Dick Grayson: Robin, Nightwing, Agent of Spyral Appreciation 2018

[Arctic Cyclist]

What would people want to see from this? What would be your pitch?

An idea I'd pitch would be to use the head injury to maybe give Dick some powers. Then have fun with the idea like they did with the spy direction in Grayson. Everyone knows it isn't going to be permanent but it is a direction you can have fun with for a few arcs where creators can try out some non traditional things. Might make a dull setting like Bludhaven interesting for a bit.

What would be fascinating would be a realistic portrayal of a traumatic brain injury. In addition to short term amnesia, let's see the headaches, vertigo, getting stuck in negative emotions, anger issues, struggles with short term memory including little things like forgetting that the stove is on, migraines that last for days, sensitivity to light and sounds, loss of appetite, and difficulty with skin sensations. Give us the dramatic personality change that people with head injuries have.

Show people walking on eggshells around Dick because they don't know what will trigger him. Show him needing help but unable to ask for it. Make it interesting and not the cliche "Oh, I was injured but got super powers." Nah. Bring on the "I was injured and got severe PTSD and now I can't do what I loved anymore."

Damian's super powers were explained by the fact that he has a unique physiology due to being incubated from conception with the chaos shard before being resurrected with said shard infused with the omega energy and a history of being exposed to the Lazarus Pit. Dick could do something similar based on the early childhood grooming to be a Talon, with the accelerated regeneration that kicks in after death. However, anything else wouldn't make sense and would come off as similar to a bad fan fiction.

If King is pushing his depressed world of heroes on us, then DC should embrace it and give us an angry Dick Grayson. Because I don't know about you, but all the veterans I know with PTSD are primarily irritable and angry, not mopey. And everyone I've known with head injuries were completely changed by the experience.

[Godlike13]

I’d bring back Talon and have him make Dick Grayson great again. Deathstroke can work too.

[Badou]

What would be fascinating would be a realistic portrayal of a traumatic brain injury. In addition to short term amnesia, let's see the headaches, vertigo, getting stuck in negative emotions, anger issues, struggles with short term memory including little things like forgetting that the stove is on, migraines that last for days, sensitivity to light and sounds, loss of appetite, and difficulty with skin sensations. Give us the dramatic personality change that people with head injuries have.

Show people walking on eggshells around Dick because they don't know what will trigger him. Show him needing help but unable to ask for it. Make it interesting and not the cliche "Oh, I was injured but got super powers." Nah. Bring on the "I was injured and got severe PTSD and now I can't do what I loved anymore."

Damian's super powers were explained by the fact that he has a unique physiology due to being incubated from conception with the chaos shard before being resurrected with said shard infused with the omega energy and a history of being exposed to the Lazarus Pit. Dick could do something similar based on the early childhood grooming to be a Talon, with the accelerated regeneration that kicks in after death. However, anything else wouldn't make sense and would come off as similar to a bad fan fiction.

If King is pushing his depressed world of heroes on us, then DC should embrace it and give us an angry Dick Grayson. Because I don't know about you, but all the veterans I know with PTSD are primarily irritable and angry, not mopey. And everyone I've known with head injuries were completely changed by the experience.

I don't know if I'd want an angry Dick Grayson. They've done stories where he is angry and I don't know if they have ever worked, but maybe it would be different with this set up I suppose. It might be a tough sell when you have Bruce, Jason, and Damian already filling in that angry Batman family character though.

I’d bring back Talon and have him make Dick Grayson great again. Deathstroke can work too.

But you can bring them back without the whole story of Dick getting shot in the head.

Although we know the Deathstroke thing wouldn't happen. He's too big a character not to be used for a Nightwing story.

[Restingvoice]

Yeah, I don't get the sense there is anything on the horizon for Nightwing except more of the same mediocre nonsense we've had for years with the character. There's certain not a NTT, an upgrade to Batman or a Grayson on the horizon at any rate. I know a lot of you are complaining about Lobdell being their choice for this but in all honest they could have hired the best writer in their stable or in comics for this and I still wouldn't care to read it because the basic problem is far more widespread than the writers.

DC don't have any direction on anyone. All the stories we have now came from their writers, such as Metal for Snyder and The Wedding and Bane for Batman. The only direction each department got was Geoff Johns' starter set where all heroes are returned to familiar status quo, but after that it's up to each writers how to take it from there while they're waiting for Johns to finish his concept.

Editorial do have some rule, such as Wonder Woman has to be the daughter of Zeus and her twin brother Jason has to be featured but beyond that they kinda leave them alone and see which one's succesful.

Some of the writers just happened to have long term, world shaking plans. Some don't. That's how King and Snyder last really long but Robinson on Wonder Woman is out the moment Jason's story is done.

In Nightwing, Seeley, Humphries, and Percy all have ideas, maybe long term, but they all left for different reasons. So what's left is DC trying to find someone with a good idea who also don't mind continuing King's setup, because beyond their rules, Johns' initial direction, and King's setup, they have nothing now.

[Pohzee]

What would I do with the head injury?

1.)I’d cancel Nightwing out of spite for Lobdell.

2a.)I’d put him in a coma or paralytic state.
or
2b.) I’d put him in the Sanctuary for Heroes in Crisis.

3.) I would build him back up in either Batman or Heroes in Crisis.

4.) I wouldn’t give him a new series until DC can find a solid long-term creative team (writer AND artist)

And down the road...

5.) Give Dick some agency in the conflict by using this to establish the antagonism with KGBeast that King intended to create in Grayson.

[Godlike13]

But you can bring them back without the whole story of Dick getting shot in the head.

Although we know the Deathstroke thing wouldn't happen. He's too big a character not to be used for a Nightwing story.

It’s not simply about bringing them back, but having them taking advantage of Dick’s amnesia to make a better Dick according to them. Ultimately leading to an upgraded Nightwing with new perspectives. Maybe even one that’s tired of being a victim.

[Pohzee]

It’s simply about bring them back, but having them taking advantage of amnesia Dick to make a better Dick according to them. Ultimately leading to an upgraded Nightwing with new perspectives.

Brainwashed TalonDick? I could dig.

[Restingvoice]

Oh, my idea for amnesia Nightwing is for Batman to force KGBeast to shoot him again with the same type of gun at the same distance but from the other direction so whatever broken from the initial shot is set right again, to cure his amnesia.

In the meantime, I want Dick to do a snarky meta-commentary on the silliness of this whole situation, the silliness of Batman, superheroes, his messed up Bat Family and so on, pop corn optional. Like, no superheroing, just him quipping in the background of Batman comic while Bruce is being grim and gritty. So kinda like Batman #54 and #55 but meaner instead of good natured, like the voice of Nightwing fans fed up with the way DC treated him.

Nothing on Nightwing series because this is a Batman story. The Nightwing series will be set after his amnesia is cured and finish the Dark Web story by him calling in Spyral to spy on them, nuke the whole thing, and he continue his life as superhero and leader of a good spy organization.

[Godlike13]

Do you know the last thing I’d do. Have Dick just go back to Bludhaven, get a lame 9-5 job, hang out with random new friends we have never seen before and probably will never see again after, and try to be “normal”.

[oasis1313]

Do you know the last thing I’d do. Have Dick just go back to Bludhaven, get a lame 9-5 job, hang out with random new friends we have never seen before and probably will never see again after, and try to be “normal”.

THAT'S why DC is doing it. It's a perfect excuse to get rid of his history and finally divorce him altogether from the Bat-Family.

[Godlike13]

Get ready for the next evolution of Dick Grayson,....as a plumber

[byrd156]

What would people want to see from this? What would be your pitch?

Personally I want to like to really play up the head injury and either go 2 ways with it, how it effects Dick's perception of reality first literally than metaphysically. Or use this as a way trap Dick in his own head fighting through his memories and emotions. Both options would be used to alert Dick to a huge threat to the DCU at large. Think something like Freddy Kruger but as a collective hive mind that attacks people in their minds, that feeds on their emotions and dreams and whatnot. I want something really crazy to read while still having good introspective beats about Dick and what kind of a hero/person he is.

In the first idea the head injury would mess with Dick's acrobatic abilities which would be a huge blow to him, stumbling on a step stool, being afraid of heights, etc. While Dick is trying to get his mojo back he realizes that people around him are starting to look and act different, like They Live but only Dick can see them because of the injury. Dick is the only one aware of this at first, struggling to fight off this being beyond his comprehension while just being human (taking that dumb plot point from Titans but turning it into actual character development) Dick finds himself being ignored by the Bat-family and the rest of the Titans are off in space or some ****. With no one to turn to Dick tries to find a way to fight this extra-dimensional thing on his own. Which is very difficult since he can't really hit it or fight it. He stumbles across a group mental patients and a scientist who seem to be the only other people who can see what he sees. This would be his supporting cast for the story, not really thinking something long term because we know how that always goes. Just something that works for this story.
Dick and co would mostly focus on taking out these changed people, attempting to revert them back all the while stopping these giant machines that look like the Tuning Forks from COIE. The Collective would be placing these all around and taking people as a way to come over into this dimension and enslave everyone. Wally would show up half-way through the book learning about Dick getting shot and his current predicament. The team finds a way to use the tuning forks against the creature and repel it away or so they think. As the series goes on and Dick recovers from his injury his vision of the dimensional creatures fades as does the others. Everything seemingly is fixed but what they didn't know is that the scientist in the group was taken over as Dick's sight broke down over the course of the story. Activating the forks all at once the creature begins to come over. In a last ditch effort Wally superspeeds Dick into the other dimension to take the creature on. The whole fight would be a a hell of a trip kinda light the last fight in Grayson but with a lot more head games and mindf****. But of course Dick would win in the end, finally getting to hit the strange creature. He would get pulled back through by Wally realizing that there has to be more threats out there like this.

Then the next writer would come in and ignore all that for a basic street level book.

The other idea of trapping Dick in his own head would of course be mostly about Dick fighting to wake up. There would be brief scenes in each issue with other heroes in the DCU from Batman to the Titans to Deathstroke to whomever talking to him at his bedside. Each character would reflect the scenario he was in in his head. Dick would go through his memories ranging from Haly's Circus to the early Dynamic Duo to the Fab Five TT and onwards. The story would be focussing on Dick relearning and acknowledging those events in his life and how they made him grow. All the while fighting off weird dimensional creatures that would lead to a similar showdown like I said in the other idea except fighting alongside everyone he encountered in his memories signifying his return to grace. Everyone representing pieces of himself. Really go Morrison weird with both these ideas all the while recreating/referencing Silver Age goofiness and stories.

Really both these story ideas I want them to be return to glory stories while showing comics at their most insane and introspective. That you can tell a serious story while embracing the fun of comics. I would want to showcase all the great characteristics about Dick and have himself confront his flaws so whoever writes him next has a feel for who the character actually is.

[Frontier]

What would people want to see from this? What would be your pitch?

An idea I'd pitch would be to use the head injury to maybe give Dick some powers. Then have fun with the idea like they did with the spy direction in Grayson. Everyone knows it isn't going to be permanent but it is a direction you can have fun with for a few arcs where creators can try out some non traditional things. Might make a dull setting like Bludhaven interesting for a bit.

I wouldn't give Dick generic powers, like super strength, but since he got a head injury maybe give him some psychic or telekinetic powers and you can write a few stories that deal with him dealing with and learning how to use his new powers until the story runs it course. I know they did a story where Damian got powers I think after he got brought back but those powers were like Superman or New Gods level of power which would be too much. I would do something smaller scale so you can explore it more.

I guess if I had to do an amnesia story, it would be about focusing on and re-emphasizing who Dick Grayson is why he is the way he is, and the kind of impact he has on the DC Universe. All of this would come about as Dick goes on trying to re-discover his memories and who he was.

I would explore how this effects his relationship with the people closest to them and use it as an opportunity to re-establish and re-develop those relationships.

There would probably be growing pains as a vigilante/Superhero as he adjusts to having to fight with the trauma of his head injury and not having the exact memories of his training, relying mostly on muscle memory.

I would also probably make it a big real when he remembers the death of his parents.

I would have a villain watching and manipulating Nightwing in his more compromised emotional/mental state, someone like Deathstroke or Raptor.

[Vinsanity]

Well yeah. Don't like where this is going but that's life.

I am backing Lobdell after his work on Red Hood. I think he can do this.

[oasis1313]

Get ready for the next evolution of Dick Grayson,....as a plumber

Plumbers make too much money. I'd say DC would give Dick a minimum wage job (and NOT in Seattle, either) bagging groceries at Whole Foods.