Nightwing #51 Preview/Discussion

[yohyoi]

To DC Nightwing's life is centered in Bludhaven. It gives him no impact to the DCU. They could hand wave anything that happened to him. It's a way to hold him down.

[oasis1313]

To DC Nightwing's life is centered in Bludhaven. It gives him no impact to the DCU. They could hand wave anything that happened to him. It's a way to hold him down.

And just go to Gotham City long enough to get shot.

[yohyoi]

And just go to Gotham City long enough to get shot.

Or get tortured and get his identity revealed to the whole world. Dick needs to stay away from Gotham.

[oasis1313]

Or get tortured and get his identity revealed to the whole world. Dick needs to stay away from Gotham.

I think everybody with any sense should move out of Gotham. Never heard of the Gotham City Bureau of Tourism, have you?

[Godlike13]

Ric’s got mugged in every issue so far lol, Bludhaven’s not any better.

[Vinsanity]

This was actually pretty decent. Kind of interested to see how it pans out even though I don't like the direction.

I am probs in the minority though on comic book forums.

[oasis1313]

Ric’s got mugged in every issue so far lol, Bludhaven’s not any better.

Doesn't sound like Bludhaven is doing very well to promote the town as a tourist destination.

[WhipWhirlwind]

Ric’s got mugged in every issue so far lol, Bludhaven’s not any better.

Bludhaven is just a generic "bad city". I liked what Seeley was doing with the Atlantic City on crack spin, but that seems to have been dropped.

At least Gotham has its history and general spooky/gothyness to it.

[yohyoi]

What's worse is DC won't develop it past a bad city because every writer has a different version of it. They keep on changing Bludhaven that it's a new city every new writer.

[BloodOps]

Wow--what's going on over there?

Over on Batman?

Garbage, that is what is going on over there. Hard for me to believe that this is the same Tom King that gave us Grayson a few years ago.

[oasis1313]

Over on Batman?

Garbage, that is what is going on over there. Hard for me to believe that this is the same Tom King that gave us Grayson a few years ago.

Maybe King and Seeley just do better work when they can bounce ideas off each other.

[bearman]

I am surprised, but I did not hate the issue.
And Ric sure acted like a man with a brain injury.

[dropkickjake]

I don't absolutely hate this story or direction. It just feels really pointless after so many massive changes in direction for the character over the past ten years.

You guys are splitting hairs. Both muggers had their gun pointed at the back of his head, both times he pulls the same move to try a defuse the situation, these scenes are not at all dissimilar. Going from confidently taking down a mugger with a cup, to shocked he can do it with Kung fu moves is just silly.

No, man, they are two very different situation. In the diner, the thug takes the money and starts to leave. Dick, no longer in any immediate danger, baseball throws a mug at the guy and knocks him out cold. Outside the store, Dick again tries to diffuse the situation by getting him to take the money. Dick only goes Jason Bourne AFTER this thug tell him that Dick is going to be his driver. When it becomes clear that he is going to continue to be in danger bc the thug isn't taking the money and running, Dick's subconscious takes over, which freaks him out. This part makes sense. Its the inability to escape the immediate danger of a gun at the back of his head that is the difference.

I'm still waiting for an explanation for why he would go back to Bludhaven if he only remembers up to his time in the circus. Other than the story demands he be there just because that is where DC wants to isolate him. This feels like a fundamental flaw in the way they are trying to approach this story arc. Even those that are enjoying this or don't think it is bad this feels like a big flaw.

I mean it is clear that they are trying to have him cut off everything that is associated with his life from when Bruce entered his life to when he got shot in the head. Pushing away the Batman family, wanting nothing to do with being a hero, and so on, but then he shouldn't be going back to Bludhaven, which is associated with those things he is trying to get away from. If they were approaching this properly the first place he would have gone would be back to Haly's Circus. I guess they are saying he is only looking forward, even though Bludhaven is in his past, so it doesn't really fit as a reason for not doing that.

Logically he would have gone back to Haly's Circus, the place his memories cut off, but judging by the reference to the forgettable New 52 Nightwing story about Dick giving his mom that bracelet it seems the New 52 history is still canon. So that would mean that Haly's Circus is still destroyed. Now it was destroyed in part because Dick's association with being a hero. This would have been a good way to explain why he wants nothing to do with his old life and the Batman family. His old life lead to the destruction of the only memories he has left. So of course he wants to move away from that. Then his next step would be to do what he is most familiar with, which would be to go travel.

That feels like how this story should have been setup if they were going down this amnesia path. Really delve into who the character is, but they aren't doing that. He runs off to Bludhaven immediately, acts mostly indifferent to everyone that is reaching out to him, get a job as a cab driver, burns all his old costumes, some cop no one cares about decides to become the new Nightwing, he's going to be forced to act as a hero when the cop is in over his head, and the Scarecrow is after him causing problems in Bludhaven for an arc and then will go back to Gotham. I dunno, all this just doesn't really feel like there is a plan in place to really change the character. It feels like like a by-the-numbers amnesia plot while they wait to relaunch the book sometime next year after all DC's big stories like HiC and maybe Doomsday Clock are finished.

sigh. Yeah. Thats better. Seeley/King and Morrison/Snyder are the only eras I remember where this forum wasn't coming up with better stories than what was getting published.

[BluenGold4ever]

Ric? Really?


Batman needs his Dick back.

Man, such a dick move.

If DC thinks Nightwing fans will really accept this... they don't know Dick.

[byrd156]

Ric? Really?


Batman needs his Dick back.

Man, such a dick move.

If DC thinks Nightwing fans will really accept this... they don't know Dick.

Remember when they used "you don't know Dick?" as a tagline for Grayson? Those were better times.