The Resurrection of Dick Grayson
“I Believe in Dick Grayson. I believe in the boy who always stepped up when someone was in need. I believe in the man who just wants to help…I believe you can be one of the greatest forces for good this world has ever seen.”
Alfred’s posthumous letter to Dick in Nightwing #78 was meant to explain why he left millions to the former boy wonder, but it is also a sentiment that most DC fans found themselves nodding along with.
Dick Grayson is one of the most beloved and revered characters in all of comics; however, the past two decades have not been kind, and some fans lost their faith after multiple stories that isolated the character and, quite literally, made him someone else. Thankfully, things are starting to look up for Nightwing and his fans in Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo’s run on Nightwing. In order to see how far Nightwing has come under this new direction and creative team, we need to first understand the depths that the character has been in over the past several years.
“Dan Didio Hates Nightwing!”
Dick Grayson’s troubles started in the mid-2000s when a sequel to Crisis on Infinite Earths was being pitched. Former DC Comics co-publisher, Dan Didio was at the head of these talks and has had to defend himself for years over his perceived hatred of Dick Grayson. In 2004, Didio’s original “Crisis in Infinite Futures” pitch included “The Breaking of Dick Grayson” in which Nightwing would go down a “dark path” and eventually become part of Batman’s rouge gallery. Although this event never came to fruition, Dick Grayson stayed in Didio’s metaphorical crosshairs. After the true sequel, Infinite Crisis, was published in 2005 and 2006, it was revealed that Superboy’s climatic death was originally meant for Dick Grayson.
At the time, Didio said, “We were looking for the big death in Infinite Crisis — the big moment. We were looking for something that would have equal import and merit and weight in this story. One of the things I’ve been proven wrong about is that I had felt that Dick Grayson was a redundant character — Tim Drake had filled his role as Robin, he would never be Batman, so where could he go?”
Chris Arrant, in a fascinating post-mortem conversation with Didio after he was let go by DC, asked him about his relationship with legacy characters like Dick Grayson and Wally West. Didio explained that he thought Dick Grayson and other former sidekicks were in a tough spot. Fans loved them because they grew up, but the problem is that their mentors never did. If the character continued to grow with the audience, there would be a day when Dick would be older than his supposed father-figure Bruce Wayne.
In spite of this, Didio clarified that the reasoning behind bring his name up for consideration as the big death in Infinite Crisis was less complicated. He simply wanted the events of Infinite Crisis to have a dramatic weight to them. “For me, with Dick Grayson, the issue wasn’t about the fact that I didn’t like the character. In fact, when I said we should kill Dick Grayson, it was purely story-driven,” Didio said.
With a major character death, the series could prove itself as an important next step for the DC Universe. The Flash (Barry Allen) and Supergirl (Kara Zoe-El) each served this purpose in the original Crisis on Infinite Earths and were both killed (along with dozens of minor characters). Didio wanted to find another character that enough people loved that would garner a similar reaction. “I felt the death of one of the characters that touched them all in a way was going to be the perfect way to do that. Dick Grayson was that character. I felt he was the character that everybody had such a great affinity and love for,” Didio recounted. Thankfully, Geoff Johns, Mark Waid and others convinced Didio that it was the wrong move and Johns sent one of his favorite characters, Connor Kent, as the sacrificial lamb.
While Didio has been lambasted for years about his slight towards Nightwing, he may have a point about Grayson’s importance to the fans and fictional characters themselves. Phil Jimenez, artist on Infinite Crisis, agreed with Didio:
“I can’t think of a character who would have a greater impact than Nightwing dying…Dick has so many connections to other characters. In many ways, even more than Superman or Batman, Nightwing is the soul, the linchpin, of the DCU. He’s well respected by everyone, known to the JLA, the Titans, the Outsiders, Birds of Prey — everyone looks to him for advice, for friendship, for his skills. He’s the natural leader of the DCU. His loss would devastate everyone and create ripples through the DCU. If it wasn’t him, it had to be a hero that really impacted so many.”
From Batman to Cab Driver
Although Didio’s wish for Dick Grayson‘s death never happened, it might as well have. In fact, it may have been preferable. In the past ten years, Dick Grayson has experienced some very high highs and the lowest of lows. He has gone from being Batman before the New 52 and featured in Scott Snyder’s first Batman work “Black Mirror”, to having his identity exposed and faking his death in Forever Evil. He then became a super spy in Grayson before returning back to his Nightwing persona for a bit until he was shot in the head by KGBeast as part of Bane’s master plan in Tom King’s controversial Batman run. While King had plans for Dick post-headshot, DC ultimately went in a direction that still makes fans rattle in despair: Ric Grayson.
As a result of KGBeasts assassination attempt, Dick couldn’t remember who he was or anything about his double life after waking up from his coma. Consequently, he decided to completely forego both of his identities and renamed himself Ric. What may have been an interesting 6-issue storyline turned into a two year (24 issue) arc that alienated long time readers and didn’t entice any new ones. Even after Dan Jurgens took over the storyline from Scott Lobdell with issue 59, sales for Nightwing dipped to under 20,000 copies in December of 2019, and reached an all time low with Nightwing #69 two months later. According to sales records, this was the lowest selling Nightwing issue since at least 2001.
Readers were unhappy, and it wasn’t a good look for one of the company’s most revered, beloved, and oldest characters. While Dan Jurgens finally gave Dick’s (er, Ric’s..?) memories back in Nightwing #73, and Dick took up the Nightwing mantle again an issue later, the title was still in desperate need of a revamp. Nightwing needed new blood.
Leaping into the Light
In December of 2020, DC announced that Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo would be taking the reigns of the series with issue 78. For most fans, this was seen as one of the best possible creative teams for the title. For the past several years, Taylor has been making a name for himself in the industry doing elseworlds-like stories including his hit Injustice tie-in series, the zombie-infested DCeased series, and Earth-2. While his previous DC series rarely had impacts in continuity, Taylor built a reputation among fans as a writer who understands the characters he is writing, and excels at getting back to their roots.
If anyone needed a writer who could bring him back to his essentials while respecting what has happened before, it was Dick Grayson, and DC knew it.
In just 6 issues, Taylor and Redondo completely turned Dick’s life around, in both the DC Universe and the real world. In the first issue of the current run, we learn that Alfred (who had died in the Batman event “Joker War”) had a secret of his own: he was a billionaire himself! Alfred bestows his fortune onto Dick, who in turn attempts to make Bludhaven a better place for all by creating a foundation in his surrogate fathers’ name. Of course all this is going on while someone is going around Gotham killing the homeless, Blockbuster is starting up his criminal empire again, and Dick just discovered that he has a sister…who was taken in by the man who killed his parents and she’s now mayor of the city. Oh, he also has a new dog. (Yes, many have commented on the homages to Matt Fraction and David Aja’s Hawkeye run).
Clearly, the status quo has changed for Dick Grayson. Yet, it works in a way that Ric didn’t and even Seeley and King’s Grayson struggled, because Taylor retains the facets that make Nightwing special. These changes move the story forward and allow our character to go through new challenges without fundamentally changing who he is. As Phil Jimenez recounted, Dick’s connections to others is one of his defining features. When Dick lost his memory (or his secret identity), he also lost those connections. Taylor and Redondo have been doing their part to bring that to the forefront once again by bringing other members to the Bat-family into Dick’s life. Barbara Gordon is back as Oracle and in a complicated relationship with Dick, and Tim Drake has jumped in to help around Bludhaven too.
Taylor’s storytelling and knack for character is key to the success, but it would be foolish not to acknowledge Bruno Redondo’s incredible work. His art has played a significant role in the tonal shift the series has taken. Purely from an aesthetic standpoint, the comic is beautiful to look at. Redondo and colorist Adriano Lucas switched the realistic and drab color palette for a flatter-neon inspired tone that emphasizes pinks and blues. While Bludhaven is supposedly just as bad as Gotham, the hues suggest a hopefulness that usually isn’t found anywhere near the bleakness of Batman’s territory.
Redondo’s manga and pop-art influences are also quite notable as he uses Ben Day dots for shading, and one issue features a very meme-able chibi Barbara Gordon. Redondo also makes good use of The De Luca Effect, a comics term for showing multiple actions in a single panel using multiple images of a character. The artistic changes that Redondo and Lucas have brought to the table work in perfect harmony with the story Taylor is constructing.
“I Believe in Dick Grayson”
Dick Grayson is a unique character in the DC Universe. He’s friendlier than Batman, less of an authority figure than Superman and good friends with both of them. He’s a graduate of the Teen Titans and a mentor to new heroes. He knows when to lead and when to follow. Most importantly, we, the readers, have been able to see this progress happen. We have read Dick Grayson as a 10-year-old sidekick introduced by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, to a rebellious teen with a new identity (Dennis O’Neil, Marv Wolfman, George Perez), and finally an independent hero on his own (Chuck Dixon, Grant Morrison).
We don’t know what’s next for Dick Grayson, but for the first time in a long time, things are looking hopeful. With his friends by his side, new family revealed, and a creative team that understands what makes the character so special, Nightwing has an exciting future ahead of him. While Nightwing fans have had their faith tested, Taylor and Redondo have made me once again believe in Dick Grayson.
