Nightwing #40
Written by Sam Humphries
Art by Bernard Chang
Colors by Marcelo Maiolo
In this penultimate issue of the Judge arc, Nightwing enlists the assistance of an Octopus to escape from a chained chair while trapped underwater. Yeah, you read that right and no, Dick Grayson did not body swap with Arthur Curry this month.
The Judge continues to exert his influence over the influential this issue while Dick makes his way back to the casino on a motorcycle to hopefully take Judge down once and for all. Included in this issue is a great series of panels where Nightwing is riding a motorcycle indoors in the casino making for some great visuals that put a big grin on my face. I was trying to figure out if I had ever watched a TV episode or a feature film that had motorcycles being used indoors because a wav of dejavu came over me while looking at the artwork. Sound off in the comments if you know of a feature where this occurs as it is driving me nuts.
This issue is very heavy on the action and is a breezy read with fast advancing plot from Sam Humphries. This was to be expected though, because eventually the tempo needed to change in this long, long arc. The art team was missing one of my favorites this issue, Jamal Campbell, but the return of Bernard Chang to the interiors helped to dull that blow as his work is just as good and it helps that Chang and Campbell have a similar style. Maiolo did solid work on the colors.
Hopefully the final issue of this arc in 2 weeks will deliver a crazy finish that will satisfy the loyal readers that have persisted with the Nightwing series. After that, Humphries will have two more issues left before Benjamin Percy takes over with issue #44.
Comic Book Corps 