Thursday, January 5, 2017

Nightwing #9


How does Nightwing get into this kind of trouble in Gotham?

I keep saying that I'm going to do a bunch of shorter reviews just to catch up so that I'm reviewing comics the week they come out. But then I can never stop myself from digressing into digressions where I digress about more digressions. But I'm going to try! Starting now! For awhile, I'm actually going to read the entire comic book and then fart out a quick review! Ready? Set? Oh! I remember this thing I wanted to say. After watching the first episode of the first season of Little House on the Prairie, I started swinging my arms mechanically and making a goofy face and singing, "Der der der!" I was set off by the whole thing about how Pa was happy about his unexpected "harvest of friends." The Non-Certified Spouse looked at me and said, "You're aggressively cynical." Yes, I am! But that doesn't mean I don't love Little House! Laura Ingalls is my favorite character ever. She's a feisty bitch and she owns every fucking second of it. Even Ma and Pa love it although they only love it in private after they're done scolding her with passages from The Bible.

The Review!
+1 Ranking. Once upon a time, I used to hate Dick Grayson. I despised Nightwing. He was overly dramatic and constantly jealous. He whined about living in the shadow of Batman. He wasn't funny or charming or anything but pathetic. Mostly it was because he was being written by Marv Wolfman and I was reading the mid to late eighties Titans run. I never got over it. I went on for the next couple of decades decidedly anti-Nightwing. That only changed once I forced myself to read The New 52 Nightwing comic book because I was reading all of the others anyway. I couldn't ignore it simply because Marv Wolfman had ruined my taste for the character. What I discovered, nearly right from the start with Kyle Higgins' run, is that I really liked Nightwing. I loved his appearances in Scott Snyder's Batman as well. Dick Grayson had become his own man since the many years before when he was a tiresome twerp. Instead of Batman treating him like the son who abandoned him, Batman was treating him like a peer. Batman respected him for the man he became. That goes a long way because Batman doesn't even respect fucking Superman. I found that I was capable of actually admiring this character. He was logical, compassionate, and always kept his sense of humor. I discovered Dick Grayson was the greatest superhero in DC's New 52. I don't mean he was the most powerful, of course. I just mean he had the truest heart of what it means to be a hero. And, beyond belief, Dick Grayson became my favorite character of the DC Universe. So you can imagine how chuffed I am that Tim Seeley has been writing him for so long (because Tim Seeley is a Great Writer).

This issue is an examination of what makes him the finest hero in the DC Universe. It also reestablishes his relationship with Superman since DC Comics fucked that shit up by cutting their old universe into confetti, tossing it into the air, and reassembling it into a new universe without caring that over half the pieces were left under the desk. Dick is the guy to truly accept the new Superman without dozens of issues where he acts suspiciously and questions the new Superman's motives. He just fights beside him and sees who this Superman is and, afterward, accepts him as his friend. Which goes a long way to getting everybody else to accept him. Everybody in the DC Universe could take a few paragraphs out of Dick Grayson's book of being a hero.

Also, Doctor Destiny and his Materioptikon made an appearance! And Helena in a bikini! Or Tony the Tiger in shorts, if you're into man beef.

No comments:

Post a Comment