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Feel free to change the topic mods, but I figured since no one reads the Detective Comics and the Nightwing threads, that I should just combine them, at least for the new storyline.
*BEWARE OF SPOILERS(damn near summary)*
So, in Detective Comics #851 written by Denny O'Neil we see a beautiful actress being held at gunpoint by two thugs. Just then the huge earthquake that hit Gotham a while ago(Cataclysm), and see barely escapes. That event changed her life and the actress goes on to become the face of Gotham, doing huge charity events and raising funds like the Red Cross. So, the thug who was robbing her of her jewels and such back then, sees in the paper that the media has named her "The Face of Gotham", he doesn't like it and expresses his sentiments towards Two-Face...who is(at this point) not in prison. Two-Face tells the fool that he doesn't care about what he thinks and that he should no longer speak to him. Next we see the same actress, Millicent Mayne(very weird name,imo), at a charity event of course. Just as she is about to close a deal on some funds, a Two-Face impersonator(really obvious impersonator), comes bursting in with a couple of thugs who have no problem shooting off a couple of rounds into the air. Then, the fake Two-Face approaches Millicent, and basically says "You're the Face of Gotham. Do you remember me?" which tells us what we already knew, which is that the same thug is the one impersonating Two-Face. He then takes a bottle of chemicals and throws on Millicent's face...scarring her. Alfred calls Dick, and tells him what happened to Millicent is the apparent work of Two-Face, and because Robin is busy that he should come and work on this. So, Dick takes the trip to Gotham, and calls up Oracle on the way to get some intel...and set a date...Dick says to Alfred when offered to drive the Batmobile.
"I...I'm not Batman, and I'd feel odd driving his car"
There's our first sign of Dick Grayson NOT taking over for Batman in a literal sense,pre-Battle for the cowl. So, Dick heads to an address that Batman was going to check out, and it belongs to the thug and his thugs..lol. He starts to kick ass(oh btw, the art is GREAT! This guy can draw ANY book of mine any day!) but is distracted when a pizza boy enters the chop shop. Gas spills over during the fight and soon the place is set on fire, and Nightwing and the pizza boy are out cold. The issue ends with the thugs leaving the two bodies in the burning building.
Overall, a pretty good issue, especially for a first issue. I love that the bat books are tying into each. Dick mentions that he was the last person to fight Two-Face which JUST happened in Nightwing #150. Now for the synopsis of Nightwing #151:
Nightwing #151 reveals that the witness’ death was faked and that she lives safely in federal witness protection. After checking in on her (with some New York pizza), Nightwing then goes to visit Two-Face in Arkham Asylum and they have one of those great hero and villain tête-à-têtes through prison glass. Lots of old issues are brought up, there is some tough talk, some black humor, and all the good and tense dialogue you would expect from two adversaries with such a long and twisted history.
Moving on from there Dick meets up with his girlfriend Deb who was injured in the last arc when Two-Face attempted to drop acid on New York City from a fleet of hot air balloons. Deb pretty much decides that New York is not for her and that she’s moving back to Southern California with no ill feelings towards her now ex-boyfriend. It’s a nice ending to a relationship that was never really given enough pages to grow.
The very first arc from Tomasi’s run (superhero graves being robbed) is then wrapped up as Nightwing, John Stewart, and Superman move the bodies from a super hero cemetery in New York City to a secure superhero mausoleum buried deep below the Hall of Justice.
Finally we get to the really, really good stuff. One of the things that Tomasi introduced in his run was Dick Grayson’s new extreme skydiving hobby. Jumping from extreme heights was a way for him to recapture the thrills from his days in the circus. It was a nice bit of character stuff that showed that Tomasi understood that Dick Grayson is, at heart, a daredevil. Here in Nightwing #151, Dick Grayson makes his biggest leap ever – from 25 miles up. It’s a jump that will break every conceivable free fall altitude record, and no one will ever know about except for the two people on the ground trying to act like they aren’t nervous, Tim Drake and Alfred Pennyworth. After Dick lands safely we have what might be my favorite sequence in Tomasi’s entire run, which means it’s the best sequence since at least Chuck Dixon left the book. The final three pages is a completely silent scene (except for the sounds of the TV in the background) of Dick, Tim, and Alfred in Wayne Manor preparing snacks and making milkshakes and then sitting down to watch a movie together in big, plush chairs. It was a masterful scene showing a family together doing what, in a superhero comic book, could be considered the most mundane of tasks, but Tomasi infuses it with little touches that speak volumes. In the kitchen, while Alfred chops strawberries, Tim does a no-look toss of the ice cream scooper to Dick, and when the move to the next room he similarly tosses Dick the remote control. And then it all ends as the three men sit down to watch a movie and Tomasi delivers his final gut punch as the camera pulls out to reveal that the chair in-between Dick and Tim is empty.
*BEWARE OF SPOILERS(damn near summary)*
So, in Detective Comics #851 written by Denny O'Neil we see a beautiful actress being held at gunpoint by two thugs. Just then the huge earthquake that hit Gotham a while ago(Cataclysm), and see barely escapes. That event changed her life and the actress goes on to become the face of Gotham, doing huge charity events and raising funds like the Red Cross. So, the thug who was robbing her of her jewels and such back then, sees in the paper that the media has named her "The Face of Gotham", he doesn't like it and expresses his sentiments towards Two-Face...who is(at this point) not in prison. Two-Face tells the fool that he doesn't care about what he thinks and that he should no longer speak to him. Next we see the same actress, Millicent Mayne(very weird name,imo), at a charity event of course. Just as she is about to close a deal on some funds, a Two-Face impersonator(really obvious impersonator), comes bursting in with a couple of thugs who have no problem shooting off a couple of rounds into the air. Then, the fake Two-Face approaches Millicent, and basically says "You're the Face of Gotham. Do you remember me?" which tells us what we already knew, which is that the same thug is the one impersonating Two-Face. He then takes a bottle of chemicals and throws on Millicent's face...scarring her. Alfred calls Dick, and tells him what happened to Millicent is the apparent work of Two-Face, and because Robin is busy that he should come and work on this. So, Dick takes the trip to Gotham, and calls up Oracle on the way to get some intel...and set a date...Dick says to Alfred when offered to drive the Batmobile.
"I...I'm not Batman, and I'd feel odd driving his car"
There's our first sign of Dick Grayson NOT taking over for Batman in a literal sense,pre-Battle for the cowl. So, Dick heads to an address that Batman was going to check out, and it belongs to the thug and his thugs..lol. He starts to kick ass(oh btw, the art is GREAT! This guy can draw ANY book of mine any day!) but is distracted when a pizza boy enters the chop shop. Gas spills over during the fight and soon the place is set on fire, and Nightwing and the pizza boy are out cold. The issue ends with the thugs leaving the two bodies in the burning building.
Overall, a pretty good issue, especially for a first issue. I love that the bat books are tying into each. Dick mentions that he was the last person to fight Two-Face which JUST happened in Nightwing #150. Now for the synopsis of Nightwing #151:
Nightwing #151 reveals that the witness’ death was faked and that she lives safely in federal witness protection. After checking in on her (with some New York pizza), Nightwing then goes to visit Two-Face in Arkham Asylum and they have one of those great hero and villain tête-à-têtes through prison glass. Lots of old issues are brought up, there is some tough talk, some black humor, and all the good and tense dialogue you would expect from two adversaries with such a long and twisted history.
Moving on from there Dick meets up with his girlfriend Deb who was injured in the last arc when Two-Face attempted to drop acid on New York City from a fleet of hot air balloons. Deb pretty much decides that New York is not for her and that she’s moving back to Southern California with no ill feelings towards her now ex-boyfriend. It’s a nice ending to a relationship that was never really given enough pages to grow.
The very first arc from Tomasi’s run (superhero graves being robbed) is then wrapped up as Nightwing, John Stewart, and Superman move the bodies from a super hero cemetery in New York City to a secure superhero mausoleum buried deep below the Hall of Justice.
Finally we get to the really, really good stuff. One of the things that Tomasi introduced in his run was Dick Grayson’s new extreme skydiving hobby. Jumping from extreme heights was a way for him to recapture the thrills from his days in the circus. It was a nice bit of character stuff that showed that Tomasi understood that Dick Grayson is, at heart, a daredevil. Here in Nightwing #151, Dick Grayson makes his biggest leap ever – from 25 miles up. It’s a jump that will break every conceivable free fall altitude record, and no one will ever know about except for the two people on the ground trying to act like they aren’t nervous, Tim Drake and Alfred Pennyworth. After Dick lands safely we have what might be my favorite sequence in Tomasi’s entire run, which means it’s the best sequence since at least Chuck Dixon left the book. The final three pages is a completely silent scene (except for the sounds of the TV in the background) of Dick, Tim, and Alfred in Wayne Manor preparing snacks and making milkshakes and then sitting down to watch a movie together in big, plush chairs. It was a masterful scene showing a family together doing what, in a superhero comic book, could be considered the most mundane of tasks, but Tomasi infuses it with little touches that speak volumes. In the kitchen, while Alfred chops strawberries, Tim does a no-look toss of the ice cream scooper to Dick, and when the move to the next room he similarly tosses Dick the remote control. And then it all ends as the three men sit down to watch a movie and Tomasi delivers his final gut punch as the camera pulls out to reveal that the chair in-between Dick and Tim is empty.
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