Chris is on Infinite Earths, Episode 20: Justice League of America #224 (1984)

Chris is on Infinite Earths, Episode #20

Justice League of America #224 (March, 1984)

"The Supremacy Factor!"
Writer - Kurt Busiek
Penciller - Chuck Patton
Inker - Dick Giordano
Letterers - John Costanza & Todd Klein
Colorist - Gene D'Angelo
Editor - Len Wein
Cover Price: $0.75

Today I'm revisiting an episode wherein I discuss my last trip to a Comic Book Convention... along with my overall distaste for the "current year" Convention racket, and how I let me preciosity get in the way of a great friendship.  Oh, also heat-stroke... because I got it that weekend!

And heyyy, I just found out I can no longer drag inserted images where I'd like them to go!  Way to keep letting me down, Blogger!  Just when I think you're the worst thing ever, you make me pine for how lousy you were just yesterday!

And Ho-lee crap, now I can't toggle HTML without great swaths of my writing vanishing into the ether?  Are you kidding me?  This is a product from Google, right?  I can't be the only person having these problems, can I?

Welp, lemme jump through the hoops and try and revert back to "Legacy Blogger".

ACW #618 - Nightwing

Action Comics Weekly #618 (Nightwing)
"The Cheshire Contract - Conclusion"
Writer - Marv Wolfman
Pencils - Chuck Patton
Inks - Tom Poston
Letters - Albert DeGuzman
Colors - Adrienne Roy
Editor - Barbara Kesel

Today we bid adieu to the Nightwing feature.  Feels like just yesterday this arc started!  Hes not gone forever though, he'll be returning to these pages in nine weeks (ACW #627).  There'll also be a Speedy feature, but that one's going to be during the latter part of this project.

Speaking of Nightwing and Speedy... they're our cover-boys this week... and what a neat cover it is!  We'll talk more about it tomorrow when we tie a bow on this issue, but suffice it to say, it's striking... though, probably better suited for an earlier issue, no?  I mean, Speedy certainly isn't in any condition to be "on the prowl" this time out, is he?

Well, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself... let's find out together!

--

We open with Roy Harper waking up in a hospital bed.  If you recall, last time out he was slashed by Cheshire's poison-tipped fingernails during her escape.  Since he's waking up, we can probably assume he's going to be okay.  The first thing he sees comes quite as a shock... ya see, it's his pal Nightwing has in his arms, Roy and Jade's daughter, Lian!

Roy finally gets to hold his child, and through his tears he apologizes to Dick for all of the deception... and for all of his screw-ups over the years.  Dick tells him to shove his sorry's in a sack, because they're unnecessary.  Everybody makes mistakes, and Roy is no lesser a hero because of his.  Dick then takes his leave to follow the signal of a bug he'd placed on Cheshire.

Cheshire is in the sewers below Big Ben... or whatever the building Big Ben is attached to is called... and she's wiring the place to blow!  Nightwing creeps up on her and... pulls a gun?!

Cheshire threatens to trigger the explosives and kill them both... to which, Nightwing informs her that it wouldn't do her any good... he's already ensured that her "targets" have safely relocated.  She scoffs at the idea that he'd ever shoot her.  After reminding her that Batman's the one with a problem with guns... he shoots her in the shoulder!

... with an anesthetic dart.  Naturally.  Jade fades, and slumps to the ground.  As she's hauled away by the Police, she asks Nightwing to make sure her daughter is cared for... to which, he assures her Lian will be in the best possible hands.  Really Dick, the "best" hands?  Okay.

We shift ahead to Dick checking in with Roy one more time before heading home.  Roy claims that having Lian in his life will change him for the better... and for the most part, he's not wrong.

We wrap up this story with Dick arriving back in New York... and into the arms of his Starfire.  All's well that ends well!

--

Kind of underwhelming, no?  Feels like a lotta build to have Cheshire be taken out with a simple tranq-dart to the shoulder.

Feels like that could have been done... I dunno, 3-4 weeks ago?  Like, the first time they came across her, Dick could've shot her with a tranq?  It's not as though they wanted to find out who she answered to... or, if they did, they still didn't find out here!

Also, Cheshire is this master assassin, right?  How did she not realize she was "bugged"?  I mean, her outfit doesn't amount to all that much in the way of fabric, if Dick tossed a tracer on her, she ought to have been able to feel it, right?  Well, maybe he threw it into her tremendous mop of hair?  I feel like a bald eagle could land on her head and she wouldn't feel it.  Oh well... once again, I'm thinking too hard about something that doesn't really matter.

Now, don't get it twisted... I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy this, because I did.  It's definitely in the running for strongest ACW arc to this point... I just feel like the ending fell a bit flat.  It was a means to an end... Roy's got Lian, which'll take him into his next evolution... but, there was a fair amount of wasted space getting here.

Overall... this arc, oddly paced though it might be (in my opinion), is definitely worth a look.  As luck would have it, Nightwing's Action Comics Weekly adventures have actually been collected!  Nightwing: Old Friends, New Enemies is also available digitally.  Wow, it's been awhile since I ended a post with a link to DC Digital!

Tomorrow: Wrapping up #618... and saying goodbye to the current Action Comics Weekly trade dress!

ACW #617 - Nightwing

Action Comics Weekly #617 (Nightwing)
"Motives"
Writer - Marv Wolfman
Pencils - Chuck Patton
Inks - Tom Poston
Letters - Albert DeGuzman
Colors - Adrienne Roy
Editor - Barbara Kesel

Time to check in with Nightwing... a feature that has a real good chance of sweeping in the polls for its entire run!  I mean, this is the penultimate chapter (for now), and he's still riding the winning wave!

--

We pick up exactly where we left off... Cheshire has Nightwing pinned down, and is threatening to swipe at him with her poison-tipped fingernails.  Naturally, and expectedly, Nightwing is able to flip her off'a him.  She manages to twist her body enough to land on her feet... at which point, Dick takes a powder.  Jade laughs at his perceived cowardice, and decides to head home herself... confident that it won't be long before they meet again.

Dick gives chase in a police helicopter... which, I dunno, feels a bit like overkill... but it gets the job done.  We rejoin Jade at home, where we can see that she is holding Roy hostage.  She taunts him with the fact that, though their daughter is just in the next room... he's never gonna see her!

Just as she draws back, ready to strike at him with her poison-tipped nails, Nightwing burst through a nearby window!

Nightwing and Cheshire have a knock-down drag-out fight over the next couple of pages.  In the fracas, the chair where Roy sat gets destroyed, and, though still bound, he attempts to interject himself into the battle.

Cheshire swipes at Speedy, both slicing through the ropes that bind him... and cutting into his chest.  Remember, dem fingernails be poisonous!  She then jumps out the same window Dick busted in and skedaddles... without Lian!

We wrap up with Cheshire and that old man whose name I can't remember.  When reminded that she left Lian behind, she coldly snaps back that, right now... she is not Jade, only Zuul Cheshire.

--

Another very strong outing for the Nightwing feature... though, one that leaves us with a few questions.  Like, why did Dick need a helicopter to follow Cheshire?  Was that the same helicopter Cheshire later escaped on?  Were there two helicopters on the same lawn?  Why would Cheshire abandon her daughter with the last fella she'd wanna leave him with?

I guess that's all part of the "penultimateness" of this chapter, right?  We're getting questions... and they're questions (my silliness over the helicopteriness, excepted) that we wanna see answered!  This isn't like that tepid Black Canary feature where the penultimate chapter was basically an expository dump just to give some context to the mysteries we had been reading about for the six weeks prior... this is actually building up quite well!

That said, there really not much more to say... we got a couple of very well done fight scenes, and a reason to come back next week!  Sometimes, that's all we ACWers can ask for!

Tomorrow: Tying a bow on #617!

ACW #616 - Nightwing

Action Comics Weekly #616 (Nightwing)
"The Cheshire Contract, Chapter Four: Counterpoint"
Writer - Marv Wolfman
Pencils - Chuck Patton
Inks - Tom Poston
Letters - Albert DeGuzman
Colors - Anthony Tollin
Editor - Barbara Kesel

Yesterday I shared a little bit of the Action Comics Weekly Preview Edition, and mentioned that I may or may not share the entire thing here.  Not sure how interesting that might be to folks, especially considering it's basically just a black and white version of Action Comics Weekly #601 (with some minor alterations), and we've already spoken at length about that.

The way I look at it, we're building a "resource" here (which is what I tell myself as a comfort/motivation when I realize that barely anybody is still reading this blog), and as such, I really ought to devote a day to the Preview.

And so, this Friday I'll serve it up in all is ephemeratic glory!  This will alter our normal week, pushing everything back one day... so, starting with ACW #617, the "catch-all" post and poll nobody cares about will be on Friday instead of Thursday!

And now, onto Nightwing! 

--

We open with Speedy staked out at, what we might presume to be, Cheshire's "compound".  As he watches Wen Cheng chop wood, he thinks to himself how nervous he is.  Wen finally heads inside giving Roy the opening he needs... that is, until Wen reveals that he knew of Roy's presence and decided to pull a fast one on the archer!

Speedy fires an arrow, which Wen catches with ease.  The two then engage in a bit of a knock-down drag-out, which Cheng gets the best of.

Meanwhile, at New Scotland Yard, Nightwing is chatting up some officials.  He learns that Speedy has been visiting several local pubs, and beating up a bunch of local pub-patrons.  Dick then bikes it to Ya Olde Mill to see if he can sniff out Roy's trail.  I mean, it should be obvious that he's searching for Cheshire, right?  We're really making this a bit more difficult than it needs to be.  Anyhoo, Nightwing pops in, which freaks out that one guy who Roy nearly castrated last week.

Dick tosses a projectile in the fella's direction to stop him from fleeing, and attempts to reason with him in order to get some answers.  Just as he's about to crack, however, he begins to choke and slumps to the ground?

Dick looks up and finds Cheshire perched on a railing.  Not sure how she choked the fella out... maybe a poison dart so small we couldn't see it?  Either way, she and Dick engage in battle...

... with Cheshire quickly taking over the offense.  We close out with her just about to claw Nightwing's face with her poison-tipped fingernails!

--

This is still quite good, but I can't help but to feel like we're getting into "filler" territory... at least a little bit.

I get having Roy get captured... that's going to set-up the the next beat of the story, but spending half the chapter with Nightwing trying to figure out where his partner ran off to?  I guess it's lucky that Dick just happened to start his search at the very pub that the arrow-vasectomy guy was having a drink.  Still, feels like this could have been tightened up a bit.

This might actually shine a light on the major flaw of anthologies... most every chapter has to end in a cliffhanger.  And so, we're always building to the next "gasp"... which, results in some weaker chapters every now and again.  Here, it feels like we were just building to Cheshire pinning Nightwing down.  I have little doubt that next issue will open with him flipping her off of him... but, we need that final cliffhanger panel...

... and to get there, we had to spend more pages than I feel necessary visiting the Pub.  Again, not a bad chapter... still strong when compared to other ACW fare, just not up to the caliber of previous installments of the Nightwing feature.

Tomorrow: Don't let the door hit 'cha, Dinah!

ACW #615 - Nightwing

Action Comics Weekly #615 (Nightwing)
"Tracks of a Killer!"
Writer - Marv Wolfman
Pencils - Chuck Patton
Inks - Tom Poston
Letters - Albert DeGuzman
Colors - Adrienne Roy
Editor - Barbara Kesel

Something I meant to draw attention to the first time we discussed the Nightwing feature... take a look at that Inker.  I didn't realize we were dealing with a celebrity here!  I mean...

... George Utley in our DC Comic?!  I choose to believe that this inker Tom Poston and the one pictured above are one and the same.  He had a pretty short career in comics, so I'm just going to assume he filled-in between seasons of Newhart.

OH!  One more thing... today marks our TWELVE-HUNDREDTH DAY of Daily Discussions and Reviews!

--

After a bit of a recap... least I think it was a recap, we join Nightwing as he rides over to Lord Lawrence Hill's place.  This fella's a bigwig in Parliament, and he's been expecting Dick's visit.  Nightwing tells him that, per his association with Speedy, he's here on C.B.I. business.  This does come as a bit of a shock to his Lordship... more on that later.  The pair talk about who might be paying Cheshire for her the assassinations, especially in this age of supposed Glasnost.  Hill brainstorms, reflecting that many countries are in serious debt at the moment.  Dick brushes those concerns off, because... get this, he took economics in college!  Global debt doesn't stand a chance against a kid who took ECON-101!

When the conversation ends, Nightwing does the Bat-vanishing act on Lord Hill.  We then swap scenes, joining Cheshire, who has just sunken a shuriken into some poor dude' face!  Turns out, it was another ambassador, cranking her kill-count up to five!  Seven, if we're counting his aides!

We follow Jade back home, where she lovingly cares for her daughter, Lian.  She scolds her... older male companion for referring to her by her "assassin name" in the house.  While there, she is not Cheshire... only Jade.

We shift scenes to Lian's daddy, Speedy, who has a fella named Weist in a pretty uncomfortable position indeed.  He wants answers, and isn't afraid to fire a bolt or two into some very... sensitive areas in order to obtain them.  Weist decides squealing is a preferable option to a long-range vasectomy, and Roy leaves him be.  We don't get to hear the answers, but I assume they're coming.

Roy makes a tearful phone call to Dick, and when confronted with withholding information, promises to be straight his partner the next time they meet up.

Turns out, this isn't good enough for Mr. Grayson... and he decides it's time to involve the rest of the Titans.  We wrap up with the revelation, via Danny Chase, that Roy Harper was canned from the C.B.I. a few months prior... so, whatever it is they're doing in London... this is Speedy's gig, and Speedy's gig alone!

--

Now, this is how you build a mystery... and keep a reader engaged!  While there's another story in Action Comics Weekly we've been reading/slogging through over the past several weeks, which seems to be getting everything wrong, leave it to Marv to get everything right.

We leave this chapter with the revelation that Roy Harper is acting of his own volition... but, the question remains: Why?  Well, maybe it's kind of obvious... Cheshire is the mother of his child, so he has a vested interest in anything she might be up to.  But, why now?  Ya know?  He could have drafted Dick into a "Cheshire Contract" at any point in time... why now, while she's picking off Ambassadors like they're going out of style?  I suppose we'll find out in time...

It was nice seeing the Titans, and I'll hand it to DC... it took them until the third chapter to include 'em!  I mean, the Titans were among the top dogs at DC... it almost feels wrong that they're playing such a small role.  Then again, if we're looking for "heavy hitters", Batman's only shown up in like a single page of the Green Lantern feature... and not even in costume!

If I had to pick out something I didn't totally like in this chapter, it would probably be the explicit duality of Jade/Cheshire.  I remember in the mid-2000's, I had a pal who kept pressing me to watch The Sopranos.  He talked about it like was the best thing ever put on television.  When I finally sat down to watch an episode, it ended with a "hit" (or some other sort of nastiness) going down, while Tony was getting all teary-eyed watching a recital or something.  I thought that was just so cliche... and just such forced "depth", that I never watched it again.  I'm feeling similar pangs of that here.

Overall though, Nightwing continues bringing the quality and has proved itself to be a most welcome addition to the rotation.

Conversely...

Tomorrow: The Penultimate Black Canarying!

ACW #614 - Nightwing

Action Comics Weekly #614 (Nightwing)
"First Blood"
Writer - Marv Wolfman
Pencils - Chuck Patton
Inks - Tom Poston
Letters - Albert DeGuzman
Colors - Adrienne Roy
Editor - Barbara Kesel

Been looking forward to this one.  Really dug the first chapter... and it's now starting to feel like this whole Action Comics Weekly experiment is starting to hit its stride!

--

We pick up where we left off, with Cheshire about to assassinate that Ambassador.  From above the clock of Big Ben, she spies in her scope... Roy Harper!  She decides that she'll try and complete her contract regardless.  Before she can pull the trigger, however, Nightwing pushes the Ambassador out of the line of fire.  Unfortunately, this leaves a fella named Nicolas wide open for a shot through the heart (and Dick's to blame)!

Roy reacts by firing an arrow in the exact direction of the bullet... which winds up lodging right up Cheshire's barrel (getcher minds out of the gutters).  Roy then charges toward Big Ben (or whatever the actual building is called)... and winds up getting his butt kicked by his former squeeze.

Nightwing joins the fight, and takes some battle-damage via Cheshire's poison-tipped "toe claw".  Jade goes to make her escape, but not before tossing an egg-shaped explosive into the crowd.  Luckily, Dick manages to catch the thing...

... and toss it into the drink before it explodes.

We rejoin our heroes back at their hotel.  Here, Roy gives the quick-n-dirty on how me met (and mated with) Cheshire.  While working undercover in Japan for the C.B.I's Drug-Trafficking Division, they'd meet... feel an instant attraction... and, well, you know.

We shift scenes over to the Ambassador's room, where he's having a bit of a fit.  He doesn't like being under constant watch by his bodyguards, and excuses himself to take a shower... only, this shower proves to be fatal!  The old-man scrub-a-dub action is cut short when we learn the shower has been rigged with gas.

Shortly, Nightwing is on the scene to investigate... and is starting to feel pangs of doubt about how much he can trust his partner.  He feels as though Roy isn't quite telling him everything... and, duh, he's right.

We wrap up with Speedy in a darkened alley calling out to Jade.  She appears behind him, but tells him not to turn around.  She tells him that he's the only man she's ever loved... but that won't stop her from killing him.  Then, Poof!  She vanishes!

--

Another fine chapter... that managed to intertwine exposition and story-progression.  So often we only get one or another... and here, in only eight-pages, we get both... and it's great!

Establishing the link between Roy and Jade was necessary.  Regardless of how many folks know the ins and outs of their relationship, you almost have to write with the assumption that there will be a great number of ACW readers who might not be so familiar with it.  The way it was handled here was really well done (with an editorial note to check out New Teen Titans #20, if anyone wanted further information).  It didn't overstay its welcome, and was told in an easy to follow way.

As for the action, this chapter delivered.  Not only does Jade fulfill her contract, she also got to take out one of the Ambassador's bodyguards as a "bonus".

I'm enjoying the Dick and Roy dynamic... with Roy giving just enough information to keep Dick in the dark.  What he doesn't realize, however, (though he probably should) is that Dick is on to him.  I'm looking forward to watching this all play out.

Good stuff!

Tomorrow: Superman opens a door.  Really, that's it!  So, uh... I'll probably see y'all in two days then?

ACW #613 - Nightwing

Action Comics Weekly #613 (Nightwing)
"The Cheshire Contract!"
Writer - Marv Wolfman
Pencils - Chuck Patton
Inks - Tom Poston
Letters - Albert DeGuzman
Colors - Adrienne Roy
Editor - Barbara Kesel

A couple weeks back, when we introduced the Catwoman feature to Action Comics Weekly, I wondered aloud how it took so long to incorporate a Bat-Family member into the anthology... and here we are introducing a second, though... perhaps more importantly, the first Titans-adjacent feature!

We gotta remember the New Teen Titans was the book around this time... and it's definitely a bit strange that it's taken quite this long to sprinkle some "Titans Dust" into the Action Comics Weekly experiment.

Let's get to it!

--

We open with Nightwing taking out a boatload of Smugglers.  Dick engages in some Spidey-esque banter with the baddies, and opines on the current state of hero/villain chatter being "grim".  He, of course, isn't wrong about that considering the era in which this takes place.  Dick winds up staring down the barrels of a couple of the Smugglers' guns... thankfully, from the dock, his buddy Speedy fires an arrow which disarms 'em.

After handing the cigarette smugglers over to authorities, Roy and Dick head back to Titans Tower to chat.  Roy has quite a proposition... involving a mission.  A mission that the other Titans cannot be part of, because it involves Cheshire.  Quite why that fact disqualifies the other Titans from taking part, I haven't the foggiest.  Dick seems confused as well!  Worth noting, they also discuss a recent meeting between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev... which, are they talking about what went down in our Deadman feature?!  I hope so!

Anyhoo, Dick agrees, and next thing we know he and Roy are landing in Washington, D.C..  At the hotel, they talk about how they both used to be wards of millionaires... and they were both fired by those millionaires.  Dick take umbrage to this statement, claiming that he had voluntarily quit working with/for Batman.

The heroes suit-up, and head for the rendezvous point atop the C.B.I. Building.  Along the way, Dick fills Roy (and the reader) in on his evolution from Boy Wonder to Nightwing.  Atop that building, Roy's contact hands over a file, indicating that Cheshire's next hit is in London.

Turns out, that's exactly where she is!  She, and a hostage are inside the clockworks of Big Ben.  She is there in order to assassinate an Ambassador.

Next we know, Nightwing and Speedy are already in Londontown!  They are rushing through a Labor Party demonstration, beelining straight to that Ambassador.  Cheshire notices that her, ugh, baby-daddy is in her sights... and decides she's going to have to pull the trigger regardless.

--

Really good start here!

Weird to consider that it took so long for Nightwing to get his own ongoing title after this... he seems like a safe bet to carry his own book.  Though, continuity was (thankfully) much tighter back then, and I'd wager Wolfman and Co. would try and make all of his stories jive with those in New Teen Titans.  Might've been more of an editorial headache than it was worth.  Who knows?

Onto the story... it was a lot of fun.  Cheshire has never been one of my favorites, but I appreciate how they're using her here... and look forward to a little bit of "cat and mouse" that might be coming our way.  It's been forever since I've read this, so I don't remember how it plays out... actually, this was the first Action Comics Weekly story I'd ever read way back in the day.

Ya see, sometime around the turn of the century (I can't remember which side of 2000 it was, but it was around there), I bought a "blind box" of comics from a local shop.  It was something like $5 for fifty random books.  As you might imagine, it was mostly glut-era Image and obscure indie stuff... but also, this very issue!

Back then, I didn't know Action from Weekly, and didn't have a clue that this was ever a "thing".  The fact that Nightwing was on the cover of a book, which... far as I knew, was a flagship Superman book, caused me to raise an eyebrow.  So, I checked it out!  And, for the longest time, this was the oldest issue of Action Comics in my collection!

Anyhoo, back to the story.  I appreciate Marv playing up the similarities between Dick and Roy, I'd wager that this was pretty illuminating for newer readers of the day (including myself the first time around).  Also dug the quick and dirty explanation of how Robin became Nightwing.  In the days before Wikipedia, this would be much appreciated by curious new readers.

Roy's reluctance to include the rest of the Titans is pretty telling... as was some of the chatter between he and his C.B.I. contact in Washington, D.C..  Seems as though the fella was about to reveal something that Roy didn't want Dick to know.  I'm guessing this will all come to light before long.

Overall, Nightwing is a welcome arrival, and much more interesting than Deadman and Secret Six were toward the end of their first stints.

Tomorrow: The Phantom Stranger pokes his head back in...