GRAYSON #11 Preview/Discussion

[Vinsanity]

So what do you guys think are the odds that Dick ends up turning 8 back, only for her to end up dying tragically?

Likely but I can also see her going the Tatiana Romanova route and placed elsewhere in witness protection.

[Conway]

The action was great. The dialogue was fun. The use of the splash page was what I wish for from every splash. The reveal was surprising. The cover-up was subtle. The teaser was intriguing. And the conclusion was emotional. This is definitely not a title they need to mess with.

Still something bugged me about this. I think it's the fact that Dick's death was so public and final. Nightwing can't show up anywhere, and Dick can't just walk back into the Gotham community without there being issues. The hypnos can help, but even if he's just hiding in the Batcave he has to come to terms with Alfred (who is making a mess of things in his name). There is no real way out of this for him.

Oh, and as someone that gets accused of having a nice ass, I can tell you nobody likes their own. It was a nice touch.

Likely but I can also see her going the Tatiana Romanova route and placed elsewhere in witness protection.

She is totally going "Bond-girl" and turning against her handlers because she fell for the spy. The only question is which spy. I'm thinking Helena or Kane turns her.

[HellHere]

I wonder if they used the number 8 because it can represent the Oroboros when turned sideways. Probably not but, maybe.

I hope so, that's great.

[Maxpower00044]

This book is easily one of the best in the industry. It's so fresh and just what Dick needed to get outta the shadow of batman and become his own character with his own agenda. You really can't ask for much better comics.

I read the three issue arc as a whole last night, and it just flows so well. Those Hypnos pages in this most recent issue were fantastic as was the idea of who Dick Grayson is. Can't get over how good this is. Way better than I expected.

[M L A]

I wonder if they used the number 8 because it can represent the Oroboros when turned sideways. Probably not but, maybe.

King said he chose 8 because Birds of Prey #8 is one of his favorite issues

[Maxpower00044]

King said he chose 8 because Birds of Prey #8 is one of his favorite issues

Theory: debunked!

[Tayswift]

this is a great issue. remind me a little the last issue of loki, about identity.

great plot twist, I definatley didn't saw that coming. art was stunning, Janin only gets better

[Vinsanity]

The action was great. The dialogue was fun. The use of the splash page was what I wish for from every splash. The reveal was surprising. The cover-up was subtle. The teaser was intriguing. And the conclusion was emotional. This is definitely not a title they need to mess with.

Still something bugged me about this. I think it's the fact that Dick's death was so public and final. Nightwing can't show up anywhere, and Dick can't just walk back into the Gotham community without there being issues. The hypnos can help, but even if he's just hiding in the Batcave he has to come to terms with Alfred (who is making a mess of things in his name). There is no real way out of this for him.

Oh, and as someone that gets accused of having a nice ass, I can tell you nobody likes their own. It was a nice touch.



She is totally going "Bond-girl" and turning against her handlers because she fell for the spy. The only question is which spy. I'm thinking Helena or Kane turns her.

HelenaxAgent 8 confirmed. Haha

But I think Tiger would figure out he's getting played later on. He could lecture her or him nearly dying could jolt her back on the good side.

[joybeans]

I wonder how deeply involved Agent 8 really is. Judging by her anger towards Dick when fakeDick talks about her death, and how uneasy she looks around Netz, it seems that Frau recruited Alia after she legitimately died.

[Rakiduam]

I wonder how deeply involved Agent 8 really is. Judging by her anger towards Dick when fakeDick talks about her death, and how uneasy she looks around Netz, it seems that Frau recruited Alia after she legitimately died.

Can't be. She has been killing people from the first issue. But she is probably angry at being shot and moved from Spyral anyway

[Avi]

Thinking about this Issue again I guess we did not see Lex Luthor in #10. He said that LexCorp is doing the upgrades for the Implants and that Spyral does not have the body-controlling upgrade yet. Despite that Alia can use it and Helena stated that "Checkmate" hacked into their implants and sold their drop point to Luthor, which means LexCorp is in no way connected to Spyral. Netz could have upgraded the Implants on her own. She is a technical genies after all and with the implants she could have been the Luthor we saw.

[HellHere]

I wonder how deeply involved Agent 8 really is. Judging by her anger towards Dick when fakeDick talks about her death, and how uneasy she looks around Netz, it seems that Frau recruited Alia after she legitimately died.

I think Alia's all the way in with Netz - she's the mirror image of Helena and Kathy. And i think she slept with Dick as part of her game - it's like the gun - Helena has the time to get Dick's loyalty, to get in his head, to play the long game. Alia doesn't have the time or the access to him so she has to do as much damage as she can in as short a time as she can. And sex can be a pretty good tool. I think she just doesn't respect him for falling for it.

I also thing it was set up so they could twist the knife in Tiger too. He sounded pretty heart broken when Alia died, and now we have to wonder how much he's willing to ignore in his happiness at having her back - basically the same accusation he levelled at Helena in 10.

I think it is Lex, and considering that Alia said she grew up in Smallville, it's possible they've connections with Lex through that.

[K. Jones]

I think Alia's all the way in with Netz - she's the mirror image of Helena and Kathy. And i think she slept with Dick as part of her game - it's like the gun - Helena has the time to get Dick's loyalty, to get in his head, to play the long game. Alia doesn't have the time or the access to him so she has to do as much damage as she can in as short a time as she can. And sex can be a pretty good tool. I think she just doesn't respect him for falling for it.

I also thing it was set up so they could twist the knife in Tiger too. He sounded pretty heart broken when Alia died, and now we have to wonder how much he's willing to ignore in his happiness at having her back - basically the same accusation he levelled at Helena in 10.

I think it is Lex, and considering that Alia said she grew up in Smallville, it's possible they've connections with Lex through that.

It will sure be interesting to get more scoop on Alia. Beyond just having a great first name for a spy, I'm eager to find out what her last name might be, and yeah, if there's any real Smallville connection. I somehow doubt we'll learn that she's a Lang or a Ross or a Luthor or anything like that. But Luthor's use and her being from Smallville are pretty darned conspicuous. As is King's use of Alia to illustrate a lot of themes about military types coming from the American heartland. So yeah, eager to learn that last name, for sure. And perhaps the Superman issue might shed some awesome light on the situation?

[HellHere]

I actually thought for a while that Minos and Alia were either related, or were both made by Netz in her lab - Daddy was a Nazi and those two are really blonde. (Mind you, I was also hoping that she was Otto in a new body, so my judgement might be a little out there right now :0) )

[Bookem Danno]

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!

I enjoyed the ish. All the positive details noted in this thread help make this a strong & engaging series - and I say this even though all the character cast and circumstances is still not registering & processing 100% after 11 issues.

Maybe someone could annotate all the noted players and a summary sentence what we should know or suspect - especially with Frau Netz. And why is Dick just giving up? Did all the motivating reasons for going this route suddenly go away?

Nice cover.
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