Comics Fondle

Reading Chuck Dixon’s Nightwing today is a little weird… the period where it was a bestseller has past and it’s hard to separate the knowledge of where the story is going from what is there in the first three issues. Because, really, there’s not much… Bendis certainly shouldn’t be credited (or demeaned) for starting “decompressed” storytelling when there’s fine early 1990s evidence like these issues of Nightwing around. Let me summarize: Nightwing goes to a new city, he doesn’t want Batman’s help, he fights some guys, he meets some dirty cops, he doesn’t discover what he was sent to discover, he still doesn’t want Batman’s help. The only possible thing I left out was the awkward introduction of a romantic interest.

Dick Grayson is a really likable character. He is whether it’s Chuck Dixon writing him or even if it’s Bruce Jones writing him. There’s just something very appealing about him. He’s like Batman without the angst. Or with different, more adult (he’s at least worried about girls) angst.

I’m trying to think of what kept me reading these issues and, honestly, it was because I thought the third issue was still the second issue. I couldn’t remember the second issue cliffhanger. It certainly wasn’t Scott McDaniel’s art, which is a good combination of ugly and confusing.

There’s something–there are all these action scenes and there’s always some twist to them and they never make any sense because McDaniel can’t draw them in an intelligible way. There are trucks appearing out of nowhere, things falling out of the sky, whatever… it’s a mess.

I’m curious to keep reading Nightwing–since I do remember it getting so good, maybe I just need to get past all Dixon’s ploddingly paced McGuffins–but it’s hardly essential.

The McDaniel art, combined with the lame villains and the non-existent character relationships (I know that aspect gets better, but I don’t know if I can wait long enough), make it a difficult, mediocre read.

I’m real curious as to when the book took off–was it with this first issue or did it take a while?

And Blüdhaven is still the stupidest name for a city in a comic book ever. Did Dixon’s kid come up with that idiotic name or just some five year-old touring the DC offices? What’s best about that idiotic name is Dixon gives the city an actually back-story and not a bad one at all. One of Dixon’s biggest problem as a writer is his need to be hip–when Nightwing observes the “clockers,” I can’t tell if Dixon’s referencing the movie or the novel… I’m actually guessing the novel, but it’s still a desperate attempt to seem informed. Nightwing wouldn’t bother using the slang term because it’s not as descriptive or accurate… and in this case, they’re not clockers as much as they are guards….

But whatever.

C-

Technorati Tags: Chuck Dixon, Comic Book, DC Comics, Nightwing, Review, Scott McDaniel

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