Nightwing #144 - DC

My only complaint about this book . . is the art. Now, don't get me wrong. I actually enjoyed the art. The part I don't understand is why it's necessary to have 2 different artist, and 3 different inkers. That's not even counting the cover art done by Doug Mahnke. Most of the book looks ok. But there are a few pages that are a little . . sketchy. The only ones I didn't really like are the 4 or 5 pages at the end when Talia comes to talk to Richard about his recent excursion to her island stronghold. This particular issue actually has 3 different things going on. First we see Dick in his element some more, as Nightwing, and the steps he's taking to make his preoccupation more effective and efficient. That includes his girlfriend Deborah, and his job as the Cloisters. Secondly, we get some of the back-story on the Great-Ten of China. You remember? We first saw them during the whole Oolong Island thing. And actually, one of them . . the Iron Giant, or whatever . . is serving on Checkmate. Anyways, we see a woman called the Mother of Champions. She gives birth to a bundle of new champions about every month or so. This time she gives birth to 8. I assume they're supposed to be champions for China, but I don't really understand the purpose as they age about 10 years for every day they're alive. So it seems to me, at the most, you might get about a week and a half use out of them. So far she's birthed 1025 children. Anyways, the point of this, I think, is that Creighton Kendall is looking for a new source for his bodies. Since his exhumation of various heroes and villains was drawing to much attention from Nightwing. After her recent set of births, she is abducted. And finally we have the confrontation between Dick and Talia. She's upset about Dick and Tim's recent trip because, she claims, all she's doing is trying to build an army to protect herself. "There are rumblings within the Leaugue of Assassins that my father cannot bear to have me operating on my own anymore after my betrayal . . . his first order of business will be to seek revenge against Damian and me, cleanse the Al Ghul bloodline . . ." However, now that I think about it, if my conclusions are right . . about Creighton Kendall . . then this confrontation is directly related to the story of the Mother of Champions. I guess only time will tell. I think Peter J Tomasi is doing a great job with this story. He really seems to have a grasp of this character and his motivations. As I said, my only concern is that I wish they could tie down a consistent creative team.