Dick Grayson/Robin/Nightwing/Batman Appreciation 2023.

[Aahz]

It feels so fresh and different than just “Gotham-lite”.

Yeah now it is more "Metropolis Lite"...

I'm just bored by this run. If the Titans go up against the Ruler of Hell, and it doesn't fell like there are any real stakes, there is really something going wrong...

[Ascended]

Well, there's different kinds of adaptation right? Varying degrees of "direct from the source material."

Comics that work in a direct translation, like, I dunno, All-Star Superman....Dick doesn't have a lot of that. But those stories tend to be self-contained things. Not too many Nightwing Elseworlds out there, and fewer great ones worth adapting. Maybe more than some of us are giving him credit for (I can think of half a dozen), but not a lot, and nothing too high profile. But the stuff that would make a good movie if you changed it around a chunk? A loose adaptation? Dick's swimming in that sorta story.

But it's all moot anyway. You don't need a best selling trade/OGN to base an adaptation on. Most genre films don't even bother trying to be 'loose' adaptations of a specific story anymore.

A Better Than Batman adaptation would make for a great Nightwing film and Raptor is a fascinating antagonist.

It would, and he is.

I think the Percy motorcycle death race arc would make a good film, if you tack some more flashbacks into it. Weird choice, I know, but I think it'd actually work.

This is probably the most noteworthy and adaptable run Dick has ever had, yet some fans still don’t appreciate it because it’s not Ric enough. At the end of the day they can’t make everybody happy.

/shrug. Everything is gonna have its detractors. I utterly loathe some stories most people would call beloved classics. And vice versa. They're not gonna make everyone happy and they shouldn't try. Art that tries to appeal to everyone usually ends up appealing to no one.

I dunno if it's his most adaptable run; the premise requires a fair bit of background setup and we haven't seen how the main plot concludes yet. Plus there's been a fair amount of involvement from other characters like Jon and the Titans. But specific elements and the overall tone/thematics? Yeah that's all pretty damn adaptable, seems to have wide appeal with likely movie-goers, and a distinct visual personality that could be incredible in live action.

[phonogram12]

That’s what baffles me so much about criticism of this run (though people are welcome to their opinions). It really feels like they’re establishing Dick’s supporting cast - his family, friends, neighbors, inner circle, the Titans, the hero community at large - and they’ve made Bludhaven so much more interesting with its unique politics, citizenry, and how it’s presented (so many daytime scenes). It feels so fresh and different than just “Gotham-lite”. I don’t think Bludhaven’s reworking gets enough credit.

Yeah, along with the general tone, direction, and characterization, the world building has been one of my favorite parts of this book.

[Godlike13]

People not jiving with the run doesn't mean they want Ric back. They just probably aren't feeling Taylors' execution.

Not saying they want Ric back, but these complaints of not enough stakes and not dark enough is exactly what Ric was all about. So...

I'm sorry but if you think this is Nightwing's "most noteworthy and adaptable run", we can count ourselves lucky to even one movie adaptation and it doesn't completely flop.

Its not really about what i "think", the way this run has been received by general audiences speaks for itself.

Bias? I'm not the biggest fan of Taylor's writing, and I have always been vocal about it besides we are talking about a movie adaptation. Dick even sold okayish during his Ric era, but you don't see me asking for it to be adapted.

No actually he didn't. Dick reached all time lows during his Ric era, and was completely kept afloat by tie-ins. That this title was able to rebound like it has after Ric is almost unseen in todays comics.

[Frontier]

Not saying they want Ric back, but these complaints of not enough stakes and not dark enough is what Ric was all about. So...

Is that more of a Ric thing or just what people expect from comic book fiction in general? I've seen other Dick runs that had a better tonal balance in my opinion.

Yeah now it is more "Metropolis Lite"...

I'm just bored by this run. If the Titans go up against the Ruler of Hell, and it doesn't fell like there are any real stakes, there is really something going wrong...

Now that you mention it, Bludhaven does kind of feel like it's turning into Metropolis in terms of look and feel, huh? Even has Maggie Sawyer and Dan Turpin.

[Godlike13]

Is that more of a Ric thing or just what people expect from comic book fiction in general? I've seen other Dick runs that had a better tonal balance in my opinion.

Ric is the most currently relevant example of a run with a focus on "stakes" and "darkness" with the character. Ric was effort of show stakes and consequences for their universe as a whole even. Generally speaking the runs with the most darkness and costly stakes are regarded as the characters worst. The Grayson era and Ric being the prime examples.

[Frontier]

Ric is the most currently relevant example of a run with a focus on "stakes" and "darkness" with the character. Ric was effort of show stakes and consequences for their universe as a whole even. Generally speaking the runs with the most darkness and costly stakes are regarded as the characters worst. The Grayson era and Ric being the prime examples.

I don't think Grayson was that dark though. Well, probably compared to other Nightwing stuff.

I just don't see the idea of legitimate stakes equating to a desire to go back to the Ric era.

[Godlike13]

I don't think Grayson was that dark though. Well, probably compared to other Nightwing stuff.

I just don't see the idea of legitimate stakes equating to a desire to go back to the Ric era.

I meant the Devin Grayson era, not the Grayson series. And I’m not saying it’s a desire to go back to the Ric run, but a desire to go back to the ideas that created the Ric run.

[Rac7d*]

I don't think Grayson was that dark though. Well, probably compared to other Nightwing stuff.

I just don't see the idea of legitimate stakes equating to a desire to go back to the Ric era.

Whats about the Higgins era, friends, family friends killed, circus burned down, loss of fortune and still abducted by joker

[WonderNight]

When it comes to adaptations some people feel like if Dick doesn't have enough of his own toys then he'll never get to the point of a real adaptation or big solo push in the mainstream because most of his "toys" belongs to bigger IT'S.

Like a movie with Nightwing running around with his Titan friends? Than why not just a Titans movie!

Nightwing running a urban city at night with the batfam while dating babs. Maybe fighting someone like two face! Then why not just do a Batman movie instead?

It's hard to convince the power that be to invest millions into a character like that for a solo push.

[Godlike13]

If WB didn’t screw up the movie division as badly as they did we probably would have already seen a Nightwing movie. Its not that Nightwing is particularly hard to adapt, it’s that almost everything has been hard for them to adapt.

[Frontier]

I meant the Devin Grayson era, not the Grayson series. And I’m not saying it’s a desire to go back to the Ric run, but a desire to go back to the ideas that created the Ric run.

Feels like we're talking between two extremes now.

[Felipe Silveira]

Feels like we're talking between two extremes now.

One is one of the most important writers on the character, the other is Tom Taylor.

[Mantis-Ray]

I'm not trying to be a hater but I'm not really seeing the parts of this run that make it so adaptable.

Its just kinda a lot of Dick just doing stuff without much struggle. There's not really a variety or spice to it, especially since he doesn't really fight many supervillains that give him a good fight.

I just find it okay honestly.

[Godlike13]

Feels like we're talking between two extremes now.

But it’s wasn’t an extreme, it was the Didio philosophy, and a common occurrence with Nightwing books. Nightwing’s series were defined by their darkness and stakes to the point that his series became a joke that most thought would never come close to sniffing an Eisner. I think some of you might be so used to seeing whatever Dick does end in destruction and ruin that him not failing or him succeeding is being dismissed as too easy or wrong.