Nightwing #139 Review

 

Nightwing #139 Review

Writer: Dan Watters

Penciler: Denys Cowan

Inker: Norm Rapmund

Colorist: Francesco Segala

Letterer: Wes Abbott

Cover Artist: Jorge Fornés

Variant Cover Artists: Ben Harvey & Gabriel Hardman

Editors: Jessica Berbey & Rob Levin

Publisher: DC Comics

Price: $4.99/$5.99 Card Stock

Release Date: June 17, 2026

 

After the Zanni unleashes destruction on the city, Mayor Bisogni rebuilds Blüdhaven. But instead of uniting his community, his new superhighway divides the city into quadrants. As he destroys homes and communities, Bernard Bisogni awakens ancient terrors from their slumber.

 

When Dick Grayson followed reports of an attack on a truck driver, he found a woman walking amid the traffic on the superhighway. As she pressed a knife against his throat, Dick wondered if she had been released from a mental health hospital and returned to find her home had vanished. But then she wrenched the steering wheel from his hands.

 

As Dick's car veered across the lanes, vehicles piled into his car, and people died. Dick rescued the survivors from their smashed vehicles. But when he returned to his war, the lady had vanished. Did Dick Grayson dream up the witch of the crossroads? And will another woman haunt him as Dick searches for the truth? Let's leap into Nightwing #139 and see!

 

Story

Dick Grayson has battled insomnia since the multi-car collision. The victim’s deaths play on his soul. So, when Ms Eastbourne announces that she is building a case against Nightwing, he visits her. Cloaking his identity behind his costume, Dick explains what happened to him. Sadly, Nightwing cannot offer Ms Eastbourne any proof to back up his story. So, when she announces that she is moving forward with her case, Dick can only shrug and continue his efforts to safeguard Blüdhaven.

 

While Prosecutor Eastbourne seeks someone to blame, Detective Turpin makes an unwelcome discovery in Nightwing #139. When Commissioner Sawyer visits him by the river, she sees hands rising above the dark surface. Just as the superhighway has altered life in Blüdhaven and on outlying farms, Bisogni’s handiwork also affects the river currents. Once more, sleeping mysteries have awakened, and someone must investigate them.

 

Dan Watters’ story follows Dick Grayson’s search for justice. While people like Ms Eastbourne strive to do right by everyone, they also clock in and clock out. City employees place limits on their service to others and prioritize how they investigate mysteries. People like Ms Eastbourne make headlines by claiming that masked vigilantes lack accountability. Yet, Dick Grayson seeks justice for the footnotes in history in Nightwing #139.

 

Art

As reporters cluster before her, clutching microphones, phones, and cameras, Ms Eastbourne addresses Blüdhaven from a podium festooned with microphones. Yet even backed up by aides or officials, the Justice Center tilts behind her. Like a gargoyle, Nightwing perches on the corner of a building to watch. Then, he leaps over the street below, evoking his childhood training.

 

As Denys Cowan and Norm Rapmund chart Dick Grayson’s search for justice, Francesco Segala adorns Blüdhaven with muted colors in Nightwing #139. The blue in Dick’s costume shines as brightly as Ms Eastbourne’s indigo suit. Yet as Detective Turpin and Commissioner Sawyer make a discovery, resigned expressions accompany their drab green clothing. Orange and red adorn the bodies reclaimed by the watery depths. Yet their body language and dominant color bespeak how they fought for life.

 

As Wes Abbott places black uppercase dialogue in white balloons, intonation emboldens their words. Dick Grayson’s thoughts fill blue narrative boxes. A somber mood may have fallen upon Dick and his adoptive city. Yet after Starfire consigned her enemy to the flames, a figure cloaked in white, who survived another crucible of fire, comes to Dick Grayson’s aid. Thanks to DC Comics for providing a review copy.

 

Final Thoughts

People work hard to make their lives matter. They pour their talents and energy into brightening other people's days. Yet even the best of us makes mistakes. By day, Ms Eastbourne argues that wrong and right are black-and-white and that Nightwing is guilty until proven innocent. Yet when the sun sets, Dick Grayson struggles with the shades of gray that seep into all our lives in Nightwing #139.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

To look inside see my preview of Nightwing #139.

 

For Dick Grayson's team-up with Starfire, see my review of Nightwing #138.

For Dick Grayson's team-up with Batman, see my preview of Nightwing #137.

For Dick Grayson's encounter with the witch of the crossroads, see my preview of Nightwing #136.