This week, Dick Grayson (Nightwing) celebrates his current 100th issue!
Tomorrow, DC will release the 100th issue of Nightwing in the current run of his comic!
According to a news release, here’s the info on the issue: “Art by Bruno Redondo, Rick Leonardi, Scott McDaniel, Mikel Janin, and Javier Fernandez. Come join us with big smiles and even bigger celebrations as Nightwing hits its milestone issue #100! Cheer how far we’ve come by looking through the decades at what has made Nightwing a beloved hero. What better way to celebrate than with familiar friends and artists? Then, with Heartless creating a lair in the heart of Bludhaven to take Blockbuster’s throne, Nightwing will follow suit, setting up a headquarters of his own…with the help of some friends who helped make him who he is now, of course!”
The issue will have multiple covers, including ones by Jamal Campbell, Jim Lee, Jorge Jimenez, Javier Fernandez, Travis Moore, Bruno Redondo, and even a “George Perez” cover!
Tom Taylor, the usual writer, will be providing the scripting as well. The cover price will be $6.99.
Of course, Batman is still a big deal for the company, so the Dark Knight will be showing up, and he has some ideas as to what Dick Grayson should be doing!
Originally, Dick Grayson was added as Robin the Boy Wonder to make Batman more relatable, especially if he had someone to talk with. I’ve always thought that Dick was a particularly excellent hero, and that’s because he learned a lot from Bruce Wayne, but there were some significant differences between the two.
Bruce always kept his focus on Gotham City even when being a strategist for the Justice League while Clark seemed to serve as their leader in many ways. He always did things while keeping his home city as the main focus. He developed a plan to take down the various members of the League should that become necessary. Still, he did that so he could keep Gotham safe, it seemed to me.
Bruce also kept his base of operations in the Batcave of in parts of Gotham City, be it at the top of a tower there or in a neighborhood as he has it today.
Dick, on the other hand, seemed to be more global in focus. As the leader of the Teen Titans as well as their strategist. When it came to battles, Dick was always the one making sure the team was as efficient as possible as well as keeping his partners safe.
Even when he temporarily replaced Bruce as Batman, he didn’t seem all that devoted to the job. He was always interacting with the Titans, and still does today! Bruce wasn’t always a member of the League, setting up his own group, the Outsiders, when he wasn’t happy with the choices the League was making. Dick never has left the Titans to make a secondary team.
Bruce’s inspiration to be Batman came from the bats near Wayne Manor, but Dick’s name Nightwing came from an identity that Superman held when he was in the bottle city of Kandor. Oddly enough, Nightwing was the name of Superman’s version of Batman there, while his “Robin” was actually named Flamebird. I was intrigued when he chose the “Bat-name” of that duo instead of the sidekick. I guess he saw that he was ready for a “bigger” role than being just part of a team at that point.
While Bruce has had his share of female companions, they were often just for show, it appeared. Silver St. Fox, Jezebel Jet, Vesper Fairchild, Dr. Shondra Kinsolving, and Vicki Vale didn’t seem to be the partner Bruce wanted to settle down with.
It’s only been recently that he’s moved in the direction that Batman of Earth-2 did, and that is to become close to Selina Kyle, Catwoman. Bruce on that world died after marrying her, and it seems that that relationship is becoming much more serious on Earth-1 now.
When it comes to Dick’s female friends, as it were, he’s seemed much more serious about them. The original Wonder Girl, Barbara Gordon, and then Starfire have all resembled much closer relationships than Bruce has had. (I still don’t buy that Bruce and Barbara ended up in a relationship as indicated in Batman Beyond.)
It also struck me as odd just how easily Dick took over the training of Damien Wayne when Bruce vanished for a while. Granted, there was some occasional friction between the two, but they seemed to be more natural allies than even Damien and Bruce have been, especially recently.
Lately, Dick has been better able to hold onto and manage his wealth than Bruce has. Dick has poured a lot of his money into helping Bludhaven’s poorer citizens than it seems Bruce has in Gotham over the years. My impression is that, even now, Dick has more resources available than Bruce does these days.
Is that permanent? Nahhh, Bruce will be back to billionaire status before long, I’m sure! But Dick will always be able to keep his eyes on the more important things than just acquiring riches!
Even though he also lost his parents in a tragic way, Dick just doesn’t carry the baggage that Bruce has for so many years. Or the guilt, seems to me.
Still, congrats on hitting 100 issues, Nightwing! Based on what we’ve been seeing the future holds for you when it comes to the Justice League, we might actually see you lead that group before long after all!
What do you think? Who’s the better or more effective hero, Bruce or Dick? What do you think the future holds for Nightwing? What can DC with him to make him more the hero of the future than Batman? Whatever your opinions, be sure to share your thoughts below!
Dear Spoilerite,
At Major Spoilers, we strive to create original content that you find interesting and entertaining. Producing, writing, recording, editing, and researching requires significant resources. We pay writers, podcast hosts, and other staff members who work tirelessly to provide you with insights into the comic book, gaming, and pop culture industries. Help us keep MajorSpoilers.com strong. Become a Patron (and our superhero) today.
Wayne Hall creates the Wayne's Comics Podcast. He’s interviewed Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, John Layman, Kyle Higgins, Phil Hester, Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray, David Petersen, Christos Gage, Mike Grell, and Matt Kindt. On this site each week, he writes his "Comics Portal" column (general comics comments and previews) and reviews comics.