Picking on Nightwing is like shooting fish in a barrel, but it’s so damn fun I just can’t stop. The badness of this comic, much like the movies on Mystery Science Theater 3000, is the reason to read it. It’s as if Bruce Jones, the supposed writer of Nightwing, is trying to get fired. I had hoped to make it through the first arc, but I’m just not sure I want to support the book any longer. I implore all those reading Nightwing to stop forthwith or give me one good reason to keep reading.

Nightwing #120 starts with yet another fight between Jason Todd as Nightwing and Dick Grayson as Nightwing. Unfortunately, unlike the art of the previous two issues, both Nightwings are being draw identically, making the action sequences even more incomprehensible. Also, for some reason, Dick is stalking Clancy as Nightwing to get her medical opinion of Jason. I guess in a year, she’s taken enough psych courses to be an expert. The whole “Idee Fixee” thing smacks of “Bruce Jones read a psych book, yay!” The bad guys also figure out the same thing at the same time.

Anyhow, after the Psych 101 course, we get what has to be the stupidest plot contrivances ever: Dick has somehow become a male model and his super-powered manager, Cheyenne, is going to have a fashion show with models dressed as superheroes. And guess who Dick is supposed to dress up as? Yep, as Nightwing. Atop all that, in another contrivance, Jason Todd is at the show when Dick walks down the runway as Nightwing. And guess what Dick does? Yes, dressed as Nightwing, Dick attacks Jason. And Jason gets away again. Listen, after the first four times, I think Dick probably should have a plan to take Jason down. But Dick is portrayed as being so stupid, it’s not funny. It’s as if Dick is now the anti-Batman: Batman is prepared for every eventuality; Nightwing is prepared for none.

Oh, and after all that, Cheyenne goes to Dick’s apartment, the front door lock appears to fall apart, and she gets to see Dick leaving as Nightwing and gets to listen to a message from Jason. So now she knows that Dick is Nightwing, to Dick’s total surprise. Not sure why he would be surprised, since it is a wonder everyone in New York doesn’t know it.

This comic is bad. It’s so bad it makes stuff like the crappy Nightwing mini-series look good. It even makes me yearn for Devin Grayson’s writing. That’s how bad it is. I guess in the year Dick spent with Bruce Wayne and Tim Drake travelling the world, retracing Batman’s creation, was totally lost on him. He’s now some sort of careless himbo idiot who can’t even manage to capture Jason Todd. I think even Ambush Bug could capture Jason after four or five tries. And if he couldn’t, at least it would be funny.

I just hope that DC gets smart and finds a new writer for Nightwing. The “One Year Later” thing could have really helped cement Nightwing as one of the go-to guys in the DC Universe. Instead, they’ve regressed the character so far back, it’ll be even more difficult to pull him back up. I was waiting until issue #122 to roll around (since the cover image intrigued me), but now I know that it’s Cheyenne on that cover (most likely), I’ve lost all desire. Once again, DC’s ability to find the worst hacks around to write the Nightwing comic is pushing me away from my favorite character. Thanks, DC!

Technorati Tags: Nightwing

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 14th, 2006 at 9:11 pm and is filed under DC Comics, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Comment on this entry

The URI to TrackBack this entry is:
http://spandexjustice.com/2006/05/14/111/trackback