Action Comics #883

[drsevarius.insanejournal.com]

Dr. Pillings is really Jax-Ur in disguise.

Comments

[nevermore999.insanejournal.com]

Chris isn't 18, though. He's like, ten.

Which makes all the kissing and stuff creepy.

[xdoop.insanejournal.com]

Rucka was asked this in CBR.

That begs another question for readers: Okay, great, his body is 23. But why is his brain not 6?

That will be answered. There is an explanation for all of this. You may not like the explanation, I can’t speak to that, but there is an explanation. And the explanation is forthcoming in “Action Comics” and then we go into far greater detail in “Action Comics Annual.” The annual actually covers a number of things. It covers the start of Thara’s journey in Kandor. It actually explains a little more of Ursa’s backstory. It picks up for Chris when re-enters the Phantom Zone at the end of “Superman: Last Son.” And you see how Thara and Chris came together. You see why they take on the Flamebird and Nightwing identities. You see the genesis of their relationship.

[nevermore999.insanejournal.com]

Clearly I should have read that annual more carefully...

[manofbats.insanejournal.com]

Technically he is. When he ages like that years go by for him. So for us he is only 6, but from his point of view he is as old as he looks.

[jlbarnett.insanejournal.com]

except he's just standing in place, gaining no new knowledge or experience.

[wizardru.insanejournal.com]

This really didn't make a heck of a lot of sense to me.

They have holograms of the three 'sleepers' they're looking for. But somehow they don't recognize him when they come face to face with him?

I enjoyed the Captain Atom sequence much more....well, at least the last page.

[xdoop.insanejournal.com]

They have holograms of the three 'sleepers' they're looking for. But somehow they don't recognize him when they come face to face with him?

They haven't come face to face with him yet.

[comicoz.insanejournal.com]

They appear to be on a vid phone at the end there. I don't see any visible phone?

[bluejaybirdie.insanejournal.com]

Chris! D:

[mullon.insanejournal.com]

Oh boy, maybe Jax-Ur will reverse it so Chris is back to being a kid.

[espanolbot.insanejournal.com]

Then it'd be the creepiest part of the Fly 2 all over again, with the protagonist being aged back into a child after having had a sexual relationship with someone. XP

[(Anonymous)]

They did the same thing in Big.

[mullon.insanejournal.com]

Could he regress mentally to ten too?

[interrobamf.insanejournal.com]

Eh? That didn't happen in Fly II.

[espanolbot.insanejournal.com]

Did in the sequel to the Cronenburg movie.

[jaybee3.insanejournal.com]

I think in the end Chris will either end up dead or back in the Phantom Zone. De-aging him back to 6 after his relationship with Thara would be extremely creepy and having him be an old man would be as well. Besides, DC can talk all they want about keeping Dick as Batman when Bruce comes back, given who's now in charge over there (Diane Nelson and Warners) by the time the next Batman movie debuts, Dick will be back as Nightwing and Chris will be gone.

[manofbats.insanejournal.com]

No creepier than the movie Big, and they actually had sex in that movie.

[jaybee3.insanejournal.com]

I always thought Big was an extremely creepy movie, especially when I was child myself (which is when I first saw it).

[blakeyrat.insanejournal.com]

Yes but he was right about the transforming building!

[megami.insanejournal.com]

The kid in Big was thirteen and already liked girls (a lot). He just wasn't successful with them. That's a big difference from six, or even ten. The Chris thing creeps me out a lot more than that.

[manofbats.insanejournal.com]

I'm guessing Chris will have to give himself permanently to the Nightwing.

[jaybee3.insanejournal.com]

A way out of this could be having both Chris and Thara actually ascend to God-hood permanently (i.e. having Nighwing and Flamebird take over their bodies) so they can be together without having to worry about his aging. Also it would de facto take him out of the Earth-bound super-hero NW role so Dick could return to it (probably in 2011).

[manofbats.insanejournal.com]

I imagine them giving Dick a new identity all-together if he still isn't Batman. Going back to Nightwing just wouldn't seem right. That would be like going back to being Robin.

He wouldn't be Robin, Nightwing, or Batman.

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

I'm not especially sure, except the issue of keeping Bruce's ID secret, why he can't just be Dick Grayson. It's not like he really has another life; his attempt to pretend at one, going to the functions Bruce would've and so forth, seems to chafe on him. But really, does anyone think of Dick as having a secret identity as such? I mean, in the same way Bruce or Clark do, i.e. a double life?

[jcbaggee.insanejournal.com]

Dick's maintained his identity out of respect for Bruce, and because his role as Bruce Wayne's ward/adopted son still has granted him some pull in the world.

I don't see Dick suddenly stopping this. I mean, c'mon, when Wally West's mom re-married, Dick showed up in a disguise so no one would recognize the guy the world knows as The Flash hanging out with the guy the world knows is the adopted son of Bruce Wayne.

[lyraeinne.insanejournal.com]

I don't know, I think there is a difference. Robin is a concept Bruce appropriated from Dick which is now almost universally used to designate a sidekick rather than a partner. Nightwing is an independent entity that Dick spent years building himself with little direct interference from anyone else. I wouldn't really view that as as a step down persay, even if the Bat-symbol does ultimately carry more weight in the criminal underworld.

Of course, that doesn't mean they won't do exactly that. I'd just hate to see Dick have to start from scratch yet again. Sigh.

[manofbats.insanejournal.com]

Nah, I think after Bruce comes back Dick will look back on Nightwing as being behind him.

[lyraeinne.insanejournal.com]

That's entirely possible, but I think they'd need to do a little more on that level with the Dick-as-Batman concept for me to really buy it. If only because his motivation for the transition itself seemed more along the lines of "this is what I have to do for someone I love who isn't here anymore" than "this is the natural and right progression for me at this point in my life."

[freddylloyd.insanejournal.com]

I view Robin as the DC Universe's primary symbol of youth, and therefore impossible to go back to once you've moved on to a new, more grown-up identity. That's how it worked for Dick and Jason, and how I think it will work for Tim and Stephanie. (Which doesn't mean Damian is the end of the Robin line, but that's another matter.)

Nightwing, on the other hand, is a symbol of the effort to forge an adult identity that incorporates the best lessons of one's mentors without their less desirable traits. And as such it would still be appropriate for Dick Grayson to take up the Nightwing role when he stops being Batman. He did it once before, after all, with just a short hiccup in which he turned in his costume. (And that actually had the benefit of bringing on a better costume.)

Of course, there's no guarantee that DC's editorial team is thinking along the same lines.

[manofbats.insanejournal.com]

Nightwing's more of a symbol of teenage rebellion.

[freddylloyd.insanejournal.com]

My interpretation is more strongly colored by the way Wolfman and Pérez originally developed Nightwing pre-Crisis, when there was no acrimonious break with Bruce/Batman. The Nightwing role was a sign of maturing, but not rebelling.

After the first Crisis the history of that relationship changed, but by then Nightwing was established with the Titans, and any conflict with Batman was secondary and in the past. The Nightwing magazine focused on Dick in his twenties and establishing himself as an adult.

I think the Red Hood, as used in this millennium, is a more obvious example of rebellion against a father figure and his values.

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

What I like about this? Finally doing something with the fact Jax-Ur was, like, a scientist. In all other appearances, that only mattered as far as his crime. Ever after, he was just another Phantom Zone thug.

I think they're also using elements of Professor Vakox here.

[volksjager.insanejournal.com]

Ah, love's bitter sting.