DC Anthology - NIGHTWING by Richard Hill

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Dec 29, 2009, 6:36pm

DC Anthology :: DCA Universe - http://dca.bhyphen.com/dcau.html :: Nightwing :: Reviews :: NIGHTWING by Richard Hill

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Topic: NIGHTWING by Richard Hill (Read 13 times)

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NIGHTWING by Richard Hill
« Thread Started on Sept 24, 2008, 9:09am »

Copied from Derrick's LJ:

Mike McGee and I were having an IM conversation recently and he asked me what I thought about DC Anthology, which is a DC fanfic site that has apparently been around for a considerable amount of time now but I’ve only recently become aware of. I told Mike that when I first looked at the site, I knew how Barry Allen felt the first time he busted that vibrational barrier and ended up on Earth-2. I mean, DC Anthology and her sister site, Marvel Anthology are chock full of the characters and titles that I’ve know for years but for the most part, the names of the writers are totally new and unfamiliar. Most of these guys I’ve never heard of, but they obviously care and enjoy what they’re doing. I guess the only reason they’ve gone unnoticed this long is because fanfic writers seem to have this peculiar notion that it’s somehow rude and impolite to actively publicize one’s work or to ask for critical feedback. Don’t ask me where that idea came from and Thank God I don’t suffer from it.

NIGHTWING comes to us from Richard Hill and right off the bat let me say one thing about DC Anthology I really like: they make the stories easy to read. I’ve been appalled by some sites that have all kinds of bells and whistles and whatnot interfering with my actual reading of the text. How is somebody supposed to read a story when the text is slanting up and down and back and forth and traveling in circles or little animated figures of Deadman is doing the Cabbage Patch in the background? DC Anthology puts nothing in the way of the reader and the story and I appreciate that.

I also like the use of original artwork as ‘covers’ for each issue. While the quality of the art ranges from So-So to Dazzling, it’s an idea I like greatly as it gives artists a showcase for their talent as well.

After all of this, how’s the actual series? Well, let me put it this way: if you’re an action junkie and a Nightwing fan, you’re gonna orgasm over this series because that’s all it is: Nightwing in near-constant, non-stop action. I guess Richard’s target audience for his series is die-hard Nightwingers who have been following the ‘real’ DC series since Day One because Richard gives you only as much as you need to know before the ass kicking begins. I like Nightwing but I don’t follow every issue (matter of fact, I’ve just about given up buying individual issues of comics and wait for the TPBs) and so there was a lot I didn’t know about the characters and their relationships and why they were pounding the piss outta each other. The basic format of Richard’s NIGHTWING issues goes like this: We’re introduced to Nightwing/Dick Grayson, we’re introduced to the bad guy and they meet and fight. That’s it. There’s very little utilization of Nightwing’s considerable detective skills and he relies mostly on his acrobatic/martial arts skills to defeat his enemies and the result is that this series reads more like DAREDEVIL at times (especially the issue where Nightwing beats the hell outta 20 ninjas) and I would have appreciated seeing more of Dick’s detective prowess at work.

I also would have liked it if once in a while Richard had taken an issue for some straight up characterization and just give us and him a chance to slow down a bit. There’s a helluva lot of villains and guest stars packed into the 14 issues available so far. We’ve got Court Vertigo, Deadshot, Merlyn (who’s a real cool badass here) Blockbuster, Killer Croc, Rat Catcher, Deathstroke, Cheshire, Black Canary, Oracle, Flash, Robin, Spoiler, Arsenal and I haven’t even named ‘em all. With so many villains and guest stars, there’s little room for characterization and outside of Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon and supporting character P.O. Tim Fencik, I found out little about the rest of the cast. Richard Hill isn’t much for subtlety. He introduces a character, sums up everything you need to know about them in a paragraph and moves on to the next fight scene. The stories and characters go by in a white-hot rush and while this gives Richard’s prose a charging drive and energy, it also barrels right over motivation and made it difficult for me to truly lose myself in the unfolding story as I was too aware of the fact that the writer was in the background, moving the characters around to suit him.

Perhaps the best example I can give of this is Richard’s characterization of Black Canary. Now, the Black Canary I’m used to is a seasoned respected professional who has worked with the JSA and JLA and has a history and tradition of excellence behind her. The Black Canary is a super heroine to be reckoned with and for two issues, Richard has her constantly sneaking looks at Nightwing’s butt and mooning over how cute he is and how lucky Barbara Gordon is to have Nightwing for a boyfriend. Now if all this mushy stuff was happening at the High School, fine and dandy….but when it’s happening in the sewers under Bludhaven when Nightwing and Black Canary are supposed to be hunting down a deranged and deadly Killer Croc I have to question somebody about what strikes me as a reckless and even suicidal lack of focus and discipline.

What else? Oh, yeah, the dialog…sigh…I’m sorry, but it didn’t work for me. Nobody in NIGHTWING had a line of dialog that sounded to me like an actual person talking. The characters in this series make speeches, utter pronouncements, issue ultimatums, deliver soliloquies but they never just talk. And I think that comes from the non-stop action since nobody ever has time to slow down and relax and just be people for a while.

So after all is said and done, can I recommend NIGHTWING? Despite my issues with the series, I can’t deny that it’s extremely thrilling and exciting. In fact, NIGHTWING has more than enough action in a single issue to satisfy the most rabid action fan. And it’s well choreographed action as well. The hand-to-hand combat scenes are well thought out and come alive. Despite his other shortcomings, Richard Hill is a helluva action writer and with NIGHTWING he more than amply demonstrates that he can do fight scenes, car chases and describe massive acts of mayhem and destruction with skill, style and flair indeed. Now if he could only give us the explosive pyrotechnics of fully rounded characters to go along with it. But check it out for yourself and then we’ll talk, okay?

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