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Definitely the wider DCU. As others of said he's the fourth pillar of the DCU and its long passed time that he was treated as such. I think such a move would do more to push the character forward instead of backward and would give writers the opportunity to stretch the character's boundaries in a way that continues to develop the character in new ways. I'm not sure that the Bat office is the place to achieve that anymore because of the way things currently stand with the character and this "Ric Grayson" nonsense.
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[QUOTE=Grayson - The Dark Heir;4527876]When you get down to it, the NTT era was the best time for Dick. Even now, we're getting Titans, Young Justice, Teen Titans vs. Teen Titans GO!, etc., all inspired by NTT in some way and arguably doing more with Dick than more Bat-centric series ever have, i.e. the DCAU, The Batman, etc.[/QUOTE]
I think it's just the case where a character in different settings are going to be played in different ways.
Like, Dick in a Batman setting is going to play up his relationship with Batman and the Batfamily because that is a major part of his character. Most people probably got introduced to Dick via Batman stories or media.
Dick is basically the lead Titans character so obviously anything relevant to the Titans would have him in a prominent way, but he's still probably the most prominent Batfamily character in any Batman media next to Barbara or even Damian now.
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[QUOTE=married guy;4525064]While the Batverse link should ALWAYS be acknowledged, Dick works better operating within the wider DCU.[/QUOTE]
Agreed.
Dick is something special in-universe. A good example of just how special appeared in THE BRAVE & THE BOLD #15, written by Mark Waid. It pointed out that Dick is, next to Superman(!), the one guy every other crime fighter trusts. That’s pretty cool.
[img]https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/icon_uk/11800056/1382508/original.jpg[/img]
We all know Batman has...issues. He’s a consummate professional, but he’s not the friendliest or most outgoing. His persona can be off putting, and he can be hella abrasive to his peers.
Like any good parent though, he raised Dick to be better than him, and the above scene does a good job showing that.
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Nightwing belongs in wider DCU. He is not Batman's sidekick anymore. He has grown up. Has went his own way, made it on his own and been leading Titans and having lots of adventures with them for years. While at it, Titans need to stop being treated as 2nd rate JLA-ers who JLA can just shut down or bully. They should be "the other" superhero team not "junior" superhero team.
Having said that, Bruce, Alfred, Damian etc are Dick's FAMILY and so a core part of him. Ignoring that would be ridiculous. In general I would like his involvement with Batfamily to be more centered on "family dynamics" and civilian stuff I guess (as it is a nice break for all from all the superhero stuff) but when Batman is having a major even where he is calling in allies or needs major help etc would make no sense for Nightwing to be kept away from it. He should be there. He WOULD be there. He just doesn't need to be dragged into Batman stories all the time to serve as one of the sidekicks though.
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[QUOTE=married guy;4525064]While the Batverse link should ALWAYS be acknowledged, Dick works better operating within the wider DCU.[/QUOTE]
This. Being tied to Gotham is a good thing for Dick, but those ties should be the springboard that takes him to greater heights, not a noose that limits what he can do and where he can go.
[QUOTE=Robanker;4525351]Ideally he can be part of both, but until the Bat office stops using him as Bruce's punching bag for trauma, get him the hell away from those editors.[/QUOTE]
Also this. Given how editorial has handled him I think sending Dick to another group (at least for a while) might be in his best interests.
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He deserves to be DCU center character
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Definitely the larger DCU - his ties to Batman should be acknowledged but he has connections to myriad other characters and teams.
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I was on the fence but after reading some of your posts, I really think he should move on and be a full DCU character. There's so much that can be done with him because of his past with the Bat. Thought his run as a spy was awesome. He's a leader, spy, detective and most important, a non powered human.
Move him wherever, have adventures being a good guy doing good guy things. And of course every now again he can get in touch with you know who for some fun!
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It's hard for me to choose since his life as a Batfamily character defines him so strongly and informs the basis of why people relate to him, but I guess I would choose a DCU-centric character. It would depend on how his other relationships are written though. Wally and the Titans, for example, need to be in a good groove doing something worthwhile for Dick to shine there. Same in broader events where he's making appearances with younger heroes or consulting with one of the big guns. Dick fits with everyone one way or another. Barry and Hal should be like his uncles, Ollie the fun older cousin, Wally a brother or best friend, Superman his inspiration, Wonder Woman a maternal figure. Dick is like the epicenter of a big family.
That being said I think there's a lack of Dick being properly involved in Batcentric stories and that's where he shines most. I'd love to see a run where he and Bruce get equal amounts of focus and inner-narrative. Not in a competitive "rawr you're not the boss of me" way, but just showing slightly different perspectives in a complex relationship. It feels like Dick's main strength, being trained by Batman but avoiding his worst qualities by virtue of having him as a support, is more in the minds of fans as an abstract concept rather than a fleshed out dynamic incorporated into the stories. I felt that during Infinite Crisis and Morrison's run.
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One quarter of poll responders have not watched Young Justice
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Dick is a DCU character
once he becomes Nightwing he's graduated from Gotham and become his own man but sadly with Batman on the Justice League again for the last decade or so his prospects of being the "Batman lite" of the DCU has been undercut and he's fallen back into the Gotham pit
He's too old to be on the teen titans but not popular enough to replace Bruce on the Justice League
In a way this is a good way to understand why Supergirl or Superboy can't replace Superman. There's never a need for Superman to take a backseat to them whereas characters like Barry or Bruce often decide to quit being top dog or go lone wolf for a time which allows those characters some spotlight in the DCU
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[QUOTE=Frontier;4528631]I think it's just the case where a character in different settings are going to be played in different ways.
Like, Dick in a Batman setting is going to play up his relationship with Batman and the Batfamily because that is a major part of his character. Most people probably got introduced to Dick via Batman stories or media.
Dick is basically the lead Titans character so obviously anything relevant to the Titans would have him in a prominent way, but he's still probably the most prominent Batfamily character in any Batman media next to Barbara or even Damian now.[/QUOTE]
Having a relationship with Batman and being subservient to Batman are two different things. On average, Titans adaptations have done more with Dick's character than Batman ones have imo. It gets a little harder to pin it down exactly when you consider Young Justice and the new animated movie universe, but I'd say those two are specifically DCU adaptations and not really Batman or Titans ones. So sure, he's prominent in most Batman adaptations but they does very little with him or for him.
Looking directly at the comics, being a brand extension of Batman hasn't done much. Sure, the Titans IP wasn't doing well and Dick made a successful transition to the modern age through the Bat Office, that much is undeniable. Yet Nightwing runs are stories only hardcore Nightwing fans care about, and even less have read. It's the difference between having a nice story for fans and having a great story that interests everyone, and the latter is what NTT was. When I recommend Nightwing stories to people, only NTT and the Batman Reborn era piques interest. Currently, DC is in such a bad place that it wouldn't matter what kind of character Dick is, because he probably wouldn't get a good creative team assigned to him no matter what book he's in, but if we're talking Dick Grayson in general, then I'd say he is and will continue to be better off away from Batman (not that he shouldn't continue to appear in Batman stories or adaptations, he just shouldn't be locked down to it since they rarely even do the bare minimum with the character there).
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Dick’s Bat side time has had more overall influence then your giving credit. Nightwing's popular look for example. And Batman adaptions have actually gotten to and adapted Nightwing more so then Titan adaptations have. Right now, yes, it would probably be in Dick's benefit to move beyond Batman and back into the greater DCU. Cause Ric is an embarrassment, and getting the hell out of the current Bat office and away from the editors that think its a good idea to go to the old dudes writing their worst selling Bat books for the character can't hurt at this point. But that doesn't mean there wasn't a time where the Bat side was doing more for him. And to be fair there's no guarantee things would get better for the character if they did move him away from Batman. Look at the last Titans series, look at Wally. All departments are still under the same old guys and their agendas at the end of the day.