Nightwing 46, Gotham Knights 6, Titans 18, Capt Marvel 8 - Points to Ponder REVIEWS
Simon DelMonte
Nightwing 46 - B-
Batman: Gotham Knights 6 - B+
The Titans 18 - B+
Captain Marvel 8 - A-
SPOILER SPACE...
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discussions about DC comics to RACDCU, and post discussion about Batman-related
books to alt.comics.batman. Post about Capt. Marvel to RACMU or the PAD
newsgroup. Or e-mail me with your comments and remarks.
Nighwing 46
Words: Dixon
Art: Land and Marzan Jr.
The Hunt for Oracle continues as Blockbuster's search closes in on
Barbara's emergency hiding place. Canary escapes from Lady Vic and Brutale and
races to the rescue. Nightwing fights Grimm the talking ape and fights with
Tad over the latter's murder of Cisco Blaine, and gets a bit of help from Tim
and Alfred. And everything gallops toward a conclusion in BoP.
Despite this being a crossover event by the man who writes both Nightwing
and BoP, it feels like one of those big crossover when a guest writer comes in,
takes possession of the comic, and shoves aside all the usual plots in favor of
the Event. The regular Nightwing dynamic is missing, even though the regular
cast and the regular action are here. I find myself quite disappointed with
story. It's entertaining, but little else. I'm glad it's just two months, and
then we're back to having Dick star in his own book.
The biggest positive here is Land and Marzan's art. They do a stunning
Oracle, among other things.
Batman: Gotham Knights 6
Words: Grayson; Simonson
Art: Ryan; Leon
In the lead story, Batman is on the trail of the contents of safe deposit
box presumed lost in the quake. With these papers, he can bring a corrupt
councilman to justice for selling Clench antidote. But he's not the only one
looking for these papers, and these aren't the only papers that get lifted from
the wreckage. One document belongs to Barbara Gordon.
Batman follows the paper trail through the Penguin's and brings the
potentail blackmailer to justice. He also ponders what has Barbara so upset
but retrieves her missing document. What is in it? Evidence that her father
might actually be Jim Gordon, who in current continuity is only her uncle. She
thinks he doesn't know, and is afraid of him finding out and how he'll react.
Batman, however, assures her that she has nothing to fear and that jim Gordon
is not the only person in her life who cares about her.
The idea underlying this story is not what I would call a good one. While
I feel that making Jim Babs' adoptive father was a silly change in continuity,
I don't see this as correcting a problem. I've gotten used to the idea that
Barbara is not Jim's real child but that she is also as much as his child as if
she were really his. This is not necessary. However, the way Devin handles
her longtime knowledge of this and the way Batman handles leaning this now are
very well done. Devin's amazing skill as a writer of great characters saves
the story from her questionable retcon of a retcon.
The backup story by Walter Simonson and John Paul Leon is a delightful
little stroy where the Riddler breaks into the home of a recently deceased
collector of Lewis Carroll memorabilia, hoping to find the answer to the "Alice
in Wonderland" riddle of "why is a raven like a writing desk." I have tos ay
that I can't blame the Riddler for taking huge risks to get the answer.
Building a stroy on this literary reference is quite clever, and Walter gets
both Nigma and the batman just right. The stark art by Leon is also quite
right.
The Titans 18
Words: Grayson and Faerber
Art: DeKraker and Lanning
On the Gordanian homeworld, Tempest is being held prisoner but soon learns
what the rest of the Titans have figured out: the Tamaranians are the inavders.
The rest of the team is willing to mount a rescue mission, but all feel
betrayed by Starfire's efforts to trick them into helping. Kory makes no
excuses but wonders if what she's done is right. the rescue effort goes well,
but Garth tells the team to back off - he's a trained diplomat and thinks he
has a better idea. However, he and the rest of the Titans don't know that the
Gordanian military is coming to resuce its home from the invaders.
Meanwhile back on Earth, Roy and Lian try to help Grant deal with his
horrific past of abuse at his father's hands, and in Philadelphia "Robby
Malone" comes to Jesse Quick to get help with his project to help clone a body
for Vic and to also get back in her good graces.
The main story hits its stride after a slow start. I think that this is
where the book is likely to go when Jay takes the reins by himself, away from
strong character play with weak stories towards something a bit more
unpredictable. I wasn't quite so able to guess when things were headed this
issue. What is Garth up to?
The Grant Coming to Grips story was OK, but nothing that really moved me.
I think Devin and Jay have the words right but are missing the emotional
impact. Lian's efforts to help, however, ring quite true. She's a fairly
realistically written child.
Nightwing's visit to Jesse was well done and looks to be setting up her
welcome return to the team. The tension in their relationship, and the sense
that Devin is trying to not let Jesse be the 1000th woman to fall in love with
Dick, are very well constructed.
The guest art is astonishingly like that of Mr. Buckingham's. I would say
that this series is lucky to receive the kind of art work it needs to thrive.
Captain Marvel 8
Words: PAD
Art: ChrisCross and several inkers
Rick and Marlo have a quiet romantic dinner, just the two of them and
Prof. Stein - I mean Genis and Al from Quantum Leap - I mean Lorraine the snide
ghost. Surprisingly, things good really well, even though Genis and Moondragon
are busy trying to warn Rick that the Super-Skrull is on Earth and trying to
kill our mystery girl Kelly.
The Skrull has been sent to destroy Kelly before she can destroy
everything, but she's indifferent to her failure to stop him and to her pending
death. When you're that powerful, she asks, why bother to do anything. Before
Skrull can kill her, Moondragon comes to the rescue, and a bald chick in need
of her own help is just enough to get Kelly to send for help.
All the while, Rick and Marlo are busy ignoring the world, falling in love
and lust all over again. Genis tries to use his nega-bands in the microverse
to trade places, but that trick still won't work. Only the boosting of Marv's
cosmic awareness by Kelly's SOS snaps Rick out of it. At which point he
decides the only way to explain why he has to leave Marlo is to show her.
Since this reason is not what Marlo feared - that Rick has a case of
commitment-phobia - she's delighted to send Marv and his passenger off to
battle. Before Marv can join in, though, we learn that Kelly didn't send out
for Titanian. She send for the Silver Surfer.
Cosmic battle to come...
In the hands of a lesser writer, the scenes with Rick hearing Marv's voice
and Marlo hearing Lorraine's could have been cloying. PAD, however, is still
among the best writers of believable comic dialogue, and this time around he
knew when to stop. This series has found its balance between outrageous humor,
oddball character play, heroic action, and the dark undercurrent of life in the
Marvel Universe. It's rapidly moving up my list of must-reads. I'm quite happy
I stuck it out after its slow start.
ChrisCross, aided by a cadre of major inking talents, does a great job
with the art. One nitpick, however: Marlo is wearing a very lowcut blouse
early in the story, but shen things get, um, hot and heavy later and the blosue
is off, she's wearing a strapless bra that covers parts of her that were bare.
Is this Marlo's new mutant power, or have unstalbe molecules evolved further?
Simon DelMonte