Nightwing #21

The guys on the wall look like a modern version of Bluecoat and Scout.

The papers in the foreground mention The Appartion, so maybe The Apparition will end up showing his incorporeal face before the story is through. I think some of the masks that have been driven underground by the Mayor and Tony Zucco need to make an appearance at some point. I bet they still all secretly meet with The Prankster. Readers King Beauregard and Artya mentioned they think The Prankster already knows that Nightwing is Dick Grayson and has conned him into coming to Chicago to topple the corrupt leaders of the city. That's pretty much what I was thinking but I didn't write it in my commentary since I was testing them to see if they'd catch it. Good job, Junior Master Comic Book Readers. Although it still might not be right, so no badges awarded yet!

I do think that The Prankster is working with the other unmasked heroes though, so the scheme to bring in Nightwing makes a lot of sense. Another character on the Wanted Posters is Moon Owl! I bet he's got a short fuse and brings up pellets for justice.

Nightwing was trapped in a box at the end of last issue with The Prankster testing him to see if he'll put his trust in her to survive. But this comic decides we shouldn't be so quick to find out what happens, so it begins several years ago sometime after Masks were outlawed in Chicago.

Were all of Chicago's superheroes "ghost" themed? Slipshift phases through walls. Aether. Ghostwalker. The Apparation.

Slipshift is murdered in the very next panel by that shadowy person (some might say that "apparition"!) in the background of the last panel. Well, maybe not murdered. He's stabbed very badly and then crawls through a wall and disappears. And that's when Kyle Higgins decides the reader has waited long enough to find out what happened to Nightwing. Great! Because now I just want to know what happened to Slipshit! I mean Slipshift!

So Nightwing's in the box and the flame is burning and if he opens the wrong door, FLLLLOOOOOMMMMMPPPH! He's toast! I think FLOOMPH was the appropriate sound effect. Maybe that was the sound effect of Bill Cosby having sex with a Jello Pudding Cup. I used to know these things! Anyway, Nightwing has to choose between unmasking himself or burning alive. He chooses to think outside the Gordian Knot and just smash his face through the glass box after putting out the fire with a fire retardant capsule.

Nighwing has his hands all over The Prankster's chest and he still thinks of The Prankster as a he. I know Joey didn't have Starfire-sized boobies, but I still think Nightwing would notice if The Prankster had any.

I still think The Prankster is Joey. She probably just straps her boobs down nice and tight to look like a man because some people realize that keeping an identity secret should take more than a pair of glasses or a teeny, tiny domino mask. Plus a few shots earlier and a shot on the next page really looks like The Prankster has breasts instead of just really, really well-defined pectoral muscles.

The police arrive and threaten to shoot Nightwing if he doesn't give up his hostage. I don't remember if The Prankster has blackmailed the cops into leaving her alone or if the cops just hate the new masks in town more than the old masks. Either way, Nightwing and The Prankster need to start working together to get out of this jam. Probably just like The Prankster wanted! I bet The Prankster even called the cops on them.

Meanwhile Tony Zucco is making plans to get out of town with his son and his red-headed wife. Looks like he's got something in common with Dick! But then the next page finally bursts my bubble, revealing The Prankster is a man.

The Prankster looks like Kelly from The Bad News Bears. You know? Moocher from Breaking Away? That would be Rorschach to you younger hoodlums. Or non-Robert Englund Freddy Krueger.

The Prankster gets enough information (or makes it up!) to lead Nightwing to City Hall to look for a man named Billy Lester. That's Tony Zucco's new name. Zucco met the Mayor's brother in prison and apparently a bunch of things led to another bunch of things and now Tony Zucco is the Mayor's right-hand man! That was like a math problem where I didn't have to show my work. X=47 because fuck you.

If you're still in high school, try that on your next math test where you have to show your work! Let me know how it goes. You might as well try it! The School System is simply trying to force you into believing that following the rules and acting orderly is the best thing for you. But that's a fucking lie. It's the best thing for them! So anything you can do to disrupt the system is good for you! That's another math problem using the transitive property which you probably don't know because you're being such a disruptive dickhole. Just remember the most important words I think everybody should know: Civil Disobedience. Practice it, motherfuckers!

Nightwing follows up on the lead and finds Zucco's abandoned house. He finds a photograph of the family which proves that his Billy Lester is indeed Tony Zucco. And The Prankster, whom Nighting left handcuffed to the roof of a building, has gotten away to be a pain in everybody's ass next issue.

Nightwing #21 Rating: +1 Ranking. I think Nightwing is being a bit hard on himself at the end of this issue when he begins wondering if the ends justifies the means. Because his means aren't as horrible as he's making them sound. He got some information from a known felon but he also locked that felon up to be nabbed by the police. Oh, maybe that's the means he was referring to! He did kind of make a shady, dirty-lawyer, bullshit semantics deal with The Prankster to get The Prankster to work for him. But I think Nightwing is actually feeling bad because Tony Zucco has a hot red-headed wife whose feelings Dick doesn't want to hurt because then she might not go on a date with him.