The Most Dangerous Of Games — Reviewing ‘Nightwing’ #134

Ideas are a powerful thing. When manifested as reality, they have the power to alter lives and the world itself. Even moreso when those ideas come from the higher Fifth Dimension, a realm of pure idea and imagination.

The game of the Zanni and the Cirque Du Sin reaches a cataclysmic boiling point in Nightwing #134. The penultimate chapter of this long running story is from Dan Watters, V Ken Marion, Veronica Gandini, and Wes Abbott.

-SPOILERS FOLLOW-

Across the last fifteen issues, Watters and company have been building something really deep and unique. The Zanni and the Cirque Du Sin have been the paramount threat baked into everything, but the run has not been afraid to bring in other stories and events. It gives fans a truly diverse run of stories keeping to the theme of the previous run, and demonstrating why Nightwing is such a big character.

Why, he takes up space as the heart of the DC Universe itself!

The stakes in this issue actually had my jaw drop because there were actual consequences to Zanni’s actions. This was not just a game that Nightwing, Blüdhaven, or anyone else involved can just shake off and come back from. Life has been lost through the gang wars to the destruction rained down upon the city in this very issue.

Titans Tower, an idea manifested as a symbol, is rubble.

Seemingly everything Nightwing has worked hard to build over the years in his beloved city is ashes. And as the hero surges forward with a way to save the children taken by the Zanni, he still loses in the end.

These are the stories that make characters more compelling to follow. Sure, the hero needs to win, but losing and actual stakes is more powerful storytelling.

I had some reservations in the previous issue about the artistic change, and I retract those here. Yes, it’s not the same as the work Dexter Soy did through most of the run or even some of the work done by others who have stepped in. Marion’s artwork, though, has its own power and energy to add to the moment.

Some of the figure elements still feels strange in the moment, but the overall rough, tense nature of the style bleeds well into the story. Blüdhaven crumbles apart in big, dramatic powerful ways that make the heart drop. Everything the Zanni has around them in the Cirque Du Sin is creepy and terrifying with a drop of otherworldly whimsy tacked on that plays into the overall feeling about circuses.

Gandini pulls in colors that are rich with vibrancy and darkness befitting the tone. It keeps the horror and tragic elements at the forefront even as moments call for the flashier energies, like the elements that make up a superhero story, while weaving them through something bigger and darker.

One of the stalwart parts of Nightwing’s more recent resurgence is the voice that Abbott has helped define through lettering that really drives home the tone, volume, and uniqueness of each and every voice. It knows when and how to bring in modifications to the fonts, bubbles, boxes, or coloring aesthetics. All while, every lettering beat has a flow and logic to placement and organization. It’s never too overwhelming or in a space where it might take away from a scene; precise and rife with emotional power at every turn.

Nightwing #134 is now available from DC Comics.