Nightwing #55

 

  Writer: Charles Dixon
  Ink: Drew Geraci
  Art: Greg Land
  Letterer: Willie Schubert
  Colorist:  Patricia Mulvihill
 
     Well back again, came across this issue while at my work place doing inventory and i wanted to buy it because i had a bad experience once with nightwing based on a certain writer who shall not be named who decided to make Nightwing into Renegade... anyways this is getting into the series again, i figured this would be a quick jump in point. as well as introduce the series for those who never got into it. so AWAAAAAAAAAAAY WE GO!
 

The Story

        Nightwing for those who do not remember is Dick Grayson. Dick is in Bludhaven, a nearby city that too is a crime filled hole. so breaking free of his mentor he shoves off to find his own super hero way in the world. so here he becomes a cop for the Bludhaven PD. The mob boss in this city is Blockbuster. Aka. Roland Desmond. he has his gang of supervillains to keep  Bludhaven under his thumb, and Nightwing being the Dick....Grayson he is decides to get involved to clean up the city...(see what i did there?)
 
        This starts off with Blockbuster and his gang going to attack this hired hitman named Shrike, he would hire shrike on the condition that he beats all his gang members. There is quite a bit of banter and insults going back and forth, its fine at first you get a HA! out of it. but it loses its appeal fast. this is being on of the high points of this book.
 

        Another thing i wanted to get into for this story it has 3 high points and the rest were barely worth noting. it keeps the reader interested for the point of what is the shrikes plan to get Nightwing, and what will happen to Clancy?, and soon to be my favorite part........ naw i can't say it. Dixion does a fair job with the story i have to give him that. he is doing stuff with Nightwing that should have been done a long time ago. this book is certainly a step up from the previous issue with a wife beater and a cold. 
 
       All in all the story was good, i mean it had 3 high points evenly spaced so that it can keep the reader into the story. Dixon not the greatest of writers i have to give him props for Nightwing though. im especially happy with the near end happy moment. so for dixon not thrilling me but keeping me going through the book with interesting work. 3.5 out of 5.
 

The Pretty Colours

 

       So first off ill talk about the cover. the cover looks like it will be a fight between shrike and nightwing. but read the title it says Enter: Shrike. so its more of an issue about him and his soon to be target. id have to say interesting cover. im personally a fan of covers that treat the cover as if the characters know its just a piece of paper either by ripping it up or even just rolling it to the side. like a deadpool moment at breaking the 4th wall. 
 
      Inside we get great pencil art from what to expect from land. those of you familiar with his work he later did Ultimates Fantastic Four and long ago did uncanny x-men issues, and of course the babes of DC, Birds of Prey. i have respect for his work and put with a good coloring and ink team is great too. There is where i hit the fan with this. its good but not great when it comes to this.
 
      To elaborate on this, The action goes great with the story that i got but its in consistency in detail for some parts with like how you have background in several panels then for the next page or 2 no background at all just color. it may be nit picking and i should not but characters were pretty good as well. Lots of shading in this which is good for a city like Bludhaven. its like Gothams twin brother. 
 
     Overall for the art i felt satisfied but not feeling anything just says this is perfect for the art. so i have to give the art a 3.5 out of 5. the art was good and slightly above average then the rest at the time in 2001 that i cared to have read. it certainly got points for adding in one of my favorite women in this haha.

Overall Thoughts

       Story and character development: Blockbuster is seriously getting tired of his goons screwing up and its good he is looking for outside help. it adds more flavor to the mix and keeps characters like Nightwing on his toes and ready for action. im especially liking the idea of a relationship fully developing with Dicks personal life... (no pun intended). over all it was a fairly interesting story with only 3 high points worth mentioning. 
 
        Character Design and Cover: these points wanted to touch on. one thing i like about some panels in this book is certain parts that get super attention to detail. for me i do not think ninja cowboy counts as one of them. the cover of this can be miss leading to you guys out there, but ill spoil this for you nightwing and shrike do not fight .... yet. 
 
       Overall together: I found the story to be pretty interesting at the beginning with shrike fighting the minions, it got boring fast with that then we got a new scene where we left off clancy from previous issue with a SHOCKING moment. (hint) its a type of roller coaster story where its starting off good, then goes down then oh how about that.. oh man more fighting from them... etc. Dixon is good and prolonging a single good story that could have been 2 or 3 issues and making it 4 or 5 issues. but its stretching it out you may have problems with. so i gave it a 3.5 out of 5 total.
 
      Closing: So over all i can recommend this to bat-fans out there, they will get into this easy. especially if you know the history of Dick Grayson. for people who are not. they do almost remind you that he was robin in almost every single issue and dixon does not make it hard to follow the story. would suggest that this be for 14 years and older though. 
 
       So that is the review thanks for reading you are welcome to find me on comicvine, please leave comments below or on my wall. look forward to the next review.