Dick Grayson's new status quo - "permanent," or short-term?

[BloodOps]

Grayson deserves to be at the front of the DC Universe with connections all over the world.

No this won't last, but it will definitely be a fun ride. Issue #1 was amazing.

[Dr. Cheesesteak]

True, if the Grayson book continues to do well, he could be an Agent of Spyral or a while

This "Spyral" thing may outlast Sam Wilson as Captain America. It will certainly outlast female Thor. But it won't last. I give it 36 issues, tops.

that's the thing - Dick Grayson and Grayson are both independent of Spyral. He could be a secret agent or any kind of agent in other organizations, or just go private, etc. Let's say the Spyral story lasts 20 issues. Well, Dick can go undercover at Checkmate or do a specific year-long mission to infiltrate the League of Assassins, etc.

[gwangung]

that's the thing - Dick Grayson and Grayson are both independent of Spyral. He could be a secret agent or any kind of agent in other organizations, or just go private, etc. Let's say the Spyral story lasts 20 issues. Well, Dick can go undercover at Checkmate or do a specific year-long mission to infiltrate the League of Assassins, etc.

Hm. Good point. How would people feel about that? It sort of gets into the Nemesis area, but if he's working with Bruce, it's STILL a Bat-title, but with a different scope.

[dropkickjake]

I think this could last a while, because I think this has more media potential than Nightwing. As a secret agent, Dick's origin story can be simplified. "His parents died. He became Robin and was trained by Batman. He had to fake his own death and go undercover." No need to bring in all the Forever Evil business with a publicly revealed secret identity. And as a spy, DC/WB can have cartoons/tv shows/movies that are categorically different than their current stable of characters. As Nightwing, Dick was pretty much just happy/well adjusted Batman.

This isn't to say that no interesting stories could be told, or that Dick isn't a character in his own right, but that DC doesn't really have a character with which to tell fun pulp spy stories with. Sure there's ARGUS and Checkmate and stuff, but if you were a DC exec and wanted to tell a spy story in any form of media other than comics, do you hang its success on Amanda Waller, Steve Trevor, or Dick Grayson who has some of the best name recognition in comics?

That said, I'll always rue the perpetual missed opportunity that was Nightwing.

[byrd156]

I think this will be short-term but probably not as short term as I would like.

[Badou]

The character has been treated like trash for most of the reboot, so I don't think DC cares much if he stays as Grayson or goes back to Nightwing. As long as he sells well enough they are content with whatever. It isn't like Nighwing/Grayson really has much, or any, impact on anything else DC is doing. We will probably learn how much DC cares if they continue to put talent on Grayson rather than just stick typical Nightwing level creative teams on the book.

Honestly, this is a very difficult situation. They pretty much gutted Nightwing as a character in the reboot. Everything people associated with the Nightwing identity has been taken away from the character, given to other characters, or just erased. So we are now in a position where Nightwing is a shell of what he was and doesn't really represent what he did before. He's a nobody now. It's pretty much just an identity the character had to have because they need to force in 3 other Robins. It no longer is this personal legacy identity the character built up over decades. He doesn't have the Titans history anymore so the reason he became Nigthwing in the first place no longer works, and even his time in Bludhaven has been rendered irrelevant. So the place people most associate with the character is a place the character can't return to without retreading old ground. Plus at this point Bludhaven is just a name of a city with nothing really there in it.

I mean if he goes back to Nightwing, then what? They made the character a spy because they couldn't think of anything else to do with the character after knocking him down so far. It isn't like if he goes back to Nightwing suddenly his Titans history is back, he has friends again, Bludhaven suddenly becomes a place that matters, or Nightwing becomes a character other big heroes look at with respect again. I am not completely sold on the Grayson concept, but unless they do major retcons and an overhaul with DC continuity I don't see any benefit from him going back to Nightwing. Maybe Nightwing is more marketable in terms of branding compared to just Grayson, but with how much the identity lost in the reboot I don't see much benefit.

[The Red Monk]

Dick Grayson, at this point, is a blank slate.

Agent Grayson is basically a fresh start for him. I only see progress from there on. I don't see DC bringing back Nightwing after this.

Basically, my hunch - forget the Teen Titans. Forget Nightwing. Forget Bludhaven.

In the New 52, however long it lasts, whether 25 or even 50 years, Dick Grayson's life will have been rebooted as going from Robin to secret agent and onwards, into the future, whatever it may hold.

[SmokeMonster]

He became a Secret Agent for a specific mission.

When he takes care of that then I imagine he'll go back (unless sales are crazy good).

I imagine he'll fail trying, all the identities will get out, and Crisis 2015 will revert everything back to the status quo, with the world not knowing that Dick Grayson is Nighwing or Lex not knowing that Bruce is Batman.

[bat1987]

It's a cool premise and 1st issue was way better then expected, but I think he'll go back to Nightwing eventually. Just launch a brand new Nightwing#1 when this is over, get a big name writer and you got yourself a seller.

[The World]

I can't really say for sure though I would bet that sales have a large hand in what the eventual direction of Dick's future is even if his tenure at Spyral is short term. Frankly I can't see what DC's impetus for going back to Nightwing would be. Nightwing for all intents and purposes was a creation of the Titans that he hung onto afterwards. Honestly his best adventures in the last 10 years were probably the ones as Batman. The Nightwing persona doesn't really automatically generate amazing stories and DC would probably have to jump through hoops to restore it at this point anyways.

that's the thing - Dick Grayson and Grayson are both independent of Spyral. He could be a secret agent or any kind of agent in other organizations, or just go private, etc. Let's say the Spyral story lasts 20 issues. Well, Dick can go undercover at Checkmate or do a specific year-long mission to infiltrate the League of Assassins, etc.

Yeah, I could see that.

[jules]

If the spy thing does turn out to have longevity, Nightwing could well be a persona/disguise that Dick dons rather like that blond wig he wore in issue 1. Something he takes out of his costume chest and dusts off when he has a mission that requires him to go and mix with the costumed heroes.

[Punisher007]

Issue #1 was really good. I could see this being the status quo for at least a few years. Heck he could end up leaving SPYRAL and still be a spy for another agency, like ARGUS for example.

[Dzetoun]

that's the thing - Dick Grayson and Grayson are both independent of Spyral. He could be a secret agent or any kind of agent in other organizations, or just go private, etc. Let's say the Spyral story lasts 20 issues. Well, Dick can go undercover at Checkmate or do a specific year-long mission to infiltrate the League of Assassins, etc.

Issue #1 was really good. I could see this being the status quo for at least a few years. Heck he could end up leaving SPYRAL and still be a spy for another agency, like ARGUS for example.

Sure. Should this be a sales success, and it has certainly started off well to all initial indications, there are any number of ways they could go. He could be with a reformed Spyral, he could go with another agency, or he need not go with an agency at all. He could become the Bat Family's international operative, carrying some of the themes Morrison introduced in Batman, Inc. even more explicitly than he already is. Given the wide open field of the espionage world in the DCU (very different from the situation in the Marvel Universe) the possibilities are myriad.

[Maxpower00044]

Forget what interview it was in, but Seeley already said this is one phase of the story they are telling, so I expect it to have an end point (not because of sales or lack of interest).

[Claude]

Sure. Should this be a sales success, and it has certainly started off well to all initial indications, there are any number of ways they could go. He could be with a reformed Spyral, he could go with another agency, or he need not go with an agency at all. He could become the Bat Family's international operative, carrying some of the themes Morrison introduced in Batman, Inc. even more explicitly than he already is. Given the wide open field of the espionage world in the DCU (very different from the situation in the Marvel Universe) the possbilities are myriad.

I'd be disappointed to see him leave Spyral to join a more conventionally styled organisation - the motifs, "hypnos" and craziness of Spyral are part of what makes this such a great venue for Dick. It's all so very theatrical.