Dick Grayson/Robin/Nightwing/Batman Appreciation 2023.

[Frontier]

The HQ show

spoilers:

treated him like a joke to the bitter end, even in his funeral. All the writers cared about were the butt memes. Just casually bumping off significant characters now. Also it felt weird how personally Babs was taking this as if they'd been in a relationship when that didn't seem to be the case in this continuity.

end of spoilers

[Rac7d*]

The HQ show

spoilers:

treated him like a joke to the bitter end, even in his funeral. All the writers cared about were the butt memes. Just casually bumping off significant characters now. Also it felt weird how personally Babs was taking this as if they'd been in a relationship when that didn't seem to be the case in this continuity.

end of spoilers

I want to take it personally but everyone is joke in this show
Batman is in Jail
Alfred his devout servant has followed him to jail
Nightwing is overly angsty/butt jokes (was being kind of a jerk to harl last episode and that never good for males on this show)
Gordon is a bumbling mall cop/ alcoholic/ works with villains
Damian is definitely getting a pass on this show due to being a child they arnt to hard on him.

Harley doesn’t even treat her male friends very well (she doesn’t like everyone listed above)
Clayface has left the cast
Kingshark is now the one ignored

I still say the Talia presence gives him an easy way back. But then I wonder why didn’t Bruce just use Lazarus resin to bring back his parents instead of Ivy’s expiriments last season

Also my theory is Babs grief may lead to a joker confrontation that brings us her Oracle persona

[Drako]

I guess that the people clamoring

NIGHTWING #108

Written by TOM TAYLOR

Art by STEPHEN BYRNE

Cover by BRUNO REDONDO

Backup written by MICHAEL CONRAD

Backup art by SERG ACUNA

Variant cover by JAMAL CAMPBELL

Variant cover by DAN MORA

1:25 variant cover by SERG ACUNA

Artist Spotlight variant cover by MIKE DEODATO JR.

$4.99 US | 40 pages | Variant $5.99 US (card stock)

ON SALE 11/21/23

Amid Nightwing’s investigation of the mystery behind the secret society called the Hold and their connection to the origin of Blüdhaven, Dick runs into his old flame Bea Bennett! Is Bea back to confront Nightwing for some closure, or is she somehow related to the secret pirate society?

[Felipe Silveira]

Is Taylor going to throw Bea in front of the bus? Uhm, expectations.

[Drako]

To be fair, that's more on Chip Zdarsky alley.

[Frontier]

I want to take it personally but everyone is joke in this show
Batman is in Jail
Alfred his devout servant has followed him to jail
Nightwing is overly angsty/butt jokes (was being kind of a jerk to harl last episode and that never good for males on this show)
Gordon is a bumbling mall cop/ alcoholic/ works with villains
Damian is definitely getting a pass on this show due to being a child they arnt to hard on him.

Harley doesn’t even treat her male friends very well (she doesn’t like everyone listed above)
Clayface has left the cast
Kingshark is now the one ignored

I still say the Talia presence gives him an easy way back. But then I wonder why didn’t Bruce just use Lazarus resin to bring back his parents instead of Ivy’s expiriments last season

Also my theory is Babs grief may lead to a joker confrontation that brings us her Oracle persona

I was wondering if it would lead to Jason showing up but I don't think the show would write him well.

I guess that the people clamoring

NIGHTWING #108

Written by TOM TAYLOR

Art by STEPHEN BYRNE

Cover by BRUNO REDONDO

Backup written by MICHAEL CONRAD

Backup art by SERG ACUNA

Variant cover by JAMAL CAMPBELL

Variant cover by DAN MORA

1:25 variant cover by SERG ACUNA

Artist Spotlight variant cover by MIKE DEODATO JR.

$4.99 US | 40 pages | Variant $5.99 US (card stock)

ON SALE 11/21/23

Amid Nightwing’s investigation of the mystery behind the secret society called the Hold and their connection to the origin of Blüdhaven, Dick runs into his old flame Bea Bennett! Is Bea back to confront Nightwing for some closure, or is she somehow related to the secret pirate society?

Far from the first love interest I'd like to see back.

I don't even see the reason why considering how much "Ric" has already been put to bed, but I doubt even Taylor would make her a straight up villain.

[bearman]

Rather than just mining older Nightwing runs, I'd rather see some Agent 37 call backs.

[Iclifton]

Got to give Taylor credit, he has really embraced all of Nightwing`s history for this run. He could have easily just acted like a ton of stuff never existed but instead he has been threading it all together into one cohesive Nightwing mythology.

Now all I want is a Damien team up and maybe some Grayson call backs. It would be great to see Midnighter or Tiger. Its super weird to me that Taylor has not had a single Damien interaction yet. They got Dick training Jon, a ton of bat fam appearances and brotherly bonding with Tim. Kind of feels like Tom is intentionally avoiding Damien.

Anyhow, this arc looks real interesting.

[Digifiend]

Anyone fancy a re-read of #50 onwards?

[Rac7d*]

I was wondering if it would lead to Jason showing up but I don't think the show would write him well.

Far from the first love interest I'd like to see back.

I don't even see the reason why considering how much "Ric" has already been put to bed, but I doubt even Taylor would make her a straight up villain.

Juergen ended it badly, but there was no good way to end it in the time he had. If anything Bea will see how much dick is not like ric, hopefully be with a new guy

[Godlike13]

Jurgens ended it nonsensically, so maybe Taylor will give them the sensible conclusion they should have had in that he doesn’t know her, and she doesn’t even know him. But if I’m being honest I could have done with never seeing her again.

[Ascended]

Got to give Taylor credit, he has really embraced all of Nightwing`s history for this run. He could have easily just acted like a ton of stuff never existed but instead he has been threading it all together into one cohesive Nightwing mythology.

It's what Dick has needed since Infinite Crisis. I'm glad that Taylor is putting in the work to sew all those random, disconnected runs into a semi-comprehensive whole. Letting each new writer start from scratch is a problem DC has with a lot of characters, but we can look at Wonder Woman and see the kind of damage it can do long-term. It's hurt Nightwing already, no need to let that continue.

Even the Ric stuff, with the proper TLC, could be used well going forward. That run was awful, but shit makes for good fertilizer and with hindsight, perspective, and the right spin stuff like the fake Nightwings and Bea can ultimately benefit and add to Dick's mythos.

Now all I want is a Damien team up and maybe some Grayson call backs. It would be great to see Midnighter or Tiger. Its super weird to me that Taylor has not had a single Damien interaction yet. They got Dick training Jon, a ton of bat fam appearances and brotherly bonding with Tim. Kind of feels like Tom is intentionally avoiding Damien.

I was under the impression that Damian was off limits due to some editorial mandate? But I agree; as great as it's been to see Dick and Tim hanging out again, Damian's absence has been glaring.

I'd love to see some Spyral/Grayson stuff folded back in. Gods, that was such a fantastic run. Wouldn't hurt the DCU at all if Spyral returned, especially since all that Leviathan stuff Bendis did amounted to exactly nothing. And Dick would benefit a lot from having the group around.

On a unrelated note; it seems Shazam is getting his own 5th dimensional imp super fan (Shazamite). I wonder if the success of Taylor's Nite-Mite inspired Waid in this?

[Digifiend]

Jurgens ended it nonsensically, so maybe Taylor will give them the sensible conclusion they should have had in that he doesn’t know her, and she doesn’t even know him. But if I’m being honest I could have done with never seeing her again.

Dick does know her. He remembers everything from when he was Ric, but of course as Ric didn't remember anything between his parents' deaths and him waking up in hospital after being shot. Of course it's true that she doesn't know the real him... that's why he let her down gently. That and, when he got his memory back, he remembered he was in love with someone else (Babs).

[Frontier]

Would we rather see Cheyenne Freemont back than Bea...

[Badou]

Bea was not a good character. Even independently of the Ric story she was bad and their relationship felt so shallow with no real lead up. The decisions Taylor makes and the writing on the book is just so frustrating. I hope she isn't going to become some recurring character. I don't want anything from the Ric era to return. It's bad enough we are stuck in Bludhaven but for a character that has 80+ years of history to mine for stories I don't get the desire to reuse Ric era stuff.

If you want to bring back an old love interest that was introduced in this run then use Shawn. She actually had a character and was written where it was at least believable that Dick had strong feelings for her. Or just bring in Helena B. She isn't really doing anything now is she? There are just so many better options. Wasn't a fan of reintroducing Bridget Clancy where she randomly kids now, but even she would have been better to use if you want to bring in a character with ties to Bludhaven.