GRAYSON is a success - does that mean we'll never see Dick as a costumed hero again?

[oasis1313]

I bet sales would even be good if they made Dick Grayson the next Batgirl.

Sure would! Just give him a chest like Power Girl.

[Claude]

Never say never, people - we live in a world where Barry Allen is the Flash, Hal Jordan is Green Lantern, and Barbara Gordon is Batgirl. Who knows what the next generation of Higher Ups might insist on!

But I reckon, sales permitting, we've got a non-costumed Dick for a good few years.

[FanboyStranger]

I think one thing that is proven by the decent sales numbers of "Grayson" is that people buy books for DICK GRAYSON. He could come back in a new identity, or DC could recon him back to Nightwing, Batman, or whatever, but Dick Grayson's fans will always love him and follow him. There are very few characters who are as beloved--and why not? Even though Dick is smarter, stronger, handsomer, etc etc etc than the vast majority of people, who (besides Dan Didio) can hate such a NICE guy?

Personally, I buy it for the interesting concept, the potential the creative team has shown on other titles, and the fact that this radical shift for the character has been executed at such a high level. Like I said in my earlier post, this is the first time I've found Dick Grayson interesting in a very long time. I think the new setting has brought something out in the character that hasn't been seen in about twenty years. He's seemed like Batman, Jr or the nicer Batman for way too long. So many of his stories in that period seemed redundant as they were doing the same thing that all the other Bat-books were.

[Godlike13]

Well he's doing something new, which is something Nightwing hasn't done in a long time. Not since Dixon.

[Maxpower00044]

It's the best story for Dick Grayson since he was Batman (and way before that, too. I'd say since Dixon). They can keep this going for however long they'd like. I'll take Grayson's unique vision over Batman-Lite stories any day. Now, if Seeley and King can find a way to make Nightwing more unique, I'd gladly take that, too. As for now, though, this is one of the best "Big 2" books on the market, and rightly so.

[Maxpower00044]

Well he's doing something new, which is something Nightwing hasn't done in a long time. Not since Dixon.

I didn't even read this before I posted. This guy gets it!

[gwangung]

Well he's doing something new, which is something Nightwing hasn't done in a long time. Not since Dixon.

Well, becoming Nightwing WAS something new, way back when. I think writers (and some fans) forget that. I just think that to be true to the character, Grayson should always be evolving, and adding new tricks to his repertoire.

[Maxpower00044]

Well, becoming Nightwing WAS something new, way back when. I think writers (and some fans) forget that. I just think that to be true to the character, Grayson should always be evolving, and adding new tricks to his repertoire.

I don't think the problem is the Nightwing persona, at all. The problem was him getting stuck in redundancy. If they can find a way to make Nightwing not just seem like he's fighting Batman's hand me downs, I'd be all for it. As for now, I'll stick with the awesomeness that is Grayson.


I'd like to stress before people comment on this, that a change in local isn't enough. There needs to be something more.

[brucekent12]

I'm enjoying Grayson a lot, and can see it going the spy route for several years, but I think eventually he will go back to being a costume. Whether its a full reboot or the writer comes up with a way to fix Dick's outing in Forever Evil, he'll be back as a costume sooner or later. And that's not a bad thing, I believe his sales were in the middle 20s at the end of the Nightwing in the top 300. Can't show the proof, but that sounds about right, so it wouldn't be all that bad if and when the change happens.

[Maxpower00044]

The idea on how to get Grayson back as Nightwing seems pretty easy to me. If they wanted to, he could just have the Hypnos forever, meaning people could never remember his face. Seems like a logical out.

[SiegePerilous02]

When the inevitable return to Nightwing happens, I hope they let Seeley and King handle the transition.

A Nightwing-lead Titans revamp written by them would be icing on the cake. With the real Titans, preferably.

[Badou]

Yeah, the Batman-lite feel was always damaging to Nightwing, but another reason why the book always struggled after Dixon's run was because it seemed like with every new run and creative team the book was constantly starting over. So the character never really developed an identity outside of the costume or a viable rogues gallery. Writers wanted to use their own pieces so Nightwing didn't have these consistent rogues or supporting characters that grew with his character over years and years of stories where they became connected and built a foundation for future stories to grow from, or for other media to use in movies, cartoons and so on.

With a character like Daredevil he is a lawyer so you have this foundation that writers can constantly build on and fall back to if need be. With Dick they tried that with the circus over and over, but quickly they learn that it isn't a viable long term solution and have to shift gears to something else, but none of those new paths stuck. So the character wasn't progressing and became stale. We just had this happen again with Higgins' run where it is already irrelevant now. He probably should have continued with the Owls stories and continued to build that up for Dick but he wanted to do something else. Only time will tell if Grayson will be the same once it ends. I think Seeley will be moved on to a more high profile title eventually, so I am really curious who will take over the character once he moves. Maybe King will just write solo eventually, but I guess it is way too early to say.

[JasonTodd428]

I'm sure that he will make a return to superheroics eventually even if it's under another code name. That's just the nature of the beast after all we have Barbara Gordon as Batgirl now and Stephanie Brown is Spoiler again. Of course since I'm enjoying Grayson far more than any Dick Grayson title since his time under the cowl I hope he remains a spy for a good long while before that return. This new direction for the character has been like a breath of fresh air.

When the inevitable return to Nightwing happens, I hope they let Seeley and King handle the transition.

A Nightwing-lead Titans revamp written by them would be icing on the cake. With the real Titans, preferably.

I agree with your first point. I'd like Seeley and King to be the ones to handle his transition back into the superhero world when and if it happens. I think they could find a way to do so that actually makes sense with what is going with the character now and that the transition would flow smoothly between the two "worlds". That would go a long way toward building a firm foundation for the next step in his journey as a character. I don't however agree with you that a new revamped Titans book is the where he should go next. I think that avenue has been tainted by to many failed attempts at reviving the NTT before the reboot. YMMV of course. Personally, if he does go into a team book after Grayson has run it's course I like it be something that is as far from NTT or the Titans as possible. The only way to move the character forward is to actually keep doing something new with him not to keep revisiting the past. He's had far to much of that already.

[Badou]

Tim and Jason are already doing the Titans thing and their books are struggling to stay afloat as they are. So I would finally bump up Dick's character to a JL book instead of constantly keeping him stuck in this limbo state where he is too old to be a Teen Titan but they don't want to include him with the JL characters. Just let him finally grow up instead of being stuck in the past. They got rid of all his Titans history so there shouldn't really be anything holding him back.

[jules]

Tim and Jason are already doing the Titans thing and their books are struggling to stay afloat as they are. So I would finally bump up Dick's character to a JL book instead of constantly keeping him stuck in this limbo state where he is too old to be a Teen Titan but they don't want to include him with the JL characters. Just let him finally grow up instead of being stuck in the past. They got rid of all his Titans history so there shouldn't really be anything holding him back.

I'm a bit surprised that Batman, paranoid as he is, hasn't already planted one of his trusted lieutenants in every JL team, to keep tabs on things and report back to him. It'd make a lot more sense than trying to be on multiple teams himself, as he was with Justice League and Justice League International at the start of the New 52.