assisted by Veronica Gandini’s moody and clear-cut coloring. Nightwing continues to be one of the most artistically consistent books on the shelves – something that should be the hallmark of the Bat-books, as the most popular and best-selling of the line, and thankfully is true of this one.
Series main artist Dexter Soy’s main cover is stark and dramatic – Nightwing atop an eagle grotesque against a red sky, the angles and minimalistic colors beautifully chosen. Jorge Fornes produces another nicely designed cover of Nightwing traipsing down the stairs made of his own name, large shadow behind him on a light blue background. Juan Ferreyra’s cover features Nightwing thrusting a gun-toting criminal into the air in a confusing but awesome looking confrontation.
Kevin Wada’s Pumpkin Spicy variant shows Dick in an orange speedo spinning a pumpkin like a basketball on top of a pile of pumpkins – goofy, but funny. Gabriele Dell’Otto’s variant immediately heads in the opposite, super serious direction, with a bloody Nightwing wiping his mouth while walking away from a blood spattered concrete brick wall. Ethan Young’s 1 in 25 incentive variant features the hero in cartoony, Michael Cho or Darwyn Cooke-esque rendering atop a rooftop with his name spelled out in bricks and pipes – a clever and fun cover, though as expected nothing to do with the interior.
Final Thoughts
While Dan Watters and Dexter Soy do a strong job with Dick’s relationships with other heroes in Nightwing #130, the nature of the moral dilemma forming the narrative backbone of the book continues to collapse under its own immaturity.
