When last we saw Nightwing, the Judge had left him bound hand and foot while the incoming tide rose steadily, certain to seal him in a watery grave. Kind of like a Houdini escape routine. But doesn’t Batman’s escape artistry rival that of Houdinin himself? And wouldn’t he have shared his skills with his former Robin? I should think so, so Nightwing’s eventual escape (was there any doubt?) seems flimsy at best, the way it’s depicted.

Nightwing’s not done with the Judge yet. His resolve has made this extremely personal. It also involves the possible betrayal of Nightwing’s oldest-friend-whom-we’ve-never-heard-of. I HATE it when writers insert a character into someone’s history, as if they’ve always been there. Readers aren’t that stupid.

Nightwing is not a new-ish super-hero to have sprouted up in the past few decades. He’s been around since the mid-1980s, and Dick Grayson has been around even longer. So arbitrarily tacking on history seems impatient and lazy.

Chang’s artwork seems not quite up to snuff in this issue, almost as if it’s lost something. I wasn’t even sure it WAS Chang until I read the end credits. But even weak Chang is better than many other artists drawing comics these days.