In this review of Nightwing #132, Nightwing faces a truly shocking trap as the Zanni kicks his campaign in Bludhaven up several notches.
Nightwing #132 main cover by Dexter Soy (DC Comics)
NIGHTWING #132
Written by DAN WATTERS
Art and Main Cover: DEXTER SOY
Variant Covers: DUSTIN NGUYEN, PAOLO PANTALENA, and ELIZABETH TORQUE
$4.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $5.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 11/19/25
This review contains spoilers
As Nightwing #132 kicks off, Nightwing grieves over Nightwing-Prime’s kryptonite-induced-comatose body and Babs lets him know that more children in Bludhaven have gone missing.
The Zanni prepares Oliva Pearce, aka Columbina from one of Dick’s early adventures as Robin, for their dark plan. Nightwing bursts through Pearce’s window and demands to know where the missing children are. Wearing a red copycat Nightwing suit programmed with Nightwing’s moves (from his use of a Spheric Suit during the Fifth Dimension arc), Pearce leads Nightwing on a chase throughout the city. When Nightwing finally overwhelms her defenses, Pearce reveals that she killed herself in a self-created death trap as a child, waiting for Batman and Robin to save her, but the Zanni “saved” her. Zanni’s trap is revealed as he makes Pearce’s head fall off on live camera, appearing as if Nightwing had decapitated her (since Zanni is invisible), and children see it on TV. Zanni leaves Nightwing furious and defeated, saying that the missing children are laughing in his Cirque du Sin.
Analysis
Dan Watters manages to tie together all his threads around the figure of Oliva Pearce – her horrifying, yet unseen face, her backstory with Dick Grayson and comic books and the sinister Zanni. While I’m not sure I completely buy that a skull face would drive Nightwing’s sister to insanity/a coma (though there may be a spell/drugs involved too), it’s certainly a really gross and scary sight. It’s also effective but tragic to see Watters use Nightwing’s beloved skillset of mobility and acrobatics around the city – seen to greatest effect in the great issue of Nightwing, “The Boys” by Chuck Dixon and Scott McDaniel – in dark mockery through Pearce’s use of her programmed suit. I’m curious to see if Pearce ever comes back – it seems like she’s dead in this issue, but this is a comic, after all, and her “death” happened a long time before the comic, so the same magic could conceivably bring her back. It seems a bit of a waste of a character with a decently constructed connection and gimmick to be removed from Nightwing’s rogues gallery after such a short time.
Pearce’s death and Zanni’s role in it, in having her imitate her beloved comic books and die a horrific, sinister death – also throws weird light onto all the (apparently) straightforward “Comics are anarchy and fighting the power, and the Comics Code was bad because it stripped what is good about comics out of them” messaging from the Annual. Hopefully Watters will shed more light on what he’s trying to do in a meta fashion, as currently it’s quite unclear.
The definite horror sensibility of the comic is perfectly matched by artist Dexter Soy and colorist Veronica Gandini. In addition to the nicely constructed sequence where Oliva reveals her backstory and takes off her mask, where her face disintegrates as the frame to the smaller narrative panels, the action is appropriately dark and somber despite the high energy demanded from Nightwing and Pearce herself, and the whole package feels remarkably consistent and effective in communicating the artist and writer’s goals. Watters and Soy’s partnership really is quite nice to see in today’s frequently changing artist world.
Dexter Soy’s main cover highlights the confrontation between Pearce and Nightwing well, using basically just black, blue, and burnt orange to create the effect of the clash. Veteran DC artist Dustin Nguyen’s cover features an upside down Nightwing falling towards the reader out of the moon, framed by a terrifying cityscape in a toothed circle – very vivid imagery, rendered in Nguyen’s impeccable design style. Paolo Pantalena’s variant is very reminiscent of Scott McDaniel’s bold, broad pencilling, with Nightwing highlighted against his own profile in the rain. Lastly, Elizabeth Torque’s variant features Nightwing, chest out, against a sketchy red city – a dynamic but seemingly unfinished look.
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Final Thoughts
While the thematic and narrative issues still hover in the background of this run, Watters and Soy pull off a really horrifying reveal and development in this issue. 3 out of 5 Batarangs.
