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

[Godlike13]

Grayson absolutely. The New 52 run is passable, but Grayson is a must read for any Dick Grayson fan.

[dropkickjake]

Also check out Gates of Gotham if you haven't.

[Rac7d*]

His brief period as Reneagde was entertaining

[disillusion386]

Fantastic! These are all great, and I have a massive reading list now to wash the taste of Ric away for the time being.

[Badou]

Didio wanted Dick in Spyral - "Grayson" was his baby.

Bludhaven Or Bust seems to have been Johns.

Didio only wanted Dick as a spy to get him out of the way because of the "exposed secret identity" thing. He had nothing to do with the actual Grayson series or how it turned out.

I agree that Johns is the one that put Dick back in Bludhaven but I don't think Didio cared. Since he only wanted Dick out of the way when he is causing an inconvenience. Johns in that first Rebirth panel said that when he thinks Nightwing he thinks "Blue suit and Bludhaven" so that is what we got.

[Claude]

Didio only wanted Dick as a spy to get him out of the way because of the "exposed secret identity" thing. He had nothing to do with the actual Grayson series or how it turned out.

I agree that Johns is the one that put Dick back in Bludhaven but I don't think Didio cared. Since he only wanted Dick out of the way when he is causing an inconvenience. Johns in that first Rebirth panel said that when he thinks Nightwing he thinks "Blue suit and Bludhaven" so that is what we got.

I think there's an important difference between "wanted him out of the way" and "wanted to give him something else to do". It's odd to think back to how angry people were that Dick was off having adventures in "Grayson" that precluded him being in "Batman Eternal", but in retrospect him being taken 'out of the way' and given his own world was a huge benefit to the character.

Obviously, there's more to it - but it always felt to me like things started to go a bit wrong for Dick again when he came back into the fold, with Robin War and Batman And Robin Eternal showing all the old problems of Dick operating in such a specifically Batmanny environment with the other Robins.

(It's also been too many years for me to be sure, but I'm pretty certain Tom King used to mention in interviews that Didio was actually quite involved with - and supportive of - the launch of "Grayson" and it's early issues.)

[Rac7d*]

Grayson absolutely. The New 52 run is passable, but Grayson is a must read for any Dick Grayson fan.

its a summarzed version of his dixon run considering the end

[SiegePerilous02]

I agree that Johns is the one that put Dick back in Bludhaven but I don't think Didio cared. Since he only wanted Dick out of the way when he is causing an inconvenience. Johns in that first Rebirth panel said that when he thinks Nightwing he thinks "Blue suit and Bludhaven" so that is what we got.

A rare mistake by Johns that has unfortunately helped lead to our current situation.

It's still to bad we couldn't have gone half way and just have Nightwing in the blue suit without Bludhaven weighing him down.

[Ascended]

Ok so I dropped the current Nightwing run after several issues of Ric, but since Dick is probably my favorite DC character, I want to read/watch content he's in. I signed up for DC Universe and am now catching up on Young Justice (both the show and tie-in comic).

For comics, what other runs should i go back to? I haven't read Dixon's run from the 90s, and most of my exposure to the character are the Nightwing runs in the late 2000s/early 2010s, Morrison's and some of Snyder's DickBats, and Rebirth. Any recommendations for shows/movies? (PS. I like Babs a lot too, if that helps with recommendations)

I definitely recommend the Dixon era. It's probably not going to seem as novel or interesting to read it today, but twenty years ago when it came out it was a pretty big deal, and pulled Dick back into the "street level" stuff that Dick hadn't spent much time doing since the 80's.

The New52 era stuff with Brett Booth on art, which saw Dick in Chicago with no support system (not even a way to repair/replace gear) was pretty solid but not anything really mind blowing.

Grayson is a must-read. New Order was a really intriguing Elseworlds that I really enjoyed; it put Dick in a different kind of position than we're used to seeing and it was a lot of fun. Dixon. Booth/Chicago. All worth a read.

The first chunk of the New52, where Dick was dealing with Haly's Circus, was decent, up until about the time of the "Death of the Family" event that ran through all the Bat titles. It wasn't the best but it was better than I gave it credit for at the time.

[byrd156]

True. Actually, I suspect it wasn’t anything about Nightwing and Bludhaven in themselves, but a general and rushed policy to get everyone to a “popular” and/or “traditional” status quo FAST and by any means possible. That meant Nightwing in Bludhaven in his blue suit. I think in the haste to do so, the powers that be didn’t think through whether the “traditional” arrangement still worked for all characters.

The reason Bludhaven pre-New 52 worked was because it was built over a long period with a slower burn to it. Rushing Dick back there without a clear definition of how this version is different and why Dick is even there hurts Bludhaven I feel.

[Rac7d*]

Maybe Bendis will be the one who brings back Dick.

nnnnhn sure

[Godlike13]

One of the problems with new Bludhaven was that the Grayson direction, and those world elements, didn't really run it's full course yet. They cut it short, stopped the spy angle cold, and threw him back in Bluhaven making Bludhaven seem like the bad guy. And before anyone brings up sales, Ric sales are **** and thats still going strong despite everything. I believe if they built to going back to Bludhaven, and let the spy angle naturally run its course, then eventually going back to Bludhaven could have been viewed differently and ultimately better.

[byrd156]

One of the problems with new Bludhaven was that the Grayson direction, and those world elements, didn't really run it's full course yet. They cut it short, stopped the spy angle cold, and threw him back in Bluhaven making Bludhaven seem like the bad guy. And before anyone brings up sales, Ric sales are **** and thats still going strong despite everything. I believe if they built to going back to Bludhaven, and let the spy angle naturally run its course, then eventually going back to Bludhaven could have been viewed differently and ultimately better.

This. The spy angle should have lead Dick to Bludhaven a couple times that way Dick can build up a new natural connection to the place. Otherwise he's just there because he was in the last big Nightwing run.

[WonderNight]

One of the problems with new Bludhaven was that the Grayson direction, and those world elements, didn't really run it's full course yet. They cut it short, stopped the spy angle cold, and threw him back in Bluhaven making Bludhaven seem like the bad guy. And before anyone brings up sales, Ric sales are **** and thats still going strong despite everything. I believe if they built to going back to Bludhaven, and let the spy angle naturally run its course, then eventually going back to Bludhaven could have been viewed differently and ultimately better.

but would that have mattered after he returned to bludhevan? He'd still have the same problems has now.

[WonderNight]

I think there's an important difference between "wanted him out of the way" and "wanted to give him something else to do". It's odd to think back to how angry people were that Dick was off having adventures in "Grayson" that precluded him being in "Batman Eternal", but in retrospect him being taken 'out of the way' and given his own world was a huge benefit to the character.

Obviously, there's more to it - but it always felt to me like things started to go a bit wrong for Dick again when he came back into the fold, with Robin War and Batman And Robin Eternal showing all the old problems of Dick operating in such a specifically Batmanny environment with the other Robins.

(It's also been too many years for me to be sure, but I'm pretty certain Tom King used to mention in interviews that Didio was actually quite involved with - and supportive of - the launch of "Grayson" and it's early issues.)

Thank you. Nightwing needs to go out into the world and stop being all up under daddy. It amazes me sometimes when nightwing fans are so scared to let him leave the nest and grow up.

But why be the center of the dcu's spyverse when you can be just another robin in a sea of robins.