DCU Comic Book Reviews

NIGHTWING #122

Odd Couples

September 2006

Written by Bruce Jones

Pencils by Paco Diaz

Inks by Bit

Cover by Jock

Synopsis

Jason Todd has been wrapped in a gelatin cocoon and has only minutes before he runs out of oxygen.  Unfortunately, Cheyenne Freemont has accidentally killed the creature that engulfed (and could free) Jason.  Dick Grayson (aka Nightwing) demands that the Pierce Brothers free Jason, but the twins refuse to help out.  Nightwing attacks Barry Pierce, but fails since Barry can make his body like concrete.  Nightwing then decides to use that to his advantage and cues Cheyenne to insult him.  Barry gets angry and attempts to punch Cheyenne, who ducks so that he punches Jason’s cocoon instead and frees Jason.  Dick then formulates a plan:  he allows himself to get beat up long enough to wear Barry down so he can’t adjust his body.  Nightwing thinks he has him when suddenly Jason appears.  Still feeling the effects of being in the cocoon, Jason momentarily turns into the creature and swallows Barry.  When he spits him back up, Nightwing is able to beat him down.  Buddy Pierce then attacks, but Jason Todd grabs him, but Buddy starts to expand.  Cheyenne and Nightwing tell the police the clear the surrounding and clear out before Buddy explodes.  Later, the Pierce Brothers conduct an interview claiming innocence and Nightwing receives a telegram from Jason who has left town to find his own way. 

Review

“Spill it, chuckles.  What’s with Cleveland?”

Tell me if this makes sense.  For the week this came out, this was the one issue that I was dreading the most, yet it was the very first one I read.  Perhaps there is some kind of fascination in seeing the proverbial car wreck this thing has become.  Perhaps I still hold out hope that somehow this series will right itself and all of the crap since the One Year Later jump can be explained properly.  Or perhaps I read this issue first just like I rip off my band-aids quickly so I can get the excruciating pain out of the way as quickly as possible. 

There were parts of this issue that I liked and parts that made me want to throw up, although not in the Jason Todd kinda way, if you know what I mean.  What I did like was that Dick used his brain to battle the twins.  Nightwing learned at the feet of Batman, one of the world’s greatest detectives and master strategist.  To me, this issue showed his ability to think on his feet and to change tactics on the fly to achieve victory at the end. The bad part is that ultimate victory did not come from him, but instead from the Jason-monster.  Besides, I’m not saying Dick's strategy was brilliant (wearing down your opponent by becoming a punching bag is almost a cliché), but at least it is a step upward from Dick Grayson, Male Model and certainly a step upward from being a clueless putz as he was portrayed at the beginning of this arc.  As for the bad in this issue, the whole thing about Cleveland repeated over and over again wore thin quick and Jason Todd turning into that monster was, like the rest of Bruce Jones’s work on this series, waaay too over the top.  But, now Jason is gone so that is plus and at least Cheyenne will no longer be the female Nightwing (for now, until some other writer gets it into his head to use her).  -- MRB

 

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