Dick Grayson: Robin/ Nightwing/ Agent 37 Appreciation 2021

[K. Jones]

I just read Titans Academy yo Dick is such a fuck boi.

I'm not going to lie ... this situation becoming diagetic and not just a kind of running gag for us long-term Grayson readers actually makes him more relatable to me and my personal ongoing real life disfunctions, so while the long-term reader in me is like "oh wow they're just going to address it now, this might not bode well for the kind of editorial over-reach that will constantly contradict itself", the person who fell into a ... I want to say balancing act, but that implies things stayed balanced ... on-again, off-again, on-again, parallel on-again, off-again, parallel co-worker thing, especially in high-stress jobs scenario is like "huh I wonder how accurate this will be when it plays out?"

Like if it ends with two women slapping Dick either separately or together, in the face for being a dog (when he's not really that personality-wise) it'll be a missed opportunity for something slightly more realistic of a downer ... which is just that because he's split and over-stretched in jobs (as well as title appearances) they'll both, knowing full-well about one another's involvement, just move on to more stable things and Dick will be a sad boi and get back together with his most reliably unstable friend-with-benefits, Helena.

It's like the cycle of Batman alienating his friends ... Dick's personal circle he can never escape is "I'm back with Babs ... screwed up ... wait no, back with Kory ... screwed up or space adventure messed it up ... oh no I screwed up both ... rebound with new person who will only be in title as long as one writer writes it ... I ran into Helena on patrol and one thing led to another again ..."

It's like he works in the restaurant industry. I guess being Nightwing is something of a service job.

[Jackalope89]

I hate love triangles. Have Mar'i Grayson be a thing, then be done with this whole back and forth. So annoying.

For Red X; Simple.

[Claude]

Yeah, liked Titans Academy - Sheridan is doing good job of balancing the characters I'm interested in with new ones and everyone has a good voice. Plus, there's a bit where a lesser writer would have absolutely shown Dick getting his arse kicked to show how tough someone else was, and Sheridan resisted the urge.

[Avi]

Still not a fan of how this is coming to be. And mentioning Barbara as a foil immediately? Nope. Not my thing.

It also seems to me that Sheridan really, really wants to write a Bat title instead and that is not how I like the Titans.

It is pretty light-hearted, though, I'll give it that, and there are some nice concepts.

Dick getting caught by Bolt was pretty amusing.

I'm not going to lie ... this situation becoming diagetic and not just a kind of running gag for us long-term Grayson readers actually makes him more relatable to me and my personal ongoing real life disfunctions, so while the long-term reader in me is like "oh wow they're just going to address it now, this might not bode well for the kind of editorial over-reach that will constantly contradict itself", the person who fell into a ... I want to say balancing act, but that implies things stayed balanced ... on-again, off-again, on-again, parallel on-again, off-again, parallel co-worker thing, especially in high-stress jobs scenario is like "huh I wonder how accurate this will be when it plays out?"

Like if it ends with two women slapping Dick either separately or together, in the face for being a dog (when he's not really that personality-wise) it'll be a missed opportunity for something slightly more realistic of a downer ... which is just that because he's split and over-stretched in jobs (as well as title appearances) they'll both, knowing full-well about one another's involvement, just move on to more stable things and Dick will be a sad boi and get back together with his most reliably unstable friend-with-benefits, Helena.

It's like the cycle of Batman alienating his friends ... Dick's personal circle he can never escape is "I'm back with Babs ... screwed up ... wait no, back with Kory ... screwed up or space adventure messed it up ... oh no I screwed up both ... rebound with new person who will only be in title as long as one writer writes it ... I ran into Helena on patrol and one thing led to another again ..."

It's like he works in the restaurant industry. I guess being Nightwing is something of a service job.

I'd say that's a fact.

[sifighter]

Yeah I like that Teen Titans Academy is very light hearted, I appreciate just a fun comic with characters I like from time to time after some rough runs.

[Eto]

So....uuh
Dick is now in a polygamous relationship or what?
wth man.... these writers nowadays smh. First Marvel now DC...

[Journey]

So....uuh
Dick is now in a polygamous relationship or what?
wth man.... these writers nowadays smh. First Marvel now DC...

No he's just a fuck boi nothing wrong with it I mean he got shot in the head & is living his best life I ain't mad but I'm a call a spade a spade.

[Eto]

No he's just a fuck boi nothing wrong with it I mean he got shot in the head & is living his best life I ain't mad but I'm a call a spade a spade.

Personally I think there's something wrong with that, but fair enough I guess.

[Frontier]

So....uuh
Dick is now in a polygamous relationship or what?
wth man.... these writers nowadays smh. First Marvel now DC...

(He's not dating Babs).

[Grayson - The Dark Heir]

Leave it to DC fans to take something not on the page and make it an issue I guess lol, but I can't blame anyone considering this is DC we're talking about. They've put far worse onto the page.

Anyways, today's been a really good comics day, especially for Dick. Haven't read previous pages so no idea if everyone's aware of this yet, but Dick's appears pretty prominently in Teen Titans Academy (if you somehow didn't know about this, just lol), Batman: Black & White (probably been brought up already), and Batman/Superman (as Robin to a very Golden Age-esque Batman alongside a GA-esque Clark and Lois).

I'm still really enjoying TTA, it's doing new things, and it's still exciting to see. I already love Alinta and Matt now, and it was nice to see more of Vic. If the next issues are going to be somewhat slow burns, building up several students using a classic Titan as a focal point, I'm game. Granted, Red X stuff is seemingly the actual story here, but since I'm interested in that too it's working out well. Just wish this Suicide Squad stuff wasn't happening lol. Edit: I ended up making this sound like a general review instead of talking about Dick's role in it. I'm liking how he's being handled tbh, it's cute seeing his interaction with Alinta in this issue, and I'm not too pressed with the Kory stuff honestly. I want it to work out, and it seems like Dick wants that too, but who knows? We now Batman comes first, so if Taylor wants DickBabs, we'll get that and it'll definitely affect this book. But if that happens, oh well? Like, at least we're not pretending Dick and Kory getting close again wouldn't happen, because of course it would, so the fallout just needs to be handled well. I honestly care more about Dick and Vic actually getting to talk about something that isn't a world-ending threat, which hasn't happened in forever. The classic Titans don't need ground-breaking characterization, they just need small moments like this while the students get established and eventually developed.

Jamal Campbell really knows what makes Dick work, like this is quintessential Dick Grayson story now. Needs to be reprinted outside of this in some sort of Nightwing collection, just so it doesn't go forgotten. Probably better than any of the Robin stories in any of the Batman or Robin anniversary specials. If DC was ever looking for content to adapt as an animated short or even a live-action short, this is what they should be lookin at, but they'd need to put their best people on it to make it work because the layouts and transitions are so slick, they really work best as a comic.

Batman/Superman was also pretty great because we get proper Dynamic Duo content from it, and the newest issue also gives us Dick fanboying over Superman and good Dick and Lois interactions. The best way to describe this book is it's taking Silver Age craziness, with Golden Age iconography, and modern day story sensibilities. And it works, which is the best part. If you're not reading this book, you'll want to get on it right away imo, start with #16.

[Ascended]

So....uuh
Dick is now in a polygamous relationship or what?
wth man.... these writers nowadays smh. First Marvel now DC...

.....

You know what? Screw it. That's our answer. I know you didn't mean it this way, but.....I could get behind that.

I abhor this love triangle. And I really don't like Dick with Babs at all, I feel like they bring out the worst in each other. And at this point I'd rather Dick and Kori both just move the f*ck on, act like professionals, be friends, and stop falling into bed together. Y'all know I ship me some Powerwing, first and foremost when it comes to Dick's love life. But DC is never going to let this sh*t go, and we're way past the point of diminishing returns already.

So if the love triangle is unsustainable and awful, but DC won't untangle these three, then let's just make it official and move on with our lives.

Even discounting the early New52 crap where they went utterly overboard, I can see Kori in a poly relationship, it's well established that Tamaraneans think differently about love and sex than humans. And while I've never really seen this in his character, some people think Dick's freak flag flies a little differently than the hetero-normal. Historically, there's precedence for Dick preferring monogamous relationships over flings, but he's had more than his fair share of botty calls too. And it's Babs and Kori, so I really don't feel like you'd have to work hard convincing him to give this a chance. I can't imagine Babs ever being down for it though, that woman is straight as a board. But I like Babs a lot less than I love Nightwing so I'm willing to break her character if it means ending this idiot triangle.

So sure. As long as DC wrote it honestly and didn't treat it like some idiot high school fantasy, fine. It'd certainly be an interesting new take on the dynamic at least. And they can all break up and call it an experiment they'll never speak of again if it doesn't work out.

[Konja7]

Even discounting the early New52 crap where they went utterly overboard, I can see Kori in a poly relationship, it's well established that Tamaraneans think differently about love and sex than humans. And while I've never really seen this in his character, some people think Dick's freak flag flies a little differently than the hetero-normal. Historically, there's precedence for Dick preferring monogamous relationships over flings, but he's had more than his fair share of botty calls too. And it's Babs and Kori, so I really don't feel like you'd have to work hard convincing him to give this a chance. I can't imagine Babs ever being down for it though, that woman is straight as a board. But I like Babs a lot less than I love Nightwing so I'm willing to break her character if it means ending this idiot triangle.

Well, Dick could be straight as a board and still "accept" a lesbian relationship in their polygamous relationship.

That said, we need to accept that DC has decided to "play" with the love triangle. So Dick's going to end up looking really bad.

They won't change Barbara expectatives on a relationship to Dick's convenience.

[Godlike13]

Dick and Starfire are likely headed for a fallout. I don’t think they are playing with a triangle but adding fuel to an eventual blow out between Dick and Star

[Restingvoice]

Leave it to DC fans to take something not on the page and make it an issue I guess lol, but I can't blame anyone considering this is DC we're talking about. They've put far worse onto the page.

Yea I dropped by yesterday to check the replies after the last time I post and just left XD

I get getting tired of love tri, but some of the answers... where did that come from

[SiegePerilous02]

Even discounting the early New52 crap where they went utterly overboard, I can see Kori in a poly relationship, it's well established that Tamaraneans think differently about love and sex than humans. And while I've never really seen this in his character, some people think Dick's freak flag flies a little differently than the hetero-normal. Historically, there's precedence for Dick preferring monogamous relationships over flings, but he's had more than his fair share of botty calls too. And it's Babs and Kori, so I really don't feel like you'd have to work hard convincing him to give this a chance. I can't imagine Babs ever being down for it though, that woman is straight as a board. But I like Babs a lot less than I love Nightwing so I'm willing to break her character if it means ending this idiot triangle.

I think there is too much subtext between her and Black Canary, as well as Katarina Armstrong, for this to really be the case. Not to mention her and Kara taking their roles as distaff counterparts to Clark and Bruce very seriously in that regard lol.

A lot of fans think Dick should be bi, but Babs makes just as much sense, if not more so.