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Nightwing (2016-) #139
Kindle Edition
Published June 17, 2026
About the author
Dan Watters
449 books173 followersDan Watters is a UK based comic book writer. His first book, LIMBO, was released through Image Comics in 2016. He has since written THE SHADOW at Dynamite Comics, and ASSASSIN’S CREED and WOLFENSTEIN for Titan Comics.
Currently he is writing the relaunch of LUCIFER for Vertigo’s Sandman Universe, as well as DEEP ROOTS for Vault Comics. Deeply rooted in London Town, and firmly of the Devil's party.
Currently he is writing the relaunch of LUCIFER for Vertigo’s Sandman Universe, as well as DEEP ROOTS for Vault Comics. Deeply rooted in London Town, and firmly of the Devil's party.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 23, 2026
Another relatively self-contained story, although the fallout from the car accident is gaining more momentum now.
There's an excellent autopsy segment which is pretty disgusting and reminded me of the "true detective" set in Alaska. I didn't know Dick was capable of doing autopsies? So it's a nice reminder that he can do various levels of detective work himself. I'm now trying to remember if it's just the Absolute Grayson who has been a paramedic?
This issue's main story is a moral play about the balance between faith and justice. I do wonder if more is going on with the antagonist though as they guess Grayson's Nightwing persona far too easily - if they can thousands should be able to.
The art is good, especially for the autopsy scene, it really does turn the stomach. I'm not sure if there was a different penciler/inker for the first few pages though as it all felt a bit "off" especially with the faces of the DA and Nightwing. The rest was of the usual high standard though.
The Batman books are of such a high standard especially the non Bruce books.
Overall impression = 4/5
Writing = 4/5
Art = 4/5
Will I read the next issue? yes
Wait for the trade collection? This is great monthly read. It is however self-contained so far and not crossing over with "Batman" or "Poison Ivy" so could work in trade if you want to save money.
Did I need to read previous issues/series? the start of this arc would help. However the car accident and it's fallout are nicely recapped if you want to make this your first issue.
Will I read previous issues despite really enjoying all of the current arc, I've yet to feel the urge to revisit the last multiparty story as I read one issue and found the villain too magical.
There's an excellent autopsy segment which is pretty disgusting and reminded me of the "true detective" set in Alaska. I didn't know Dick was capable of doing autopsies? So it's a nice reminder that he can do various levels of detective work himself. I'm now trying to remember if it's just the Absolute Grayson who has been a paramedic?
This issue's main story is a moral play about the balance between faith and justice. I do wonder if more is going on with the antagonist though as they guess Grayson's Nightwing persona far too easily - if they can thousands should be able to.
The art is good, especially for the autopsy scene, it really does turn the stomach. I'm not sure if there was a different penciler/inker for the first few pages though as it all felt a bit "off" especially with the faces of the DA and Nightwing. The rest was of the usual high standard though.
The Batman books are of such a high standard especially the non Bruce books.
Overall impression = 4/5
Writing = 4/5
Art = 4/5
Will I read the next issue? yes
Wait for the trade collection? This is great monthly read. It is however self-contained so far and not crossing over with "Batman" or "Poison Ivy" so could work in trade if you want to save money.
Did I need to read previous issues/series? the start of this arc would help. However the car accident and it's fallout are nicely recapped if you want to make this your first issue.
Will I read previous issues despite really enjoying all of the current arc, I've yet to feel the urge to revisit the last multiparty story as I read one issue and found the villain too magical.
June 17, 2026
Dark and brooding. This issue is entirely dialogue and slow burning mystery. Grayson is really struggling to make decisions everywhere he turns. The artwork really emphasizes the tone of the book as well. This arc has been fantastic so far.
July 3, 2026
Decrepit and fantastic once more, Cowan continues to kill it on the pencils to provide those immaculate vibes. Last we left off Nightwing decided to go the prosecutor acting on behalf of the victims of the pile up on the highway to tell her bus truth, how there was another person in the car with him and how he has vowed to hunt her down before she hurts anyone else. The prosecutor immediately turned around to hold a press conference to tell everyone what Nightwing told her…and to call it out for being total BS. She doesn’t really care what he has to say as no evidence exists to suggest his story is true as he vanishes back into his world of vigilantes escaping all responsibility. She also puts out a challenge for Nightwing to prove he truly cared for this city, to come to the court house in 1 well to turn himself in. As she steps away she even mentions to the reporters that she doubts he even knows his victims names, only for Nightwing to immediately disprove this to us by reciting each of their names, ages, and some details about them…all weighing down on him as if he wasn’t on that road that night then they would still be alive. He has no support system, especially with Babs in prison, as this is his city and he has to do something about it before he drowns.
Speaking of drowning, the newly built highway has brought another horrific gift to Bludhaven’s shores in the form of bodies piled up and mashed together. As Sawyer and Turpin stand by the waterfront, Turpin tells Maggie about the concept of confluence points. Where the currents of the river and coast meet and push together. For years there have been rumors of dumped bodies being dragged to that spot and being pushed into staying out there, but with the highway being built the rivers have been redirected and the currents have altered to bring an all new confluence points to bring the bodies out into the daylight. Now the coroners office has a large pile of bodies to try and take apart and make sense of with the possibility of solving some old closed cases. But the resources to do that aren’t here, and with how complicated a feat this is the coroner would usually disentangle them, count the lot, and then throw them in storage for the mandatory amount of time until they are incinerated. It’s an inevitability of an overstretched department. But Nightwing can help. Putting on his gloves and mask he went to work in the facility after hours, separating the bodies and completely loosing track of time as he is caught by none other than DOCTOR SEREIKA!! Out of the pages of batman dark patterns, that’s my goat right there and seeing Nightwing in the middle of this morbid and nauseating work…he decides to help. Hahaha! The work goes faster as they are able to start identifying bodies. A few gangland executions, one body to prove that someone currently working in the mayor’s office can be put away, they found a missing person believed to accidentally drown 9 years ago. And then they got down to the last two bodies. Nightwing’s heart drops for a moment when he sees a twisted piece of metal that looks like a batarang, only to realize it’s a fake as the realize the man was a batman copycat who broke his neck when he attempted to repel from one side of the river to the other. And now there is one body and the haziness and exhaustion has really caught up to Dick now. Sereika tells him to go home, he has been here for 18 hours so he knows Nightwing has been here for at least 26 and he needs to sleep. They have one body left but it’s not identifiable at all in its current state, he needs to go home.
Nightwing really tries, but doesn’t feel safe to drive and instead walks back to the docks where the bodies were found. He can’t help but think about that last body, as even with the redirected rivers there are only three he could have flowed down. Dick starts to follow a path where he could have been and follows the rocks he could have struck if he fell, but then Dick notices a church by the water. He walks inside and takes a seat as the priest with a cane walks up and takes a seat next to him. They don’t get many visitors these days and it turns out he recognizes Dick Grayson as one of his foundations has kept this church going when the donations have not. He invites Dick to come and take confession, even if he is not a catholic it doesn’t really matter and they can ditch the bells and whistles of the ceremony and just talk as humans. He asks Dick to tell him what is bothering him, but when Dick cannot for the sake of protecting others…the priest asks point blank if Dick is Nightwing. He sees the pain in Dick of someone who is tortured by the accusations against him, and he is the right age and has the right resources to be a vigilante. The priest tells him that anything Dick says will be protected here, he will not reveal anything that Dick said to him even under the treat of death. The priest believes that god has decreed them capable of carrying this holy burden to carry the weight to make it lighter for others…Dick asks if that is what the priest told the man he threw in the river. The priest is silent, so Dick continues as he explains the body has marks which made them think he has been slashed. But the wounds on the hands instead show he was hit with a single blow while he had his hands clasped in prayer. The priest explains that the man was a drifter, that he came to confession and spoke of the things he did. They were awful and the priest begged him to go to the police, but the man simply laughed as he knew the pretext wouldn’t turn him in. So the priest follows the man outside where he proceeded to drop to his knees in prayer where he continued to just smile…so the priest struck him twice and sent him flying into the river where he never saw him again. Dick now tells the premiers he has to take him in, but the Priest is already running up the stairs. He locked the door at the top so Dick went out the side and climbed the steeple on the rain to corner the father beneath the tower bell. The priest explains that he isn’t running for his own sake, but for the sake of his small congregation. They struggle and are fragile and if he is taken away from them then they will fall back into darkness. The priest never wanted to hurt anyone, but after hearing the unspeakable things that man did he couldn’t let him go. Dick has been trained since a child to spot liars, this man believes everything he is saying. Dick asks the priest to tell him what the man did, to give an excuse to let him free…but the priest has drawn his line to never reveal the secrets of confession and he will not falter from this. That’s all they can do, draw their own lines and do their best to untangle what is right. Dick has been doing a lot of untangling in the last 26 hours, and he isn’t sure what to do next.
Speaking of drowning, the newly built highway has brought another horrific gift to Bludhaven’s shores in the form of bodies piled up and mashed together. As Sawyer and Turpin stand by the waterfront, Turpin tells Maggie about the concept of confluence points. Where the currents of the river and coast meet and push together. For years there have been rumors of dumped bodies being dragged to that spot and being pushed into staying out there, but with the highway being built the rivers have been redirected and the currents have altered to bring an all new confluence points to bring the bodies out into the daylight. Now the coroners office has a large pile of bodies to try and take apart and make sense of with the possibility of solving some old closed cases. But the resources to do that aren’t here, and with how complicated a feat this is the coroner would usually disentangle them, count the lot, and then throw them in storage for the mandatory amount of time until they are incinerated. It’s an inevitability of an overstretched department. But Nightwing can help. Putting on his gloves and mask he went to work in the facility after hours, separating the bodies and completely loosing track of time as he is caught by none other than DOCTOR SEREIKA!! Out of the pages of batman dark patterns, that’s my goat right there and seeing Nightwing in the middle of this morbid and nauseating work…he decides to help. Hahaha! The work goes faster as they are able to start identifying bodies. A few gangland executions, one body to prove that someone currently working in the mayor’s office can be put away, they found a missing person believed to accidentally drown 9 years ago. And then they got down to the last two bodies. Nightwing’s heart drops for a moment when he sees a twisted piece of metal that looks like a batarang, only to realize it’s a fake as the realize the man was a batman copycat who broke his neck when he attempted to repel from one side of the river to the other. And now there is one body and the haziness and exhaustion has really caught up to Dick now. Sereika tells him to go home, he has been here for 18 hours so he knows Nightwing has been here for at least 26 and he needs to sleep. They have one body left but it’s not identifiable at all in its current state, he needs to go home.
Nightwing really tries, but doesn’t feel safe to drive and instead walks back to the docks where the bodies were found. He can’t help but think about that last body, as even with the redirected rivers there are only three he could have flowed down. Dick starts to follow a path where he could have been and follows the rocks he could have struck if he fell, but then Dick notices a church by the water. He walks inside and takes a seat as the priest with a cane walks up and takes a seat next to him. They don’t get many visitors these days and it turns out he recognizes Dick Grayson as one of his foundations has kept this church going when the donations have not. He invites Dick to come and take confession, even if he is not a catholic it doesn’t really matter and they can ditch the bells and whistles of the ceremony and just talk as humans. He asks Dick to tell him what is bothering him, but when Dick cannot for the sake of protecting others…the priest asks point blank if Dick is Nightwing. He sees the pain in Dick of someone who is tortured by the accusations against him, and he is the right age and has the right resources to be a vigilante. The priest tells him that anything Dick says will be protected here, he will not reveal anything that Dick said to him even under the treat of death. The priest believes that god has decreed them capable of carrying this holy burden to carry the weight to make it lighter for others…Dick asks if that is what the priest told the man he threw in the river. The priest is silent, so Dick continues as he explains the body has marks which made them think he has been slashed. But the wounds on the hands instead show he was hit with a single blow while he had his hands clasped in prayer. The priest explains that the man was a drifter, that he came to confession and spoke of the things he did. They were awful and the priest begged him to go to the police, but the man simply laughed as he knew the pretext wouldn’t turn him in. So the priest follows the man outside where he proceeded to drop to his knees in prayer where he continued to just smile…so the priest struck him twice and sent him flying into the river where he never saw him again. Dick now tells the premiers he has to take him in, but the Priest is already running up the stairs. He locked the door at the top so Dick went out the side and climbed the steeple on the rain to corner the father beneath the tower bell. The priest explains that he isn’t running for his own sake, but for the sake of his small congregation. They struggle and are fragile and if he is taken away from them then they will fall back into darkness. The priest never wanted to hurt anyone, but after hearing the unspeakable things that man did he couldn’t let him go. Dick has been trained since a child to spot liars, this man believes everything he is saying. Dick asks the priest to tell him what the man did, to give an excuse to let him free…but the priest has drawn his line to never reveal the secrets of confession and he will not falter from this. That’s all they can do, draw their own lines and do their best to untangle what is right. Dick has been doing a lot of untangling in the last 26 hours, and he isn’t sure what to do next.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 17, 2026
The work Watters and team have done since taking over Nightwing has been amazing, and that is especially true in “The Waterfront”. The layers of mystery and anticipation are so well done and unpredictable. Can’t wait for next month’s issue
June 25, 2026
Nightwing 139: estoy muy dentro de esta historia oscura de Dan waters. Me gusta cómo retrata la humanidad de Dick: su necesidad de tomar aire y calmar sus nervios, el no dormir, el aprenderse los nombres de las víctimas. Él es la luz en medio de la oscuridad que domina Blüdhaven
June 26, 2026
"That's all we can do, isn't it? Sinners like us, in a world so shaded with gray. Draw our own lines and do our best to untangle what's right. What's wrong. What we can live with. So what happens next?"
July 3, 2026
Very good
This issue was really good. I am digging this direction of Nightwing a lot. The lore-building is a good addition to the Bludhaven mythos. A good book you can't sleep on. Great art too by the way.
This issue was really good. I am digging this direction of Nightwing a lot. The lore-building is a good addition to the Bludhaven mythos. A good book you can't sleep on. Great art too by the way.
June 24, 2026
start spreading the news, nightwing is depressed again
July 20, 2026
Okay I’m getting the hype for this arc now!
August 19, 2026
"So what happens next?" Damn. Cold ass line. I loved the grounded issue here. This is the type of Nightwing I LOVE!
October 17, 2026
This story arc is moving along nicely and this issue ends with a cliffhanger to go with the through line…
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews