The Return of.... The Flying Graysons???

[icon_uk]

Homage or tasteless cash-in? You decide!

This is from a 12 page story in Detective 484 in July 1979 (written by Jack C Harris, with art by Kurt Schaffenberger and Frank Chiaramonte), and dates to the time when Dick was a student at Hudson University, back before it was decided that Robin going to college was uncool..



The Haly Circus is, of course, the same circus where Dick was born and raised until.... THAT night. He notes that he's lost touch with Mr Haly over the years...

He barely has any time to think about this though, as a lion wanders past... yes they do so often.... Quick as a flash Dick takes off his clothes and oh yeah, he remembers to put his Robin costume on (Darnit... one of these days he'll forget). He uses his cape, matador-like to lure the lion back to it's cage. But of course, being Robin, he does it a little showily... which means; Gratuitous ass shot in 3... 2... 1...




The annoyingly cheery Mr Haly (He of the bowtie and hat here) comments about the last time Robin came to this circus (Which Dick somewhat carelessly identifies as his first case with Batman, way to cover the secret ID there) cause Dick to recall his whole origin (Which I've trimmed out as, cute though it is, it's a mite redundant.)

Haly ends by pointing out that troubles in the circus and Robin arriving again might be an omen of things coming full circle.

Ominously, a nearby shadowy figure is watching Robin's arrival and is not happy that a meddler has arrived.

Robin says nothing about Graystone's (the step-father Linda mentioned) idea that his team rename themselves as the "new" Flying Graysons being a stunningly sleazy idea, particularly since no one thought to mention it to the surviving actual Flying Grayson AT ALL! But I suppose he can't without drawing attention to Dick's acrobatic past which he usually tried to downplay.

Robin agrees to stay to watch the show...






Dick, of course, catches the damsel in mid fall, and lands her safely back on terra firma. Haly, hack that he is, is quick to cover the whole thing as a stunt by way of their special, one night only, guest star, Robin the Teen Wonder, to thunderous applause.

Graystone tells Haly that the trapeze hadn't swung properly meaning he'd come up short on his catching arc.

Robin, of course, decides to check...




Well, that was a far simpler piece of detective work than usual, no? But Dick still has to get out of the situation, even as Greystone flees....

Nice little acrobatic sequence here I think...



Let's say the take down is quite... short, as Dick decides that he' s been relying too much on his learned skills, and decides to do what comes naturally by taking Greystone down with his acrobatic skills. Show off! :)

Sharon, Linda's mother, is left distraught that she'd married such a ghastly specimen and Linda finds that Robin is more than happy to lend her a shoulder to mope on... which given her professional name is a little... incestuous perhaps, but we'll let that slide! ;)

The fire, however, was a severe one... the big top is wrecked, so there is one concern for our Teen Wonder...



I love that page, the reveal that Bruce has been making sure that Dick's old home stayed in business (Dick would later buy it himself but that's another story), the quiet reveal that Mr Haly has known that Dick was Robin all along and is very proud of him (And I won't even suggest that there is a "Grayson style"="Grayson DAMN FINE ass" subtext because that would be tacky), and the rather striking last silhouette of Robin, pondering over what (or perhaps, who?) saved his life....

tags: char: robin/nightwing/dick grayson, title: detective comics, creator: jack c harris, creator: kurt schaffenberger, creator: frank chiaramonte

Comments

[pictash.livejournal.com]

I love how they insert Batman in parenthesis between Bruce's name. Like we might get confused or something.

It's like saying Barack (The President) Obama, only even more obvious.

[pyrotwilight]

Aww, the spirit of Dick's parents saved the day.

[icon_uk]

Or did they? Ooooo-weeeee-ooooo!

[james.huff.myopenid.com]

It's actually quite simple. You see, Dick Grayson was always supposed to miss the bar and die in the resulting fall, but Superboy-Prime's reality altering punches during Infinite Crisis rippled back through time and pushed the bar towards him, thus saving his life.

science fail

[merseybeatler]

Nahh, it was 'the heat', definately. 'The Heat' caused the metal of the bar to warp and...and...become magnetized...towards the...uh...iron...in Dick's bloodstream.

...

Re: science fail

[icon_uk]

The heat is actually a valid possibility, since would cause quite strong thermal updrafts which possibly would make the trapeze swing... a bit.

I like your idea better though...

Re: science fail

[merseybeatler]

But the fire was on the opposite end, wasn't it? Even if it was really hot it wouldn't make the bar swing towards him and towards the fire....

I feel like an annoying side character that's always cynical about everything. *needs to stop analyzing dumb things*

Re: science fail

[icon_uk]

The whole tent was on fire so the thermals would have been all over the place, it's just Greystone was making sure the pole Robin was on would go up in flames.

[saphire_dance]

Wow I love how Robin just has to save her despite the really obvious safety net.

[icon_uk]

Maybe she's really REALLY heavy and would just have plummeted straight through it!

[merseybeatler]

Actually, safety nets aren't exactly 'safe'. You have to be *really* careful about landing on them with proper weight distribution - otherwise you can easily break your ankle, leg, wrist, tailbone, ect. One of the first things they warn you about is landing in an L position that will make your knees smash up into your face. I think I read someone about someone breaking their neck on one in Sam Keen's book "Learning to Fly".

[saphire_dance]

True, but wouldn't a pro know all that? And if she doesn't know why would anyone let her up there?

[lbd_nytetrayn]

But Robin said she was going to miss the net...

--LBD "Nytetrayn"

[saphire_dance]

huh you're right . But he's already flying up to rescue her before he seems to notice that

[icon_uk]

Even though it's not the case here, I can well imagine Dick being a little... over-sensitive when it comes to possible accidental deaths by trapeze.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Well, it says quite clearly that she's going to MISS the net, so evidently her momentum was carrying her past it, or something of the sort.

[greenmask]

Awh, I'm glad that Mr Haly recognised him! I was worried he wouldn't.

[retro_nouveau]

Heh, he had his batarang and line ready to save Linda, but not when he needs them to save his own hide. But hand wave it, I love that the bar moved for no reason at all. Love the last panel.

[icon_uk]

Actually, he points out in the panel above that he'd only got the one batline on him at the time and that was still tethered to the other pole from when he rescued Linda.

[retro_nouveau]

Yeah, we won't let Bruce find out about that little oversight, will we?

[icon_uk]

It was a more innocent time, before grapnel lines and the like... Besides, every time he packed spare batline he just ended up being tied up with it... :)

Oh, and if you like it

[retro_nouveau]

Oh, I love that! And I hate you so much right now. Why did I not take a stab at that right away? You are now officially added to retro's List of Arch-Foes With Icon Powers. Really nice cut.

[icon_uk]

You're welcome to use it, I don't have the room in my userpics at the moment, but must have a bit of a sort out of those at some point! :)

And just keep failing to notice it looks a little like he's taking a whiz.

[retro_nouveau]

No, you win this round, to the victor goes the spoils. But I will be back, mark my words, and then that day, it will be rued! By you! Uh, and stuff like that.

Heh, he does look like he's messing around below the belt. Maybe the scaly panties have ridden up again?

[psychopathicus_rex]

Nah, the stance is wrong. His legs would be further apart.

[psychopathicus_rex]

This was nice. I've always liked stories that make reference to Dick's past in the circus. There's something about the circus atmosphere that works really well in comics - I think it would be interesting if someone were to write a storyline where Dick rejoins the circus for a little while to track down a murderer or something.

[tornadotwin.blogspot.com]

I can definitely get behind that story arc.

[icon_uk]

There have been about four stories like that over the years, including the story where Dick and Tim work on their first case together at the start of "A Lonely place of Dying"

[psychopathicus_rex]

Not surprising, really - it's kind of an obvious storyline. Still, it'd be nice if they'd do a bit more of that sort of thing nowadays.

[ladymirth]

Beautiful art. Siigh.

[icon_uk]

Yeah, Schaffenberger isn't my favourite artist, but he works great with characters like Robin and the Marvel Family.