Out of all the kid sidekicks that writers and artists have created over the last nine decades, there’s one who sticks out as the most famous – Robin. Created in 1940 to accompany Batman on his adventures in Gotham City, Dick Grayson’s character and heroic persona of Robin became an immediate staple in the Dark Knight’s world. The characters were inseparable – everyone remembers the classically cheesy TV series starring Adam West and Burt Ward – and it remained that way until the 1970s. With Dick Grayson growing from a young orphan to a student enjoying life, the worlds of Batman and Robin grew apart. But creators noticed the potential of Robin as a character who could operate outside Batman’s world. It was Marv Wolfman and George Perez who relaunched the Teen Titans in 1980, with Robin effectively the leader. Dick Grayson soon afterwards evolved into Nightwing and enjoyed this new separate identity. While it was to be a decade (the mid-1990s) before Nightwing would enjoy his own miniseries or title, clearly writers were moving in that direction. With Action Comics going weekly in the late-1980s, opportunities for new adventures arose and – for the first time – Nightwing was effectively given his own solo stories…
These Nightwing tales were printed in Action Comics Weekly 613-618 and 627-634, published August 1988 to January 1989. While there are fifteen separate eight-page stories within each issue, they can be broken down into two storylines. Marv Wolfman and Cherie Wilkerson write both plots, with art by Chuck Patton, Tom Poston, Tom Mandrake, and Vince Giarrano. Surprisingly, DC have actually reprinted these issues in a paperback titled Nightwing: Old Friends, New Enemies.
It's worth noting from the start that – while Nightwing enjoys his name on the title and does feature prominently (at least in the first story), the unexpected accomplice in the issues is Speedy. Better remembered as Green Arrow’s sidekick, his backstory is very different from the Boy Wonder’s. While enjoying the adventures of super heroism in the 1940s and 1950s, Roy Harper turned to drugs and came to adulthood the hard way. Continuing as Speedy but separate from Green Arrow, these issues focus on the duo of Dick Grayson as Nightwing and Roy Harper.
The Cheshire Contract --- Written by Marv Wolfman with art by Chuck Patton and Tom Poston
Although the two stars of these stories feature in The New Teen Titans, that title isn’t essential reading here. All you need to know is that one subplot from the Titans run is that Speedy now has a child with the assassin Cheshire, named Lian. This story goes into more detail, but that’s all you need to know.
The adventures of Nightwing in Action Comics begin as a political thriller. Nightwing takes on the crooks of the underworld when – one day – Speedy visits him and requires his help. At this point in his life, Speedy is working for the CBI – the Central Bureau of Investigation – on a secret mission to do with Cheshire. With US President Ronald Reagan and Russian Premier Mikhail Gorbachev enjoying the success of a summit between the two powers, Cheshire has been hired by terrorists to murder US ambassadors to scupper any treaty. It’s a very 1980s plot, but there is something genuine and dramatic about it. However, it’s clear throughout the story that Speedy is hiding something from Nightwing – he only demands the help of Dick Grayson and doesn’t want other Titans involved. Wolfman writes this mystery with some skill and throughout an interestingly complex relationship between the two heroes is established. However, Wolfman rather accidentally reveals the crux of the mystery near the start.
Unless you know nothing about the Speedy-Cheshire relationship, you’ll realise just how clearly that this is an emotional mission for Speedy. Upon demanding the help of Nightwing, Speedy shouts, “We’re going after the mother of my child.” Upon establishing both Cheshire and Lian as features of this story, Wolfman inadvertently removes much of the mystery of the story. Speedy’s main purpose is clear – he wants to see his daughter and dislikes Cheshire for hiding her from him. The mood of the story – therefore – becomes one of concern on Nightwing’s part. He constantly theorises over Speedy’s true goal, but it doesn’t exactly take much to work it out.
While the emotional side of the story is present throughout, Wolfman does write some action into the story. With the second part, Nightwing and Speedy travel to London to rescue one of the ambassadors from Cheshire. These scenes are frankly laughable – American comic book writers of various stature enjoy a view of Britain which is ridiculous. Here, Wolfman shows London in constant protest, with the “Labor Party” organising marches, while assassins manage to climb to the roof of Big Ben to murder their prey. Overall, it’s silly but charming. Nightwing and Speedy rescue an ambassador from Cheshire’s sniper, but Speedy becomes too involved once again. From here on out, the two heroes diverge paths. While both continue their search for ambassadors, Nightwing investigates the CBI and Speedy’s mission with them, while Speedy goes on the hunt for Cheshire.
After a fair bit of padding and uneventfulness, Wolfman delivers a powerful revelation at the end of the third part – it turns out that the CBI didn’t hire Speedy for this mission and, in fact, he was fired from the agency months before. This powerful moment is impressive and does reveal the obvious – for Speedy this is a personal mission. This does raise a point about the CBI however – surely, they have hired somebody to take care of the ambassadors and rescue them from Cheshire? If so, where are they? Regardless, with the ambassador plot taking a back seat for the rest of The Cheshire Contract, we’re back focusing on Speedy, Cheshire, and Lian. This three-way relationship is the most interesting part of the story, with the villainess acting like a completely different character while surrounded by the innocence of children. Meanwhile, Roy is desperate to see his child. Wolfman’s skill as a writer of dialogue and character shines here – although this story is technically a Nightwing title, it really does belong to Speedy.
The final part of The Cheshire Contract sweetly summarises the friendship between Nightwing and Speedy. Despite their similarities, I’ve never thought of the two characters as close in Wolfman’s Titans run. Often there are scenes of discussion between the two characters about their pasts and present lives – these are moments that are painted with Wolfman’s brilliance once again. After breaking into Cheshire’s secret house, Speedy can finally enjoy the company of his daughter Lian once again, leaving Nightwing to go after Cheshire to stop her once and for all.
The story ends with family as the main theme as Nightwing goes home to enjoy his life with Starfire.
One of the benefits of reading The Cheshire Contract in a collected edition is that all the pauses you’d usually get with a weekly title are absent. Wolfman does weave the six parts together well and without much mess, but I’d always prefer long-form or regular length comic books. You could probably split this story into two twenty-page issues, with the revelation over Speedy’s firing from the CBI acting as a great cliff-hanger to link the two sections. While Wolfman writes a good story with many qualities both in terms of plot and character, there are many moments throughout which feel uneventful or unmemorable. With only eight pages in each part, it’s important to use each panel to advance the story. It’s never a stand-still, but I think the pacing could have been better.
Overall, the two plots – the ambassadors story and the Speedy-Cheshire drama – actually compliment one another well and with only one present, the story would feel incomplete. That said, this story does lack Nightwing’s presence a bit too much for me. As I said, it’s great that characters like Speedy are focused on, but remember these stories are meant to be for Nightwing! Regardless, with both action and emotion present, The Cheshire Contract is an enjoyable romp.
Chuck Patton isn’t remembered as one of the most era-defining pencillers, but his work here is somehow a blend of a retro Carmine Infantino-style and a more conventional 1980s George Perez (except without the same glitz and impressive). The style is fluid enough and told with some drama, although some panels do look slightly odd or strangely drawn. Plus, I’m not sure that Tom Poston’s inks are great – everything looks very thick as if brushed under one line weight. Nevertheless, it may lack memorability, but it serves a purpose well and does excite readers.
Rocks and Hard Places --- Written by Marv Wolfman and Cherie Wilkerson with art by Vince Giarrano and Tom Mandrake
At nine-parts long, Rocks and Hard Places is the longer of the two stories and – as before – it features Speedy as the main character. While Speedy is a great character, these stories shouldn’t be just about him. Where are some of the solo Nightwing adventures? All-in-all, these stories are quite misleading really. Speedy is the star of both stories – Nightwing does have a purpose in The Cheshire Contract, but he is essentially pointless in Rocks and Hard Places.
Six months on from The Cheshire Contract, Roy Harper is enjoying a cruise holiday with Lian and Dick. All seems well until Nightwing notices suspicious activity. He spies on some crooks as they sneak into a van in the bay. Suddenly, the van and the criminals inside are driven into the sea. Nightwing tries to rescue the crooks, but it’s revealed that they were after a coffin inside the van which contained (along with a body) a sachet of drugs. Here Wolfman continues the backstory set up well by The Cheshire Contract. It’s revealed that Speedy was fired from the CBI because he discovered a secret link between the drug trade and the government. In exchange for the drugs, the CBI would supply weapons to paramilitary organisations in Northern Ireland. Linking the drug trade to terrorism while involving Roy Harper is a natural mix and makes for a seemingly good story idea, but throughout that does leave Dick Grayson without much of a purpose.
With the third part, Nightwing basically vanishes from the story. While he heads back to the US to investigate the CBI, Speedy heads to Northern Ireland to continue his holiday. At first, the whole drug storyline seems to disappear, but it of course comes back as Roy Harper gets himself involved in warfare on the streets of Ulster. Lian also accompanies Speedy and that’s clearly so that she can be kidnapped and used against Roy by the villains – that does happen a few times.
Much of the story’s middle focuses on the drama of Northern Ireland and here, Wilkerson (who takes over as sole writer after the second part) creates a strong – if slightly predictable – set of characters with interesting backstories. Moira and Button are two children whose lives have been destroyed by conflict – their Protestant father and Catholic mother were killed by police.
They provide some shocking and impactful context to the gritty would that Speedy lives in during this story. Speedy’s visit coincides with the Orange Day Parade, an event to celebrate the Protestant King William III’s victory over the Catholic King James II. The drug trade is tied to all of this however since the CBI is making profits from selling weapons to the military groups in Northern Ireland. When it comes to realism, I suppose that Wolfman captures the war-torn world of Northern Ireland far better than he does London, and it’s helped by a strong cast of characters – at least on the good side.
The villains of Rocks and Hard Places are frankly dull. For the parts in Northern Ireland, they really come down to boring paramilitary figures who reek of boring evilness and possess no surprising or interesting plan. In the end, Roy Harper is forced to leave Northern Ireland because the story doesn’t really advance at all for the whole period that he is in the country. Despite the beginning containing action, the middle is heavily padded and full of predictable fights and dialogue scenes of varying quality.
Parts eight and nine is where the story really moves to something close to a conclusion. Speedy meets with Nightwing again as they arrive in the US only to be effectively kidnapped by the CBI. Meeting with the agency’s boss, he fails to disguise his links to the drug trade and the conflict in Northern Ireland. Wilkerson somehow manages to cram in a summary of the whole plot with the final issue – it involves far too many characters and details which were frankly ignored or not mentioned during the story. Overall, the explanation is far too verbose and complex, and it really plays into this story’s greatest failing. While The Cheshire Contract was a simple story to understand, this one is a far more complex and unorganised plot. While there is nothing wrong with stories with lots of plot and twists-and-turns, the pacing is terrible. Parts one to seven contain little plot and a lot of fights, while the final two parts reveal too much too quickly. The plot itself isn’t bad and I can see what Wilkerson was aiming to achieve, but it could have been conveyed far better. As for the ending and what happens to the villain, it’s a very rushed affair. The head of the CBI is arrested, while another villain commits suicide. These details are revealed in the last two pages of the story and there really isn’t enough time to digest them, even though the foes themselves weren’t the most interesting of characters.
As with The Cheshire Contract, this is basically a Speedy story. Nightwing is barely used even though there was potential for him – when he went back to the US details of the CBI’s plot could have been revealed then. Instead, we’re treated to fights and little plot. It’s a disappointment that Nightwing had little purpose to play in either story, but at least in The Cheshire Contract it felt like he had a sizable impact or role in the story. Overall, Rocks and Hard Places isn’t very well paced and it’s plot is ruined because of it. The villains themselves may not be great, but the story idea isn’t a bad one in any way. Some of the cast actually stand out well and leave a lasting impact on the story, and Speedy himself is a good star of the story.
Known for rougher and less smooth style, Giarrano and Mandrake capture some of the grimness of this story very well. The scenes in Northern Ireland with the bloodshed look visually impressive and impactful. However, the two artists fail to impress when it comes to brightly dressed heroes fighting dynamically. The inking style works with grittier moments and dark stories (like, say, Deadman or The Spectre), but the thick and rough inks look sloppy when it comes to the stars of the New Teen Titans. Overall, it does something effectively on occasions, but not constantly throughout.
VERDICT
Overall, Nightwing: Old Friends, New Enemies has a misleading title. It isn’t really about Nightwing at all – Speedy is the star! I do think that Nightwing could have been utilized, particularly in the second story. The Cheshire Contract is a very good story that works on many different levels and features Wolfman’s excellent skill at writing characters and dialogue. Meanwhile, Rocks and Hard Places is a bit of a mess – the plot isn’t terrible, but it could have been explained and paced much better. As a potential launching pad for a full-length title for either Nightwing or Speedy, these stories from Action Comics probably don’t leave much of a lasting impression, but it does show promise that the kid sidekicks – even on their own or in a duo – can carry a story.
Next Week: Justice League: The Throne of Atlantis (Justice League (vol 2) 13-17, Aquaman (vol 7) 15-16). Written by Geoff Johns with art by Ivan Reis, Paul Pelletier, Tony Daniel, Brad Walker, Joe Prado, Oclair Albert, Matt Banning, Sandu Florea, Richard Friend, Drew Hennessy, Karl Kesel, Sean Parsons, and Art Thibert.
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