Dick Grayson: Robin, Nightwing, Batman, Agent of Spyral Appreciation 2019

[Rac7d*]

The funniest moment at the DC Publishers Panel came after a fan asked what was up with Nightwing, and before Dan could answer, Jim said, “Don’t worry—I promise you I will protect Nightwing.”

Ther Hero we need Jim Lee

[Nine Crocodile]

Newsarama has the quote as "I assure you I will protect Nightwing at all costs".

I laughed. I admit it.

[Restingvoice]

Since when's Jim Lee interested in Nightwing? Sure didn't protect him the past year.

[Pohzee]

The funniest moment at the DC Publishers Panel came after a fan asked what was up with Nightwing, and before Dan could answer, Jim said, “Don’t worry—I promise you I will protect Nightwing.”

Ther Hero we need Jim Lee

He sure sucks at it

[Restingvoice]

"DiDio says that the events of the Batman books will have ramifications for Nightwing as well."

Oh, big surprise. That's literally what you always do!

https://www.newsarama.com/47203-nycc...dan-didio.html

[Ascended]

Newsarama has the quote as "I assure you I will protect Nightwing at all costs".

I laughed. I admit it.

.....this is protecting Nightwing?

Someday I hope we find out what nonsense has been going on behind closed doors when *this* is protecting Nightwing.

[Rac7d*]

Lee's done a **** job at "protecting" him until this point if that is what he was doing. What a fucking joke. Anyone that takes any solace in anything a Lee, King, Didio , or anyone in charge say are kidding themselves.

Why do you have crush my hope


Were getting to the light a the end f the tunel now

[nhienphan2808]

Protecting him “from” anything happening in the dcu.

[Pohzee]

It's not a coincidence the DCU went to **** after Dick got shot.

[Godlike13]

"DiDio says that the events of the Batman books will have ramifications for Nightwing as well."

Oh, big surprise. That's literally what you always do!

https://www.newsarama.com/47203-nycc...dan-didio.html

“Hey, whats the plan with Nightwing?”
“Read Batman.”

#$@%#%$%$%$%$5$^!!!

He’s clearly left it in the hand of the Bat office who are more then likely responsible for Ric in the first place.

[Badou]

Why do you have crush my hope


Were getting to the light a the end f the tunel now

Since the New 52 started there has been a lack of care or a disinterest in using the character, imo. With DC just constantly undermining the character and not caring about his direction. It is still the same people in charge running things and deciding what direction to pull Nightwing's character into now. So I don't really expect anything to change since I've been given zero evidence to believe it will.

He has zero agency in DC and is never used as the driver of a bigger story. It has been a pattern of Dick stuck in his solo series cut off from nearly everyone telling small stories, and then he gets dragged into another character's book or story to fuel their narrative instead of his own. He never spearheads any bigger story, book or event. Then he gets thrown back into his own book with whatever creative team on it at the time to deal with the fallout while the main character or story that dragged Dick in ignores it all. There was some shitty Titans book thrown in there too where he was completely ineffectual, but it is better if we ignore that.

I mean the only time I think since the New 52 where it felt like DC had something BIG planned for the character was in Forever Evil. I remember all the discussions back then for it. Everyone thought DC was going to finally use the character on a bigger scale again. Dick was finally going to be involved in the DCU in a big JL event written by Johns. The opening issue even had Dick's ID being exposed to the world and surely this would be a big DCU issue going forward, right? Owlman even had some special interest in Dick that would be important too we thought.

But it was all nothing. Johns was a complete disappointment and seemed to have no interest in actually writing the character beyond just having him be chained to a chair the whole time. Then they ignored the ID stuff and by a complete accident due to them contracting both King and Seeley we ended up with the Grayson series. It wasn't even a planned thing. The best Dick story we got since the New 52 was a complete accident.

When you look at the last handful of years at all of DC's "big" or "important" stories Dick has been irrelevant. Completely irrelevant. He isn't an important figure in the DCU and he has zero weight behind his actions now. There are no creators or anyone that has a real interest in the character. Like you look at something like the Three Jokers story by Johns and Fabok and you see them building this big story and promoting it. Jason or a Barbara are heavily used in that promotion and are being billed as having important roles in this story DC is pushing. Even look at Bendis' Leviathan event and see how Jason is being used in that, or how Priest wanted to do a Batman vs Deathstroke story and DC decided to instead turn it into a big thing. Dick hasn't had anything like that. So even when the Ric story ends and Dick is Nightwing again I don't really expect any real improvement because the character is still stuck in a place where he isn't that valued and has no writers that are backing him.

[Restingvoice]

Speaking of how Dick was handled... back up a bit... 30 years ago. I have a question for older fans.

Is it true that they canceled Dick and Kori's wedding because the Bat office wants him back and cut off deep relations with characters outside of the Bat office?

[nhienphan2808]

Yeah, but now don't think it's so much "wants him back" as in want the character, but they think they could salvage him after NTT went down. They thought by pretending some of the bad drama didn't happen they did him a favor somehow. I find it interesting that the bat office "wanted him back", but O'neil, the chief editor, at the same time, said "we didn't know what to do with him" and "Batman really needs someone like Babs. Robin? Who?". Only Chuck Dixon made something out of those lemons. I don't like his writing much and Dick's Titans history started to erode right after Zero Hour (Donna is suddenly a love interest, no mention of Kory or Titans in 96 Nightwing, he was the LAST sidekick of five rather than first...) but he was like, juggling all those series.

I do think at the moment Didio also is thinking he is "saving" Nightwing somehow, by not letting him have a part in ANYTHING big happening.

[Restingvoice]

Yeah, but now don't think it's so much "wants him back" as in want the character, but they think they could salvage him after NTT went down. They thought by pretending some of the bad drama didn't happen they did him a favor somehow. I find it interesting that the bat office "wanted him back", but O'neil, the chief editor, at the same time, said "we didn't know what to do with him" and "Batman really needs someone like Babs. Robin? Who?". Only Chuck Dixon made something out of those lemons. I don't like his writing much and Dick's Titans history started to erode right after Zero Hour (Donna is suddenly a love interest, no mention of Kory or Titans in 96 Nightwing, he was the LAST sidekick of five rather than first...) but he was like, juggling all those series.

I do think at the moment Didio also is thinking he is "saving" Nightwing somehow, by not letting him have a part in ANYTHING big happening.

This was the early 90s right? Mulletwing era? Before Knightfall? Knightfall was ponytail era.
What was Babs doing at that time? Was she Oracle yet?

You mean he's keeping Nightwing save from being a suspect or perpetrator in Crisis, Leviathan, Infected, or any big future event that requires a victim or a villain? Hard to buy, DDO, considering other series are running just fine and he ends up being a Talon anyway.

[Nine Crocodile]

This was the early 90s right? Mulletwing era? Before Knightfall? Knightfall was ponytail era.
What was Babs doing at that time? Was she Oracle yet?

You mean he's keeping Nightwing save from being a suspect or perpetrator in Crisis, Leviathan, Infected, or any big future event that requires a victim or a villain? Hard to buy, DDO, considering other series are running just fine and he ends up being a Talon anyway.

Babs as Oracle debuted in the late '80s, so yeah.

I would not be surprised if O'Neil really didn't know what to do with Dick, as he was too busy changing the continuity to diminish his role in the DCU.