An Unpopular Opinion: Random thoughts about Dick Grayson

I have to confess yet another unpopular opinion.

Dick Grayson, a.k.a Nightwing, a.k.a the first Robin...does absolutely *nothing* for me.

I'll admit, he's very physically attractive (as I suddenly realized after a long time reading bat-comics thanks to Supergirl of all books), but as pretty as he is, as soon as he starts to talk, he loses me.

I don't hate the character, he's likeable and appealing enough I suppose. I liked seeing him lead in Obsidian Age. But in general, the character doesn't appeal to me.

Which is weird, because most female readers love him, in my impression. Which actually might be my problem come to think about it. He's just so blatantly...well..."fangirl bait" that I wouldn't be surprised if DC's got some giant character database that has him labeled thus so...specifically designed to appeal to female readers. He's pretty, sensitive, angsty instead of stoic, of smaller stature, more vulnerable, much much more expressive... He really seems specifically targeted toward women.

Which might be why he falls so flat to me. I find...something contrived about the character that I can't quite put my finger on. Maybe the extreme angst...or the many, many images of him moping prettily on rooftops in the rain. Or the constant "you don't love me" woe with regards to Batman.

I can't blame it on Ms. Grayson either, much as I've complained about her writing style on Nightwing. I never really cared much for the character under Dixon's pen either. Or Winick's in Outsiders.

I do tend to like him when he's being a "big brother" to Robin. The stuff with Jason in Year One, most of his appearances in Tim's line, the taking Tim train hopping in Nightwing, his concern and answering machine message in Identity Crisis.

But he's so very easily relegated to "victim". And as odd as it sounds from someone who celebrates every time a Green Lantern is tied to a table in a disappating costume, and whose favorite JSA-er was stalked by a Lovecraft-reject... It doesn't appeal to me.

It seems to me like it's really really *easy* to victimize Dick Grayson, to take things away from him, whether it's his job as Robin, his job as a cop, his job as the Outsiders' leader, to blow up his building, kill his friends, have him sexually assaulted.

It's just too easy. Like some sort of giant cliche. Dick's very open to his pain, so they just keep heaping more on. Which isn't as interesting to me as when the same thing happens to a character that *doesn't* deal with it so openly, that holds it until it explodes in some fascinating way. (Dick Grayson would never have a story like Circle of Fire.) I find repression more interesting than moping, even if moping's actually the healthier outlet...comic characters don't need to be healthy.

I think my problem really is in how *weak* he tends to be written. He's the clingy one. The needy one. The one who gets slammed the hardest when even little Tim is sucking it up. When I see images of Dick moping on rooftops, I have the same reaction I used to get with Obsidian's tirades in JSA. "Yes, your life sucks. I'm sorry for that. But *Deal With It*! Go see a shrink, therapist, bartender, priest, Alfred, whatever...talk it out, get the help you need, just do something that's not moping on a goddamn rooftop! It's gotten *old*!"

That's probably not a very nice reaction, but Dick's internal monologue gets *old* after a while.

But there *are* portrayals of Dick that I've liked. And oddly, both times were by folks that don't write his own comic.

I'm really liking Dick in Infinite Crisis. I like the way Johns is taking his humanity and empathy and making them into the strengths they should be, rather than only constant sources of pain. And you know, actually *resolving* at least a little, all the crap between Dick and Bruce goes a long way too.

Obsidian Age had a Dick I liked too. It was nice to see a Dick who still understood what it was to lead, and who was able to use said humanity and empathy alongside the intensity learned from Bruce to get all of the others to shut up, listen and do their jobs. It might be noted that Kelly also, if indirectly through Faith, managed to insert a bit more reassurance/warmth in the Bruce/Dick relationship too.

But it probably says something that the only portrayals of Dick that I really like aren't in the bat books at all. As he's usually written in those stories, he does nothing for me.

Oh well, more for the other fangirls.