Nightwing #1

Cover of Nightwing #1

Richard "Dick" Grayson is probably the most well-known Robin. Through comics, movies, or television shows, everyone knew Grayson as the Boy Wonder. Originally a member of the circus act, the Flying Graysons, Dick witnessed a mafia boss kill his parents in order to extort money from the circus that employed them. Bruce Wayne takes him as his legal ward, which has been rewritten a couple times to just straight out adoption, and eventually becomes the crime-fighting sidekick to Batman (and arguably one of the greatest duos of all-time). But after some growing up and some time as leader of the Teen Titans, Dick retired as Robin and asserted his independence as his own superhero identity, Nightwing. As Nightwing, he led the Teen Titans and the Outsiders.

The original Nightwing suit around 1985.

Think Grayson appreciates whoever invented his new suit.

Pre-New 52

In 2009,  Final Crisis was published as another “crisis” episode following Crisis of Infinite Earths and Infinite Crisis. In order to understand the events leading up to this Nightwing issue, you must read the following spoiler:...Batman dies, kind of? (it’s complicated, Deanpool will get to it in a later post). This leads to the Battle for the Cowl, where you have all the Robins fight for who should become the next Batman and become Gotham's protector. For the sake of reading, let’s just shorten that story to Dick Grayson assumes the mantle of the Batman (Fun Fact: This is like the second or third time Dick takes over as Batman. But it is the first time he's doing it without Bruce Wayne mentoring him through the process).

Dick Grayson as Batman and Damian Wayne as Robin

New 52

Thanks the Flashpoint story arc, Dick Grayson (and just about everyone else in the Bat family) has been re-imagined in both his appearance as well as his storyline with the relaunch of the New 52. For example: in New 52 he was adopted at age 16, as opposed to age 12. Or how pre-New 52 he sported a blue Nightwing insignia on the chest of his suit, and as shown in the cover of the first issue, in the New 52 it is now red. So now you’re all caught up so let's get into the review for Dick's first issue. Dick Grayson addresses his return as Nightwing to be much more comfortable and fitting than being in Batman's shoes. It's likely that the creative team was cautious in making sure both Dick Grayson and his readers were slowly settled back into the Nightwing role. But Kyle Higgins does a great job of writing Nightwing with a confidence that shows Dick Grayson has become a better, stronger character from his experience wearing the cowl.

"... my past isn't my biggest weakness, it's my biggest strength--it's what makes me who I am. And no matter what Gotham throws at me, that's something it can never take away." -Dick Grayson

I'm sure with all the Robin
training, Grayson hasn't
missed a beat.

Grayson looks forward to protecting Gotham as Nightwing and looks to put his past behind him as he sees Haly's Circus has returned to Gotham (the last time both Dick and Haly’s Circus were in Gotham, Dick’s parents kind of died). We see Dick visit Haly’s Circus, revisit his old circus friends, and even go back on the wires again like he did as a Flying Grayson. Also there's a panel towards the beginning, where Dick is pointing out the differences between himself and Bruce as far as their living situation, eating habits, and costume display (Dick prefers living in the worst part of Gotham to be closer to the action, eats cereal from the box, and leaves his costume on the floor in the loft like it's a college dorm room. Quite different from the penthouse lifestyle of Bruce Wayne).

There's probably a lot that they don't agree on.

Other then the action we see in the beginning of the issue when Nightwing saves a subway train from a deranged psycho, we also see an attempted assassination on Dick Grayson as a civilian! An interesting scene follows when Dick changes into Nightwing and narrates his own analysis of the fight between the assassin and himself. Deanpool just had fun watching Dick fundamentally go through the fight scene as if he were sparring with his mentor Batman. The scene also reveals how obsessed the assassin is with killing Dick Grayson. We even see the unknown assassin call Nightwing, “Dick Grayson’s guardian” meaning the hired killer doesn’t know that the two are actually one in the same. The issue ends with the assassin having the upper-hand but only the next issue will be able to tell what happens next for Grayson.

Who is this assassin? And how does he know Dick Grayson?

Well good for Nightwing to be back in the comic universe. While Deanpool is sure he could’ve continued being a great Batman, we love Dick Grayson as Nightwing. This debut in the New 52 was a solid start and we hope this series does a good job of leading Dick into the next stage of his life. Deanpool gives it a 7.5/10

Oh Dick, what were you thinking with that costume?