Nightwing #36

Writer: Sam Humphries

Artist: Bernard Chang

Colourist: Marcelo Maiolo

Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual

Sam Humphries and Bernard Chang continue their run on NIGHTWING. Something they have brought into their run is a new villain, the Judge. Humphries ties him into Nightwing's past which seems to be the first thing Nightwing writers do when they board the book, but the Judge is actually really interesting and the events of this issue make him a very credible threat to Nightwing, and to Bludhaven as well. However, the non-Judge beats didn't work for me as well as they simply weren't interesting enough.

Aside from the Judge, Nightwing and a shark-human hybrid criminal named Guppy occupy the rest of the issue and we're not getting enough of Nightwing here. His reaction to the Judge isn't as frantic as I would have thought and Guppy is occupying too much page space for something that will clearly pay off, but only down the line. A lot of what Nightwing is doing here just confuses me. I don't know how he comes to the conclusions he reaches and before Humphries settles in on a scene, Nightwing's off to beat some a bunch of criminals Daredevil style. Speaking of which…

I've always thought that Nightwing was DC's equivalent of Daredevil. He's a fit, acrobatic character with batons that he uses to get around, and the Judge is essentially the Purple Man but without any of the personal desires. The Purple Man will make someone do something that will satisfy only the Purple Man, but the Judge influences people with a much bigger picture in mind. I couldn't get this comparison out of my head.

Chang's art is the highlight for me. I normally like Chang but he's doing something different with his style that I can't put my finger on, and I like it a lot. Some pages look off but I'm not a fan of Marcelo Maiolo's colouring and the colouring was definitely askew in certain scenes.

This story needs to be more focused, and I hope that the events of this issue will do just that with the rest of the story. Humphries has a good villain with a lot of potential, but he quickly needs to give him better, more concrete motivations. The art is very good, even if the colouring can be weak.