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Nightwing #40

The Devil Dies At Dawn
Dixon, McDaniel, Collazo
reviewed by bluedevil2002

OUT OF NO MAN'S LAND, A BREATHER BEFORE THE "NEW ERA"

Cover: I assume that the illusion of a 1940s or 50s era image is trying to be conveighed. The other three people, other than Nightwing, look like they could have come from that era, meanwhile, Nightwing looks modern. Yet, you can tell they were all drawn by the same artist.
A

Story: Opening this up, I find that it is one of those stories with one panel per page, and with text. I'm not too keen on that, but fortunately, Dixon added a "regular" story, so it is well balanced. Only half of the story is "text" format. However, it's a little confusing to follow as the text-story and comic-story keep switching, and it's hard to figure out exactly what this text story is. I couldn't tell if it was flashback, the actual story (with the "comic-story" being flashback), or fantasy. Also, it would also have been interesting to see what the news articles on page 6 said, not just stuff like ". . . ascrang new bxnolxsm crao uses . . .".
(B)

Art: For some reason, McDaniel's work wasn't up to par. I think it was because of the guest inker. Anyway, things looked a little too dull. It wasn't as fluid as usual. However, I must commend Scott for pencilling this issue, since he was scheduled to take over Batman the following month. Most other pencillers would take that month off. Not Scott. In fact, it was the inker who needed a break!
(B)

Overall: An interesting story, especially when you figure out what it all means. Mostly a filler issue, though, serving as a bridge from NML to the new direction that Nightwing took in issue #41. And sadly, the art wasn't at it's best. However, it's a good read when you just want a quick one-shot Nightwing story, but nothing special.

Grade: B