So I've been away for a long, long time. Since I've last posted:
The Dark Knight Rises came out -- it was awesome, though sort of out of place.
Damian Wayne died -- sad, but predictable.
Bat-cow happened -- I don't think it's as cool as everyone else.
Nightwing moved to Chicago -- since the writer is from Chicago.
Gail Simone was fired -- and then re-hired, as the Batgirl writer.
Batman: The Dark Knight still sucks -- though I hear 'Tec has been better!
We have a new Owlman -- meh.
Ben Affleck was cast as Batman!! - Batfleck!!!!!
That aside, things also changed outside the Bat-universe as well. This thing called "Trinity War" happened. No one really cared. Apparently it didn't suck. But sadly, it was another Geoff Johns event comic (like Flashpoint) that seems to serve the purpose of creating a new status quo for all of the on-goings.
I know this kills my credibility, but I can't give you the exact circumstances. Anyways, something happened and the Justice League is "missing" and the Crime Syndicate from an alternate Earth has come to conquer the world. This is a fine plot and could lead to lots of fun, but DC will probably just make it lame by trying to make it too intense and too dark. That's what DC editorial does.
But I digress -- in issue #1 Nightwing is dropping Mr. Zsasz at Arkham when he gets kidnapped by the Crime Syndicate -- who decided to reveal his identity to the world. Lots of people have pointed to the Spider-Man parallels. To me this is not the largest problem. To me, the biggest crime is against the Dick Grayson character and fan-base. DC Co-publisher Dan DiDio has long had a penchant and reputation for hating Robins -- once trying to kill Dick Grayson previously in Infinite Crisis.
Nightwing is a masked super-hero with a secret identity. Super-heroes have secret identities to protect those around them. If a super-villain knew his identity, it would put the lives of those close to him in danger. DC literally just published a story in Batman about this. In fact, Nightwing was a part of this crossover.
You cannot re-claim a secret identity by any reasonable means. To do so would involve some sort of retcon, by either magical or supernatural means. Therefore, this means there are two options going forward:
1.) Dick Grayson is officially "out" as a super-hero. This puts the entire Wayne family and Haly's Circus in constant danger.
2.) You have to retcon this fact later on. Do I have to explain why writing a story that has to be un-done almost immediately out of necessity is stupid?
So it's a poor storytelling choice. You either ruin your own story, or ruin the Nightwing title. Maybe Geoff Johns has a way out of this. Maybe they're just performing character assassination and this is Dan DiDio's personal vengeance against all of his own fans lashing out against his previous attempts to kill the character. Maybe DC just has no idea what they are doing. Again, this is the company that fired Gail Simone and gave Scott Lobdell three titles to write.
Times like these makes it tough to be a DC fan. I strongly prefer the DC Universe to Marvel. But as DC continues to pull stunts like this in attempts to be "cool" and "edgy" it has driven fans away. If this story fails to create a universe where it can continue to write good Nightwing stories (that have sold decently well), and thus tanks the Nightwing title, maybe this will be the slap in the back of the head DC needs. (Obviously the best strategy for a comic company is ruining what is historically their fourth-most important character besides Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman).
Yes, this bothers me. The sad thing is that the Nightwing title was just starting to get to get good too.....
