COMIC BOOK COVER OF THE WEEK

COMIC BOOK COVER OF THE WEEK


Here we are, yet again, with  another comic book cover to talk about.   This week, we're focusing on the 1996 regular series of Dick Grayson - the first Robin - who had graduated to be the man known as Nightwing.  Fresh off his 4 issue mini-series, the former Boy Wonder and Titan springs off into his own regular series, that sees him land in the town of Bludhaven, where crime and corruption is ten times worse than Gotham City.  This was a chance for fans to finally have a chance to know and read about Dick Grayson's solo exploits, and further prove that he has graduated from Batman's "school", and is capable of handling things on his own.  I had personally awaited a long time for Nightwing to run in his own book, and this series was fantastic from the start.  But...we'll tell you all about it below.




NIGHTWING #1



COVER:  Scott McDaniel, Scott Hana, Patrick Martin
WRITER:  Chuck Dixon
ARTIST:  Scott McDaniel
INKS:  Karl Story
COLORS: Roberta Tewes
LETTERS: John Costanza
EDITOR: Scott Peterson, Darren Vicenzo
COVER DATE:  October 1996 
PUBLISHER: DC Comics



STORY TITLE:  "Child of Justice"



Nightwing #1 was launched in October of 1996, finally allowing Dick Grayson to come into his own has a major player in the DC Universe, having long graduated from Batman's teachings, and becoming more his equal.  Writer Chuck Dixon, who had been penning stories for the Dark Knight, was given the job of pushing Nightwing into a new and exciting direction after the success of his mini-series.  They tapped artist Scott McDaniel to work with Dixon, and the marriage of the two became a phenomenal success.  McDaniel's art was different, but portrayed Bludhaven as a city of lost souls...dirty, grimy, and hopeless.  His action scenes were stellar, and he helped set a tone with this book.  It allowed Dick to use his detective skills, but also give us the superhero action we craved from a Batman character.  This book also introduces us to a few new characters, and an old enemy in Blockbuster. New characters on the scene such as Dudley Soams---a corrupt cop who likes to play all the angles, and Chief Redhorn, who's also as corrupt as they come, Black Mask's presence is felt, as well as his goons, the False Face Society.  We get many more color characters in this series that Dick accumilates as his own gallery of rogues.  


THE STORY:  Dick Grayson is asked by Batman, to head to the old fishing town of Bludhaven, where 21 dead bodies floated from into the Gotham City Estuary.  As Nightwing arrives in town, he finds out the city is just as bad--if not worse--than Gotham.  He runs afoul of not only a gang called the False Face Society, but of the corrupt local authories as well, including Dudley Soams and Chief Redhorn.  


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This series was lit from the get-go.  Dixon and McDaniel wasted no time in getting Dick Grayson into touble early, and throwing a TON of obstacles in his way, as he tried to navigate the downtrodden city of Bludhaven.  This city is given it's own personality, as well as introducing us to new characters such as the False Face Society, Chief Redhorn, and Dudley Soames...all of which put Nightwing dead in their sights as a problem they need to eliminate.  And Nightwing nearly DOES die in this issue.  But Dixon and McDaniel set the tone for the book with high octane action, but colorful characters, and usually a tough case to crack for our intrepid hero.  I think that Dixon had Dick Grayson down pat, and really developed him well on his tenure in the series.  To ME...THIS was the definitive Dick Grayson, the Nightwing I enjoyed a lot.  THIS is a series worth picking up, I promise you.