Nightwing #126 review

Watters and Francavilla’s noir mystery continues in Nightwing #126. Allegedly, Captain Hollow, the ghost of the first cop killed in action; hunts Blüdhaven officers that violate the code. After a Helios cop kills a kid, the apparition lays down the lawman in response. Whether the ghostly shooter is merely a guy in a costume or superstition, Nightwing and Commissioner Sawyer face them down. Let’s discuss below!

The Good Ones

Part of this issue focuses on Commissioner Maggie Sawyer wrestling with the questionable and uncomfortable status quo in Blüdhaven. Previously, Sawyer meets with a whistleblower testifying to the corrupt culture in the police department. While struggling with the implication of dirty cops, Sawyer seeks to protect her ideal of good cops. This is especially true when she finally meets her girlfriend’s child, Claire. Claire is afraid and weary of the police, particularly the frightening ED-209 looking Wanderer robots. Despite all evidence to the contrary, Sawyer is unable to admit how insane her support for Helios and the actions of the BPD have become. Embarrassingly, even Claire could see the flawed logic in working with Superman, but not Nightwing.

On the other hand, Nightwing and Oracle do their best to dispel the seemingly supernatural elements, and unmask Captain Hollow with logic. Part of this involves analyzing the smoke and great coat left at the crime scene. Weirdly enough, the killer seemingly gets their supervillain gear from the Blüdhaven evidence lockers, including body armor from Shrike, and degraded Fear Gas from Scarecrow. Not to mention, the presence of peat, leading to a disheveled Manor on the beach. Of course, all of this continues to only incriminate current officers of the BPD, and helps narrow down the suspects.

The Hoax

All of this comes to a head when Nightwing finds his way to the manor on the beach. Surprisingly, Nightwing makes quick work of the culprits. Despite Francavilla using pretty neat sequencing to jump between two analogous moments, the fights are fairly uneventful. Instead, the hook is the depth of the conversation with Claire and the peril she ends up in at the end of the issue. Frankly, it feels far too underdeveloped to end here, and I hope Sawyer and Claire’s story continues in the next arc. Yet, Katie is just a surrogate Kate Kane and Claire seems to be a stand in for Sawyer’s own daughter.

This story has a great noir atmosphere aided by the flat color palette and use of dramatic inks. In fact, the use of the dawn-like sunset look gives this issue a feel of a high-noon reckoning, while simultaneously using deep blues to contrast and highlight throughout. In any case, the overall mystery of the arc goes the way of Scooby-Doo. Once the truth behind those responsible for Captain Hallow comes out, there isn’t much to the story left. It doesn’t help that the only real thing this detour accomplishes is Sawyer questioning the obvious flaws in Helios. Not to mention, whatever seems to have happened to the Mayor since Nightwing #124.

Recommended If…

• You’ve been enjoying Dan Watters’ Nightwing.
• Into the Mystery/Noir genre.
• You needed to see a new Nightwing rogue.

Overall

It isn’t hard to see that Captain Hallow has a lot of potential as a villain. Considering the costume goes to the evidence locker after his appearances, it could exist as long as the revolving door of corruption and superstition subsists. To me, that’s a cool concept. Unfortunately, this story couldn’t nail a compelling story for the antagonists’ motivation and loses steam in the end. However, someone else may write this character more carefully in the future. Lastly, Nightwing was barely in this story at all and the rabbit hole of corruption remains too unexplored for my liking.

Score: 6/10

DC Comics have provided advance copies of books for review.