Dick Grayson: Robin/Batman/Nightwing/Agent 37 Appreciation 2022

[Aahz]

It wouldn't be so bad if there was a consistently good secondary title for Dick to do the "big" stuff in, a team book or a second solo or whatever. But there isn't, and hasn't been since Nightwing returned to the Bat office.

But I think that has more to do with Dick's generation of Titans not really having a sucessfull run since forever. Than with the Bat office.

I'm....curious....how Taylor is gonna handle the Titans in Bludhaven. In theory it "could" blend these two sides of Dick's life in a way that might be beneficial, essentially rubbing some "Metropolis" into Dick's solo life. I can see a world where that works out. But it's a big swing, and I'm unsure if we're living in the world where it works.

I don't think that you can really blend them, as soon as you ave the Titans in the book you have to go to more Titan style stories over classical Nightwing Blüdheaven stories.

[Frontier]

Oh no, nobody's saying Dick should just be a Bat, but his book *has* acted like that a lot over the years, and I do think that's been detrimental to the character even if it was the smart choice back in the 90's.

It wouldn't be so bad if there was a consistently good secondary title for Dick to do the "big" stuff in, a team book or a second solo or whatever. But there isn't, and hasn't been since Nightwing returned to the Bat office.

And I don't see why the "big" stuff should be left out of Dick's solo book. It's as much a part of him as the street level stuff. That's where he's different from the guys like Bruce and Murdock; those guys might be able to swing cosmic when an Event needs them to, but it's not their natural habitat. For Dick, it is (or at least should be). Doesn't seem unreasonable to want something like a 60/40 street/fantastical split, which is all I'm looking for. Or even 70/30.



Oh, sorry, I'm basically using "Titans" as a short hand for larger scale stuff. Not necessarily adventures *with* the Titans, but dealing with crazy sci-fi and magic and all the other fun things that're outside a street leveler's usual purview.

I'm....curious....how Taylor is gonna handle the Titans in Bludhaven. In theory it "could" blend these two sides of Dick's life in a way that might be beneficial, essentially rubbing some "Metropolis" into Dick's solo life. I can see a world where that works out. But it's a big swing, and I'm unsure if we're living in the world where it works.

I'm reminded of Seeley alternating arcs between Bludhaven and Morrison/Grayson-esque stuff during his run every arc, not that he got a chance to do much with it.

I would imagine Taylors' use of the Titans in Bludhaven would be much like how he's already using them.

DCAU and comics canon Bruce can be equally shitty, it doesn't mean that Dixon wrote Bruce well and that there are other comic writers within the same canon who write him better.

As far as his sentimental moments with Jason...sorry, it starts with him kidnapping Jason and leaving tied to a chair and gagged for Alfred to find. That **** is nuts and isn't making him look any better.

But certain stray moments doesn't mean Dixon didn't write Bruce well either, speaking as someone who has read a good deal of his Batman work. Like I said, he could write a pretty DCAU-esque Batman.

[SiegePerilous02]

But certain stray moments doesn't mean Dixon didn't write Bruce well either, speaking as someone who has read a good deal of his Batman work. Like I said, he could write a pretty DCAU-esque Batman.

He probably has more stray moments where he writes Bruce well. But between those other moments being a big turn off and his homophobia, I'm not inclined to view his work as worthwhile when I can writing for Bruce (and others) without that crap.

My money also went to pay the artists, letterer, editors, administrators, printers, drivers, retailers, and dozens upon dozens of other people who helped make each issue happen. Doesn't seem right to screw them over just because one guy in the production chain is an idiot. I figure anything I buy probably has at least one moron involved in making it.

And like I said, I see this from the artist's point of view. I wouldn't want someone to pass on my work because I'm not christian. Pass on my work because it's not what you're looking for, not because I'm not what you're looking for.

I think the "separate the art from the artist" stuff is down to a consumer's comfort level. And when it comes to consuming and owning stuff BEFORE you find out they are a piece of ****, I can see continuing to re-visit that stuff.

In Dixon's case, it looks like he's working for some alt-right publishers though. So the whole crew who makes that stuff are perhaps not worth giving money to

https://imgur.com/QRNI8eY

[Frontier]

He probably has more stray moments where he writes Bruce well. But between those other moments being a big turn off and his homophobia, I'm not inclined to view his work as worthwhile when I can writing for Bruce (and others) without that crap.

Fair, but at the same time I think he did more good than bad for the character and the Batfamily.

[K7P5V]

DCAU and comics canon Bruce can be equally shitty, it doesn't mean that Dixon wrote Bruce well and that there are other comic writers within the same canon who write him better.

As far as his sentimental moments with Jason...sorry, it starts with him kidnapping Jason and leaving tied to a chair and gagged for Alfred to find. That **** is nuts and isn't making him look any better.

LOL! I love that scene!! But yeah, I completely understand where you're coming from...

[Felipe Silveira]

Dixon gave us the most iconic Birds of Prey scene.
Birds of Prey 021 (2000) (digital-Empire) 020.jpg

[SiegePerilous02]

Dixon gave us the most iconic Birds of Prey scene.
Birds of Prey 021 (2000) (digital-Empire) 020.jpg

That was down to the artist. Dixon specifically asked for it not to be sapphic, and the artist had to be doing a deliberate troll job lol.

[Frontier]

That was down to the artist. Dixon specifically asked for it not to be sapphic, and the artist had to be doing a deliberate troll job lol.

But he's also the one who created their friendship/partnership in the first place.

Although it's kind of funny how a printing error lead to the exact opposite happening in Simone's run.

[Ascended]

I don't see why it should be more of Dick's natural habitat than Bruce's.

Burce's has been a member of the JLA longer than Dick has been on Titans, has been in more cosmic events and has all the crazy super technology.

Just my personal read on it. Bruce is competent in any circumstance but I don't think he's comfortable in those larger scale places. It's just something he puts up with because it's the Mission. I don't see Bruce volunteering for a trip through time just because he felt like getting out of town. Bruce would do it if he felt he had to, or because it affected Gotham, and he'd be good at it, but he's not gonna like it. Dick would. Dick would enjoy that trip and be comfortable doing it. Bruce's work with the League is essentially a part time gig that's branched out of his original job. Dick began his career going on adventures with Clark and the Titans, and his "college years," some of the most formative times in a person's life, saw him doing nothing *but* larger scale stuff. And it really just boils down to personality. I think Dick feels more at home around the wild and crazy and inexplainable. I think Bruce looks at that powerful, inhuman world and sees potential threats everywhere, Dick looks at it and sees wonder. Which applies to their entire worldviews too of course.

But that's just my read. Lots of folks don't rank his time away from Gotham as being as important to his development as I do.

But I think that has more to do with Dick's generation of Titans not really having a sucessfull run since forever. Than with the Bat office.

Absolutely, it's not the Bat office's fault that the Titans IP fell apart. Like I said, they probably saved Nightwing by pulling him back and I'm grateful for it. I'm not throwing blame at anyone, just saying that we can't claim Dick's getting big scale adventures in team books when there is no team book, and when there is it's not worth reading.

I don't think that you can really blend them, as soon as you ave the Titans in the book you have to go to more Titan style stories over classical Nightwing Blüdheaven stories.

I think a successful blending might actually look a lot like Grayson. Organizations working on the weird fringes, dealing with fantastical elements. You could retain the street level vibe by keeping focus on things like drug dealers, human trafficking, corruption, etc., but rub some Metropolis into it by making the drug a meth house version of Miraclo, the traffickers are experimenting with the metagene, and the corrupt politician is actually a white Martian.

Dick can still do "normal" stuff on his own and the only excuse you need is "the Titans are busy elsewhere." One arc you can have Dick and Donna and Vic hunt down a cult worshiping a computer AI, the next arc Dick can save a kidnapped kid and a single throwaway line is enough to justify why he's doing it alone.

But who knows what DC is trying to do here, or how well it'll work?

[WonderNight]

Not to mention Dick almost married an alien warrior princess, his best friend can run through time and his name comes from krypton mythology.

I'd say it fits Dick very well!

[Aahz]

Dick began his career going on adventures with Clark and the Titans, and his "college years," some of the most formative times in a person's life, saw him doing nothing *but* larger scale stuff. And it really just boils down to personality.

But not much of this was really larger scale stuff. The adventure with Clark and the original Titans were mostly wacky silver age stuff.

Bronze Age Titans also didn't really do any Big scale stuff.

NTT was bigger but not really JL level. And like I said during their space adventures Dick was usually written as being out of his element. His biggest moments in that Run were imo usually when he was doing stuff solo.

I think a successful blending might actually look a lot like Grayson.

I think it might end up being more like the post graduation day outsiders.

[thefinalguy]

But not much of this was really larger scale stuff. The adventure with Clark and the original Titans were mostly wacky silver age stuff.

Bronze Age Titans also didn't really do any Big scale stuff.

NTT was bigger but not really JL level. And like I said during their space adventures Dick was usually written as being out of his element. His biggest moments in that Run were imo usually when he was doing stuff solo.

Trigon was a JL-level threat. Deathstroke has even opposed the League and has gone on to be an adversary for Batman and Green Arrow so he's certainly up there threat-wise.

Space may not be his element but that isn't the only way to measure scale. And, space being out of his element helped drive the opposing aspects of him and Kory so that's bound to happen.

And, we aren't even getting stuff like "Who Is Donna Troy?" which is a great showcase of one of Dick's personal relationships and his detective skills. The cameos are great but not having the characters fit the story has made them feel hollow.

I don't think that you can really blend them, as soon as you ave the Titans in the book you have to go to more Titan style stories over classical Nightwing Blüdheaven stories.

As much as I want Dick with the Titans all of them in Bludhaven doesn't serve a purpose. It feels like were being eased into a Titans book, which I'm fine with. Dick's individual dynamics with them are ripe for various stories but altogether doesn't allow breathing room for anyone.

Not saying it has to be a "Nightwing: Brave and the Bold," but as I was saying the cameos are hollow. I wouldn't mind every other storyline being Dick teaming up with either a Titan or Batfam member as long as its natural.

[Godlike13]

Well again, Titans aren’t going to be the protectors of Bludhaven. They are suppose to be the next premier super team for the world according to the solic. I think the idea with Bludhaven is to make it more convenient for Dick. Plus as a public figure, if Dick is going to found a team why not put them in Bluhaven. He’s already had them appear for his Haven project.

What more, if the idea is for them to be the next premier team they gonna need their own premier book. So I highly doubt they are going to make Nightwing into a Titans book.

[Aahz]

Trigon was a JL-level threat.

Which was iirc taken down by Raven without Dick contributing much (but I might misremember that, it has been year).

Deathstroke has even opposed the League

Which he shouldn't be able to do. And even if we ignore that, he is still a pretty ordinary (non cosmic) thread.

And, we aren't even getting stuff like "Who Is Donna Troy?" which is a great showcase of one of Dick's personal relationships and his detective skills.

Which was one of the instances of Dick shining by going solo.

[WonderNight]

Well again, Titans aren’t going to be the protectors of Bludhaven. They are suppose to be the next premier super team for the world according to the solic. I think the idea with Bludhaven is to make it more convenient for Dick. Plus as a public figure, if Dick is going to found a team why not put them in Bluhaven. He’s already had them appear for his Haven project.

What more, if the idea is for them to be the next premier team they gonna need their own premier book. So I highly doubt they are going to make Nightwing into a Titans book.

Yeah the Titans are just spinning out of nightwing. They'll have there own team book soon after and Dick can continue having his solo adventures, but now the Titans can fit more naturally into his book when they do show up.

Honestly I like the idea. It helps make Bludhaven more unique from Gotham and metropolis, and brings the Dcu to nightwing.

I just hope Yara and Wally are both on the team, as long as Dick, Wally, and Yara are there I'm good!!