The Good
It's always great to see one of your favorite supporting characters in a comic book; no question about that, so I can't say I wasn't excited about Lady Shiva's appearance in this issue. Having said that, my expectations for her appearance, her interaction with Nightwing and with how these events relate to the bigger picture are unclear; but I'll get into that later.
Overall I would say this is an average book. DeFalco does seem to take a few liberties with the characters and the amount of information that they know, but it isn't excessive. He does a solid job making Shiva look like a formidable opponent based on the dialogue that is exchanged mid-fight between She and Nightwing.
The Bad
I might be wrong but the dialogue in the beginning of the issue where Tony Zucco's daughter Sonia calls Dick to reschedule a meeting is eerily similar to dialogue we saw of hers in NIGHTWING #13. In fact, it is virtually the same.
Maybe I'm missing something but it felt like Lady Shiva's character was taking a lot of liberties. How did she know that Nightwing was a former Robin? That begs the question, also, does she know Nightwing's true identity? Does she know he is Dick Grayson beneath the mask? Or is she just basing her hypothesis about Nightwing's identity on the way he interacts with her in a fight?
Lady Shiva fans (myself included) were likely looking forward to her appearance in this issue, written by Tom DeFalco. The problem is, just like in Nightwing's last fight with Lady Shiva, nothing actually happens. She shows up, fights him, compliments him on his skills having improved, and then leaves. The question of where Shiva's fascination with Nightwing stems from is unclear and is not answered in this issue.
There is a moment that is really contradictory where Shiva aims to take out a specific character, but Nightwing manages to divert her aim. As a result, Shiva fires at her target and apparently, misses, leading her to curse Nightwing and call him a fool. The problem with the scene is what happens next. Nightwing implies he has forced Shiva to miss her shot, and Shiva replies by stating that she "never misses a shot." This moment contradicts the previous one where we see her cursing Nightwing.
The Verdict
Perhaps I am being more particular when it comes to this issue, but I had just hoped for more from this book. We saw a set-up in issue #13 last month by DeFalco, introducing Lady Shiva as an opponent to Nightwing. The problem is, why now and why Shiva? Just like their first fight, Shiva withdraws leaving Nightwing alive. Again, why? Was she hired to fight Nightwing? If not then what is her fascination with him? That's the first problem. Additionally, it doesn't seem like Shiva will be appearing again for a while, so what was the point of this issue and the last one? What purpose do they ultimately serve? I was left with a lot of questions about this issue of NIGHTWING and, unfortunately, not all of the great. It will be interesting to see if Kyle Higgins, upon his return to this series, will take from any of the events thats transpired in this issue.