Nightwing #122

Recap
NIGHTWING'S PAST CATCHES UP WITH HIM! Nightwing faces the memory of a dark encounter from his days fighting alongside Batman as Robin — an encounter which might hold the secret of Spheric Solutions' mysterious CEO and her machinations for the city of Blüdhaven.
Review
For but a moment, Dick Grayson’s night of never-ending momentum slows in Nightwing #122, allowing both our titular hero and the reader to take in all that’s blown up thus far as we tread over the past and present to look somewhat depressingly towards the future of Blüdhaven. Dan Watters and Dexter Soy continue to push Dick against a threat he can’t exactly solve with his fists or money alone. In a world where chaos exists simply because it can, and corruption entangles itself too greatly in the affairs of a better tomorrow, what separates the good from the bad, if there even is such a thing these days?
It’s that kind of lamentation that paints the atmosphere and demeanor of this issue, a shockingly cynical one that openly questions Dick Grayson’s staunch line between honor and corruption as his hands grow muddier with choice in the wake of this story’s ongoing gang war. While this issue serves mostly to give the reader a better idea of where Olivia Pearce comes from and how this all ties into Dick’s past, it’s in the way that Dick’s philosophy and brighter worldview, especially in a post-Taylor world, are challenged by Pearce’s influence on the city around him.
Fear can make just about anyone look like a hero, so long as they’re seemingly riding a populace trained to fear, even if it comes at any cost necessary. The staunch stance the mayor takes on the use of a police force armed with the firepower and jurisdiction of a small militia is the best example of this. Dick is trying to unravel the complexity of the conflict in this book, but the corruption of Blüdhaven’s institutions is so intertwined with the wills of a city under philosophical siege that he’s running head-first into a brick wall he hasn’t tackled in a long time.
Yes, this issue doesn’t move the story forward in any dramatic way, but how it sets up Dick’s internal conflict—and just how far-gone and hopeless the situation seems—is superb. Even with its retreading of Nightwing tropes that the character has seemingly been treading over since the New 52, what the team is doing here is deep and well-intended enough to supersede all the ‘villain from the past’ and ‘circus’ tropes of the character into something engaging and thought-provoking, not just for the readers, but for the characters as well.
My only worry is with the ambiguous motivations of Olivia Pearce. As per the flashback in this issue, which features yet another mighty instance of Watters simply breathing Batman’s character like he’s doing over in Batman: Dark Patterns, we come to understand that Pearce seemingly acts without point. She has no care for anything greater, acting simply to fulfill a moral mission that brings her joy, regardless of the pain it sows. While it’s established that she’s acting at the behest of something else, her role here—as a counterpoint to Dick’s self-assigned role as a superhero—can either prove fruitful or far too faux-pretentious to close out this arc with thematic merit.
Dexter Soy has some particularly notable instances of art in this issue. When we do jump back to the past, the environmental details imbued by his pencils and Veronica Nandini’s coloring give off such a cold, dusty atmosphere that the setting alone is nearly unsettling. Outside of that, Soy continues to illustrate a constantly dynamic book that doesn’t just do superhero well but also helps embellish the book’s horror motifs in a way that fits the big-action promise of a DC superhero story without taking away their impact or tonal influence over the issue.
Final Thoughts
Nightwing #122 is the partial origin-issue for Olive Pearce, one that peels back the motivations of our new threat without doing much to move the overall story forward. Instead, it's a moment to breath with all that's transpired and truly get to understand the difficult sensitivity of one's own moral mission muddying up the waters of an already corrupt system of order.
Nightwing #122: Under The Big Top
- Writing - 8/108/10
- Storyline - 8/108/10
- Art - 8.5/108.5/10
- Color - 8.5/108.5/10
- Cover Art - 7.5/107.5/10