Tim Drake as Nightwing by Travis Moore

[Badou]

I believe he cares for the character. Not sure how much of a comic fan Tom is but I think he likes whatever story he is writing more and doesn't view misuse or plot devicing of characters as a big deal. Characters are there to serve the story. This goes for all characters Superman, Nightwing WW or Batman. It's not malicious. He floated the idea of zatana casting a spell to get Dick back to himself at some point I think. So he had a quick fix.

I think it was just a lack of care. He wasn't interested in how shooting Dick in the head effected Dick's character. It was only there to serve Bruce's ongoing story and King tossed the character back to the Bat office to deal with after shooting him. King was going to shoot Dick regardless of what anyone thought and just told the editorial office that if they didn't like it he he could have Zatanna show up and undo it so the Nightwing book doesn't get impacted by it. That was the extent of King's involvement in the Dick side of the story. They decided to run with it for the boost in sales but it has been managed horribly. At the end of the day I just don't think King cared. If he actually cared I don't think he would have shot Dick in the head and then not care what was done with it afterwards. He would have had a story lined up for it.

I lost a ton of respect for King as a writer when he did that. Morrison or Snyder didn't do that in their runs from what I remember. Given how the Grayson book came about after Johns threw Dick's character under the bus the same way in Forever Evil when he exposed Dick's ID to the world with no plan to follow up on it screwing over Higgins' run, you think King would have known better since he wrote Grayson.

I recall when Tom said his favourite character was Dick Grayson and nightwing.

I think he said that only while he was writing Grayson. You see a lot of writers say that when they are writing a character to endear themselves to their fanbase. I mean I think he is a fan of the character but I don't think he is a character King has much interest in anymore. He wrote his Grayson series and is more interested in other characters.

[Zaresh]

A lot better than mine, I was gonna go for blue accents on the legs but I was using some free photoshop imitation. It never came out right so I just got rid of them. Wish I still had my Adobe Programs.

If it's just for painting and drawing, I use Krita (an open source app). It's a bit demanding with the use of memory, but it comes with a nice set of tools and brushes, there are already a lot of video tutorials and the interface is similar to most of Adobe products (some of the default shortcuts are even the same). It lacks some very useful tools, but it comes with other different ones.

(I still have an old version of PhS just in case I need something like what I did there)

You guys have so much talent. I would have printed out a picture of this, then tried it with colored pencils, and it would have looked lousy. BTW, I actually liked the way you colored Tim's hair with some gold highlights in it--I'd never have thought of that.

Hey, \o/ it's another way of doing it. I cannot print drawings here, but I have done something like that a few times too (with backed up lineart).

I honestly prefer dark brown for Tim. And most black haired people I know have brown or grey highlights, not dark blue. So... Golden is a nice colour for hair. Honey, golden, amber, auburn... There are so many possibilities when you can work with an almost unlimited palette. Why stick to the old black with blue highlights? I mean, that without taking into account that ambient light can "dye" the hair.

[byrd156]

If it's just for painting and drawing, I use Krita (an open source app). It's a bit demanding with the use of memory, but it comes with a nice set of tools and brushes, there are already a lot of video tutorials and the interface is similar to most of Adobe products (some of the default shortcuts are even the same). It lacks some very useful tools, but it comes with other different ones.

(I still have an old version of PhS just in case I need something like what I did there)

I'll check that out next time, this was my first time trying to color in some artwork with my macbook.

[Zaresh]

I'll check that out next time, this was my first time trying to color in some artwork with my macbook.

Mmm... I think they don't have a MacOs version; but they have Windows and Linux versions, those ones I'm sure about.
The AppStore has Procreate, which is some app I've heard good things about. It's pretty affordable, I think, but not free. Oh! Autodesk Sketchbook, too; and that one is free after registering.

[oasis1313]

I think it was just a lack of care. He wasn't interested in how shooting Dick in the head effected Dick's character. It was only there to serve Bruce's ongoing story and King tossed the character back to the Bat office to deal with after shooting him. King was going to shoot Dick regardless of what anyone thought and just told the editorial office that if they didn't like it he he could have Zatanna show up and undo it so the Nightwing book doesn't get impacted by it. That was the extent of King's involvement in the Dick side of the story. They decided to run with it for the boost in sales but it has been managed horribly.

Has it actually boosted sales?

[ross61]

I'd be into the idea. And LOL at nothing bad happening to your favorite character. I'd shoot Batman in the head in a hot minute.

[Badou]

Has it actually boosted sales?

Yeah, it has some over the short term. Since it was sold as a tie in to Batman #55 which sells like 4 or 5 times as much as Nightwing. So the print and digital sales jump some, but they have fallen about to where they were before.

[Godlike13]

Has it actually boosted sales?

Mildly. To put things into perspective Batgirl after its direction shift is now regularly selling better then Nightwing.

[byrd156]

Mmm... I think they don't have a MacOs version; but they have Windows and Linux versions, those ones I'm sure about.
The AppStore has Procreate, which is some app I've heard good things about. It's pretty affordable, I think, but not free. Oh! Autodesk Sketchbook, too; and that one is free after registering.

I have a windows pc too so it won't be an issue.

[Sergard]

Well, just for comparison, I changed the pale colour into something more cobalt-ish (I'm tuning up my rusty skills again, it seems. Thanks Photoshop, for existing for these short fixes).


https://imgur.com/a/fAOi1dX

I like both of your versions. Thanks for taking the time and effort to color the artwork.
I personally prefer the darker one because it's better for vigilante work by night (and because of the stronger contrast to the golden highlights).

[Zaresh]

I like both of your versions. Thanks for taking the time and effort to color the artwork.
I personally prefer the darker one because it's better for vigilante work by night (and because of the stronger contrast to the golden highlights).

You're welcome \o/.
If anyone wants anything else coloured, feel free to ask. I usually have spare time for it, even if I work slowly.

[oasis1313]

Mildly. To put things into perspective Batgirl after its direction shift is now regularly selling better then Nightwing.

A sad state of affairs. If Didio's regulars in the Old Boy Network don't want to deal with the character, why NOT open it up to submissions and let some YOUNG hungry writer have a go? I'm 'waaay too old to go for it (and very much in love with my pension plan), but I've seen so many fantastic ideas here. There should be a lot of young writers who wouldn't consider it an insult to be asked to pitch something for Nightwing.

[Godlike13]

LoL, here’s the thing about that. The people responsible for putting together Nightwing continue to make just bad decisions that do nothing but blow up before they can even start. They were gonna have a new young writer take over, but of course the writer they found gets outed as, well, apparently not a very good person. And so that was a no go. Just another job well done by the Nightwing management team though.

[Badou]

Seeley, Humphries, and Percy would be young writers, right? Lobdell is a bad writer, but I think the problems the series and character have would continue because they go beyond just the writer. I bitch about it a lot but I think Bludhaven will continue to churn out mediocre stories as long as the character is forced to be there. So until they actually shake up things for the character in a major way like they did with Grayson I don't know if things are going to magically change with just a new writer.

You can fix up a house to look nicer but if it is still in horrible and ugly neighborhood then it won't do much for its actual value.

[oasis1313]

Seeley, Humphries, and Percy would be young writers, right? Lobdell is a bad writer, but I think the problems the series and character have would continue because they go beyond just the writer. I bitch about it a lot but I think Bludhaven will continue to churn out mediocre stories as long as the character is forced to be there. So until they actually shake up things for the character in a major way like they did with Grayson I don't know if things are going to magically change with just a new writer.

You can fix up a house to look nicer but if it is still in horrible and ugly neighborhood then it won't do much for its actual value.

Like the real estate agents say, "Location location location!" Bludhaven is just a smaller, filthier version of Gotham. Bruce has to leave town to do anything besides hang out in alleyways; he has to hook up with Superman or the League or something, like hitching a ride with the Big Boys. Dick has proven he can kick azz in space, in other dimensions, or whatever/wherever/whenever. Bludhaven needs a secret teseract or something where Dick can open doors to other places, time periods, planets, etc. The universe should be his stomping ground.