The impossible has happened.

I had low expectations of Nightwing #125. I genuinely believed that even if Marv Wolfman's writing style is more to my taste than say Ms. Grayson's or Mr. Jones's, that Dick Grayson was essentially ruined as a character.

There was no way, I thought, that Dick Grayson, as he's become could ever be salvaged, even if I did like those brief scenes in Obsidian Age or Infinite Crisis.

I was wrong.

Or maybe I was right.

I've heard Nightwing #125 was basically Dick Grayson of 20 years ago instead of Dick Grayson today. I can see that actually. He very much resembled, for me, the Dick Grayson I saw in A Lonely Place of Dying.

And that was, I think, the best thing Wolfman could have done.

This Dick Grayson...I LIKE this Dick Grayson. He's competent. He's smart. He's got a little angst, but he's dealing with it. He's making proactive choices to improve his life instead of just reacting to the bad stuff.

He's got a sense of humor!

My god, I never realized how much I missed Dick Grayson's sense of humor. Oh you wonderful thing, what HAPPENED to you?!

The comic was a bit slow, but I liked it. I thought the bits with Dick figuring out his civilian life were great. The two new girls are interesting.

I didn't even mind the gratuitous shower scenes. Because for the first time, they weren't of a character I despise.

THIS is what Nightwing OYL should have been all along. Dick finding his footing again. Dick with some confidence, ready and able to face the world on his terms. This is Robin grown-up damnit. This is a man I could believe to be Batman's first and best son, a man respected by the whole DCU, an experienced veteran of weirdness by the age of 25 or so. And I like him.

I really like him. I want to read more about him. I want to know what job he gets. I want to see him figure out the bad guy. I want to see where things go with those girls.

I don't hate Nightwing. This blows my mind.

(I still think Dick/Babs doesn't work. But I'm starting to understand what Kory sees in him.)