Nightwing and Speedy...starring in Action Comics Weekly #614

Cruising right along, here's part three of our look at Action Comics Weekly #614.

If you missed either of the first two parts, click along for Green Lantern or The Phantom Stranger. So now that every one's caught up, let's get moving...

First Blood

• Writer: Marv Wolfman
• Penciller: Chuck Patton
• Inker: Tom Poston
Letterer: Albert DeGuzman
• Colorist: Adrienne Roy
• Editor: Barbara Kesel

Look kids!

Big Ben! Parliament!

That's right everybody, we're in England and it seems that Nightwing and Speedy are playing bodyguard to the ambassador who has received several death threats. He's none to happy about the capes following him, but Nightwing is nothing if not a professional and he will do his job.

And being the professional that he is, he notices a glint coming from the top of Big Ben and instantly recognizes it as a sniper attack. He shoves the ambassador out of the way and hollers out to Speedy, who is already taking aim.

I confess that this is probably the first ever story that I've read with Speedy when he was Speedy (as opposed to Red Arrow or Arsenal), but I had no idea he was that good. I know there is this thing called suspension of disbelief, but we're supposed to believe that the he lands a perfect bullseye into the barrel of the snipers rifle from the ground? That's some serious skill.

The sniper turns out to be Speedy's ex-lover and mother of his child, an assassin by the name of Chesire. That explains the perfect shot, as he was aiming for his his ex! Rushing headlong to capture her, Speedy gets his butt handed to him, only to have Nightwing rush to his defense.

Nightwing proves he's got the skills to take her down, but Cheshire plays dirty and tosses a grenade into a crown of onlookers. Nightwing goes for the safe play and saves the citizens, knowing full well that Cheshire is now gone.

Roy and Dick lick their wounds back at their hotel, as Roy reminisces about how he and Cheshire hooked up. After he kicked his heroin habit, Roy decides the best thing for him to do is work undercover in the C.B.I.'s drug trafficking division. Makes sense to me, eh?

Anyway, it's while on a sting working undercover (as the bassist for Dokken, apparently) that he meets Cheshire, the go-between for a big cocaine score. They have a wild night together where he gets the information he needs and she gets pregnant.

That Roy Harper, would it kill you to hold back every now and again?

Back to present day, and the ambassador is still bristling at the thought of having bodyguards, even after the recent assassination attempt. He retreats to the bathroom to have a shower, where he figures he can finally be alone.

I thought there was an unwritten law that said full page shower scenes had to be sexier than this.

Persistent as ever, Chesire uses the shower head to pump poison gas into the shower, killing the ambassador.

Nightwing is soon on the scene, only to be left with the feeling that his partner is not telling him something with regards to Cheshire. He vows to get to the bottom of things as we turn our attention to Speedy, who is waiting for Cheshire in an alley.

The simmering sexual tension rears it's ugly head once more, as Speedy recognizes that one of them will eventually have to kill the other. Cheshire doesn't miss a beat in claiming that she will kill Speedy, even though he was the only man she ever loved.

That must have been one hell of a night...Speedy is really that good! And he's apparently pretty good with a bow, too.

SO, WHAT DID WE LEARN...

Speedy's a bit of a player. Nightwing's a bit of a fuddy-duddy. It's the odd couple of superheroes!

This wasn't a bad little story, if not a tad dated and simple. I can see what Marv Wolfman was going for with the tension in the story, but it never came through in the pages. The story seems a little obvious and the artwork a little too bright.

Still, I've read worse 8-page stories, even if I probably won't be raiding the longbox to read the rest of tale. You win some...you lose some...

Up next...Superman!

All characters and artwork reproduced are (c) DC Comics

Related links for your surfing pleasure...

• Marv Wolfman's official website

Up next is the Superman strip drawn by Curt Swan! Life is good. See ya soon.