Devil Lance
Bruce Jones run on Nightwing is finally over. heres some spoilers for Nightwing 124 from the DC message boards.
I deem this issue the worst issue in nightwing's history.
Well I just finished reading NW 124. What a jumbled mess. It's pretty much the usual crap from Bruce Jones. It's also pretty obvious this little tale went through a rewrite because... hold your breath... Cheyenne is GONE!!! GONE, I SAY!!!!
Thank the dear lord. If anything good could come out of this title, it's showing that pseudo-Mary Sue the door. I was hoping to read her demise, but instead she just left for Hollywood, in the best soap opera tradition.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. As we left last issue, Nightwing was surrounded by cops, all with their weapons trained on him. How do you think he got out of this mess? You choices are:
1 - Using his weapons, fighting and strategic skills, he outsmarted the cops and got away.
2 - Cheyenne showed up to help him get away using her fantastic Mary Sue powers.
Which would you choose? I bet you'd choose #2, right? Well, surprise! That's not the answer this time.
But wait!
Surprise! Number one isn't the answer either. No, this is a trick question. The real answer is:
3 - Another superhero, who has not been mentioned once since the new writer took over, suddenly shows up with no rhyme or reason and helps Nightwing escape.
That's right, Arsenal shows up out of nowhere and helps Nightwing escape. Sound stupid? Darn right. Of course it's stupid. Why show Nightwing using his own skills to escape some Z-list cops whom, even under Chuck Dixon, he could waltz his way around, when instead Roy Harper can show up out of nowhere and assist him. The two exchange some mostly meaningless (and, as per Bruce Jones's usual, sophmoric) banter, and then Roy is gone from this story.
Oh, and Nightwing still gets shot by the cops (but only superficially, for that, I suppose we should be grateful). Roy doesn't seem to get a scratch.
It's official, folks, Roy Harper is a better crime fighter than Dick Grayson. Of course, NW jokes that he still 'has the moves', but as always, this is told to us and never shown. NW has fantastic moves, all right... in bed. Outside of the bedroom he's a danger to himself and everyone else... still... One Year and six months after Infinite Crisis.
Now, Roy says something to Dick about being seriously worried about him. Join the club, dude. Dick mentions that he is also worried about himself. About time, if you ask me. Roy suggests that a change might be in order. "More Dark Knight, less man of steel"?????
This is followed by the now standard Bruce Jones era Dick Grayson/Cheyenne sex scene. Nothing to praise here. Dick mentions that sex is all he can think about when she's around. Noooooooo, no Mary Sue in the works there. None at all.
The actual sex is intercut with a scene of Firefly or Firebug or Sparks or whatever the hell his name is (really, who gives a damn?) talking with his never before mentioned apprentice, a kid who can handle electricity or something. Together, they're going to reek havoc on the Pierce's (yes, they're still around) and Cheyenne (yeah, sure).
We then return to our two lovebirds (gag), and Cheyenne now knows what it means when 'the earth moves'. Then Mr. Furley comes in and catches Jack and Crissy... no, wait, sorry, wrong TV show.
Word balloons are wasted with Dick telling Cheyenne how she 'revitalizes him' and makes him 'want to leap over tall buildings'.
Somebody get me a bucket. I'm gonna throw up.
Then they have some kind of off the cuff fight (more like a tiff) that makes very little sense, and NW is gone out the window.
The finale of this 'chaotic arc' occurs when the fire villain's apprentice lures both Cheyenne and Barry Pierce to a rendezvous with a hackneyed routine that I've seen used many times on Frank Burns and Hot Lips from M.A.S.H. decades ago (luring each one to a place with letters that appear to be from each other) and a fight breaks out. During that fight the girl with the electricity powers, in a moment culled from the 'Jason Todd is somehow now a monster that swallows people' library of hackneyed plot points 'short circuits' Cheyenne's powers, blessedly ending her career as a Mary Sue.
Personally, I say we give the little girl the keys to the city. Thank you, nameless little girl. I owe you a beer.
In the end, Barry is not stopped, but Nightwing and Cheyenne get away. It appears that the two Z-listers, Firefly/Bug/Spark and the little girl, are now in custody, however. Hey, Nightwing sent a little girl to juvvie.
That'll do nothing but enhance your @ss-kicking rep, my friend.
Tried and true Nightwing right to the very end. No villains captured or defeated, Nightwing is shot in this issue, and the 'finale to our chaotic arc' seemed geared more towards wrapping up Cheyenne's place in Nightwing's life than to serving our main character's needs.
Wolfman can't get here fast enough
I deem this issue the worst issue in nightwing's history.
Well I just finished reading NW 124. What a jumbled mess. It's pretty much the usual crap from Bruce Jones. It's also pretty obvious this little tale went through a rewrite because... hold your breath... Cheyenne is GONE!!! GONE, I SAY!!!!
Thank the dear lord. If anything good could come out of this title, it's showing that pseudo-Mary Sue the door. I was hoping to read her demise, but instead she just left for Hollywood, in the best soap opera tradition.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. As we left last issue, Nightwing was surrounded by cops, all with their weapons trained on him. How do you think he got out of this mess? You choices are:
1 - Using his weapons, fighting and strategic skills, he outsmarted the cops and got away.
2 - Cheyenne showed up to help him get away using her fantastic Mary Sue powers.
Which would you choose? I bet you'd choose #2, right? Well, surprise! That's not the answer this time.
But wait!
Surprise! Number one isn't the answer either. No, this is a trick question. The real answer is:
3 - Another superhero, who has not been mentioned once since the new writer took over, suddenly shows up with no rhyme or reason and helps Nightwing escape.
That's right, Arsenal shows up out of nowhere and helps Nightwing escape. Sound stupid? Darn right. Of course it's stupid. Why show Nightwing using his own skills to escape some Z-list cops whom, even under Chuck Dixon, he could waltz his way around, when instead Roy Harper can show up out of nowhere and assist him. The two exchange some mostly meaningless (and, as per Bruce Jones's usual, sophmoric) banter, and then Roy is gone from this story.
Oh, and Nightwing still gets shot by the cops (but only superficially, for that, I suppose we should be grateful). Roy doesn't seem to get a scratch.
It's official, folks, Roy Harper is a better crime fighter than Dick Grayson. Of course, NW jokes that he still 'has the moves', but as always, this is told to us and never shown. NW has fantastic moves, all right... in bed. Outside of the bedroom he's a danger to himself and everyone else... still... One Year and six months after Infinite Crisis.
Now, Roy says something to Dick about being seriously worried about him. Join the club, dude. Dick mentions that he is also worried about himself. About time, if you ask me. Roy suggests that a change might be in order. "More Dark Knight, less man of steel"?????
This is followed by the now standard Bruce Jones era Dick Grayson/Cheyenne sex scene. Nothing to praise here. Dick mentions that sex is all he can think about when she's around. Noooooooo, no Mary Sue in the works there. None at all.
The actual sex is intercut with a scene of Firefly or Firebug or Sparks or whatever the hell his name is (really, who gives a damn?) talking with his never before mentioned apprentice, a kid who can handle electricity or something. Together, they're going to reek havoc on the Pierce's (yes, they're still around) and Cheyenne (yeah, sure).
We then return to our two lovebirds (gag), and Cheyenne now knows what it means when 'the earth moves'. Then Mr. Furley comes in and catches Jack and Crissy... no, wait, sorry, wrong TV show.
Word balloons are wasted with Dick telling Cheyenne how she 'revitalizes him' and makes him 'want to leap over tall buildings'.
Somebody get me a bucket. I'm gonna throw up.
Then they have some kind of off the cuff fight (more like a tiff) that makes very little sense, and NW is gone out the window.
The finale of this 'chaotic arc' occurs when the fire villain's apprentice lures both Cheyenne and Barry Pierce to a rendezvous with a hackneyed routine that I've seen used many times on Frank Burns and Hot Lips from M.A.S.H. decades ago (luring each one to a place with letters that appear to be from each other) and a fight breaks out. During that fight the girl with the electricity powers, in a moment culled from the 'Jason Todd is somehow now a monster that swallows people' library of hackneyed plot points 'short circuits' Cheyenne's powers, blessedly ending her career as a Mary Sue.
Personally, I say we give the little girl the keys to the city. Thank you, nameless little girl. I owe you a beer.
In the end, Barry is not stopped, but Nightwing and Cheyenne get away. It appears that the two Z-listers, Firefly/Bug/Spark and the little girl, are now in custody, however. Hey, Nightwing sent a little girl to juvvie.
That'll do nothing but enhance your @ss-kicking rep, my friend.
Tried and true Nightwing right to the very end. No villains captured or defeated, Nightwing is shot in this issue, and the 'finale to our chaotic arc' seemed geared more towards wrapping up Cheyenne's place in Nightwing's life than to serving our main character's needs.
Wolfman can't get here fast enough
