Grayson #7 Preview/Discussion

[jules]

What do people find confusing about God Garden/Gardener/Midnighter/Paragon plot?

She is probably super-weapon created for mentioned "superhuman arms race" that gained independence and decided to try to stop it.
At some point someone creates Paragon from DNA samples of JL and attempts to destroy God Garden with it.
Midnighter fights Paragon and destroys it, their fight happened in space (since God Garden is in space) which resulted in various parts of Paragon falling down to the Earth and "infected" various humans.
Midnighter tries to locate remaining parts in order to destroy them. This bring him in conflict with Spyral and Dick.
Fist of Cain want to use the brains for massive terror attack. Naturally Dick, Spyral and Midnighter don't want that to happen.
Unfortunately Gardener doesn't mind it happening since she believes that this terror attack will force people to wake the fuck up since this massive terror attack would be performed by one of their "superhuman arms race" fruits - Paragon remains.
Dick manages to convince Gardener that terrorist should be stopped.
Midnighter is pissed that Gardener was okay with sacrificing thousands of people in order to achieve her goals and leaves God Garden.
In this whole sub-plot God Garden and Gardener names are symbolic since gardeners (as profession) are okay with cutting some branches if it means that plant/tree/whatever is going to turn out better in the end. God Garden simply implies that this process of gardening is happening on grand scale, not with plants but with humans.

I couldn't articulate it nearly as well, but that's pretty much my reading of the Gardener/God Garden plot line too.

It's probable that it's the last we'll see of either of them this side of Convergence, but I very much doubt it's the last we'll see of them ever. The Gardener's lost her "son" and active agent, with Midnighter departing. She's going to need another, and she might well try to offer Dick the job. He may even take it on a temporary basis, if her goals run parallel to his own.

Plus, she's got the ability to negate his hypnos tech, and he badly needs that to safeguard himself against hostile elements within Spyral. Maybe they'll do a deal at some point, and she'll help him out if he helps her.

Is Midnighter gone too? From the God Garden, yes. From the current story arc, maybe not. It all depends on what happens with the Paragon parts once the full set (-1) has been collected. Maybe he'll intervene again then, but as a private agent this time.

And it does occur to me that at some point Midnighter is going to discover that Dick is still working with/for Batman, and that he's got his motives all wrong. But if by the time he finds that out, Dick is/has been working with the Gardener, he might still disapprove of him with the same seething passion that he currently does. It opens the possibility that they could continue as antagonists. Though I think Dick has pretty much exhausted his surprises if it comes to a fight. He'd probably never come that close to forcing a draw again.

[BloodOps]

Definitely wasn't the best issue but it definitely had its moments. Definitely noticed a little more of the leader Dick Grayson than in previous issues.

Though it was really only a 2 part arc, I wonder if that is for a reason with next month starting something new with the cliffhanger. Does Dick find himself in Gotham? Will a Bat-Family character find out he is alive? Definitely can see the cliffhanger being Babs or Damian finding out Dick is alive...hell maybe even Starfire for more of a shock.

[SpiderWing20]

Just a stray observation, but anyone else notice Dick went out in public with no way to conceal his identity? I'm just saying it'd be neat if there was a camera that caught his face or better yet someone remembers he was nightwing. Very unlikely, but just a little fun speculation

[Se7en]

Just a stray observation, but anyone else notice Dick went out in public with no way to conceal his identity? I'm just saying it'd be neat if there was a camera that caught his face or better yet someone remembers he was nightwing. Very unlikely, but just a little fun speculation

Since he didn't have his hypnos implant, it is likely that something akin to that might happen.

[Blacksun]

hahaha midnighter is hainging out with Grayson too much

Another good issue, very good relationship between dick and bruce. seeley and king are doing very well with this book.
the fill in art is very good too

[HsssH]

Since he didn't have his hypnos implant, it is likely that something akin to that might happen.

Considering that everybody was trying to murder each other I think its likely that nobody bothered to film anything.

[JasonTodd428]

Considering that everybody was trying to murder each other I think its likely that nobody bothered to film anything.

That may be however I imagine the media was there somewhere filming the "peace rally" since an event like that would have drawn them. Now they probably were taken over like everyone else but their cameras could have still been rolling anyway so I could see them having accidentally caught him on camera and he would have been most visible when he was on stage. I think they could have gotten a good clear shot of him saving the concertgoers.

[gwangung]

That may be however I imagine the media was there somewhere filming the "peace rally" since an event like that would have drawn them. Now they probably were taken over like everyone else but their cameras could have still been rolling anyway so I could see them having accidentally caught him on camera and he would have been most visible when he was on stage. I think they could have gotten a good clear shot of him saving the concertgoers.

This.....may have been quite intentional.

Hmmmmm......

[jules]

Just a stray observation, but anyone else notice Dick went out in public with no way to conceal his identity? I'm just saying it'd be neat if there was a camera that caught his face or better yet someone remembers he was nightwing. Very unlikely, but just a little fun speculation

This.....may have been quite intentional.

Hmmmmm......

Oh, I do hope so.

Isn't it lucky for Batman that Julia Pennyworth rather than Alfred is the one doing most of the monitoring on the Bat Computer nowadays, and that Babs is busy trying to retrieve her dissertation from her wiped laptop?

[dropkickjake]

It'll be interesting to see if Seely/King go that route. It is also possible that Gardener gave Dick his hypnos back before he left. She certainly took it from him quick enough when he got there.

[Godlike13]

If Dick was secretly reporting it to Batman at the end there, then we could probably assume he didn't already see anything about it on the news or whatever. Plus id have to imagine Spyral has fail safes for stuff like that.

[Fuzzy Cactus]

Oh, I do hope so.

Isn't it lucky for Batman that Julia Pennyworth rather than Alfred is the one doing most of the monitoring on the Bat Computer nowadays, and that Babs is busy trying to retrieve her dissertation from her wiped laptop?

"Bruce, I was monitoring this concert, and I noticed this rather handsome young man jumping on stage greatly resembles someone in all of family pictures."

[Claude]

If Dick was secretly reporting it to Batman at the end there, then we could probably assume he didn't already see anything about it on the news or whatever. Plus id have to imagine Spyral has fail safes for stuff like that.

Yeah, a media blackout seems to be well within Spyral's capabilities. Especially since everyone seeing what was happening was part of the Fist Of Cain's plan.

And an interesting issue. Not quite the "finale" I'd been expecting, really a two part "one and done" that continues to add pieces to the board and shuffle things around. Tiger is still specific by his absence, and I wonder if - and in what capacity - we'll see Midnighter again.

But for all those worrying about Dick not being shown enough respect, he kicks a thrown knife out of the air here - and saves the day with his superhuman niceness. I'm happy with that.

[Fuzzy Cactus]

Yeah, a media blackout seems to be well within Spyral's capabilities. Especially since everyone seeing what was happening was part of the Fist Of Cain's plan.

And an interesting issue. Not quite the "finale" I'd been expecting, really a two part "one and done" that continues to add pieces to the board and shuffle things around. Tiger is still specific by his absence, and I wonder if - and in what capacity - we'll see Midnighter again.

But for all those worrying about Dick not being shown enough respect, he kicks a thrown knife out of the air here - and saves the day with his superhuman niceness. I'm happy with that.

This might be the first time in all of fiction in which the "power of friendship" saved the day in a way that made logical sense.

[oasis1313]

That may be however I imagine the media was there somewhere filming the "peace rally" since an event like that would have drawn them. Now they probably were taken over like everyone else but their cameras could have still been rolling anyway so I could see them having accidentally caught him on camera and he would have been most visible when he was on stage. I think they could have gotten a good clear shot of him saving the concertgoers.

Since Dick's own family has forgotten he ever existed, why not all the other morons on Earth Prime? "Hey, look at that cute guy on the stage? Didn't we see him on TV awhile back?" "Huh?" "Yah, never seen 'im before in m' life."