Just finished reading the newest issue... I don't think Tom Taylor/this story's for me. Really on the fence if I should give it one more issue or just drop it for the time being.
Just finished reading the newest issue... I don't think Tom Taylor/this story's for me. Really on the fence if I should give it one more issue or just drop it for the time being.
Today I learned that there is such a thing as "Romani smile", did Taylor go borderline racist in his attempt to remind everyone that Dick is half-Romani? I mean, do Romani's smile different than everyone else?
Last edited by Restingvoice; 07-20-2021 at 05:26 AM.
Probably the weakest issue so far. I feel like they could cut half of the in the past pages and still accomplish what they needed to. What’s more I thought the reveal was rather safe. spoilers:end of spoilers
Dick’s parents don’t need to be sacred or blemish free. I kind of feel it would have been more impactful if John did cheat.
It not racist to acknowledge one’s race, it’d be racist is if it was acknowledged negatively or offensively. Different races do have different characteristics.
Last edited by Godlike13; 07-20-2021 at 05:32 AM.
Let's not accuse people of being racist with no evidence whatsoever, please.
Anyways, this issue was indeed the weakest one and the story of Melina Zucco was more like the story of her mother, she didn't even talk in the flashback.
DC: Dick Grayson, Wally West, Donna Troy, Yara Flor, Titans
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Dick to Melinda Zucco: You have your mother's Asian eyes
Really decompressed issue this week. Feel like we won't get a proper resolution before Fear State. Hopefully its skippable like NotMM in the Raptor story, but the solicits about Dick and Babs makes me think not.
Really starting to seem like Redondo is carrying this series. Taylor is falling into boring tropes, and the last few issues have had none of the introspection promised by the first issue.
Dick's father having a long-lost secret child? A little cliche but believable. Who is the daughter of Tony Zucco's ex-wife? Hm... And the daughter moved to Blüdhaven as a child, fell in with Blockbuster and became Mayor? Okay no.
Last edited by Pohzee; 07-20-2021 at 06:28 AM.
It's the Dynamic Duo! Batman and Robin!... and Red Robin and Red Hood and Nightwing and Batwoman and Batgirl and Orphan and Spoiler and Bluebird and Lark and Gotham Girl and Talon and Batwing and Huntress and Azreal and Flamebird and Batcow?
Since when could just anybody do what we trained to do? It makes it all dumb instead of special. Like it doesn't matter anymore.
-Dick Grayson (Batman Inc.)
I thought the whole thing was handled pretty well, I was expecting the worst tbh.
I did like how John Grayson was kind of similar in personality to Dick. That was nice. I also liked that when Babs called the cavalry off Donna lingered a bit. Also seeing Dick in Chinese clothing was cute, though a bit weird they had an outfit that fit him perfectly.
I agree that the Romani smile thing was a bit odd but I think it was slightly clumsy writing as opposed to racism.
The issue was pretty dull overall. Bruno Redondos art is still outstanding.
I guess by criticism clumsy writing I was clumsy as well
I'm not trying to say that Taylor is racist. I think that Taylor wanted to highlight that both protagonists here are mixed-race. With sister it was obvious since we had her mother doing the exposition, but Taylor probably didn't figure out a natural way for Dick's Romani heritage to come up so he wrote a clumsy and unnatural line.
For the entire thing to work and make sense she had to stay with Dick's parents only for 3 months. If at later point someone wants to retcon this they can just say that when Melinda's mother ran away from Zucco she was already pregnant and Dick is not related to Melinda. So yeah, very safe and in-built means to retcon it away.
It's really starting to drag out. I think Nightwing being bimonthly is hurting the book, the pacing seems completely off. I've re-read Taylor's run and it's decent, nothing special apart from the art.
At least I enjoyed the sequence with Dick's parents, it's always nice to see characters developed.
I really didn't like this issue. I'm so sick and tired of the long-lost/secret sibling trope. I hope they retcon it later that it was all a lie. As for his Romani heritage that "Romani smile" line is so stupid and for the Romani people sounds racist. Taylor may have wanted to acknowledge Dick's heritage but a think he made it worse. I also hope they retcon this as well. They need to stop retconning existing characters' histories.
I wouldn't want it bimonthly. Redondo is the best part of the series. Taylor just needs to step up and give us more meat in each issue. It was fine for the first one or two because we got some nice character moments and small beats. Now its not even that. It's just blatant decompression.
It's the Dynamic Duo! Batman and Robin!... and Red Robin and Red Hood and Nightwing and Batwoman and Batgirl and Orphan and Spoiler and Bluebird and Lark and Gotham Girl and Talon and Batwing and Huntress and Azreal and Flamebird and Batcow?
Since when could just anybody do what we trained to do? It makes it all dumb instead of special. Like it doesn't matter anymore.
-Dick Grayson (Batman Inc.)
At least the sister is older and Dick's image of his father isn't tainted they could have made him a cheating piece of shit I ain't mad about this overall retcon it's whatever she'll probably be forgotten in a year anyway.
As I thought John came off without any fault. Everyone's criticism of John cheating before the story even came out was unfounded.
With that being said, this issue was the weakest of the run so far. I still like the Melinda storyline as well as seeing John and Mary in action. Cool to see them easily take out Zucco. Just wish more happened. Felt like I read half an issue. A good issue. But still only half.
Yeah, didn't hate that - decompressed, but if you're going to do the Long Lost Secret Sibling Trope then you need to devote a bit of time to it. And it was nice to see John and Mary fleshed out a bit more than the usual Uncle Ben style "fond wisdom-droppers" that dead parental figures normally are in comics. Thought it was quite sweet how they both had Dick's "voice".
spoilers:end of spoilers
It does change Zucco's relationship with them, and thus Dick's origin story - but not in any way that seems hugely harmful. Unlike the Waynes, the randomness of the action has never been the important bit.
Thought "Shazam" was good too - there's more of Nightwing than just in the previews, but not a lot more. So not worth picking up just for him - but I thought it was a solid start to a Shazam story, as well as improving Teen Titans Academy more generally by showing what characters not hugely focused on there get up to. It's a low bar, but this current era is the most I've enjoyed a Titans book for a long time.