An Exercise in Egotism: Fixing Nightwing

Okay, so now that I've figured out what my problem is regarding Dick Grayson. I thought I'd try to answer how I, personally, would try to fix this whole mess.

It's an exercise in egotism really, but it's my blog so I can. :-P

How would *I* Write Nightwing
The first thing I would do would be a relocation. Again, I know, but I really think that as long as Dick stays in NYC, where there's Cheyenne and the modeling, and not to mention the Jason Todd mess, he's going to be bogged down with whatever's going to happen here.

So after this Jason Todd mess is over, I'd like to see him relocated. There are lots of cities in this country that aren't in or around New York City (or New Jersey). Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, Dallas, to name a few.

A fictional city loosely based on one of these would be fine. I prefer the thought of him on the West Coast for a while. This naturally would make his presence in crossovers a bit more difficult, but really, before he's up for crossovers, efforts really need to be made to define the adult Dick Grayson outside of his relationship with Bruce.

It seems like for too long they've been using "Bruce's Prodigal Son" as the sole defining characteristic of the character and that has to stop. The character has to work in his own right first.

So anyway, yeah, a relocation farther away would be my first step. Dick would decide after all that that a) he really needs a break from all this chaos and b) he needs to figure out who he is beyond his anger at Bruce and all the mess with Barbara, and all that crap. However, and this is key, he should Not be isolated completely. He should be portrayed as talking on the phone or via the computer with Tim, or Alfred, or Barbara, or even Bruce occasionally. These phone calls would allow for the maintaining of personal conflict and will be in parts wistful, wry, friendly and comforting. But at least for now, the physical distance is important.

When he does come back for crossover events, he'll have to hop a plane to do so. Which means his presence will be worth even more, and maybe he'll have time to let go of some of those complex struggles with Bruce.

Now, naturally, he needs a day job. I always liked the cop thing. It was a wasted opportunity in early Nightwing, because Dixon went with the corrupt cops thing instead. Which basically meant, Nightwing's role with them paralleled Bruce's with the Gotham PD.

I'd like to do that differently. Dick Grayson on an uncorrupt police force has a lot of potential. Especially if there was some way to plausibly swing him taking the detective exam. He's young, but you can't tell me Bruce's protege couldn't pass it.

One of the biggest differences as I see them between Bruce and Dick is that Dick isn't really in a mask. Whether he's Dick or he's Robin or he's Nightwing, what you see is pretty much what you get. And that's a strength of the character, a reflection of his spirit. Batman gets things done through fear, so he needs to be as distinct from any mortal, human identity as much as possible. Nightwing should work more through inspiration, and thus it's not as important.

Whereas Justice *is* important, and it really suits *my* idea of the character to have him fighting for justice by the light of day as well as by night. Being a Detective would also allow him to better exercise a lot of his personal emotional and people skills. The skillset that Batman decidedly lacks.

We would get to see him interact well with witnesses, where his charm and guileless niceness would both comfort and coax answers out at the same time. (One can imagine his partner will be of the more temperamental type. If I could I'd want to steal the woman he had in Dixon's run, I liked her. Or Montoya. That sort of personality might do nicely. Or we could run counter to that, I suppose, and get a Briscoe type older male mentor figure. But I like him partnered with an older woman that he will not be sleeping with.) He would also kick *ass* in interrogations. He was trained by Batman after all.

Now the advantage to a non-corrupt police station, is that we'd get to see Dick's natural ability and charisma pull the other characters into his orbit. He's very young but he's got Bat-training and Titans-honed leadership skills. He'll help them focus when case-solving, teach them to look for the right answers, he probably even practices hand-to-hand with beat cops and officers, giving them much better fighting training than they'd get normally. Maybe he can even form some familial bonds, like he used to in the Titans (and wasn't allowed to do in the Outsiders, weakening him). He can be the precocious little brother to his partner, the son to his lieutenant, big brother to a lot of the officers... The emotional ties would be the most important part.

Of course, one can't neglect the vigilante aspect. The nice thing is that, as a detective, Dick will already have the inside track. And Nightwing can go where Detective Grayson couldn't. The Nightwing stuff will be the same as expected really, though he will be decidedly competent. The challenge will be in using what he finds during his day job to save lives and keep the peace at night. I'd also like to see him on good terms with the Police Department. Good enough terms that possibly certain characters will make the connection between them, characters that are trustworthy enough to keep the secret.

I'd actually kind of like to wait a few issues before he actually puts on the costume again though. Let him have the chance to develop his interpersonal relationships in his new life before going back to vigilantism. That might not be feasible though, as the series would be called "Nightwing", fans would have expectations.

I think personally if *I* were writing, I'd avoid romantic entanglements right away. (I do like Clancy though, but it probably wouldn't be reasonable to somehow bring her along...). There will be a lot of female characters of course, but the relationships will begin completely platonic. If sexual tension does develop, we'd see where we'd go from there, but for a while at least there will be no sex. Because I think the character tends to get lost in the man-whore-dom.

Don't get me wrong, I definitely believe in fan service and male-objectification. But it'll be solo for a while. Changing clothes, possibly shower scenes. That's it. The romantic stuff should be built up to slowly, and the model stuff was pretty ridiculous. (Though I'd definitely have some of the other cops tease him about that. Heh)

There'd need to be a lot of well-developed minor characters. Dick is the sort of character that works best with others. I would focus, primarily, on the cops. And possibly some neighbors that *aren't* ex-villains or ex-heroes. Most of his villain set right away would have to be new. I don't really have any ideas for villains we've seen before, and I'd like to keep Dick away from Deathstroke for a while. Possibly I'd go back through old Titans books for a few villains, but mostly I'd focus on new ones. Meanwhile his fellow cops would be the minor characters to get real development, as I'd want to foster a titans-like familial relationship with them. The partner, some of the younger cops, a few bitter/jealous older cops that slowly come to respect his abilities, the lieutenant...that sort of thing.

Though it'd require quite a bit of research. All I know about cops come from Law and Order, Homicide and other TV shows. which won't make the most accurate portrayals. It does make me want to make a hot, vaguely-Angie Harmon, style ball-breaking prosecutor. But that'd require more thought. I wouldn't want to clone Kate Spencer (much as I love her) anyway.

The big thing though would be the tone of the series. As I mentioned in my last entry and here, the difference between Batman and Robin/Nightwing is that the latter is about inspiration and hope rather than fear. In that sense, Nightwing should be more like Superman. People should see him and be grateful and happy rather than afraid. Seeing him in action should make younger cops ready to work very hard to improve, and older cops inhale a breath in admiration. He should become a symbol for the police in a sense, even if his vigilantism is less than always legal. He embodies the sense of justice that inspired most of them to go into this line of work to begin with. Nightwing should make average people want to make a difference, leading teenagers to tackle that purse snatcher to return his prize to the old lady down the street.

That sort of thing. There would still be angst of course, but the series can't be saturated with it. That's what Batman is for. Nightwing, the series, should be, at heart, fun and uplifting. It should be about Justice in its most optimistic sense. Dick Grayson is *still* the symbol of morning and hope. He's a sign that things will be getting better.

So anyway, if I were writing the series, that's where I'd go with it. What about you guys?