Originally Posted by
Ascended
Is that from the comic? Well, if Weisman says it's canon then it's canon. Still, four isn't a lot.
Seeley gave it a fair shot, but he rushed it. Maybe he knew he wouldn't be on the title for long and was trying to squeeze everything into the time he had. Maybe if he had been able to build the dynamic up slowly and organically, Shawn would have stuck. I'm not hating on the man, he's one of my favorite Nightwing writers, but in order to get Dick, Babs, and Kori beyond this toxic relationship cycle, new love interests need to be brought in for all of them, and given time to cement themselves rather than being ignored and dropped with each new creator.
Dick's relationships with both women are pretty big aspects of his character and history. Hard to get past, and fans have very deeply entrenched opinions on it all. Changing their minds and getting them to accept and embrace anyone new is not something you can rush. You have to do the opposite; take your time and build it up slowly; not entirely in a "will they/won't they" fashion, but in a carefully controlled growth that leaves fans wanting more. You gotta get people begging for it to happen, not push it on them suddenly.
I don't think you need a "newer" character either. Just someone with a vague enough mythos and history that you can adapt it and wrap it into Dick's world. She can't have a firmly established love interest (think about every relationship Hawkgirl has had with anyone who isn't Carter). Her popularity and mythos can't be so deep that it outshines Dick's. She has to compliment him and his 'verse while adding story elements he otherwise wouldn't have easy access to. She can't have a solo to regularly appear in, she's gotta be under Bat editorial and the Nightwing writer, 100% (even if she's on a team somewhere). And it'd be best if she had personality traits that clearly and obviously line-up with past love interests, to clearly establish some compatibility.
Babs can't work long-term as long as DC wants her to be a headliner. Kori can't work as long as DC is intent on ignoring the things about Nightwing that aren't Bat-centric. And either option has been used so much, for so long, it's gone stale anyway. Dick needs a love interest where his writer has full control and can make the most of the relationship, and that relationship needs to be more than a retread of where we've been before.
All this said, Seeley almost made Shawn work; if he'd stretched that out over the course of a few more years instead of jumping from "nice to meet you" to "I love you" within months, he might've managed it. And Taylor is making DickBabs work right now; even I don't hate them together at the moment, and I usually think Dick and Babs bring out the worst in each other. But that's right now, with Taylor, and I still think it'd be best for Nightwing to move on and find someone else. Something fresh, where DC won't pull the plug on it because they've decided to give Batgirl another chance at a solo or they're afraid people might forget, for one second, that Dick is anything other than a Bat.
A new character would be ideal, in some ways, as she could be designed specifically for the role. But someone fans know will generate more early interest and hype, and *might* be seen as DC taking this more seriously.
Or DC could just have Babs, Dick, and Kori in a poly relationship. It's not in-character for any of them, and I'd fear DC would just write it as some kinda trash high school fantasy, but it *is* an option.