Nightwing #23 Review – When You Can’t Trust Villains OR Cops…
Nightwing is really in a tight spot, and it’s not just while wearing his suit. No one in Blüdhaven, and I mean no one, wants him to be Nightwing. The cops hate him for doing their job for free and outside of the confines of the law. The villains definitely hate him. A casino owner who goes by the name “Tiger Shark” has hired a Desmond to take Nightwing out. He’s too busy feeding card counters to his pet sharks to deal with the Nightwing problem himself. If that wasn’t bad enough, his own girlfriend wants him to hang up the tights and get a regular job. Too bad his life as a circus acrobat, a ward of a billionaire, a sidekick, a superhero, and a super spy have prepared him for absolutely nothing.
In his girlfriend’s defense, he does need to check his privilege a bit. Most other superheros have day jobs, including his adoptive father, Bruce Wayne. Bruce is the only one who technically doesn’t have to work; no one else has a trust fund or savings account to live off of, like what Dick has been doing. He can’t just bum off of her forever, especially since it seems their relationship is not long for this world. I know I haven’t been the biggest fan of Shawn Tsang, but one would think that after all this time, after all of his breakups, Dick would know how to not be a dick when discussing their relationship.
But that’s only a sub-plot in this bag of shenanigans. At the end of the last issue, Desmond, after nearly breaking Nightwing’s jaw, asks him to take a job. He’s working for the Tiger Shark, and it doesn’t seem like he likes the way Mr. Shark handles his business. Since he can’t go to the Blüdhaven police about Tiger’s activities, he asks Nightwing to deliver a list of names to one of his police contacts. It’s a list of cops on Tiger Shark’s payroll. Too bad his only contact with the police hates him too.
So when Nightwing decides to do his own investigating, despite Shawn’s protests, is it really a surprise when it turns out to be all a trap? Okay, I admit that I was a bit surprised, because Desmond seemed so genuinely horrified that Tiger Shark was feeding people to sharks. Other than nearly knocking his block off, it made sense that he would approach Nightwing for help in this matter. That said, the only surprise I’ll get out of the next issue is if Desmond DOESN’T help Nightwing get out of this mess. It seems to be an obvious setup for a double betrayal on Desmond’s part, but who knows; he could be simply a bad person.
I’m assuming that next time on Nightwing (same wing time, same wing channel) Desmond will reveal his true intentions and then Shawn will dump Dick’s ass. You heard it here, first.
Our Rating: Yep
Author: Tim Seeley
Artists: Minkyu Jung and Chris Sotomayor
Publisher: DC Comics
Publish Date: 06/21/2017
Acquired via Purchase
