Dick is going to learn the hard way "heavy is the crown".. and I don't think we will get back the spirited young man we are starting off with once Dick completes his first crisis as the Bat.

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Did anybody actually want Bruce to 'die' and Dick to be Batman? Dick certainly didn't. He loved being Nightwing. This is his worst nightmare, and he's admitted as much. Sure, he's the natural heir to the cowl, but don't pretend like this is the step on his career path. Ugh.

I won't get into the Batgirl teases. He better be bluffing, is all I'm saying.

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iawtc

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It just boggles my mind that the EIC of DC was surprised to find that Dick has a large and vocal fanbase.

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He didn't come from a comics background. He knew a few things, but basically, the 80s and 90s were a blank spot to him.

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Which is why DC has been boldly striding back to the 1970s for the last 5 years.

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Wow. I did not know this. I guess that's where the whole "iconic" thing comes from.

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He does kinda have a little bit of a point, though. Hal Jordan and Barry Allen were GL and Flash for so damn long, it's easy to see why people remember them.

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I think most of use had been traumatised by years of Dixon not advancing the character one iota, and Devin Grayson well... Devin Graysoning him for several years.

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I don't see DiDio saying that he "was surprised to find that Dick has a large and vocal fanbase." His words say that he didn't realize one basis of that fanbase: how people identify with Dick's growing-up process. Of course, that's the element he'd emphasize now as Dick changes his role.

In the years before Infinite Crisis, Dick Grayson's maturation had seemed to stall. Or, perhaps more accurately, fans weren't buying the journey his writers were taking him on, either in feedback or in sales trends. So DiDio didn't see what he represented.

But DiDio must have known that Dick Grayson was an iconic character, or else he wouldn't have pushed for his death at the end of Infinite Crisis. You kill a few minor heroes at the start of a crisis, one or two major ones at the end.

Ironically, the quality that saved Dick from last-minute death there was his connections to most other DC heroes. Yet in becoming Batman he left the Titans, and Tim left the Teen Titans, and it's not clear what's happening with the JLA. Furthermore, becoming Batman threatens the light-heartedness that's also part of Dick's appeal.

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Okay, I say we all steal Didio's luggage and hold it hostage until he puts Cass back in her cowl, promises to keep Babs as Oracle with Black Canary in BOP, and de-angsts Tim Drake! Who's with me?

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Why stop there? Let's end this madness and have him put Bruce back in the cowl. We'll get a better writer for Ollie and Gail can write a Black Canary ongoing! Ted can come back as part of Booster's team, Damian goes back to Talia where he belongs, Paul Dini takes over for Morrison on Batman, and Constantine is back in the DCU.

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Oh no, conflict! I disagree with two of those demands. Who's up for an amazing race to be the first to hold DiDio's luggage hostage and force him to bend to her or his will?!

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If we can add a properly characterized Jason to that list, I'll be all too happy to lend my skills.

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Seconded!

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I'm with ya all the way.

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Hrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Sorry folks, feeling stabby right now. Very stabby.

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Okay, firstly: That airport baggage handler is a hero.

Secondly: So Dan Didio's idea of a hero grow to manhood/womanhood is to have their closest friends killed, their motivations skewed and generally become angsty or evil? Yep, it's still the same Didio.

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That is some lovely Quitely art. Wait, there are words on that page?

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I bought six comics this week & every one of them had that page at the end. I've just realised that I admired Quitelys' work six times over, and never even considered Didios' words.

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Knightfall.

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He's 97% of the Batman he needs to be.

1% of what is remaining is BELIEVING he's Batman - and not caring what anyone else thinks.

1% of what is remaining is kicking Damien into shape.




1% of what is remaining is moving Oracle into the Batcave - because she's living upstairs...


(Tim Drake needs to become Nightwing...)

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I like the idea of Nightwing becoming Batman, but I had wanted him to do it way in back in Infinite Crisis.

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Yeah, "graduation" seems to be a bit off-key. It's promotion by dead man's boots, and even if Dick wanted to be Batman at some point, I doubt he'd want it this way.

That said, I think a reluctant Batman is an interesting subject. Batman's pretty much defined by a total focus on "the mission"; having a character do something they'd rather not is only a mistake if their prior views are glossed over and forgotten. Like Didio says, change is good, but only if it's change that makes sense - "You liked it when he became Nightwing, so you'll like it when he's Batman" seems to be setting up something of a well-poisoning, but i'm probably just paranoid.

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why do i have the sudden urge to go bowling :D

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This is ignoring the fact that Dick filled in as Batman once before, back in the 'Prodigal' storyline, and he was MISERABLE. He LIKES being Nightwing - it's his own identity that he came up with, and he's comfortable in the role. Face it, Didio - Batman is Bruce Wayne, always has been Bruce Wayne, and always WILL be Bruce Wayne. The rest are just fill-ins.

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Actually that's not how it happened he was miserable as Nightwing and being Batman restored his confidence. He even admits that part of the reason he wore the cowl was because he wanted to regain his confidence.

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True, the Titans had just fallen apart, motivating Dick's return home. On the other hand, the Nightwing one-off that followed showed him giving up both that role and Batman, saying he wasn't good at either.

The only interpretations I could come up with were: a) a short bout of biological depression, and b) his Fabio-style hair was taking up a lot more time than he'd expected. As I recall, Alfred supplied a new Nightwing costume, and Dick got his groove back.

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I lol'ed at the part where Didio mentions that an Air Hostess held his luggage. Someone should do stuff like that, steal Mark Millers underwear, hold Geoff's laundry hostage, steal Krisenberg's keyboard etc.

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If he actually sticks to being Batman for more than 2 years I will eat my PANTS.

At least we'll be having a pretty Batman for a bit. My god he is every so pretty~~~

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I think what's worried me the most over the course of this whole thing is what will happen to Dick after Bruce inevitably comes back. Especially with Nightwing seemingly unavailable for the foreseeable future and the Batfamily already overcrowded and still expanding. But if nothing else, this gives me the tiniest bit of hope that maybe he won't just be disposed of to fuel another decade or two of Batangst.

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Tim has given up Robin

No. The only way he "gave up" Robin is that he didn't try to tear the costume from the kid wearing it. Tim didn't choose to stop being Robin, he discovered there was someone else with the job.

As for the growth becoming Batman is supposed to represent for Dick... Knowing Dick, I can't view it as anything good for him. I admire the way Winick's going at it (which I think is the only viable one), but I can't see Dick perpetually and directly struggling under the memory of Bruce's Batman as a good thing. He'd stifle. Dick doesn't want to be Batman, no one sane would, and trying to sell me the concept as a graduation angers me. But Quitely's picture says it better than I do.

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