Flashpoint: Deadman and the Flying Graysons, and post-revamp Nightwing writers speaks

[icon_uk]

A cover and four pages from the forthcoming "Deadman and the Flying Graysons" have been posted over at the DCU Blog



Dick's look at Boston and thinking... "Something about that is familiar, but why do I get the feeling it SHOULD be me tied up?"



Have to say, I'm loving the art here.... (plus we get to see where Dick inherited that magnificent posterior of his... HEL-LOOOOOO John Grayson! :D



Check out panel 1! (Well, you can check out the others too, but c'mon... RAGDOLL!!





Interesting that John appears to be wearing a variation on Dick's new look!

And Kyle Higgins has some comments about his stint as new writer on Nightwing...


Nrama: As you take over Nightwing, Dick Grayson is a little different than he's ever been before, isn't he? Simply because he's been Batman?

Higgins: That's a big part of what we're doing in the series. I don't think you could do a Nightwing book at this point without dealing with the fact that he was just Batman. I'm not sure I should say much more than that, except that one of the reasons he's Nightwing now is because of him just being Batman. You'll have to keep reading to find that out.

But in terms of his skills and confidence level, Nightwing has an even greater experience behind him now. So in our comic, he's become the best version of Nightwing that he's ever been. It's what has made him better.

Nrama: He's working out of Gotham in this title, right?

Higgins: Yeah. Gotham City was always the one place he'd always avoided, but now he's been successful there. So he's staying in Gotham because the city has changed around him, and he feels like the city genuinely needs him.

Nrama: Since he's in Gotham, does he bump into other people in the Bat-universe?

Higgins: Yeah. The thing about Dick Grayson, and it's something we're playing a lot with in Gates of Gotham, is that in his nature, he's a very social person. That's one of the big things that separates him from Bruce.

He works well with people. He works well with other members of the Bat-family. So yeah, there will be people popping up in the comic. And Dick's direction in Gotham City is tied to him continuing his mission, because he feels the city needs him and he's done avoiding this place as he has over the last few years, which Scott has explored wonderfully in Detective Comics. So it's not just him isolated in the city.

So Dick is back to knocking around Gotham... not sure how I feel about that, Dick shouldn't feel tied to Gotham (except, of course, literally) maybe he's suing for joint custody of Damian!

Oh, and to close the evening off, this lovely piece of fanart I found over on tumblr

Comments

[shadowpsykie]

oooh that fan art is pretty.

also eep its Merkel, keep your naughty bits away!... and butterflies

[arilou_skiff]

I can see why you'd want to keep your naughty bits away from the Chancellorof Germany, but I'm not quite seeing how you got to the point where that warning was neccessary...

[shadowpsykie]

peter merkel... ragdoll.....

[salinea]

but how can he keep them away, when he already gave them away?

[shadowpsykie]

PS thanks for the follow Icon :D

[star_of_airdrie]

Good pick up on John Grayson's suit.

Funny, I think of most people grunting 'hup' or 'hut' - 'hep' sounds too much like 'help!'...

Geez, Mom!

[capt_satellite]

...you gotta say that in front of Dad and EVERYBODY?

Oh, wait...there's a comma.....

Re: Geez, Mom!

[icon_uk]

I'm glad someone else noticed that too! :)

Re: Geez, Mom!

[shadowpsykie]

it's never just you... i giggled :D

Re: Geez, Mom!

[goattoucher]

You people should be ashamed of yourselves.

I would like to subscribe to your newsletter...

Re: Geez, Mom!

[icon_uk]

"Ashamed"... "ashamed"... I vaguely recall the word, but the meaning escapes me...

O...K...

[mambalev]

I am confused, so the Batmen aren't getting rebooted like the rest of the universe?

Everyone else seems to be getting the clock turned back except Bruce, Dick and Damian and maybe Jason.

Also why isn't Nightwing on a single damm team, but Bats its on two...

Re: O...K...

[icon_uk]

I think the fact is that this isn't a reboot per se.

Purely personal speculation, but I imagine that some other titles are probably spending their #1 in flashback to the new backgrounds of the characters, if they have been revamped by the... whatever it is that's happening. The Batclan are keeping on going

Dick might still be in the League, we don't know all the members yet.

Re: O...K...

[lorriek]

That's my guess, too (although, who really knows at this point). I don't see how a flashback issue giving a character a completely new background is less confusing to a new reader than a flashback issue that gives an abbreviated, updated version of a character's background that only focuses on what a new reader would need to know about a character to understand the current story (whatever it is).

I guess I don't mind finding out why a character is in an unexpected situation after Flashpoint, but I don't want to have to figure out who they are, if they were extensively revamped. I think I've reached the Murtaugh stage of my life: I'm too old for this shit.

I feel like a bit of a hypocrite, because I did start reading the DCU almost immediately after Crisis on Infinite Earths, but that really was just a coincidence. I was a kid who wanted to read comics. I didn't know about reboots. I happily picked up comics that were already in 400s and 500s, and didn't think a thing of it.

Re: O...K...

[darkknightjrk]

It's because it isn't a reboot. It's more of a massive, line-wide relaunch and an effort to make it as accessible for new readers as possible--which includes bringing back some older, more popular characters and mixing in new ideas, characters, and concepts.

It's basically what Johns tried to do with Green Lantern: Rebirth on a line-wide scale.

[blake_reitz]

I find it interesting that Dick's parents were eventually retconned into having Robin-like stage outfits, and have now been retconned into having Nightwing-like stage outfits. If they had kept Dick as Bats, I would have liked to seen the eventual retcon that they always wore Bat outfits (and I could still see a story in which they did for a special performance-perhaps one in which a young Bruce or his father were attending?).

[icon_uk]

I've always wondered if Bruce ever tried to get training in acrobatics from John and Mary Grayson when he was younger, the way he got training from Wildcat, John Zatara and others (Boston Brand has mentioned that Dick's parents were considered to be THE best aerialists of their generation, even by other aerialists)

At the same time, I much prefer the notion that Bruce took Dick in as moment of pure mutual empathy and compassion, rather than anything approaching a debt owed, but it would be an interesting thing to explore.

IIRC The one fic I saw on the topic suggested that, as a result of his time with the Grayson's, Dick and Damian might have a little more in common in their pasts than having been Robins, and I rolled my eyes and pondered about some of the ficcers out there (and I say that as a sometime ficcer myself)

Re: O...K...

[kenwyn89]

I think there's only two that I've seen that go there (surprisingly, I've been reading fanfic for years)- they're not that bad in execution at least.

Wasn't there supposed to be a hidden file on the Graysons hidden some time ago when Bruce was dead? Or was that just a dangling plot thread?

Re: O...K...

[jynx]

That just kind of dangled. And I had more or less forgotten about that (until you just mentioned it. **wince**). Maybe it'll pop up soon?

[darkknightjrk]

"I've always wondered if Bruce ever tried to get training in acrobatics from John and Mary Grayson when he was younger, the way he got training from Wildcat, John Zatara and others"

That could be interesting, actually--though I'm wondering how the age thing would work, since Bruce would probably be only a couple of years younger than them at most.

[icon_uk]

I try not to think to much about the ages gaps, it never seems to help.

[darkknightjrk]

I'm just going to go ahead and say that they're maybe a few years older--maybe just before they realize they're pregnant with Dick--and Bruce wouldn't be sure of them at first...until they completely show off and he takes them seriously and tries to learn from them.

It could be an interesting story...or it could also feel like frivolous fan-fic. Could go either way, depending on the execution.

Re: O...K...

[kamino_neko]

Wait...suggesting that Dick is Bruce's kid?

I'm not sure the timeline works on that, even aside from the whole unfortunate 'adultery' angle. IIRC, Bruce was in his mid 20s when he took in Dick (whose age upon being taken in is up to the mid-teens at this point, IIRC), so, that'd mean he was, like, 10 when Dick was conceived...even with the older stories with a younger Dick, that'd made Bruce in his early teens, at the time.

[cypherfdp]

If one parent was to wear a Robin-esque costume, and the other wore a Nightwing-esque costume, I would be a happy camper.

[icon_uk]

They're working as a family so a uniform look works better I think.

And in the main timeline we know they all wore costumes that looked like Robin's and planned to use ones that looked like Nightwing, so it sort of evens out.

[icon_uk]

Oh, and agreed on the costumes, thought this does tie in with Chuck Dixon's Nightwing Year One, where we discover that Dick's original Nightwing costume was based on a costume that he discovered his father had been planning on having made for their performances. In this timeline he lived long enough to actually do it! :)

[jaybee3]

Considering Higgins and Snyder are self-confessed fans of Cassandra Cain, hopefully she'll show up there in Batman and NW (and apparently they even read her title where Dick did not act like a dick to her unlike post-Beechan stuff).

Based on what little we know so far I'd say that after Green Lantern, the Batman Family (minus Barbara's de-aging and return as Batgirl and Tim as the Black Swam) will suffer the least from this reboot.

Hopefully at least (and I still think Dick looks better in blue).

[darkknightjrk]

All the Dick love (teehee) aside, one thing I did notice:

I LOVE that Dr. Fate panel. Seriously, he's sitting there on that couch with the helmet, but in jeans and a leather jacket, and yet he still pulls out something semi regal. That's just great. :D

[joasakura]

I actually thought it was Jason in his red hood helmet for a second. >.>;;;

[darkknightjrk]

Dude--just imagine Jason wearing the Fate helmet. :O

[jynx]

that's SCARY

[salinea]

Ragdoll! :D

and yeah, that's a very pretty ass ^^

fanart is coolness.

[wonderwomanhero]

Batwoman! Yay!

[ghosty732]

Love this art. It makes me even more excited for Justice League Dark. I hope he can keep up a monthly schedule.

[kamino_neko]

Why...why is Fate in the freak show?

I can sort of see him as a sideshow performer (more the Jared Fate, though, not any of the ones who wore the helmet), but he'd be, you know, doing something, not just...sitting there.

[icon_uk]

Wearing the helmet means that you have another personality overwhelming yours, I can imagine it might be a very damaging experience and you might find yourself lucky to be coherent enough to be in a freak show.

[bruinsfan]

This would have been the Kent Nelson Dr. Fate. Maybe he got bored rattling around his tower all those post-HUAC years with no Justice Society to hang out with?

[apexpredator]

He's a Shark! A shark!

[kurenai-tenka.livejournal.com]

...it's been baffling me since yesterday; why does Dick look so old? Is this meant to be AU rather than flashback? ._.

[icon_uk]

He looks to be in his 20's to me... you're not confusing him with his Dad in some of the pics? (Dad has red chest-stripe, Dick has blue)

[kurenai-tenka.livejournal.com]

I think it a confusion with it being AU as opposed to flashback, hence I was expecting 9-12 not 20!

I think I need to read up on this, since now I've no idea what it's meant to be about. =/

[icon_uk]

We don't know much yet either. This is an AU created by the evil "Reverse Flash" (who can time travel) messing with history so that some heroes never came into being (In this AU, Martha and Bruce were killed in the mugging, leaving Thomas alive. He's become the Batman, but isn't much like the Batman we know), likewise Dick's parents weren't killed, so they're still a family, and so on... Atlantis launched attacks against the surface world (destroying much of Europe it would seem) and Aquaman and Wonder Woman married in an attempt to forge an alliance between the Atlanteans and the Amazons...

[kurenai-tenka.livejournal.com]

Wow, weird. I knew about some of that but not all. How random! Basically Flashpoint is an excuse for them to write a big old AU and then overhaul the canon straight after, huh.

[kamino_neko]

Hmm. It occurs...neither Boston Brand nor the Graysons were murdered.

So, as much of a crapsack world as it is for most people, this looks like THE reality to live in if you're a circus performer. >_>

[janegray]

Now that's the whole family ^_^

[icon_uk]

And the artist noted that Huntress wasn't included because in their mind she's always associated with the Birds of Prey rather than the Batclan

[janegray]

Personally, I count Huntress (and Batwoman) as Batclan rather than Batfamily (in my mind there is a big difference). And I count Stephanie and Barbara as in-laws: definitely family, but not exactly Bruce's children.

But Jason and Cassandra? They are Bruce's son and daughter, period, and it pisses me off so much when otherwise-excellent writers (Tomasi, I'm looking at you) pretend they don't exist (I'll never stop bitching about the "whole family" line. NEVAH!)

[kenwyn89]

Except Alfred! Then it would be absolutely perfect ;)

It really is crazy how many kids Bruce has taken in / mentored over the years.

[fifthie]

maybe he's suing for joint custody of Damian!

Superhero family court must be a nightmare.