Return of Lady Shiva
By: Andrew Hines
There's been a lot going on in Dick's life since #1. His old "home" came back to town. (The dude grew up in the circus. It's complicated.) His old buddy came back from the dead, became a freelance assassin and came after Dick. Then, Mr. Grayson got handed ownership of Haly's Circus. He wants to employ everyone in a concrete location at the old amusement park of Gotham. Add to that someone framing Nightwing/Dick Grayson for a double homicide. That's where things get tricky. He's thwarted that and now two of his deadliest enemies have returned to Gotham.
Let's have a moment of silence for Kyle Higgins leaving Nightwing for this issue and the next. . . . Okay, now let's deal with Tom DeFalco's writing. Suffice it to say, it's average. Better than even the writing of Liefeld, but then again, it's Liefeld. DeFalco gives us some interesting pages, but it's not the best pacing. The dialogue is alright, but only really shines in a few panels. The action sequences are written well, but then we're partly back to the issue of pacing. Then there's the fact that the issue is supposed to be about Lady Shivabeing back in Gotham. She's only there for a page or two and has absolutely no lines. The writing could be a lot better, so here's me looking forward to issue 15.
Andres Guinaldo's art is pretty good and feels pretty consistent from issue to issue. the pencils are great and the different angles don't really change the look of the character much. For some artists, this is a problem, but Guinaldo, as I said, is quite consistent. Mark Irwin's inks lend themselves nicely to the nourish setting of Gotham. It pulls the pencils and colds together pretty well. This leads me to Rod Reis' colors, which are superb as usual. The dude rarely misses a beat. He really puts his all into it as is shown in the lighting on the page shown at right.
All things considered, this issue earns a "B-", which is probably the lowest grade I've given an issue of Nightwing to date. I say buy it if you're a completist or for the artwork, not the writing.
Hey Jeff I couldnt find your email in my address book, I found this pic when I was looking around and thought you could use it in your next random old comic pannel.
http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee363/cameron_stanley_84/Randomness/jokersboner.jpg
Wow. That’s …….. okay, I can’t really say anything appropriate about that. Let’s just leave it at “WOW!!”
I know right, I had to read it several times, I was like does he know hes using that word in the wrong sense? Maybe he had two thoughts in his head and they came out jumbled together I dunno LOL
Ah, how the language changes.
I dread to think what our most commonplace words will mean in 50 years’ time.
One I found in my own browsings http://oi48.tinypic.com/316qdrc.jpg
Regarding the Joker picture, I just want to know why there’s a tiny man sitting on his shoulder.
Should I keep adding an interior page as I have on all of the posts this week?
If it’s convenient for you, it’s a nice addition for us. Art’s really important to me, and cover art and interior art rarely look the same. Nice to get a sample of dialogue and/or narrative, too.
I just have to be careful about the images I get so it doesn’t really spoil anything big in the plot of the issue or story arc.
Unequivocally YES!
Yeah, I like the interior page as well.