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.
