Reviewer: Tim Stevens
Story Title: Night and the City
Written by: Chuck Dixon (none may come before Dixon!) & Scott Beatty
Penciled by: Scott McDaniel
Inked by: Andy Owens
Colored by: Gregory Wright
Lettered by: Phil Balsman
Editor: Nachie Castro
Publisher: DC Comics
Seriously, DC’s retconning has gone too far. Krypton no longer a cold and sterile place (or is it again?)? Okay, I can deal with that. Clark Kent and Lex Luthor growing up with one another? Why not, works well in Smallville. Doom Patrol never existed until this year? Umm…fine, I’ll swallow that too. But this…this is too much! How can Dick not be rocking that fine piece of blue and yellow jumpsuit complete with plunging neckline? It’s like every issue of Teen Titans I’ve ever read was a lie…nay, it is like my entire life is a lie.
I kid, I kid.
But yeah, the yellow and blue is out and now Dick’s debut duds are similar to his current except his does have the v-neckline. (Thank God some things are still sacred, right?) It seems like an odd change to me, I mean, why bother really, but it is hardly a big deal. However, I do like to make jokes about that first costume so any chance to reference it is one I must take.
Anyway, on to more pertinent issues.
The entirety of the issue revolves around Nightwing’s first night back in Gotham as his own man, including meet and greets with Jim Gordon, Batgirl, and a few select members of Bat’s Arkham buddies (including Crazy Quilt?!). Meanwhile, Nightwing Year One continues to be a bit of Jason Todd Year One as well as Batman continues to tutor the angry young lad in preparation for…duh duh daaaaaaaaaa…THE GAUNTLET!!!
This is the first issue of Year One that felt like a return to the Dixon/McDaniel collaboration at the start of this series. The prior issues weren’t bad, per se, they just lacked the spark that those first issues had. Personally, I blame Scott Beatty (nah, I don’t. Just joshin’ ya Mr. Beatty). Here, however, the tone, the personalities, the action, everything feels right again.
Dixon writes the Batgirl/Oracle:Robin/Nightwing relationship better than anyone in comics these days, as far as I am concerned. Under his guidance what at first blush would seem like a fanboy connecting the dots approach to romance (as in: “Let’s put together Superman and Wonder Woman cause they are both strong and fast and they’d “get” one another”) is given depth. Each encounter between the two, even in this flashback, has the faint whiff of the bittersweet.
I am also enjoying the side plot involving Jason Todd. It makes sense that Nightwing Year One and Jason Todd Year One would share a timeline and it is nice to see Dixon use that fact to keep Batman in the story without making him overly dominant.
No review of this work would be complete without talking about Scott McDaniel’s art. He’s excellent. All the time. Even in the 90’s when he was drawing Tree of Knowledge and you thought he was bad….you were wrong. McDaniel is never bad. This book reinforces that.
Sadly, that does not make this effort a homerun. This miniseries within an ongoing is still only good, not great, storytelling. It is nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake and because of that, there is no immediacy to it, no adrenaline. Dixon’s Year One stories are great fun (and sometimes, that’s all you need) but little else.
