In this review of Nightwing #122, Nightwing reveals his past with the head of Spheric Solutions as Bludhaven burns!
Nightwing #122 main cover by Dexter Soy
Nightwing #122
On with the Show, part 4: Little Circus Boy
Writer: Dan Watters
Artist: Dexter Soy
Colors: Veronica Gandini
Main Cover: Dexter Soy
Variant Covers: Dan Panosian, Babs Tarr, Yasmine Putri, Gleb Melnikov
Release Date: January 15th, 2025
This review contains spoilers
Nightwing #122 begins as Commissioner Maggie Sawyer talks to Mayor Grayson-Lin about the progress the Bludhaven police have made against the gangs, resulting in large plumes of smoke all over the city. Nightwing arrives angry, tells the Mayor and Commissioner the police killed a teen in front of him, and that the head of Spheric Solutions, Olivia, is actually a villain from when he was Robin in Gotham with Batman.
In flashback, we see Batman and Robin (Dick) investigating a mass slaughter at a circus, when Robin is attacked by a blonde girl calling herself Colombina. Spouting nihilistic murder-happy jargon, Colombina (Olivia) shows Robin the gang’s true leader, a horrifying clown who apparently can rip holes in reality.
The Commissioner and Mayor refuse to accept Nightwing’s lack of evidence, and plan to continue their campaign against the gangs. Seeking proof, Nightwing rushes to the latest bomb site at a Bludhaven police station, chases a Flyboi, who refuses to let Nightwing help him, so Dick leaves him for the cops.
Looking out over the city from his skyscraper apartment, Babs tries to comfort and encourage Dick, but he remains furious.
Meanwhile, Nightwing #122 ends as a Flygirl desperately tries to reach Nightwing through the communicator he left the gang.
Analysis
Nightwing #122 produces a really excellent moment as young Robin sees the Clown pierce the fabric of reality in Nightwing’s flashback. Watters and Soy together really take advantage of the circus theme and give us something really memorable there. However, the rest of the issue basically treads water and only produces the one piece of information advancing the plot of Olivia being Columbina – and not even giving her any motivation. We already knew she was connected to the Clown. So there’s a sense of extremely slow moving machinery that frustrates a reader hoping for more relationship, character, or action development.
In addition, Watters expects the reader to feel that longtime favorite characters like Maggie Sawyer, or new characters who have been developed for nearly the entire run that preceded him like Mayor Grayson-Lin, are wrong and antagonistic, when if fact Dick is the one producing no results and expecting them to work against a legitimate business (Spheric Solutions) in the face of a massive bombing campaign. Unless you share the anti-authoritrian attitude which apparently must be required to enjoy this run, it seems that Nightwing isn’t helping anything, isn’t much of a detective, or a very good crimefighter at all.
All in all, while Dexter Soy does a very solid job with the art (and seeing Batman with the same symbol we see in Watters’ other Gotham title, Dark Patterns, is a nice bit of continuity), this issue is more than a bit frustrating with the parsimonious drip of information and development and expectations contrary to reason for emotional response to our hero’s actions.
Dexter Soy’s main cover gives a lovely display of the interior – Nightwing (looking way more cheerful than he does in the book itself), his parents in two acrobatic poses, Olivia/Columbina, and the scary clown leader, framed in an ornate golden frame. Dan Panosian’s variant has Dick leaping off an elevated train in Gotham, highlighting his death defying nature! Babs Tarr shows Dick, shirtless but covered in blood and bandages, wiping his mouth. Yasmine Putri’s Sweater Weather variant highlights Dick snowboarding in black shorts and nothing else, smiling like there’s no tomorrow. And Gleb Melnikov’s incentive variant shows Dick smiling slightly as he looks up into the light, a very hopeful image.
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Final Thoughts
Watters and Soy produce some great moments like the Clown showing up, but the insistence on assuming rather than developing emotions hampers the story greatly.
