Dick Grayson: Robin / Nightwing Appreciation 2020

[Godlike13]

Im concerned about Nightwing's future, and its sad people lost their job, but DC needed to retool. I felt like they were running around like a chicken with no head.

[Grayson - The Dark Heir]

They're not cutting Black Label, they seem to be cutting down on imprints. Black Label books are OGNs, which is seemingly the focus for DC moving forward (and no wonder, focusing on the direct market just seems like a bad business decision at this point, and it seems that's what all these layoffs is about as terrible as it is for the people affected), so I would expect to see them being published all together. Since Black Label might not be its own imprint anymore, you wouldn't really need the staff who worked under it anymore (again, that's a terrible situation for staff and I don't want to make light of that).

Not sure where the 40% reduction comes from, that's not been mentioned in anything I've read so far. Dick will probably continue to appear in Digital stuff like Gotham Knights every once in a while and continue to star in the Titans Together series, but probably not much else except whatever OGNs we get. The main book might get through any type of line reduction as a Batman IP, but that's an issue of its own since he'll become even further swamped in Batman's oozing shadow.

Honestly, as a DC reader, and I think I've said this before on here, but the most interesting DC content is not coming from the mainline books and hasn't for several years now. The best Raven is Teen Titans: Raven, the best Superman is Superman Smashes the Klan, etc. There's a reason stuff like Injustice and DCeased sell so well, same goes for the more disconnected events like Metal and Death Metal. On top of that, DC itself hasn't really delivered on their promises for more diverse books, like we're still waiting on Milestone. So honestly, this kind of reduction in direct market output isn't going to affect me much. In fact, you could say the reduction of the line (not the work force, of course) is a consequence of doing wrong by characters like Dick and not meeting reader expectations in general. Or it's just that the direct market isn't really conducive to any kind of growth and Batman and Superman have eaten up all the market share DC ever had.

Whatever happens, I think the DC Comics we end up with is going to be a more honest version of what we have right now, i.e. even more about the A-list IPs than they are now.

[Ascended]

I'm not even sure I *did* see "40% cuts." I caught all this fairly late last night, when I'm usually reading news articles (like, real news; politics and pandemics and science, etc). So I was tired and just skimming nerd articles as I found them. For all I know, I imagined the 40% figure, or it was a comment from a fellow poster. Or maybe you just haven't seen the article I came across yet. Supposedly we'll get word on what DC's two year plan entails soon, so we'll know for sure then.

Anyway, I agree that the best DC is found in the out-of-continuity stuff and I'm glad they seem to be focusing on new markets instead of trying to revive the direct market (as much as I love my LCS, it isn't a optimized business model). I don't actually think this will personally impact me too deeply; they've cancelled a lot of my favorite books like Terrifics already, and other than a few titles like Legion or Young Justice most of my remaining pull list is just the big characters like Clark and Diana. And I already read several books like Flash in trade and OGN's like Lost Carnival anyway.

Really my biggest concerns are where Dick will land (he'll be somewhere, but will it be a regular solo?), what will happen to Naomi season 2, and whether Cyborg, Terrific, and Wally will find a home with regular appearances.

[Badou]

Dick's had a ongoing solo book since nearly the mid 90s. Only Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and maybe Green Lantern have had that. Although with Flash and GL they had periods of different lead characters. So I would be a little surprised if he loses his solo, but who knows. His character hasn't really felt that important in quite a while with his solo book just going through the motions of doing the bare minimum.

If the Snyder book happens I can see them maybe not wanting to have the Snyder book and also a solo book going on at the same time even if Snyder's book is its own thing.

[Restingvoice]

Oh yeah that Snyder book might end up never happen if they're cutting cost

[Morgoth]

Dick, in my opinion, is just one of those characters that we shouldn't worry about at all. Even if they completely close his ongoing, he will either be in Batman or in the Titans, no one will touch them for sure, he'll be there.
Tim, Stephanie and Cassandra are in huge danger. Dick, Damian and Jason will be safe anyway.

[DurararaFTW]

Dick, in my opinion, is just one of those characters that we shouldn't worry about at all. Even if they completely close his ongoing, he will either be in Batman or in the Titans, no one will touch them for sure, he'll be there.
Tim, Stephanie and Cassandra are in huge danger. Dick, Damian and Jason will be safe anyway.

Titans doesn't have an ongoing at the moment, Young Justice does. And Damian is gonna stop being Robin for at least a while soon.

[Digifiend]

Yeah, solicits for both Detective Comics and Teen Titans indicate Damian is going rogue, and Batman, the remaining Titans, and Superboy (who's guesting in TT) will have to deal with it.

[Konja7]

Titans doesn't have an ongoing at the moment, Young Justice does. And Damian is gonna stop being Robin for at least a while soon.

I really doubt Young Justice comic will survive for much longer. Its reception isn't really good.

Currently, there is Titans Together comic in digital (Dick and Jason appears there). The name Titans is pretty strong, so it could return.

Yeah, solicits for both Detective Comics and Teen Titans indicate Damian is going rogue, and Batman, the remaining Titans, and Superboy (who's guesting in TT) will have to deal with it.

I said this in other threads, you can't trust solicitations.

The concept of the "son of Batman" is pretty popular and profitable, so I don't think they really want him to go rogue.

[Aahz]

I really doubt Young Justice comic will survive for much longer. Its reception isn't really good.

Depends on what happens with the Bendis Imprint, Young Justice is kind of it's flag ship book so it will probably continue as long as this Imprint.

[Ascended]

Given the success of the cartoon and its ability to showcase multiple characters, I'd imagine YJ has decent odds of surviving, but it'll almost certainly get a new creative team, and probably a change in direction that brings it closer to the show.

Damian might stop being Robin for a minute, but that's a storyline, he'll be back in the cape before long I'm sure (I'm just assuming). "Robin, the son of Batman" is too good a concept to throw away, especially if DC is going to start trying to appeal to a wider audience than the LCS crowd.

And yeah, Dick's not going anywhere and I doubt anyone is really worried about him disappearing into limbo. I'm not convinced his solo is safe but the character won't go away completely.

[Rac7d*]

Im concerned about Nightwing's future, and its sad people lost their job, but DC needed to retool. I felt like they were running around like a chicken with no head.

Tv and movie characters will proably be prioritized

[Restingvoice]

Tv and movie characters will proably be prioritized

Oh good. He's on TV.

[WonderNight]

If dc is reducing the line I dont think titans will be around in the mainline because I believe dc will go with teen titans instead of titans.

[Grayson - The Dark Heir]

Oh yeah that Snyder book might end up never happen if they're cutting cost

Nah that won't happen, DC's focus is on OGNs so if anything, the Nightwing OGN would be prioritized over the mainline book.

Dick, in my opinion, is just one of those characters that we shouldn't worry about at all. Even if they completely close his ongoing, he will either be in Batman or in the Titans, no one will touch them for sure, he'll be there.

Well that's sort of the issue isn't it? Nightwing's solo is not guaranteed to ever be good if it doesn't get cut since we've seen how they treat the book under regular circumstances, but if it does get cut, he'd end up in Batman stuff which is arguably worse than if he was stuck in a mediocre solo. A Titans book is something I wouldn't mind, but I don't see it as likely and that's not even getting to whether the book would be good or not.