The fate of Dick Grayson in the post-Forever Evil DC Universe has been a much-debated topic. A popular fan theory has been Dick Grayson dying at the end of Forever Evil. Now DC Comics, in a USA Today article, revealed that the character, will in fact, not die. Instead, Dick Grayson will headline a brand new ongoing series simply titled ‘Grayson.’ Given our first look at the cover, announced creative team and series overview there is a lot of good and bad takeaways from what we know. What are they? Click and find out.
‘GRAYSON’ SERIES OVERVIEW
Grayson’s new employer is the international spy agency Spyral, an organization created by writer Grant Morrison for his Batman, Incorporated series. King sees it as representative of today’s intelligence community: They are the people who stop bad guys from doing bad things, yet to do that, they employ questionable tactics such as mind erosion.
Gone is Grayson’s mask. His new outfit reflects the blue-and-black color scheme of his Nightwing togs and features a “G” on his chest, reminiscent of the old “R” from his Robin days.
Full USA Today on new ‘Grayson’ ongoing series
THE GOOD
Creative Team
One of the biggest success stories to come out of the start of the New 52 was Dick Grayson’s successful return to his Nightwing identity. While some may write this off because that is the identity the character is most well known for being as an adult it was not an easy transition. This transition back to being Nightwing came after Dick Grayson spent two years successfully being the Batman of Gotham City. So going back to being Nightwing could have been a step down for the character if not handled correctly. Thankfully, Kyle Higgins made this transition a natural step forward as Dick was able to establish himself as a successful solo hero that was not living in the shadows of his mentor, Batman.
Now Tim Seeley and Tom King have a chance to do the same thing. While it is not known how the writing duties will be split between the two Tim Seely has proven himself to be a great writer. Through his work on Hack/Slash, a series I just started reading and enjoying, and Revival he has successfully built worlds that readers can invest in. With ‘Grayson’ taking a superspy approach with its story having Tom King experience as a former CIA counterterrorism operations officer will help to build a world around Dick Grayson that we have not seen explored before in the DCU. And with the majority of the Batman books having their characters based in Gotham City it only helps ‘Grayson’ standout to have something different.
Character Secret Identity
One of the biggest problems that have occurred with modern comics is that superhero identities are not a secret anymore. There are very few real secret identities in superhero comics from the Big Two, even Batman has revealed his dual identity to a number of people in the DC Universe outside of the Batman Family. So hearing that Dick Grayson’s new status quo will have him live a secret life from everyone save a select number of people is exciting.
[Batman] tells him why he needs his former partner to stay dead, not only to the world at large but to Batgirl, Alfred Pennyworth and the rest of the “Bat-family.” – Seeley
It is also interesting to note that Seeley and King implied in the USA Today piece that Batman will be one of the few people that know that Dick Grayson is alive. While this can’t be 100% confirmed due to the way things were phrased this is an interesting thing to note. We have seen in the past how keeping secrets within the Batman Family has come back to haunt Bruce in the past, most recently in Death of the Family. Now if this is yet another secret between Bruce and Dick how it goes over when Barbara and the others find out will be fun to see play out.
Spyral = Kathy Kane + New Characters
Spyral was introduced back in Grant Morrison’s Batman run. Towards the end of Batman Incorporated, it was revealed that Kathy Kane was a member of the organization, she also happens to be Bruce Wayne’s Aunt Kathy who was previously believed to have died. Since Dick is joining Spyral the addition of Kathy Kane to the supporting cast should go without question. We saw hints of Dick sharing some sort of history with Kathy in the one scene the two were in together at the end of Batman Incorporated.
What will be interesting is to see who else will be in Dick’s new supporting cast. And as Seeley revealed, we may very well see some old faces in their New 52 forms:
Seeley is planning to reintroduce some familiar DC characters but also to create a new mythos for Grayson, including his own archenemy.
With Stephanie Brown making her first appearance in the New 52 it’s only a matter of time others make their first appearance in the New 52 as well. A character like Cassandra Cain can very well be part of Spyral. One prominent Batman character we really haven’t seen in the New 52 is Leslie Thompkins. Given the unfavorable way her character was portrayed before the New 52 reboot, she could very well reappear without her previous baggage in Grayson.
Global Superspy
If there is one DC Comics character that can come close to being a James Bond-level character it is Dick Grayson. Not only does he have the training to be a master superspy, but he also has the sex appeal to win over any woman in the DCU.
Grayson is one of the few superheroes “who is considered a sex symbol by ladies,” Seeley says. “We’re leaning into that.”
It won’t be a stretch to see Dick seduce women to get answers and drink a martini while doing it.
Something else that should not be overlooked is Dick’s comfort in traveling the world. Higgins, Snyder and other writers have made it a point to have other characters tell Dick how he never settles down anywhere for a long time. He is a circus guy at heart and with that comes being able to pick up and leaving in a moment’s notice. So the superspy lifestyle won’t be something that the character will have growing pains with.
THE BAD
Marvel-ous Copy of Character Status Quo
While this status quo is new for Dick Grayson it is not something that we haven’t seen before. In fact, we just saw Bucky Barnes go through this same change in the status quo after the events of Fear Itself. In that event, Bucky was thought to have died at the hands of the villains only for Nick Fury to use the events to save Bucky at the last minute. Nick Fury used everyone believing that Bucky died to his advantage to have Bucky return to his life as a spy, which was done after Bucky had a successful run as Captain America.
So, for readers that enjoy both Marvel and DC Comics, this will feel like DC is copying the formula that the House of Ideas previously did. And what will hurt this changed status quo is that for many it will feel completely out of character given the fact that Dick Grayson has always been a social butterfly who has been portrayed as the light within the shadows that the rest of the Batman Family live in.
Guns Not Approved
The biggest eyebrow-raising take away from what we learned from the USA Today story is the fact that Dick Grayson is shown holding a gun on the cover. This goes against the established values of Dick Grayson and the rest of the Batman Family. What’s most alarming about this is that if Dick is indeed using a gun Batman knows about it:
Batman, though, wants him to transition to a different heroic life for the greater good — it’s “a hard sell,” Seeley says
Hopefully, this is being taken out of context, if Batman is on the secret of Dick Grayson still being alive. Because if Bruce does know that Dick is alive it would be stupid to think that he does not know that his former protégé is now using a gun. This would not fly for Bruce and is not something Dick would use. This places Dick closer to being like Jason Todd and Bucky Barnes, which is not who Dick is.
No More Costume
While I get that now that Dick Grayson’s identity has been revealed to the world makes it so he cannot be Nightwing anymore that does not mean he should not be wearing a mask with his new costume. Because at the end of the day this is a superhero comic and taking out the mask makes it feel like it is less so. Having a mask as part of his costume would also help with the fact that not many people know he is still alive. And if the only change in the character’s look is that he has short hair, similar to Tim Drake, then this secret will not last long. There needs to be a bigger change made to the character design to help make it believable that only a select number of people will know that Dick is alive after his identity was broadcast to the world.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I always believed that even with Dick Grayson’s secret identity being revealed to the world in Forever Evil #1 that he would make it out of the event alive and well. The announcement of ‘Grayson’ confirms this. Now that we have a number of details about what the new series will be about I am going to step into it with a wait and see approach. What this new series has going for it is the talents of Tim Seeley, who has done some great work for Image Comics. And while I am not a fan of the majority of the New 52 the Batman comics have been good to great consistently, at least the ones I read. So while there are some things about the new status quo for Dick Grayson that are cause for concern, there are an equal amount of positives that guarantee I will at least buy Grayson #1.Night