Several of my Comic Book Bin frères had bad-mouthed Nightwing before I took it over as regular reviewer. Mostly, I’ve regarded the book as consistently uneven, without being particularly bad – until now.

Nightwing and his girl, minor super-vandal turned super-hero Defacer are on the trail of Robin’s kidnapper. Following the trail through the desert of the Middle East, they pick up a lead, thanks to DeFacer’s willingness to use her boot jets on a lackey’s face as encouragement to tell what he knows.

Yet, later, when faced with the nasty dollotron who kidnapped her and dragged her half-way around the world, Defacer is unbelievably sympathetic, as though the dollotron is some sort of lost puppy. WTF? I would expect her to be all too happy to see Nightwing kick his pre-programmed ass.

Toward the end of the issue, a reference is made to “Robin Dies at Dawn,” a story from Batman #156 (1963). And this seems to be a common cheat among many comic book writers these days. They dig deep into a publisher’s archives in search of an obscure title or one-time villain that never caught on. Then they build their own story on someone else's foundation.