Batman #55 Discussion

[Cmbmool]

It seems to me within this thread there are two contradicting beliefs regarding who's to blame for having Dick get shot in the head, one pointing toward Lobdell, the other King. Can someone please shed some light on the situation?

Nobody is point at Dan Didio and we all know how HE FEELS ABOUT NIGHTWING...

[Rac7d*]

No ones blaming Lobdell. He’s just coming in now cause they have no one else to write this “evolution of Dick Grayson” and they need to get something out. He’s not behind this, but I sure as hell ain’t happy that he is who they had to resort to last minute to try and do something with this.

Who want to write for Nightwing anyway, you can never own the chracters becasue at any moment a curve ball like this is thrown at you. People want long arcs, how an writers do that for nightwing when they could be intruppted

[Nite-Wing]

Its kinda sad that Dick was so obnoxious these couple of issues that him getting shot is almost like a "finally he shuts the hell up" moment
Not a good send off for the man

[OWL45]

Its kinda sad that Dick was so obnoxious these couple of issues that him getting shot is almost like a "finally he shuts the hell up" moment
Not a good send off for the man

I agree. He came off like more of a child than an adult never mind being a seasoned super hero. This was not a good look for the character period.

[thefiresky]

Bro, why is everyone butt hurt with this story? I think its cool. Plus King was obviously repainting the Batman and Robin picture. When Dick was Robin he was corny and annoying and loveable all the same. I thought it was a good hommage. I also dont know why everyone is hating DD for this. I mean eventually DG will get his memory n **** back, so dont fret.

[Ten_to_Three]

Bro, why is everyone butt hurt with this story? I think its cool. Plus King was obviously repainting the Batman and Robin picture. When Dick was Robin he was corny and annoying and loveable all the same. I thought it was a good hommage. I also dont know why everyone is hating DD for this. I mean eventually DG will get his memory n **** back, so dont fret.

IMO, recreating the stereotypical--I say stereotypical because Dick as a child is actually a complex character, corny and quippy brat being only one side of his multifaceted personality--dynamic between Golden/Silver age Batman and Robin (then aged 12 or so) in a setting where Dick is not only a twenty-something grown man but also a veteran superhero is not quality writing. King's flanderizing characterization of Dick ignores his development throughout adolescence and early adulthood, and virtually makes Dick a parody of himself.

[Badou]

Bro, why is everyone butt hurt with this story? I think its cool. Plus King was obviously repainting the Batman and Robin picture. When Dick was Robin he was corny and annoying and loveable all the same. I thought it was a good hommage. I also dont know why everyone is hating DD for this. I mean eventually DG will get his memory n **** back, so dont fret.

Yeah, no need to fret. Only they forced another sudden direction change on a character that hasn't had a solid direction since the New 52 outside the Grayson series. Then upset the current Nightwing writer so much that he walked off the book halfway through the story he wanted to tell, and DC had to scramble to put Lobdell on the book to fill in for the big and exciting and new amnesia storyline that is being forced in the Nightwing book. It was so sudden that they had to edit out Nightwing from the Titans covers and material because of this new sudden direction. But yeah, everything is going swell. All according to plan.

Sarcasm aside no one is worried that he won't get his memories back but the fact that it is another forced direction change without any real plan for the character going forward.

[Pohzee]

As a fan of Nightwing, I really don't care.

His book was already bad. Titans was already bad. Sure Percy's direction got scrapped. Sure we are getting Lobdell in his place and Lobdell is worse than Percy. But as someone who already disliked Percy's run, its not like I lost a book to read. I wasn't reading Nightwing before and I'm still not. So no loss there.

But now his story is crossing over into Batman by a better writer that I will read. So that's a net positive in the amount of Nightwing that I'm looking forward to.

[nhienphan2808]

IMO, recreating the stereotypical--I say stereotypical because Dick as a child is actually a complex character, corny and quippy brat being only one side of his multifaceted personality--dynamic between Golden/Silver age Batman and Robin (then aged 12 or so) in a setting where Dick is not only a twenty-something grown man but also a veteran superhero is not quality writing. King's flanderizing characterization of Dick ignores his development throughout adolescence and early adulthood, and virtually makes Dick a parody of himself.

I agree. Dick as Robin in modern times doesn't sound near as annoying. Back in the silver and Bronze Age he sounds like he's really trying and endearingly so. Now I just want to strangle him. If kings dialogue didn't suck he would sound better. Robin Dick doesn't say "like" 1457 times in a page either.

[Armor of God]

I dont see how its going to crossover in to Batman? And the Batman book is hardly good to even begin with. Lets stop pretending that 2015 King is the same guy as 2018 King. Many people are mocking King's characterization of Dick and expressing gratitude over him getting shot. From the snippets I got from the preview I totally understand. King made him annoying and got him shot and then DC dumped it on Lobdell when Percy refused to play ball. Sincerely doubt King will even address Dick after 56, I even wager 55 was the last we saw of Dick. Dick's books may not have been good but he had something. He had stability. What DC has done now is give him the same treatment they gave various characters during the New 52. Treatment many of them still haven't recovered from, Superman literally had to reboot.

[Aahz]

IMO, recreating the stereotypical--I say stereotypical because Dick as a child is actually a complex character, corny and quippy brat being only one side of his multifaceted personality--dynamic between Golden/Silver age Batman and Robin (then aged 12 or so) in a setting where Dick is not only a twenty-something grown man but also a veteran superhero is not quality writing.

Dick was more like 15-16 during the majority of the Golden/Silver age (a little bit younger in the beginning and a little bit older in the end).

[oasis1313]

I think part of this is to remove Dick from the Bat-Family.

[Ten_to_Three]

Dick was more like 15-16 during the majority of the Golden/Silver age (a little bit younger in the beginning and a little bit older in the end).

Yeah, saying he's 12 is a bit exaggerating.

However, I don't think Dick was 15-16 in the Golden Age. He was around 15 during most of the Silver Age and gets a little older toward the end. From an in-universe perspective, Golden Age Dick has to be younger. But then again, when it comes to comic book characters' exact age, it usually boils down to which ones among the numerous contradicting pieces of evidence you choose to base your calculation on.

[Aahz]

However, I don't think Dick was 15-16 in the Golden Age. He was around 15 during most of the Silver Age and gets a little older toward the end. From an in-universe perspective, Golden Age Dick has to be younger. But then again, when it comes to comic book characters' exact age, it usually boils down to which ones among the numerous contradicting pieces of evidence you choose to base your calculation on.

He started younger (at age 12 when you go by the Bronze Age Earth 2 Books) but he was shown to be in high school and roughly 15 during his solo adventures in Star-Spangled Comics, which ran from 1947 to 1952.

[Ten_to_Three]

He started younger (at age 12 when you go by the Bronze Age Earth 2 Books) but he was shown to be in high school and roughly 15 during his solo adventures in Star-Spangled Comics, which ran from 1947 to 1952.

It seems you take a more Doylist approach (defining "Golden Age Dick" as the Dick who appears in comics during the Golden Age period), while I'm more Watsonian-leaning (trying to correlate different stages of Dick's life--I'm pretending all non-elseworld Dicks are the same person, ignoring Golden Age indications of his age when they contradict later evidence--and the meta ages of comics).

I do believe your method is more scientific, and hope one day to adopt it. It's just that for now, I still have to stick to the simpler way because I've yet to memorize all those dates and numbers.