I found myself muttering, "Oh, no, no, no" to myself when Joey said that the person who killed Jen's parents cuts himself for every victim. Turning the page and seeing Mr. Zsasz, I realized what an amazing job Higgins had done setting up that ending, since I totally didn't see it coming.
I've spent the last few issues waiting for the events of "Forever Evil" to appear here and I thought that this issue would finally bring the big reveal. After all, Higgins seems to be wrapping up the title, bringing back Sonia Branch to settle the score with her father and make her peace with Dick. (Along those lines, I thought Higgins did a great job in having Dick acknowledge that he never considered how his pursuit of Zucco would impact Sonia. It sparks some real soul-searching on Dick's part, making him wonder about the unintended consequences of his actions, particularly after his destructive fight with Shapeshifter at the start of the issue.) The surprise that I thought that we were going to get at the end of this issue was Nightwing going home after a pretty easy fight to find Superwoman at his doorstep.
Instead, Higgins takes us in an entirely different direction. Dick came to Chicago to bring Tony Zucco to justice for killing her parents, but, throughout that story, Higgins hasn't really focused too much on Dick's emotional response to seeing Zucco alive. In that way, the events at the end of this issue serve as a coda to that story, with the haunting image of Dick sitting in a similar way to Jen after finding himself in a stranger's house in the wake of his parents' murder. Higgins even makes sure that we meet Jen's parents so that the emotional impact is all the more shocking, making you realize how quickly a life can change. After finally bringing Zucco to justice, Dick is forced to realize that it doesn't do anything to free him from the grief that he still feels.
**** (four of five stars)
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