Nightwing #07 - now with Bruce

[icon_uk]

Though he's not in the page I have scanned.


When the preview was posted, many commented on how tired they were with villains blaming the wrong people for their ills.

Turns out, those posters weren't alone....



Later on, We see the same conversation (more or less) that Dick and Bruce have in Batman, though as one might expect, Bruce has less to say, and Dick a little more (It IS his comic after all)

The punch scene is also there, though it's even less clear that Bruce is punching him on order to facilitate a tooth extraction.

Also, as the story arc ends (with some annoying loose ends, especially the final scene with Raya) we have Dick pondering (rather tritely IMHO); "We're not defined by our tragedies or turning points. We're defined by the choices we make in the face of them"

Aside from this story basically failing to establish Dick's role in the DCnU, in light of the many changes which have been made to his past by the reboot (No Titans for him to have led... A MUCH shorter heroic career... Not owning the Haly Circus already, etc), the theme of this arc has seemed to be that "Dick has always run away from his past towards new things" when the point always was that he doesn't RUN from his past, he's MOVED ON from his past, that's a very different thing;

Bruce is defined by that one tragedy in his life. Dick isn't, mostly BECAUSE of Bruce's involvement in his life. It shaped him, guided him, but it didn't define him.

Still, it's been a very pretty arc (even if I do miss the blue)

Comments

[sistermagpie]

I agree with your take on this arc, though I haven't read this issue yet. The idea that Dick "ran away" from the past is just completely ridiculous. He was a kid (even in this arc where they're desperately trying to make him as old as possible because they're scared of Bruce seeming too old) who was orphaned and adopted by a billionaire. His parents' death was a traumatic experience Bruce helped him get through by being a father to him. Not only do I not like Haley's being a front for an assassin's league, I don't like it being filled with people like this. Their friend lost his parents and they see themselves as the real victims. They just suck.

I mean, you *could* do a character who was resentful of Dick's post-circus life and it could be interesting (a different--possibly more interesting--twist on Tommy Eliot). But this arc just made the whole circus rather annoying to me and Haley's should never annoy me.

What's funny is one of the things I've adored about Batman is how old school Batman & Robin it is with Bruce and Dick.

[icon_uk]

Chuck Dixon did try and create an "Anti-Robin" in the form of Shrike (former friend of Dick's who fell in with what turned out to be the League of Assassins and rose up through the ranks), but it was rather poorly handled... instead of an ongoing conflict which could have been fun to retcon in as someone Dick had fought repeatedly over the years, both learning and growing in their respective fields.

But instead we got his debut as the friend in "Robin: Year One", then nothing from him until he suddenly appears years later, as Shrike, in Bludhaven.

[sistermagpie]

Oh right! I remember him now. But yeah, the idea is still a good one, even if it hasn't been done well so far. If someone's going to be like the way Dick could have been if he went the wrong way, he shouldn't be whining about how it's Dick's fault.

[icon_uk]

I do wonder if making Raymond a Talon instead would have been more interesting. In both cases tragedy strikes a child at the Haly Circus, both get taken in by influential millionaires, one being the ward of Bruce Wayne, the other being the ward of the Court of Owls. Both given the opportunity of "being all they can be", and both thriving in their own ways.

There was a story a couple of years back, a follow up to "The Player on the Other Side", a classic story which introduced (and killed) Wrath, an anti-Batman, whose career started the night he was lookout for his criminal parents, who were killed in the course of a committing a robbery by a young Jim Gordon.

The follow-up introduced a new Wrath, who it turns out had originally been the end result of Wraths plan to create a kid sidekick the way Batman had created Robin. Of course, he eventually finds out he'd been something like the sixth attempt, the previous five not having survived Wrath's training regime. He might have been interesting to see back

[sistermagpie]

It would be interesting! I love the idea of the Graysons murder having unforseen consequences to other people there (though I hate it when they pretend the Graysons were "like a family" to some other kid to set Dick up to look selfish for thinking he was an only child) that led to Raymond being a Talon. It would be a great beginning that could make Raymond a really interesting character, especially if he knew Dick was first choice.