GRAYSON #11 Preview/Discussion

[DGraysonWorldsGreatestSpy]

This was king of Dick Grayson's no half measures moment where it no more playing around and doing what is necessary. Very Good issue that really highlights my problem with the Nightwing demand. I love the Black/Blue costume but what Nightwing had become since its inception is just another performance that he had outgrown since becoming Batman and Leading the Justice League for a while. I hope this leads to him taking over the God Garden or something where he is in control and not taking orders.

[Avi]

The visuals in this chapter are fantastic as always and Tiger has the badass moment again. It's also really great to see that the implants are really in the eyes and I wonder how the espionage war will develope now that they are blaming spoilers:

Checkmate and not just anyone, Maxwell Lord himself. I also think it's interesting that Netz wanted to get him away but Agent 0 seemingly wants him back in #13 ? Are they in a war on their own or was it a lie and they really are one person?

end of spoilers

[Andru]

Another great issue! I enjoyed that the majority of the issue was a fight scene with some fun commentary from Dick.

I am currently reading Batman Inc. & am now getting a clearer picture of Spyral, St. Hadrian's, & Kathy Kane, which of course is making Grayson even more enjoyable for me.

[Godlike13]

So good. This one had it all. Action, mystery, twist and turns. Ive been wanting to learn more about the other daughter and im glad to see how involved she really is. Really good stuff here.

[DurararaFTW]

spoilers:

I've been waiting for Grayson to get back to Gotham and get more involved in the Batfamily. Now all I want is Grayson and Maxwell Lord teamup.

end of spoilers

[byrd156]

This was filled with great moments for Dick.

I loved how he started off strong with all the quips and comebacks until they were flipped upside down and turned against him. While the two page spread spiraling of the panels is cool to look at it took me out of the story when I have to turn the book to keep reading.

[kivatt]

This is hands down best DC book of the week. I loved everything about it. The fight, the commentary on who Dick Grayson is, and what it is doing for him as a character. That two page spread with the Spiral was amazing. I also loved how they brought up him and Starfire which was hinted at in Red Hood and the Outlaws.

This book just keeps getting better.

[K. Jones]

This issue was so very, very good. And it sets up all sorts of new stuff for the future, once Dick's done with his Gotham visit.

spoilers:

Well spotted. The moment you said it I was convinced it had to be the case. That "my Tiger" couldn't really have been anyone else we've met to date, and it would have been cheating to make it someone entirely new. Though I'm sad that - since it wasn't him - it may mean that Tom Tresser is dead-dead.

end of spoilers

I think it might mean that we never actually saw Tom Tresser at all. Checkmate is clearly being set up here in a big way. But dead isn't always dead, and dead in spy fiction like this? I mean Agent 8 was dead, too. Real dead, even though in my recent re-read I couldn't tell where the heck Old Gun shot her from any sort of wound.

I should have known the identity from the piles of skulls, foreshadowing-wise. Shame on me!

[joybeans]

Well, of course there's more to Frau Netz than meets the eye, consider she's Kathy's sister! And suddenly that hint about Agent 8 in issue #4 pays off! And now things are crazier than ever! Dick's done with Spyral and heading back to Gotham! Tiger's lied to Helena, and is being played by Alia! Dr. Netz is throwing a monkey wrench into Kathy's plan, but what is she really after? And Dick's laughing daredevil persona has been deconstructed hard. And he makes fun of Clayface stories. And even takes a shot at the Superman/Wonder woman relationship!

[HellHere]

I do wonder how much Helena and Kathy know considering that spoilers:

Helena seemed to know that Agent 8 wasn't dead in #4 - the moment she got cut off was the moment I went Oh Ho..! The question is now who's side is Tiger on. Because he went from very willing to kill Agent 8 to spouting her lines about Checkmate. I do love the symmetry here - Dick takes one of their pieces off the board (Minos) and they take him off the board.

end of spoilers

I wonder what's going to happen in Gotham that gets him back to Spyral.

[The World]

It was good, I enjoyed it a lot nice tweest at the end. Though I thought him loosing to the same trick twice was pretty lame, I don't think this Dick is ready to be Batman again; Bruce wouldn't have let that happen again...well maybe Snyder's version of Bruce would.

[HellHere]

I kind of liked Agent 8 getting him with that - it highlights her parallel with Helena.

[M L A]

Ha, couldn't help but snort at the end where Dr Netz talked about her and her sister fighting over toys and nothing about that changing.

Very interesting considering what Dick did at the end and what Agent 0 said at the end of Grayson #8.

[joybeans]

It was good, I enjoyed it a lot nice tweest at the end. Though I thought him loosing to the same trick twice was pretty lame, I don't think this Dick is ready to be Batman again; Bruce wouldn't have let that happen again...well maybe Snyder's version of Bruce would.

Well, his body was being manipulated, so it's not like he could fight back.

[K. Jones]

Well, his body was being manipulated, so it's not like he could fight back.

This is what I kept coming back to, as we found out last issue that our old buddy Luthor, proprietary military-industrial jerk, owns the patent on hypnos. His off the cuff remark about suing Otto Netz was actually perfect foreshadowing, but I was so trying to read into the Grayson/Luthor dynamic (not necessarily the most recent Forever Evil bit, but historically, since Dick is "part" Superman, thematically), that mentioning Otto Netz at all didn't set off any red alarms in my brain. Not only that, but in spite of her being the craziest most interesting "WHAT?!" moment of one of the first issues of Grayson, I sort of forgot she was there. I mean I've been expecting and eager to see how she gets on with Kathy when Kathy shows up (or what her first name might be), but it almost never occurred to me that we might find out just by getting to know the Doctor a little better.

Anyway, a Luthor/Dedalus connection isn't too far off even from the Morrison run, where Talia has been picking old Otto's brain for novel mindgames for some time, and historically of course Talia has colluded often with Luthor, ran LexCorp for a while, and was in all the same Secret Society circles from Infinite Crisis on up to Final Crisis. So we can fill in the blanks for ourselves - Talia might've introduced Lex to the retired old spider in the web, or conversely, Lex might have introduced Talia to this old spy he knows from his military-industrial days. I actually favor the latter, as Dedalus was also linked directly to another Morrison concept in common with Lex - the appearances on Earth of Metalek Xenoformers (fleeing from the Multitude).

Didn't see it coming. At least, not here, not now. And Dick of course knows Kathy Kane but doesn't know the Netz Connection.

Really digging how female-dominated this book is, actually. And used interestingly to deconstruct Dick Grayson, too, in a way similar to how frankly Talia first, then Kathy way harder, deconstructed Bruce Wayne in that last issue of Inc., in a way that just makes it seem like the boys can be out of their depth sometimes, or lacking in nuance. And now I get back to it, the entire use of "Old Gun", including his "powers", his "point-of-view", and his look/design seem like they might be satirizing The Male Gaze kind of brutally, too. So to see a well done, but still slight "fridging" get the full turnaround twist treatment here is pretty rewarding.