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northoftheroad · 4 years ago

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Dick Grayson – 80 years of hairstyles

Welcome to my ongoing TED talk about Dick Grayson. This week I’ll be talking about hairstyles. Just because fashion in hairstyles is kind of fun.

The general hairstyle during the 1940s was short on the sides and back, longer on the top. One common variant was to have the top hair section parted on one side and combed over and slightly back to create a wave. (Wavy hair was in fashion in the 1940s.)

Dick did start with hair like that; longer on top and short side and back. In the very first panels, the top hair falls over his forehead. But he has been adventurous enogh to try out different fashions over the years to come.

The original Dick Grayson hairdo – short sides, longer on the top.

Detective Comics # 38. By Bill Finger, Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson (1940).

As Robin. Top hair combed back, curls over the forehead.

When he becomes Robin, the top hair is combed back; a cowlick makes part of the front hair fall in two curls over his forehead.

Detective Comics # 38. By Bill Finger, Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson (1940).

Silver Age/New Look. Parted on the side.

His hairstyle will look the same for more than two decades. With the Silver age/New Look in Batman (1964), Dick’s hair is more likely to be visibly parted on the side, and sometimes a curl will fall down over the forehead.

Detective Comics # 327. By John Broome, art Carmine Infantino and Jie Giella (1964).

Longer fringe.

At some time in the very late 60s/early 70s, Dick grows a longer fringe that falls over the forehead (isn’t it a bit like the style popularized by The Beatles, you think?). This style will pretty much stay with him in the 70s, 80s and into the 90s.

Batman # 209. By Frank Robbins, art Irv Novick and Joe Giella (1969).

Tales of the Teen Titans # 44 (1984). By Marv Wolfmann and George Pérez, inkers Mike DeCarlo and Dick Giordano.

Long hair (mid-90s).

A few years in the 90s, Dick has long hair. Sometimes it was drawn as a mullet (short on front and sides, long at the back), sometimes just long all over; the artists don’t seem to be able to agree. It was Mirage, posing as Kory/Starfire, who cut his hair to this look, over Dick’s mild protest, in New Titans vol 1 # 88 (July 1992).

At times, Dick would have his long hair in a ponytial; funny enough, his hair was always much longer when he had it in a ponytail than when it was loose. It was that way he lost his long hair, in a fight in Nightwing vol 2 # 1 (October, 1996) when a thug cut off the ponytail.

Edit. Brian Stelfreeze, who designed the “fingerstrip look for Dick, wrote in the model sheet: "The "whip" is not all hair but keeps the look streamlined. It also changes Dick's appearance."

New Titans vol 1 # 88. By Marv Wolfman and Lein Wein, art Tom Grummett, Al Vey, Ian Akin and John Statema (1992).

The New Titans vol 1 # 99. By Marv Wolfman, art Tom Grumment and Robert Campanella (1993).

Robin vol 4 # 13. By Chuck Dixon, art John Cleary, Phil Jimenez, Ray Kryssing (1995).

Nightwing vol 1 # 1. By Dennis O’Neil, art Greg Land and Mike Sellers (1995).

Brian Stelfreeze’s model sheet.

Nightwing vol 2 # 1. By Chuck Dixon, art Scott McDaniel and Karl Story. (1996)

Curtains hairstyle/fringe and some variations (1996 to 2018).

After that, Dick went for what I think should be classified as the 90s curtains hairstyle, where the top hair is grown into a fringe that often falls over his forehead or even his eyes, and the hair is parted in the middle. It’s a lot like his original Robin hairstyle, to be honest, but his hair is often a bit longer on the sides than when he was a little Robin.

The following decades, he would mostly often stick to the curtain style, though sometimes the hair is parted on the side and he will look more like he did in the 80s. And in the Grayson comic book, the top hair was combed back, but often a few strands would fall forward.

Nightwing vol 2 # 14. By Chuck Dixon, art Scott McDaniel and Karl Story. (1997)

Nightwing vol 2 # 50. By Chuck Dixon, art Greg Land, Jose Marzan Jr and Drew Geraci. (December, 2000)

The Titans # 36. By Jay Faerber and Barry Kitson, art Rich Faber (2002).

Batman # 688. By Judd Winick, art Mark Bagley and Rob Hunter (2009).

Grayson # 15. By Tom King and Tim Seeley, art Mikel Janín. (2016)

Nightwing vol 4 # 10. By Tim Seeley, art Marcus To. (2017)

Batman vol 3 # 55. By Tom King, art Tony S Daniel and Danny Miki.(November, 2018)

Dick as a blonde – more likely than you think

Dick was supposed to be a blonde with a new secret identity, post his death in Forever Evil. Batman Eternal artist Jason Fabok made a Thanksgiving picture with a blonde Dick included (sitting behind Batman).

However, plans change, and Dick kept his hair black in Grayson. According to the writer James Tynion IV on Twitter, “it mostly got dialed down to him removing a blonde wig on a case in the opening pages of Grayson #1″.

Grayson # 1. Written by Tim Seeley, art Mikel Janín.

Dick did, however, occasionally use a blonde wig in the New Teen Titans years, as a disguise.

New Teen Titans vol 1 # 40. By Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, inker Romeo Tanghal.

Recently shot in the head; buzz cut.

... And then came that unfortunate event when Dick was shot in the head on September 2019 (which had everyting to do with the story in the Batman title and nothing to do with telling good Nightwing stories). He came out of that with a buzz cut, short all over. Since then, his hairdo has gone through a few variations on short hair, including longer on the top but shaved on the sides. Incidentally, the shaved sides hairstyle for men was in vogue in 2019, so Dick continues to keep up with the fashion trends.

Nightwing v 4 # 50. By Benjamin Percy, art Travis Moore. (December, 2018)

Slightly later after being shot in the head; hair starting to grow out a bit.

Nightwing vol 4 # 57. By Zack Kaplan and Scott Lobdell, art Travis Moore.

Even later after being shot in the head; shaved sides.

Nightwing vol 4 # 63. By Dan Jurgens, art Ronan Cliquet.

And a little bit later again – his hair is a little bit longer.

Nightwing vol 4 # 69. By Dan Jurgens, art Ronan Cliquet.

Sometime in the future...

Still, I’m sure we’re all waiting for Dick to become the one and only Nightwing again, and let the hair grow a bit. And actually, we have had several stories where Dick is and looks like his normal self, while the amnesiac story drags out in the current Nightwing and other Bat-titles.

Doomsday Clock # 9. By Geoff Johns, art Gary Frank (May, 2019.)

Concrete Jungle. By Mark Russel, art Ryan Benjamin and Richard Friend. Batman: Gotham Nights. # 5. (May, 2020).

#Dick Grayson #Richard Grayson #nightwing #robin #batman

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