I already reviewed the first issue and decided to just give my impressions of the following issues in the trade. I'm breaking this up a little bit instead of reviewing them all at once.
#2
Batman talks to Dick about his funeral and Dick only seems to care how two people reacted. Classy. And calling Barbara little red riding hood is an awful nickname. When I read this I instantly thought it was someone else. Didn't help that Countdown had Duela use that nickname for said person.
I actually found myself bored reading most of this. I liked the brief bit with Midnighter getting frustrated over not being able to find Dick even with a computer. It still has that silly body reading power Dick has when the plot needs it. Again it makes no sense for Dick to randomly have this for no apparent reason. Helena knocks him out with a trigger word when he objects to her allowing a murderer to work for them. This is one of the reasons I can't buy Dick as a spy. He's not willing to compromise or even pretend to go along with it. The fact he seems to think he has any say over it is naïve at best and idiotic at worse.
Notice who's missing in the bat family on the big wall ? Then again I don't want Seeley to write Jason more than he has. I can't find the ending too endearing not just because Dick's once again doesn't mention his brothers. It's hard to go "aww" knowing everyone thinks he's dead and are grieving. I didn't care for this issue. I just found it hard to care maybe because this doesn't feel right.
#3
The concept of an assassin that can only see with his guns is weird and cool. It also fits nicely with Dick not being a gun person. Unfortunately our writers want to up Dick's sex appeal by having him have a fling with a woman he doesn't even know. In the last 'verse Dick--when written right--was a one woman type of guy. Having a one night stand bothered him because he wanted more than a roll in the hay. I'm aware of Dick hooking up in the new 52 Nightwing series but at least he knew the woman since they grew up together. Dick doesn't even know if he can trust this woman. Frankly with the messed up things he deals with in this spy business I'm not sure it'd be safe or smart to sleep with strangers. It'd also be nice to not have the boys follow Bruce into the playboy thing. To actually have them develop relationships and not just randomly end up with someone to show off how sexy they are.
This read like bad fanfic with tacked on gun equals sex metaphors. Although it can also go the other way since she has to explain the whole gun thing to him... He goes on about not understanding guns but shouldn't these questions have come up before since Alfred and Jason both use guns ? It goes along with the whole trusting and understanding your teammate thing.
I hate to agree with Agent 1 but he's right: Dick is an idiot. He was incredibly sloppy, showing off and not paying attention to the guy he was supposed to secure. They briefed him on the man so he should have disarmed the guy. His actions got Agent 8 shot and his inability to shoot ? Why did Bruce think Dick was the only one that could do this mission ? Dick does things his way which goes far too easily until the other agents track him down. Which he should have realized. We're supposed to think guns are bad, etc. ? Personally I blame Dick's naïve nature and pretty amateur performance. For the things mentioned above and something Agent 8 said. He didn't work with them like a partner and teammate.
I'm not a gun person but when your in a certain type of business it makes sense. It's not about "what's easier" in these environments it's doing what the job requires. Dick messes up the first time and ruins everything. The second time he draws too much attention to himself and forgets who he's working with. Two people end up dying in the end, both of which were preventable, This wasn't boring like the last issue but it pissed me off far more. For the fanfic nature, how heavy handed it was and for Dick screwing up this much. Because the first mission was something he should have known since he was Robin. It also seems odd that he's so ignorant about guns. You know Jason doesn't kill anyone when he works with the family. He does non-fatal shots which Dick should know about since he was present. Just capping him in the knees would have worked or shooting the guns away. Something.
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Oh just wait until you get at the end of the arc to see the absolute non sense the whole "Dick uses a gun" thing becomes.
ReplyDeleteSo you've noticed how utterly bad Dick is as "Spy", that's why I'm baffled at Seeley's claims that they're subverting classic spy tropes. When you look at Grayson as a spy story you'll see is at best mediocre, terrible at worst. There's no real stake on Dick's actions, he constantly fails at both Spyral and Bruce's orders (I think Spyral would've done the same regardless Dick's presence), Spyral flipflops between EVIL organization out for the heroes' blood and a poor man's SHIELD according to the plot.
The worst thing is the "fanservice", I like it as much as the next guy but on Grayson is so clumsy added that it totally breaks the momentum of the plot and becomes irritating with the constant winks about it that Seeley and King add.
I really don't understand the nearly unanimous praise this series is getting to be honest.
I am curious to see how absurd this gun thing can get. I remember him tossing it the first issue. But in previous canon Bruce made the boys practice with guns. Dick knows people that use them. Sure he doesn't want to use them but it's shouldn't come off this alien.
ReplyDeleteIf they mean their having Dick be more of a sex object than women and not being competent then yeah I see it. The quality does greatly differ issue to issue. I think the best one was Futures End and it still managed to annoy me on one page. Yeah I'm not real clear on where Spyral is on the greyscale between good and evil.
Really Dick and Bruce come off bad for this whole spy mess. I never bought any explanation I've seen for why it had to be Dick that did this.
I'm considering a meta on how male sexuality is displayed and what actually makes a joke. I don't think that creepy woman probing him qualifies as funny. I remember hating one of my favorite titles when the new writers made (not an exaggeration) like a dozen bathroom, sex and pointless arguing jokes per issue. It got old fast.
I think it's because it's so much like the fandon idea of who Dick Grayson is. He hugs all the time, has lots of sex, everyone wants him and is so perfect. Dick had flaws before, in fact he could get nasty when you made him mad. So far with the exception of FE this has been lazy.
The whole status quo is even more pointless these days that Dick is teaming up with everyone and their mother. Like the whole point is that he was undercover and working on the shadows but now he comes off like a poor man's Nick Fury. Grayson keeps trying to sell Spyral like this evil organization that it has to be stopped but on all they other appearances they are depicted like your run of the mill supehero agency.
ReplyDeleteRemoving Bruce from the equation it only makes the whole premise even more laughable specially because at this point it has become a very mediocre Nightwing series without the charm made Nightwing interesting on the first place.
Grayson has the subtlety of a brick to merge the fanservice with the narrative. Is just cumbersome.
The oddest thing is that Nightwing was all about giving Dick his own identity away from Bruce's shadow and now Grayson is all about playing up his past with Bruce. Like there's not a single issue of Grayson where we aren't reminded of his time as Robin or the stuff he picked up with Bruce. It takes a lot fo the agency Dick had built over the years.
That's another thing, is Spyral stupid or do they not care that Dick's hanging out with superheroes?
ReplyDeleteExactly. The whole spy thing raises too many questions and just makes everything more complicated.
I just read the next issue and there's zero subtly. It's not even funny. If I wanted to read bad fanfic of everyone ogling him I'd find more plot than #4.
DC seems to have this problem with letting the bat boys, particularly Dick, leave Batmans' shadow. They tried to push away the importance of the Titans pre launch to make him more of a bat character. They reduced his relationship with Kori to force retcons with Babs. They never seem to know what to do and forget the old "if it's not broke don't fix it" proverb.