Saturday, January 24, 2009

Retro Thoughts on Nightwing #118-124

These issues of "Nightwing" encompasses Bruce Jones run as the writer for this series. I was expecting a little bit better than what we actually got in these issues, since I enjoyed Bruce's work on the "OMAC" series. Basically, during these issues, Dick Grayson moves to New York City, becomes an airhead, and starts a relationship with fashion designer Cheyenne Freemont, who just happens to have super powers. What a coincidence! Anyway, Cheyenne gives Dick a job as a model... OOOOK...

Meanwhile, Jason Todd, the deranged second Robin, begins to run around NYC dressed as Nightwing, dealing out a murderous brand of justice. Dick, obviously doesn't like the idea that Jason is ruining his reputation, and the two fight repeatedly. The first couple of issues where Dick was trying to capture Jason were actually pretty good. However, things really started to fall apart rapidly from there.

While working as a model, Dick dresses up as Nightwing and takes a stroll down the catwalk. Are you kidding me??? Anyway, to make matters even worse, Jason Todd is in the crowd, and he begins to heckle Dick. Dick soon tires of Jason's heckling, and attacks him, and the two fight all over the catwalk, into the seats and ultimately into the balcony, where Jason makes a getaway... Now, before we go any further, just sit back and picture this scene. The crowd attending the fashion show knows that Dick Grayson is modeling the Nightwing costume. We know Dick has a secret identity, so right off the bat, it's probably not a great idea for him to be dressing up as Nightwing in public since, you know, Dick Grayson and Nightwing are going to look IDENTICAL! On top of this, Dick Grayson the model, while dressed as Nightwing, proceeds to attack Jason Todd in front of a crowd of people and fights in the same acrobatic style that Nightwing does... Way to protect your identity Dick!

Things actually get worse from there, as Jason Todd is captured by some weird villain, and winds up transforming into some kind of bizarre half-man, half-blob creature... Seriously! The half-blob Jason helps Dick defeat some villains before(mercifully)leaving Dick's life. Dick and Cheyenne ultimately break up for some reason, I'm not really sure why... One second everything was fine, and then all of a sudden they were at each others throats. Besides that, the NYPD was always trying to arrest Nightwing, thanks to the crimes Jason Todd committed while he was impersonating Nightwing.

All in all, these issues were kind of entertaining, but some of the events that occurred in them were just plain dumb. I mean really, why would Dick model a Nightwing costume??? Why doesn't Dick just hang a sign around his neck that says, "Hi, I'm really Nightwing!". Oh, and the less said about Jason Todd's transformation into a blob, the better. For an overall score for Bruce Jones' run on Nightwing, I'll go with a 5 out of 10. I'd only recommend these issues to die-hard fans of Nightwing, or to people looking for a few laughs.

2 comments:

  1. http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2009/01/22/comic-book-legends-revealed-191/

    Looks like Jones probably hadn't intended to write the sort of book he ended up writing.

    Still glad they didn't kill Nightwing.

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  2. Huh, that really explains alot Amy, thanks for the link. I do however think a Jason Todd series is kind of long overdue. I'm one of the few people who actually like poor Jason.

    With that said, you can probably tell that I'm a pretty big fan of Dick Grayson, as appearent by the fact that I have over 100 Nightwing posts on this blog. So, I'm also glad they didn't kill Dick off at the end of Infinite Crisis!

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