Chuck Dixon

[phonogram12]

Having collected comics heavily in the '90s (especially the Bat books) and understanding how responsible he was for shaping the Bat universe back then, I was just wondering how people feel his various runs on those titles have held up over the years.

Here are my opinions:

Detective - I appreciated his characterizations of Bruce and Alfred, but never found his plots particularly engaging.

Robin - same applies here. His Tim was great for the time. And boy, do I miss Shotgun Smith way more than I would've thought.

Nightwing - probably the book I enjoyed him the most on. His run with McDaniel was outstanding. That said, I have the opposite criticism with Nightwing; I loved his plots, but thought his characterization of Dick was kind of flat.

[Frontier]

I enjoyed 'Tec for building up Bruce's stability with Alfred, Tim, and Oracle and for expanding on the villains while trying (emphasis on trying) to build up the Rogues Gallery.

And Dixon's run on Robin and Nightwing both helped make me appreciate Dick and Tim, as well as their relationships more.

[bretmaverick2]

Dixon has written a lot of my favorite Batman family material. I would say his runs on these series holds up as well as any other material 20 plus years old.

I really would like to see DC bring Dixon back in to the Bat -family of titles.

[scary harpy]

It has been a while since I read those issues.

As I recall, Dixon provided solid, straightforward superhero stories: Bat-hero and an ally (optional) versus the villain(s) of the issue.

Nothing wrong with that.

That's what I wanted then...and I still do now. I actually miss the simpler stories of decades ago.

[godisawesome]

Dixon was, without a doubt, the workhorse of the Denny O’Neill editorial era, and while his usual output was one-and-done solid issues, he also excelled at long term storytelling; Robin, Nightwing, and Birds of Prey all had strong but good “soap opera/sitcom” development of the characters, and often also built on villainous arcs as well, while Dixon was also the usual backbone of any of the crossover stories.

He was also such a workhorse that some people have forgotten when he gave other characters either serious highlight stories, or even just solid returns to form after years of limbo - his “Catfile” story for Catwoman is still probably the highlight of the Balent era, and one time a Cassandra Cain fan mentioned he was the last writer to handle Cass well during his brief run on Outsiders… and Dixon had forgotten about his run on Outsiders.

[Coco Loco]

I loved Dixon’s work at the time. For the most part I think it holds up well. The stuff that works the best is the grittier crime stories. The Jim Gordon miniseries he did with Klaus Janson is a highlight.

I actually didn’t care for his characterization of Cassandra Cain, never felt like he quite “got” the character. His Outsiders run is kind cringe worthy in its meta treatment of Grace and Thunder’s relationship as well. Also could never get into his Catwoman. But those were the exceptions. He nailed pretty much every other major Bat-character.

[failo.legendkiller]

Dixon's era is still the one to me. Solid storytelling, excellent characterizations and a fluid dynamic between all different titles.
Average level of everything he has written is stunningly high. And he did write a lot.

[sunofdarkchild]

His work is SOOOOO much better than most of the crap of the last 10 years.

[SixSpeedSamurai]

Dixon has written a lot of my favorite Batman family material. I would say his runs on these series holds up as well as any other material 20 plus years old.

I really would like to see DC bring Dixon back in to the Bat -family of titles.

I'd agree, but I doubt we'll ever see him work for DC again at this point.

[Noodle]

His work is SOOOOO much better than most of the crap of the last 10 years.

It is possible to appreciate one thing without tearing down another.

[K7P5V]

I'd agree, but I doubt we'll ever see him work for DC again at this point.

That's sad. I still miss his version of Nightwing, and I would have liked to have seen how he'd handle Jason/Red Hood

[millernumber1]

Having collected comics heavily in the '90s (especially the Bat books) and understanding how responsible he was for shaping the Bat universe back then, I was just wondering how people feel his various runs on those titles have held up over the years.

Here are my opinions:

Detective - I appreciated his characterizations of Bruce and Alfred, but never found his plots particularly engaging.

Robin - same applies here. His Tim was great for the time. And boy, do I miss Shotgun Smith way more than I would've thought.

Nightwing - probably the book I enjoyed him the most on. His run with McDaniel was outstanding. That said, I have the opposite criticism with Nightwing; I loved his plots, but thought his characterization of Dick was kind of flat.

Big fan of a lot of what he created and did for DC. Obviously, he created my favorite character in all comics!

[phonogram12]

It is possible to appreciate one thing without tearing down another.

Exactly this.

10 characters.

[exile001]

I loved Dixon's 90's work on the Bat-books but he ran out of ideas, overstayed his welcome and killed the momentum on every single book he wrote.

Also, damn shame about his personal views.

[Rzerox21xx]

I loved Dixon's 90's work on the Bat-books but he ran out of ideas, overstayed his welcome and killed the momentum on every single book he wrote.

Also, damn shame about his personal views.

Yeah I know, he worked with a straight alt-right racist and have some toxic views. a example of his current work

https://books.google.com/books/about...d=savExQEACAAJ

There was a article by him by right wing entertainment site how manga is beating comics, okay sure manga is outselling but his views on why is questionable.

https://boundingintocomics.com/2021/...erican-comics/