#yes the loathe entirely is ric grayson
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I mean. Personally I think it was a great idea to have Dick be a cop, but apart from that, why is that job more important than others Dick has had ?
First of all, there's the role it plays in the story. Dick being a cop and then being fired from the force is a very important plotpoint over many, many issues. It just lasted longer (both in-universe and out-of-universe), and we have more moments of Dick being a rookie cop than we have of Dick doing almost any other job. Bartender ? It lasted a few months when he was working for Hog. Blackjack dealer ? It was over in one or two issues, Dick was undercover and it didn't have that much significance. Exotic dancer ? It merely lasted hours, it was a way for Dick to get into a building incognito. Trapeze instructor ? A few scenes here and there were included over several issues, but overall it was more in the background. Meanwhile, there are entire issues dedicated to Dick's time as a cop - like this time he was assaulted then accused of murder by corrupted cops.
It also ties with the overall theme regarding Blüdhaven : unlike Gotham, Blüdhaven doesn't have a lot of psychopaths, but the corruption is rampant. Dick had to fight against dirty police officers almost as much as he had to fight against supervillains - it's significant that two of Dick's enemies, Soames and Redhorn, are corrupt cops.
As an aside, as much as I liked the way Dick managed to get his hand on Redhorn's little book, I think that from a narrative standpoint, Dick should have won against the onslaught of corruption as a cop, and not as Nightwing (even if he knew who to trust because he was Amy's partner).
Speaking of which, Amy is one of the most memorable characters Dick's ever worked with - and again, the building of their relationship, from Amy being distrustful and scornful to trusting Dick entirely to feeling betrayed then protecting him at the cost of her integrity, took months, lots of issues, and is very touching.
I like Hog (and that guy never died, damn it, he didn't live in Dick's building) - but he was barely present. Cheyenne and Shawn were above all love interests, more than coworkers (even if we can skip Cheyenne because those three issues she figured in were...weird...and forgettable). Dick's circus friends ? They have names, but they're still more background characters representing the lost childhood of Dick than actual characters with character development. Dennis ? Seemed like a nice guy, I guess ?
Third, Dick put in a lot of effort to get into the B.P.D. He had to go through the entire police academy and take tests. Museum curator ? He got the post through his personal relationships, even if he had the skills for them. Trapeze instructor ? He was noticed when he helped a kid. Circus owner ? Come on, yes, he invested his money, but it wasn't about what Dick wanted to be "when he grew up", it was about Dick keeping his past alive. Model ? An accident. Taxi driver ? First time around it was the first job offer he could find. Second time... *cough* Ric Grayson era *cough*.
Fourth, being a cop had an impact on Dick's other relationships. Bruce hated that he was a cop (for multiple reasons : he loathed the idea of Dick using a gun, was worried about him, and thought Dick was risking their secret identities). Alfred was initially supportive, but he also started to get worried. Babs hated it because she didn't want her boyfriend to risk getting killed 24/7.
And despite this, Dick remained a cop even after the corruption got brought down, in spite of his loved ones not liking him endangering himself all the time. And thus this is the fifth reason for me saying Dick being a cop has a lot more narrative significance than Dick being an exotic dancer or a bartender, Dick loved being a cop. Genuinely. It wasn't something he did because he needed a job to remain connected to people and still be Dick Grayson. It wasn't "just" an undercover job. He was ecstatic when he got hired at the B.P.D. He was happy doing it, and at one point it became more than an undercover job - though was it even a job, guys, considering he was doing it for free (that absolute madman I swear to God) ? He kept postponing the moment he'd have to resign after his "undercover" goal was achieved. He was crushed when he got fired.
You have to see, for Dick being a cop was about helping people at their lowest/learning information about people he'd be able to help as Nightwing. And Dick loves nothing more than doing that, so doing it 24/7 ? Sign him the fuck up. Like, some of Dick's most significant "cases" at the B.P.D. were about 1) stopping an act of police brutality, 2) being there to stop a domestic abuser and getting back as Nightwing to tell the guy to flee the city, or 3) getting a letter from a little girl, Kesia, who wanted Santa to help her Dad, crying, and spending the time before Christmas investigating so he'd be able to track her (and if that doesn't move you nothing will).
So yeah, Dick's time as a cop was significant. Now you don't like it ? Let Dick do something that would have the same effect. Let him be in child protection services. Let him be a nurse in the I.C.U. Let him be a firefighter.
Now I know people will say that the gym he opened at one point in the Rebirth continuity had to be something he held dear. It's not false, but I don't think he prioritized it the same way or that it was shown to be as important to him as being a cop was. At that time in that continuity, doing so was also an act of independence (considering he was younger) and of convenience (it allowed him greater flexibility to be Nightwing, something being a cop did not, at least in terms of working hours).
I'm still angry about "Dick is a cop". Thing going on.
Dick hasn't been a cop in 21 years (he stopped in 2003) He had numerous jobs since and before that and he was doing it at the time to try to fight the corruption from inside (whether that was a good idea is up to debate it wasn't in my opinion) and he was written as cop by Dixon (deregatory).
Devin Grayson continued and stopped that.
His most common job is being a barista followed up by a gym teacher.
#dick grayson#i'm not sure why people hate that he was a cop#he barely used his gun if at all#he would never have used lethal force#and he helped people plus fought against corruption#you can pry all those moments out of my cold dead hands#this time he cried reading kesia's letter and spent so much time and effort helping her has to be one of my favourite dick moments#it definitely felt like something dick could have done in the long run if he wasn't so reluctant to use lethal force
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Reading any comics by DC lately be like
#yes the loathe entirely is ric grayson#heroes in crisis#because what the fuck was that#bruce beating jason#cause im still not over that#whatever the fuck even is going on with jon#dc comics rebirth#dc comics#dick grayson#ric grayson#i hate even tagging ric i hate it so much#jason todd#red hood and the outlaws#nightwing#damian wayne#robin#wally west#bruce wayne#batman
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When you settle down, take a look at Teen Titans and the new solicit for Tec.
Did you mean a solicit for Dec? Cuz I looked and didn’t see one out yet but don’t know what else you might mean by Tec....
As far as what’s going on in Teen Titans, I’m guessing you mean Damian going after KGBeast to kill him in revenge for shooting Dick. I’m.....not a fan.
Like....I do like that they’re finally having SOMEBODY seem to give a damn about what happened to him, of course, but honestly, a year after the fact, it feels more like just an excuse to give Damian another target.
And I’m super not a fan of them regressing to acting like Damian’s entire personality is just “Will I do the murder today? Y/N.”
This is kinda what I was talking about the other day when I mentioned why I wasn’t really a fan of anything they were doing with the Batfam, because they’ve had Damian on this path for awhile now, and the problem is....
They already did this story.
This was his ORIGIN story.
And then he evolved, his character ALREADY developed PAST this.
I understand the idea of backsliding or having a character regress due to extreme circumstances or new tragedy or trauma, but honestly? This isn’t that, IMO. Its more just indicative of them not being able to think of anything else to do with Damian, because DC, like a lot of fans, seem fixated on the idea that each Robin needs to be their own distinct archetype easily summed up in one word. “Cheerful Robin,” “Angry Robin,” “Intellectual Robin,” “Will Stab You With Both Words and Knives Robin.”
Like....yawn.
Its no wonder they keep running into problems thinking of what to do with these characters when they like, INVENT these boxes to confine these four specific characters in and limit the ways or directions they’re even allowed to be taken, because they’re so afraid of overlapping or whatever.....even though that SHOULD be their narrative strength! They’re brothers! They all bear or bore the same mantle! They don’t NEED to have their own one-word niche to be distinct, they just need to each be well-developed characters in their own right, and who CARES if they overlap in some areas. It absolutely makes sense that they WOULD, that there would be commonalities in traits and experiences that led to each of them ending up a Robin and part of the Wayne family, and like....
Highlander has been off the air for thirty years and most people won’t even get that reference, that’s how low-impact we’re talking, so enough with the “There Can Only Be One” approach to characters. Having common ground is not like.....character Kryptonite.
So I’m just....super unimpressed with them taking Damian in this direction yet again, as though his entire narrative arc is forever destined to be a closed loop, with him just sliding back and forth between “Murder Time? Yes!” and “Murder Time? No!”
And even though its like, nice in one sense to have someone trying to avenge Dick, and having it be Damian with respect to how close a bond they have.....I’m not actually in favor of sacrificing another character’s stories just to make that happen. Especially when it doesn’t even have to happen at all. But honestly, like I mentioned at the top....given the extreme gap between the start of the Ric Grayson arc and this, I don’t actually believe this really has anything to do with them wanting to build off of or do anything new in regards to Damian’s feelings about his brother, like....it really just feels like an excuse to put another warm body in the way of Damian and his bungee jump back into this latest Dark Dami arc.
Also its just, bottom line....not realistic given their ACTUAL stories to date, IMO? Because Dick is literally the character who got Damian to see the value in life in the first place, and in addition, the first character who got Damian to see that his life didn’t have to follow a pre-charted course, that he could CHOOSE who and what he wanted to be. That, more than anything else, is why Damian loves his brother so fiercely, I feel - because of the fact that Dick was the first person in Damian’s life to look at him and just see a PERSON rather than what they already expected to see before they looked at him.
And so its not even that I don’t think Damian would ever try and kill KGBeast because he believes Dick wouldn’t want anyone killing in his name, its that Damian more than anyone else would know how much Dick would never want HIM to kill someone and claim he was doing it for his older brother....because of how much it meant to BOTH of them that it was because of their bond, their partnership, their brotherhood, that Damian became a hero instead of staying an assassin at all....that Damian found another path for himself, because before Dick, he didn’t even know to LOOK for one, or imagine that it was even a real possibility.
Dick introduced Damian to opportunities. To options. To having more directions he could go from any given situation beyond just the one that would end with more dead bodies.
And I can’t imagine Damian ever being so willful as to repay that with the same one choice, one direction, that Dick once helped him find alternatives to in the first place.
Nah, if they actually wanted to do something with Damian’s feelings about what happened to Dick? They should have written a story where Damian goes to Bludhaven to confront these strangers wearing his brother’s costumes and using his name. Damian has always held mantles and legacies in high regard, moreso than just about any other character I would argue.....and its always been portrayed as being hugely impactful on him, the fact that Dick actually made Damian Robin himself.
And added in that Damian likely knows how much Dick values his own mantles himself, how much OF himself he puts into them.....Damian would LOATHE these ‘pretenders’ from the moment he learned of them, IMO.
Like, remember when Damian went around trying to challenge each of his brothers or take something from them to prove he was the ‘worthiest’ Robin?
Imagine how powerful it could’ve been to have a story arc where Damian similarly challenged each of these new Nightwings from the shadows, setting up ‘tests’ that were intended to prove their unworthiness to claim his brother’s mantle, expose them as the frauds he would likely view them as.
Because that would be a direct callback to that previous story where he did something similar.....but it would show how far he’s come, even though he’s still very hot-tempered and prideful and etc.....because the juxtaposition of the two stories would highlight the fact that THIS time, Damian wouldn’t be doing this for himself, but for someone else, someone he values as much as he once valued his own prestige. And more than that, he’d do it according to standards or methods he knows Dick would be okay with, like, nothing lethal like he would have in the past, but stuff that was intended to make Damian’s point but not be anything that would make Dick feel guilty about having done in his name, once his memories return.
And then, just imagine his reaction too when he finally comes face to face with Ric, who seems to be HELPING these pretenders, and like....think about how much that would force him to confront and work through in regards to how he feels about Dick’s current state of existence/non-existence and his fears he’ll never get the man he views as his actual brother back.
Like, I could see him attacking Ric himself, furious that he thinks he even has the ‘right’ to give tacit permission or endorsement of these amateurs, because Ric ISN’T his brother, he’s no more the real Nightwing than any of these, and thus allowing them the use of his name and mantle isn’t a choice that’s actually Ric’s to make, in Damian’s eyes.
But then as they fight and Ric calls upon the muscle memory that’s ingrained into him still, and they start to fall into familiar rhythms and its more a spar than an actual fight, one that BOTH of them are startled by how....right it feels, like, that more than anything IMO would be what has Damian start realizing there’s more of his brother in this ‘Ric’ identity than he’d previously realized, and that deep down they are still inherently the same person, he still KNOWS this man, he just....needs to get to know him again.
And then there’d still be the matter of the other Nightwings, but now Damian’s reaction or attitude towards them and Ric would likely be one of confusion, like trying to understand WHY Ric would allow this instead of stopping it....because with the realization Damian has that the brother he knows is still somewhere in this man in front of him would come the baffling contradiction that he’s seemingly fine with something Damian KNOWS he would never normally be okay with.
And maybe it ends with the realization, the awareness in both brothers that things AREN’T normal, there’s nothing normal about this situation so the old rules and the preconceptions have to go out the window. Maybe Ric explains he can’t be who everyone wants him to be when he doesn’t even know for himself who and what he wants to be, what that even looks like...and thus maybe its okay that none of these other Nightwings are like him, like he’d been as Nightwing.
Maybe that’s even part of the point for Ric, that by watching and interacting with four different versions of the him everyone claims he used to be, Ric can start to at least figure out what he’s NOT, what doesn’t feel or look right, and from there maybe have a better chance of heading in the right direction, the one that will take him some place where he actually feels like he fits in his own skin again, like he can look in a mirror and recognize the person staring back at him as at least BEING him, whether that’s Dick or Ric or some amalgamation in between.
THAT story would feel like something Damian might ACTUALLY do, and be productive and work towards the betterment of both brothers’ characterizations.....
But nah. Let’s have Damian go chop off some heads on a regressive revenge road trip because that’s all he knows how to do, apparently, that’s his default setting and always will be because how else will people recognize that he’s the “Bad Robin,” he’s the “’My Middle Name is Violence and My First Name is Actually Excessive’ Robin.”
That’s much better.
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