NIGHTWING #93: A sample of Devin Grayson's work

[starwolf_oakley.insanejournal.com]

Given how much Devin Grayson's run on NIGHTWING has been discussed on my previous post, I thought some pages from said run might be appreciated.

This can be considered the climax of the "Born Again 2: Electric Boogaloo" storyline in NIGHTWING. In more ways than one. (D'oh!)



Blockbuster has torched Haley's Circus, blown up Dick's apartment building (killing most of the tenants), almost blown up Bludhaven's police station, and killed a reporter who was standing right next to Nightwing. Then Blockbuster dramatically jumping into the hotel room.



Okay, "Roland," what's the real secret?



"But the people around you are a different matter. Blockbuster tries to shoot a random hotel guest in the hallway, but Nightwing stops him.

Hey, I know Dick was trained/raised by Bruce Wayne, but he wouldn't enjoy physical punishment. I hope.

Oh, part of the problem here is Blockbuster blames Nightwing for his mother's death. I don't quite know why he does, but he does.





No, I don't know what, if anything, Blockbuster did to break up Babs and Dick.

Hey, who is that talking?



Hey, it's Tarantula. She may be Devin Grayson's "Mary Sue," but I really hope not.





So, Tarantula shoots and kills Blockbuster. Nightwing (splattered with Blockbuster's blood) freaks out some more, runs up to the roof, and he and Tarantula have non-consensual rooftop sex while Blockbuster's body is still warm. Remind me how this means Tarantula is Grayson's "self-insertion" character?

Comments

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

It's not the point that he's a Titan per se, it's that being a Titan was pivotal in becoming his own man. It showed him new ways of doing things that weren't Batman's ways, but were better suited to his own natural talents.

And when it comes to the sahred universe, you have tpo appreciate the irony in the fact that whilst few would deny that Dick is the sociable one who naturally gravitates towards teams and Bruce isn't sociable, Batman had in his titles, off the top of my head; Robin, Azrael, Oracle, Gordon, Sasha Bordeau, Spoiler and Huntress around him (as well as calling in Nightwing every few months for the latest catastrophe)

Dick had... Oracle, who doubled as his love interest, and that's it.

See why I think it was missing the point of Nightwing?

[sistermagpie.insanejournal.com]

Yeah, I think this really hits it. It's really not that he ever needs to call the Titans or anybody from outside the Bat-verse. It's that no matter which people he's surrounded by, the core of the character is about other people. It's his special skill, the natural way he solves problems and makes people work for him. That's not to say he can't work solo--he does and can. But every minute of the day this is somebody looking around at other people and being connected to him.

If you're going to challenge him by putting him in a situation where he's isolated it has to be done believably. This almost came across like it wanted to show that Dick crumbles on his own both personally and professionally which isn't really fair, especially when he doesn't even seem to remember that other people would make him feel better.

It's like doing a story with Batman where everything depends on him loving to work with others the way Dick does. Only instead of making it a fair challenge with Batman realizing he needs to work with others (because the situation believably demands it) and being aware that he'd rather be working alone and trying to do so at every opportunity, he just acts like someone who's always wanted to work that way and always has worked that way and just sucks at it.

So it would potentially read like a set-up for Batman to show that he's incompetent instead of a challenge you can really root for.