Dick Grayson: Robin Nightwing Agent 37 Or Batman?

[MajorHoy]

It all depends on who's writing him, and it may also be influenced by when you started reading comic books and what version you read. For all those people who refer to his "Nightwing" period as iconic I would like to point out he had 44 years as Robin before that, and there were some fun / "iconic" stories during that time as well.

[SiegePerilous02]

They all work depending on the circumstances. He will always be THE Robin, and definitely had the best dynamic with Bruce. The transition to Nightwing was groundbreaking at the time, lead to some great stories, and became pretty iconic in its own right. However, being seized away from the Titans by the Bat-office is one of the worst things to ever happen to the character, and Dick in the Nightwing identity has been saddled with mediocrity ever since. Post-Robin Dick should be a character that is entrenched in the wider DC universe, not Gotham (or Gotham Lite a.k.a Bludhaven).

IF he needs to settle down in Gotham again, it should only be as Batman II. But while that lead to some great stories, turning Batman into a legacy doesn't seem all that desirable for DC, and it probably shouldn't be. So that leaves Agent 37, which allows him to become part of the bigger universe in a way that Nightwing hasn't been allowed to be in a long time. He was fun again for the first time in years. So looking at Agent 37 vs. the Nightwing of the past few decades, I'd go with 37. But Nightwing is upon us again, with the Court of Owls (ugh). If Seeley is allowed to really push the international aspects and give Dick a distinct world of his own, Nightwing could become his best incarnation again.

[MajorHoy]

Y'know, you really should have included the option for . . .



Deathwing
(with his nipple-piercings!)

[JBatmanFan05]

I should add that I perhaps looked at the OP's question more from a "What should Dick be" perspective than a pure non in-story "best persona" perspective where Robin might very well be that persona. Robin is more iconic than Nightwing, but Nightwing is iconic too.

[Godlike13]

My favorite Dick Grayson persona is Dick Grayson. Ive enjoyed him in all his roles.

[Maxpower00044]

My favorite Dick Grayson persona is Dick Grayson. Ive enjoyed him in all his roles.

Just came to post this. If he's written correctly any persona is fine with me.

[dan12456]

Nightwing doing Agent 37 stuff. There's no reason we can't merge that status quo with the infinitely cooler identity.

But also this...

My favorite Dick Grayson persona is Dick Grayson. Ive enjoyed him in all his roles.

[WhipWhirlwind]

Nightwing doing Agent 37 stuff. There's no reason we can't merge that status quo with the infinitely cooler identity.

This. I love the cool factor of Nightwing, but felt the character has never been more free than he was as Agent 37. Versatility fits Dick Grayson very well, and I hope that is kept going forward.

[JBatmanFan05]

Nightwing doing Agent 37 stuff. There's no reason we can't merge that status quo with the infinitely cooler identity.

This could be fine. I certainly think people are fair in being concerned that Nightwing could end up too Batman-lite (in Gotham, redundantly doing what Bruce does).

Dick as Nightwing? vs what Dick/Nightwing should be doing and where are technically distinct issues though.

[Agent 37]

I'd say Robin. It was something unique to him that he created and is his most iconic identity by a wide margin. Nightwing is the only other one that I think can be considered, but he has failed to have the same impact as Nightwing that he had as Robin I think. As Robin he created a genre by himself and is still the gold standard for that type of identity in a lot of ways, and as Nightwing he is kind of a lesser Daredevil, Spider-man or even Batman. After 30 years of being Nightwing he hasn't really had a lot to show for it in terms of stories, rogues, and ability to sell merchandise. He has failed to rise above being B-list as Nightwing.

I don't think he was Batman or Agent 37 long enough to really have them be considered, but I will say that his best solo stories were of him as Batman and Agent 37 by far.

I loved him in all the characters he's been. My favourite comic book character by a wide margin.

I agree that Dick as a Robin is his most iconic character, but now the Robin mantle is so watered down it's not as special anymore. And a lot of today's fans may never have read a book with Dick as Robin. But to many HE IS Robin, (I'm one of them.)

I loved Dick as Batman. IMO, he's really the only character with the history and respect, that fans would accept him as Batman's replacement. He could do the job, and in many ways do it better than Bruce, but Dick is not Batman. Its not his personality.

I loved the Grayson run, and Dick as Agent 37. The spy genre fit the character really well, and it only adds to his mythos IMO. But I don't see it as being so black and white. I think Dick doesn't have to be Agent 37 or Nightwing, he can pull off both. I'm hoping this is the case in the upcoming Nightwing series.

It was a tricky choice because they all have good parts of Dick Grayson's history, but it came down to being between Robin and Nightwing, but I went with Nightwing. It was the direction and identity he chose when he left Batman's shadow, and it is one of my favourite comic memories from my youth. Robin is the first thing that pops to mind when I hear Dick Grayson, but then I think , "who became Nightwing". It's just what I relate to.

[Batman Begins 2005]

Really like all three but Dick Grayson's Batman takes it for me thanks to Morrison's superb Batman and Robin and The Black Mirror, a great book by Snyder.

[Nite-Wing]

Nightwing at this point is only going to work as a teen titans character(and the titans are a mess right now) that was what the ID was created to do
Dixon managed to right some good stuff in his solo book for a time and that's actually how I got into comics but to me none of those stories really truly cemented that identity within the Batman mythos. Its probably part of the reason why Dick is so very out of place in gotham compared to the rest of the batfam.

Batman is not a legacy role and its already very hard to place anyone apart from Bruce as the character without them looking like a broken pedestal to show how Bruce was so important.
Dick was not created to be Batman end of story
It makes all his other Identities look less then they should be intended to as well.
Why would Dick want to be Batman when he could be Nightwing or Agent 37. That's the mentality that anyone writing the character should have

Robin is the role of a teen or child. Dick is neither now hence why he almost always has to be something else as an adult.
I think its sad because Robin is clearly his most iconic role and Nightwing and Agent 37 pale in comparison to the branding of that identity.
Still Dick isn't a kid anymore

Agent 37 is quite frankly the best Dick has ever been written in his entire history. Its something new that was never done before with the character.
Sadly that had to end because another pointless Nightwing run where he will predictably be trying to do either one or two things that have been done before

[ayanestar]

Agent 37 easily. His time as Nightwing was ok and many years ago I enjoyed it to see him as the leader of the NTT but Batman and Agent 37 had his best stories.

[Dispenser Of Truth]

As Robin he was an excellent partner, but hadn't really come into his own as a character. Agent 37 is excellent, but also the sort of thing that was always obviously, inherently temporary. Nightwing is excellent in principle but typically uninteresting in execution (though in the likely event Seeley can retrofit the aspects of Agent 37 that worked onto this, I'll change my tune, and it'll probably end up my favorite). As Batman there's no longer any question of his place on the A-list (and roping in A-list talent like Morrison and Snyder as a result), the weight hanging over his head in regards to the mantle is one of actually living up to it instead of having to remind us every few issues that he's trying to get out from under the 'Shadow of the Bat' or whatever, and it lets us have Dark Batman and Fun Batman at the same time. Pending further developments with Nightwing, Batman's the easy win for me.

[Grayson - The Dark Heir]

Oh great, another thread for me to be cynically hopeful and optimistically cynical.

Agent 37 easily. His time as Nightwing was ok and many years ago I enjoyed it to see him as the leader of the NTT but Batman and Agent 37 had his best stories.

Yeah, this pretty much. Discowing and NTT Dick was great. It's only in recent years that Nightwing's become what it is. DickBats and Agent 37 were the ones with the best roles.

As Batman there's no longer any question of his place on the A-list (and roping in A-list talent like Morrison and Snyder as a result), the weight hanging over his head in regards to the mantle is one of actually living up to it instead of having to remind us every few issues that he's trying to get out from under the 'Shadow of the Bat' or whatever, and it lets us have Dark Batman and Fun Batman at the same time.

I agree with this, too. The way DickBats' dealt with living up to Bruce was pretty great. That was way more interesting than trying to get out of his shadow.

My favorite Dick Grayson persona is Dick Grayson. Ive enjoyed him in all his roles.

Just came to post this. If he's written correctly any persona is fine with me.

Nightwing doing Agent 37 stuff. There's no reason we can't merge that status quo with the infinitely cooler identity.

This. I love the cool factor of Nightwing, but felt the character has never been more free than he was as Agent 37. Versatility fits Dick Grayson very well, and I hope that is kept going forward.

So this is how I really feel. Dick is at his best when he's Dick, and we've seen that in all those roles. Dick was Robin. That was his name. He did Dick Grayson things because Dick Grayson was Robin. And that applies to when he was Nightwing. And when he was Batman. And when he was Agent 37. I'll always look at Grayson as a series more fondly because it was an amazing book that released right after a few years of mediocre Nightwing stories.

I voted for Agent 37 because if we were to say Dick is the "Bright Knight," then he was the light in the dark of the spy world. Dick's heroic personality and morality shine through because of all the grey. You get to see his physicality, like in every role or story, but you barely ever get to see Dick really use his cunning except in Grayson. Like damn, he was really good at making things go according to his keikakus, man. How many times have you ever seen Dick form his own plans and manipulating them to help him win at the end? If Bruce is really going to be called a genius and stuff for the the World's Greatest Detective, Dick should be called one for being the World's Greatest Strategist/Tactician. His magnetic personality, charisma and natural leadership capabilities, and his compassion really makes it easy for him to get things to work his way. Grayson started down this path, and that's why Grayson #13 and 15 are some of my favourite issues of the run. Do we even have anyone in the DCU called the World's Greatest Tactician?

Just throwing this here at the end: When Dick goes back to being Nightwing, I hope he operates during the day, as well as at night. Nightwing can get a little dour and dark, in terms of colouration, and that really doesn't help with the atmosphere or setting of the book. Grayson was so colourful and bright, which really helped with letting Dick seem free and happy, or in other words, like Dick. I was a little bummed knowing Jeromy Cox won't be colouring Nightwing, but I hope that it continues in Nightwing somehow.