NIGHTWING #64
"On a Christmas Evening"
Mildly Recommended (5/10)
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DC Comics
Writer: Chuck Dixon
Pencils: Trevor McCarthy
Inks: Rob Leigh
Colors: Gregory Wright & Digital Chameleon
Letters: Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Michael Wright
Price: $2.25 US/$3.75 CAN |
Chuck Dixon turns in a nice little Christmas story, one of the stronger ones so far this year in a DC Universe title. Unfortunately, the story is rendered in a far-too exaggerated style that works against the down-to-earth tone of the script. Trevor McCarthy's just not working for me as the regular penciller on this book, and I fear I may be dropping it from my pull list as a result.
Dick Grayson learns of a the Bludhaven Police Department tradition of answering children's letters to Santa with the giving of toys and other acts of kindness. It's a tradition that surprises him, given the corruption that runs rampant through the department. The letter Dick chooses to answer is a tricky one, as it alerts him to an anonymous little girl's concerns about her father and his plans to break the law in order to provide for her.
One might describe McCarthy's style as a cross between the work of Todd (Spawn McFarlane and Joe (E-Man) Staton, both of whom boast an exaggerated approach to comic art. McCarthy's work, though, is inconsistent, and his characters get downright ugly at times. There are even moments when it's difficult to tell what a character's gender is.
It's a shame the visual side of the book doesn't hold up, because I really enjoyed Dixon's script. His Christmas story isn't silly. In fact, it's almost plausible... a nice change of pace. The grounded non-costume scenes -- feature Grayson and the other Bludhaven cops -- are convincing. Dixon's dialogue is believable, and it makes the characters come to life.
Perhaps the most fun aspect of the script is the detective work. There's a mystery at the heart of the story: the identity of the little girl who wrote the letter. We see the title character trying to piece together who she might be, and Dixon takes us into the logic and process involved in fleshing out an answer.
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