Nighthawk #6
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: David Walker
Artist: Ramon Villalobos
Colorist: Tamra Bonvillain
Cover: Denys Cowan & Bill Sienkiewicz
This is the last issue of Nighthawk and it’s pretty sad that a series this good is ending so soon. David Walker has built a fierce anti-hero who takes no shorts regardless of which side of the law you stand on. If you’re doing bad things to good people Nighthawk will be there to deal out his brand of justice.
The issue opens with a wounded Sherman introducing Nina to Nighthawk who is attempting to keep his only outside ally alive. The sequence itself works perfectly just for the mere fact that Walker has Nina attend to her partner instead of grilling and attempting to arrest Nighthawk. He then brings several pieces of the mystery to the surface while giving us some of that dynamic chemistry between Tilda and our hero we’ve come to expect in this series. At times it seems as if Walker is having Nighthawk protect her by keeping her out of the field which forces her to rely on her other skills. Her frustration provides some great banter and even though she lightens the tone at times she doesn’t hold anything back. Giving her a very distinct voice in this story and a stark contrast to her partner, Nighthawk. The final meeting between Revelator and Nighthawk is violent, brutal, and is a conflict that’s deeper than just two guys trading kicks and punches.
Villalobos and Bonvillain have given this series it’s own look and feel which makes it stand out from all of the other Marvel titles. Villalobos keeps with the gritty tone of the narrative and finds some effective ways to move the story along. When the fight between Revelator and Nighthawk takes place it’s in a series of small panels that quickly build to the high points in the fight with each striking blow. It’s intense and moves with smooth pacing that delivers a solid payoff towards the end. Whenever we get to Tilda, Bonvillain gives her a different color pallet which gives her scenes an entirely different feel and keeps the look from being the same throughout. Villalobos also throws in a scene with Tilda that reminded me of the DJ from the movie The Warriors and it was just a cool panel as Tilda connected the dots for Nighthawk.
Knighthawk hit hard on several very real topics and I’m glad that Walker was able to tell the story he did. Sure it would have been great to see this go on longer because every issue has been stellar storytelling on all fronts. So hopefully you pick up the trade and thank you to the entire creative team who gave us something different and real from the House of Ideas.
Infinite Speech
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