Nightwing #125 review

There's good news and bad news. The good news is, Nightwing's convoluted gang war finally dies down for the time being. However, the bad news is, the corrupt cops using Helios seemingly awaken something much worse. After a mysterious murder, Nightwing and Commissioner Sawyer end up on the wrong end of a deadly urban legend. Let's discuss what a law abiding killer really looks like below!

Very Superstitious

Watters starts the next arc of his run with a brand new tone. Of course, this is primarily due to artist Francesco Francavilla's fantastic ambiance of noir and pulp horror. While somewhat indistinguishable from Gotham, Francavilla envelops his Blüdhaven in thick fog and eerie shadow. Even in its more intimate scenes, the artwork leads with harsh, flat colors and moody lighting contrasting deep shadows. Notably, the golds and blues on Sawyer during her investigation give the character a sense of nobility. On another note, Francavilla on Nightwing carries bit of nostalgia, because of his legendary take on James Gordon Jr in Batman: The Black Mirror or the freakish "Son of Gray" backups from Nightwing #111-112. Still, the tone is a fair bit spookier than the usual modern Nightwing stories, in spite of its Pop Art-like style.

The tale begins with a Blüdhaven cop gloating about Helios at a local cop bar. Unfortunately, as the drunk cop stumbles into the alleyway, he encounters a ethereal killer dressed as "Captain Hollow." Visually, the character dons a black greatcoat over a trooper uniform and an out of place plague mask. Apparently, Captain Hollow is an old wives tale about the spirit of the first murdered cop in Blüdhaven. As the legend goes, as long as the police in Blüdhaven uphold the law and the brotherhood of the badge, they have nothing to fear. Otherwise, Hollow shoots down offenders with copper bullets smelted from badges. Much like Memento in Batman and Robin or even Zanni from the "On With The Show" arc, the Bat-Family are becoming entangled with the seemingly supernatural, but there is a strong possibility someone is potentially pulling a "Scooby-Doo."

By The Book

The core of this arc surrounds discussions about the controversial blue wall of silence and the limitations of the law. Typically, this means that cops will protect cops, even if or when they do wrong. Similarly, Watters explores the notion that just because something isn't illegal, doesn't mean it isn't wrong. With real life examples like the Stanford Prison Experiment, most understand that positions of authority are prone to abuse. In this fictional world, Helios allows police officers to embrace power fantasies of being "superheroes." Regardless, it is hard to argue against abuses of power in a world populated with self-righteous vigilantes and capes doing what they want anyway. The difference being, the cops believe the badge gives them the authority the heroes lack.

Watters uses the point of view of Comissioner Maggie Sawyer to draw attention to the culture behind the badge. Namely, Sawyer heads up the cop killer case by investigating what kind of officer the victim actually was. At home, Officer Frank Dietrich's wife characterizes him as a man who used loopholes in the law to hide his cruelty. He never broke the law, but even his fellow officers acknowledge that he had a way of skirting the line. Although the BPD is allegedly free of corruption, Sawyer wonders if the killer is former or current law enforcement. This very real fear makes her more aware of suspicious behavior, but it also puts her in the crosshairs of those who will stop at nothing to protect the blue wall.

Nightwing #125 art by Francesco Francavilla. Six shots. One in the gut, five in the back. A dishonorable discharge.

Recommended If...

You were hoping for a change of pace.
You're a fan of Batman: The Black Mirror.
Nightwing is your favorite pull.

Overall

This is more like it! "By The Book" contains several telegraphed storytelling and horror tropes, but manages to capture attention and imagination. Firstly, Watters sets Nightwing up as a hero on the side of what is right and not just the law. On the other hand, Sawyer (who is still weak for red heads) struggles with upholding the law behind a flawed fraternity. Although, I don't buy Sawyer defending cops killing kids, nor mistrusting a whole Justice Leaguer over Helios after almost marrying a member of the Bat-Family. Additionally, the new antagonist could easily be any one of the cops in the department or retired police like the mysterious "Bill," but can just as easily be a spirit. Frankly, the new guy makes for spooky Nightwing rogue that I hope is more like The Judge or The Phantasm and less like The Crew Of The Crossed Keys.

Score: 8/10

DISCLAIMER: DC Comics provided Batman News with a copy of this comic for the purpose of this review.

12 comments

Sophronius

April 17, 2025

The idea of vigilantes is inherently paradoxical because it's about criminals fighting other criminals. It raises the question, does the end ever justify the means? What is a good person supposed to do when law and morality come into conflict?

In this comic, however, Nightwing spends all his time protecting criminals and fighting cops. Which makes him... just a criminal. He's also not even an underdog, as he is the richest and most powerful person in Bludhaven, plus he's leading a whole family of super powered beings who will back him up no matter what. So not only is he a criminal who is sheltering a gang in his basement, he is also the head of the world's most powerful crime family and he has ties to the major, the police, and everything else. At this point, how can Nightwing be considered a vigilante? He is the guy in charge, he is the law, he dishes out the pain and nobody can tell him no.

In this issue, at least, he is confronted about his actions by Commissioner Sawyer, so at least the comic tries to present an opposing point of view (although the reviewer seems to consider this a bad thing?). It is very half-hearted however, as the bad cop is made a child-beater for good measure, just in case any of the readers felt conflicted for a second. DC, thy name is subtlety.

Blockhead Jr.
April 18, 2025
Helios isn't concerned with the law, only what they are allowed to do. In this case, killing kids and abusing authority (at least accordingto U.S law). Nightwing is protecting everyone. Not neutral, but on the side of what is right. And because the gangs are being set up, he has no choice but to intervene and play peacemaker.
1. Sophronius
  April 19, 2025
  The conversation isn't about Helios, it's about a police officer returning fire on a masked criminal who was shooting at him in a world where masked criminals kill thousands of people. The officer didn't know it was a kid, he just knew he was getting shot at. Arguing against the militarization of the police is fine, but the guy had every right to return fire and every cop in real life would have done the same. Yet the criminal known as Nightwing insists that the officer should be punished for doing his job, while he himself is sheltering the very same violent gang members who recruit children and equip them with guns. It's completely backwards batshit crazy banana logic.
  1. Blockhead Jr.
    April 19, 2025
    "The Criminal Known As Nightwing" didn't give them guns, he's preventing the police from manhunting them. "The Criminal Known As Nightwing" attempted to intervene in a massive frame job used to excuse the unconstitutional murder of suspected criminals. They (HELIOS COPS) were not just "doing their jobs." People have rights and are entitled to certain liberties (in America at least). The teddies did a dumb thing by not letting Nightwing handle it, but the shooting itself wasn't justified, it was a set up, plain and simple. A dumb set up, but a set up nonetheless. https://uploads.disquscdn.c...
    1. Sophronius
      April 20, 2025
      A "manhunter" is an officer of the law who hunts down criminals, which is a good thing. Martian Manhunter has always been portrayed as a hero, it's only very recently that DC decided that bringing in criminals is bad actually. Obviously, sheltering criminals and preventing the police from arresting them makes you a criminal too, this shouldn't need to be explained.
      Now where I do agree with you is the "dumb set up" part. The "you're resisting arrest" line is obviously meant to make the police look like bad guys, in a very hamfisted way.
      But that doesn't change the fact that Nightwing is sheltering a gang of heavily armed criminals wearing masks in a universe where masked criminals happily slaughter thousands of innocents in the blink of an eye. The very reason why the police are being equipped so heavily is because they live in a universe with super-powered gangs, in one of the most dangerous cities in the DC universe.
      For Nightwing, who used to be a cop as well as Robin, to instinctively side with masked criminal lunatics is a complete betrayal of his character, it's total character assassination. For Nightwing having his sister as Mayor and using that to his advantage while also being a billionaire goes totally against how he was always portrayed in the past, which is as an underdog who fights against corruption.
      A corrupt billionaire who has his finger in every avenue of power, has no regard for the law, has people inside the police and the mayoral office and the justice league and who shelters criminals in his basement and does whatever he likes with zero accountability does not scream "vigilante" to me.
    2. Sara
      April 20, 2025
      In situations like this, when a Bat is overstepping boundaries, I like to ask, "WWJD?"
      ("What Would Jason Do?")
      If Jason would do something, then it probably isn't what Dick should be doing. Dick is the first choice to replace Bruce as Batman if someone has to. Jason took his second identity from Gotham's most heinous criminal and Batman's arch-nemesis.
      I'm not opposed to Bats brazenly breaking laws they think are immoral or bad. I've done it for animal rescue. No regrets.
      Harboring violent masked gangsters out of an anti-authoritarian principle is something I could see Jason doing, especially after Gotham War. (It was garbage, but it's canon garbage.) It's how his mind works. He can be impulsive, illogical, and dangerously wrong. And Batman would eventually show up to kick his ass for it and take over. I don't know Dick's solo stories that well, but backing himself into this corner doesn't sound natural for him and doesn't look good coming from a seasoned leader of major superhero teams and the top candidate to take over Batman's duties. It sounds like Watters wanted to tell a story, and maybe even a good story in some respects, but maybe not the right story for this character.
    3. Sophronius
      April 21, 2025
      Yeah, agree 100%. I am anti-authoritarian myself, and of course any vigilante hero is going to be willing to break the law if it's the right thing to do. That's all part of the heroic spirit.
      The problem isn't that Nightwing is willing to fight against corruption (good!), the problem is that he sees a gang that employs kids as child soldiers and his instinctive response is to invite them into his home. He's not just holding the cops accountable, he is instinctively siding with criminals as if that's the natural thing for him to do.
      Combine that with the ridiculous power ups Nightwing has been getting lately (including being a billionaire and literally having superpowers for a while), the endless glazing by other heroes and people talking about how great he is, having a puppy with three legs and a girlfriend in a wheelchair who seems to only exist to always support him no matter what, and it just... rubs me the wrong way. Like we're being told "this is the hero, everything he does is good by definition, he is the greatest ever, don't question it".
      It doesn't feel anti-authoritarian, it feels like Nightwing is establishing himself as the ultimate moral authority. And its not just him, Superman literally headed an organization called "the authority", and of course Batman acting like an authoritarian is his default personality these days. At the risk of making things political, it seems like we've entire done away with the idea that the good guys are supposed to be skeptical of power, and now the heroes are cheer-leading the status quo that they were supposed to defy.
      Man, I really want to read an arc where Damian decides to found his own team of ex-assassins that holds all these corrupt heroes accountable by kicking their asses whenever they cross the line. That would be a much better "Damian as antagonist to the heroes" arc than the stupid ideas for 5G that DC actually had.
    4. Sara
      April 21, 2025
      The comics are inadvertantly making it look like Waller, one of those serial killers who keeps getting all this "due process," has a pretty good point. Even a preschooler who's sent to sit in the corner for pulling the cat's tail gets a tougher sentence than Bruce got for his central role in the Failsafe fiasco.
      Can't wait to see Bruce rush to save his darling Joker from mean old Jason again in this week's issue of Batman.
    5. Sophronius
      April 21, 2025
      Yeah, of course they had to make Waller look like a cartoon villain (completely going against her original character), but the whole thing about hormone-filled teenagers with superpowers being dangerous is 100% true. I mean, how many times has Raven nearly destroyed the world now? Sure getting rid of all the heroes is dumb, but asking for some accountability and oversight would not be unreasonable.
      DC absolutely refuses to introduce some genuine moral complexity however. They would rather rehash the "should heroes kill?" question for the thousandth time even though everyone already knows what the answer is going to be. Do they genuinely think that young readers cannot deal with uncertainty? Is there some kind of editorial rule that says writers are not allowed to show the reader anything unfamiliar for fear of spooking the kids with original thought? I wonder.
    6. Sara
      April 21, 2025
      Pretty sure there is an editorial rule like that.
      Not even kidding.
    7. Madeleine
      April 21, 2025
      "What Would Jason Do?" is funnier for the initials but "What Would Bruce Do?" is probably the bigger question for Dick since all too often the answer is "Whatever Bruce would do, don't do that."
      Dick did some very shady things during Judd Winick's pre-Morrison Outsiders run including violating a nation's sovereignty and threatening Superman. The characterization was not popular, but what's most pertinent to his character continuity is that here and in Long Shadows Winick painted Dick inheriting Bruce's obstinate unilateralism as a tragedy, something Dick would need to overcome to become worthy of the cowl. (I have a half formed idea that Dick may become Batman again in the not too distant future...) How did Harvey determine that the new Batman wasn't Bruce? Dick smiled too much. Dick's task was to find a medium between his natural self and the darker self of his mentor.
      I can be impatient with legacy characters but if there's one writer I think grasped the critical issues by the short hairs it's Judd Winick.
    8. Sara
      April 21, 2025
      You figure Bruce might retire soon? He fvcking needs to.
      I miss Winick. (But I barely remember anything about that Outsiders run.) He changed how we think about Batman and the Bat-Family. We need someone as unsentimental as this to come back and undo years of accumulated damage.
      DC keeps pushing (and adding) the legacy characters, but now they won't hire writers worthy to shoulder the burden of progressing the status quo. Now it's just, "Aren't these kids AMAZING?" Then everything gets reset when nobody likes the new Titans book.

Sophronius
April 17, 2025
The idea of vigilantes is inherently paradoxical because it's about criminals fighting other criminals. It raises the question, does the end ever justify the means? What is a good person supposed to do when law and morality come into conflict?
In this comic, however, Nightwing spends all his time protecting criminals and fighting cops. Which makes him... just a criminal. He's also not even an underdog, as he is the richest and most powerful person in Bludhaven, plus he's leading a whole family of super powered beings who will back him up no matter what. So not only is he a criminal who is sheltering a gang in his basement, he is also the head of the world's most powerful crime family and he has ties to the major, the police, and everything else. At this point, how can Nightwing be considered a vigilante? He is the guy in charge, he is the law, he dishes out the pain and nobody can tell him no.
In this issue, at least, he is confronted about his actions by Commissioner Sawyer, so at least the comic tries to present an opposing point of view (although the reviewer seems to consider this a bad thing?). It is very half-hearted however, as the bad cop is made a child-beater for good measure, just in case any of the readers felt conflicted for a second. DC, thy name is subtlety.
1. Blockhead Jr.
  April 18, 2025
  Helios isn't concerned with the law, only what they are allowed to do. In this case, killing kids and abusing authority (at least accordingto U.S law). Nightwing is protecting everyone. Not neutral, but on the side of what is right. And because the gangs are being set up, he has no choice but to intervene and play peacemaker.
  1. Sophronius
    April 19, 2025
    The conversation isn't about Helios, it's about a police officer returning fire on a masked criminal who was shooting at him in a world where masked criminals kill thousands of people. The officer didn't know it was a kid, he just knew he was getting shot at. Arguing against the militarization of the police is fine, but the guy had every right to return fire and every cop in real life would have done the same. Yet the criminal known as Nightwing insists that the officer should be punished for doing his job, while he himself is sheltering the very same violent gang members who recruit children and equip them with guns. It's completely backwards batshit crazy banana logic.
    1. Blockhead Jr.
      April 19, 2025
      "The Criminal Known As Nightwing" didn't give them guns, he's preventing the police from manhunting them. "The Criminal Known As Nightwing" attempted to intervene in a massive frame job used to excuse the unconstitutional murder of suspected criminals. They (HELIOS COPS) were not just "doing their jobs." People have rights and are entitled to certain liberties (in America at least). The teddies did a dumb thing by not letting Nightwing handle it, but the shooting itself wasn't justified, it was a set up, plain and simple. A dumb set up, but a set up nonetheless. https://uploads.disquscdn.c...
      1. Sophronius
        April 20, 2025
        A "manhunter" is an officer of the law who hunts down criminals, which is a good thing. Martian Manhunter has always been portrayed as a hero, it's only very recently that DC decided that bringing in criminals is bad actually. Obviously, sheltering criminals and preventing the police from arresting them makes you a criminal too, this shouldn't need to be explained.
        Now where I do agree with you is the "dumb set up" part. The "you're resisting arrest" line is obviously meant to make the police look like bad guys, in a very hamfisted way.
        But that doesn't change the fact that Nightwing is sheltering a gang of heavily armed criminals wearing masks in a universe where masked criminals happily slaughter thousands of innocents in the blink of an eye. The very reason why the police are being equipped so heavily is because they live in a universe with super-powered gangs, in one of the most dangerous cities in the DC universe.
        For Nightwing, who used to be a cop as well as Robin, to instinctively side with masked criminal lunatics is a complete betrayal of his character, it's total character assassination. For Nightwing having his sister as Mayor and using that to his advantage while also being a billionaire goes totally against how he was always portrayed in the past, which is as an underdog who fights against corruption.
        A corrupt billionaire who has his finger in every avenue of power, has no regard for the law, has people inside the police and the mayoral office and the justice league and who shelters criminals in his basement and does whatever he likes with zero accountability does not scream "vigilante" to me.
      2. Sara
        April 20, 2025
        In situations like this, when a Bat is overstepping boundaries, I like to ask, "WWJD?"
        ("What Would Jason Do?")
        If Jason would do something, then it probably isn't what Dick should be doing. Dick is the first choice to replace Bruce as Batman if someone has to. Jason took his second identity from Gotham's most heinous criminal and Batman's arch-nemesis.
        I'm not opposed to Bats brazenly breaking laws they think are immoral or bad. I've done it for animal rescue. No regrets.
        Harboring violent masked gangsters out of an anti-authoritarian principle is something I could see Jason doing, especially after Gotham War. (It was garbage, but it's canon garbage.) It's how his mind works. He can be impulsive, illogical, and dangerously wrong. And Batman would eventually show up to kick his ass for it and take over. I don't know Dick's solo stories that well, but backing himself into this corner doesn't sound natural for him and doesn't look good coming from a seasoned leader of major superhero teams and the top candidate to take over Batman's duties. It sounds like Watters wanted to tell a story, and maybe even a good story in some respects, but maybe not the right story for this character.
      3. Sophronius
        April 21, 2025
        Yeah, agree 100%. I am anti-authoritarian myself, and of course any vigilante hero is going to be willing to break the law if it's the right thing to do. That's all part of the heroic spirit.
        The problem isn't that Nightwing is willing to fight against corruption (good!), the problem is that he sees a gang that employs kids as child soldiers and his instinctive response is to invite them into his home. He's not just holding the cops accountable, he is instinctively siding with criminals as if that's the natural thing for him to do.
        Combine that with the ridiculous power ups Nightwing has been getting lately (including being a billionaire and literally having superpowers for a while), the endless glazing by other heroes and people talking about how great he is, having a puppy with three legs and a girlfriend in a wheelchair who seems to only exist to always support him no matter what, and it just... rubs me the wrong way. Like we're being told "this is the hero, everything he does is good by definition, he is the greatest ever, don't question it".
        It doesn't feel anti-authoritarian, it feels like Nightwing is establishing himself as the ultimate moral authority. And its not just him, Superman literally headed an organization called "the authority", and of course Batman acting like an authoritarian is his default personality these days. At the risk of making things political, it seems like we've entire done away with the idea that the good guys are supposed to be skeptical of power, and now the heroes are cheer-leading the status quo that they were supposed to defy.
        Man, I really want to read an arc where Damian decides to found his own team of ex-assassins that holds all these corrupt heroes accountable by kicking their asses whenever they cross the line. That would be a much better "Damian as antagonist to the heroes" arc than the stupid ideas for 5G that DC actually had.
      4. Sara
        April 21, 2025
        The comics are inadvertantly making it look like Waller, one of those serial killers who keeps getting all this "due process," has a pretty good point. Even a preschooler who's sent to sit in the corner for pulling the cat's tail gets a tougher sentence than Bruce got for his central role in the Failsafe fiasco.
        Can't wait to see Bruce rush to save his darling Joker from mean old Jason again in this week's issue of Batman.
      5. Sophronius
        April 21, 2025
        Yeah, of course they had to make Waller look like a cartoon villain (completely going against her original character), but the whole thing about hormone-filled teenagers with superpowers being dangerous is 100% true. I mean, how many times has Raven nearly destroyed the world now? Sure getting rid of all the heroes is dumb, but asking for some accountability and oversight would not be unreasonable.
        DC absolutely refuses to introduce some genuine moral complexity however. They would rather rehash the "should heroes kill?" question for the thousandth time even though everyone already knows what the answer is going to be. Do they genuinely think that young readers cannot deal with uncertainty? Is there some kind of editorial rule that says writers are not allowed to show the reader anything unfamiliar for fear of spooking the kids with original thought? I wonder.
      6. Sara
        April 21, 2025
        Pretty sure there is an editorial rule like that.
        Not even kidding.
      7. Madeleine
        April 21, 2025
        "What Would Jason Do?" is funnier for the initials but "What Would Bruce Do?" is probably the bigger question for Dick since all too often the answer is "Whatever Bruce would do, don't do that."
        Dick did some very shady things during Judd Winick's pre-Morrison Outsiders run including violating a nation's sovereignty and threatening Superman. The characterization was not popular, but what's most pertinent to his character continuity is that here and in Long Shadows Winick painted Dick inheriting Bruce's obstinate unilateralism as a tragedy, something Dick would need to overcome to become worthy of the cowl. (I have a half formed idea that Dick may become Batman again in the not too distant future...) How did Harvey determine that the new Batman wasn't Bruce? Dick smiled too much. Dick's task was to find a medium between his natural self and the darker self of his mentor.
        I can be impatient with legacy characters but if there's one writer I think grasped the critical issues by the short hairs it's Judd Winick.
      8. Sara
        April 21, 2025
        You figure Bruce might retire soon? He fvcking needs to.
        I miss Winick. (But I barely remember anything about that Outsiders run.) He changed how we think about Batman and the Bat-Family. We need someone as unsentimental as this to come back and undo years of accumulated damage.
        DC keeps pushing (and adding) the legacy characters, but now they won't hire writers worthy to shoulder the burden of progressing the status quo. Now it's just, "Aren't these kids AMAZING?" Then everything gets reset when nobody likes the new Titans book.

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