Dick Grayson goes through relationship problems, which are far worse than Nigthwing having to battle a boatload of supervillains.
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Transcript:
Host: Nightwing takes on a ship full of supervillains, from stem to stern, and then faces his former espionage colleagues in a battle for his life but could the worst thing going for Dick Grayson be his relationship problems? We’ll tell you all about it next as we look at Nightwing volume 4 Blockbuster straight ahead.
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Announcer: Welcome to the Classy Comics podcast where we search for the best Comics in the universe from Boise, Idaho here is your host, Adam Graham.
Host: During the New 52, Dick Grayson went through an era where he was no longer a superhero or Nightwing but rather a secret agent for Spyral because spies are known for their very punny use of names. However, with D.C. Rebirth, Dick Grayson returned to the role of Nightwing at the first book better than Batman. It’s really good but in current adventures you can probably start reading with Nightwing Volume 2 book, Back to Bludhaven. In that book he came to Bludhaven, got a job at a community center and came upon a group of washed up young super villains who were trying to avoid falling back into the life of crime and also were a bit phobic having been defeated by Batman and Robin in the past so they moved to Bludhaven for a fresh start. Among them is Shawn, who as a super villain operated as the Defacer. Dick fell in love with Shawn and she is actually kidnapped at the end of the 2nd volume and rescued in the 3rd volume. During that period, it was thought that Shawn was pregnant, but her pregnancy test was not confirmed. So, with that history in mind we take a look at the Volume 4 of the D.C. Rebirth Nightwing Blockbuster and we’ll talk about the two arcs as action pieces and then talk about the relation stuff that went around it
Nightwing Blockbuster; This one focuses on Roland Desmond, who is actually the brother of Mark Desmond, the original Blockbuster. Tiger Shark is the big fish, if you will, in Bludhaven, the boss of the city and does not like Nightwing’s presence and wants Blockbuster to take care of him. However, Blockbuster appears to Nightwing offering him a chance to take down the villain, Tiger Shark and really this is a case of Blockbuster trying to play both sides against the middle and it’s an interesting maneuver. He actually ends up leading Nightwing into a trap where he is aboard a ship full of supervillains who have been brought on by Tiger Shark and are supposed to turn the tables on Nightwing.
I actually like a lot about this storyline. One thing that I will highlight; I think the Blockbuster character is interesting in the way that that character develops in his plan plays out is kind of fun to watch. I also think that I like how Tim Sealy, the writer of the book, handles this guest supervillain or I should say all the super villains on the boat because a lot of them were somewhat obscure, particularly if you weren’t expert in every aspect of the D.C. Universe and sometimes when you have a book it gets kind of overloaded when you have so many supervillains stars where you’ve got to explain who this super villain is and all of their background. However, you don’t really have that with Nightwing and the idea advanced by Seeley is that Nightwing was required to learn very basic sketches of the various supervillains that he and Batman might encounter so that they would be prepared and so you just get this very quick thumbnail sketch. What’s the nature of this villain? What’s the nature of the threat that he poses? Cool, let’s fight and it’s just handled very quickly in a way that doesn’t bog down the story. So, I really like that aspect of this and I also like how it shows Dick’s heroism when it’s revealed that all of the supervillains’ lives are at stake and Dick has to make a decision as to what he’s going to do and of course, he tries to save everyone. It’s a good story I think there are some nice twists along the way and I enjoyed it pretty thoroughly.
In this first story, Dick is aided by a former super villain and a hacker, Gizmo, to help in his investigation of who’s bringing weapons into the city from the Second Hand, a group of illegal weapons sellers. At the end of the story, it’s found out that Gizmo has been killed and the Second Arc, Spyral, involves him going to investigate and to find who killed Gizmo and bring them to justice and this involves a team up with the Huntress as they have to go overseas to find who’s behind the Second Hand and therefore who’s behind Gizmos killing. I think this is an interesting story because it does end up them having to deal with their time with Spyral and once again we’re given a good story with good use of continuity. You do not have to have read Grayson, The Spy Series to understand this book. They give you enough information so that you understand the characters without being overwhelmed with too much continuity. It might make some readers curious to go back and read Grayson. It didn’t quite do that for me. I also think that the villain revealed in the final issue is a nice touch. Not a great villain but pretty solid and there’s some good back and forth between the villain and Grayson and it’s a good solid story.
The relationship issues in the book, particularly how Shawn is handled, is a separate thing I think from the action story. Certainly, it’s going on throughout this. As the book begins, Dick and Shawn are still together. However, she really wants him to get a job and I have to admit I’m somewhat confused as to how it happened that he lost his position, so she could get a position and she wants him to interview for a job so that she would have confidence that Dick Grayson would be there, would be in Bludhaven because he had a job to get to. And actually, at the beginning of the book he resists going for the job interview because he is really concerned about this spread of these very dangerous weapons that were based on alien technology getting on to the street of the city and feeling he had to dedicate his time to being Nightwing and he had his backpay from Spyral to rely upon so it wasn’t like he was going to be out in the street if he didn’t get a job. But Shawn insisted and harangued him into doing agreeing to do the interview and he agreed to do the interview but things came up so he didn’t do the interview and she was upset and thought that he was relieved that she wasn’t pregnant and then he delivers this response. He says “One of the things that made me fall in love with you is that I can be honest with you. Another one is that you know exactly who you were. The anger that the Pigeon manipulated to make you into the Defacer now motivates you to help people but it’s not gone. That anger still defines you. I’ve spent so much time making sure I’m not driven by tragedy, by revenge, by anger. It’s important to me. Having that pregnancy scare, and everything we went through, made me realise I want my child to learn that from me but sometimes, sometimes I wonder if our kid would learn the opposite from you, Shawn.” This is one of those statements that has a lot of truth into it because I think anger does drive and define Shawn as a character. However, this is one of those things that is very stupid to say. No matter how much you feel that you can be honest with her because it’s a very harsh and cutting thing and it’s the type of thing that will end up breaking up the relationship, which it does when he returns from fighting Blockbusters. She says it’s over, there is nothing to say and then after that they learn of Gizmo’s death and she blames him for that. I don’t know if she ever says that directly to his face. It’s not reflected in the comic but it may be something that Dick assumes is the case.
When Dick leaves Bludhaven, Shawn really meets up again with the Pigeon who at first, Shawn assumes is trying to get her into a legitimate art project but then finds out that it’s more crime and villainy the Pigeon is trying to drag her back into and she resists but then she goes along as the stress of the job that she has really starts to get to her. Her frustration, her rage, her anger, her grief over the death of Gizmo. The only thing that stops her from a full, fledged return, is somebody else actually about to make that same mistake and it reminds her of her responsibility and actually at the end of the book she decides she wants to get back together with Dick but is given a really heart-breaking conclusion to the book. I won’t spoil it but it is a very sad conclusion. Nobody died, but you can understand what this does to her.
I actually like Shawn as a character and this group of ex supervillains. It does show the challenges you face in trying to change the direction of your life and there are a lot of people out there like Shawn who have been through some very difficult circumstances in their lives and they are trying to change, trying to do better with their lives but they’re constantly dogged by habits and attitude that have them make poor and self-destructive decisions and I think that does make her a well-rounded character, a very tragic character. She was never a major heavy hitting supervillain, never the sort of mistress of evil type character. She struggles on the good side of leisure too and I honestly hope that it works out for the best and she definitely struggles and even though she’s made some bad decisions and I think did some things in terms of some of her demands on Dick that weren’t really fair, I still like her and found myself cheering for her at the end of the book and heartbroken right along with her for what the way it ended.
I will say I wouldn’t recommend this book for kids. There are some things, there’s graphic sex or anything else like that but there are some things implied and really good parental discretion is advised here. Still I will give this book a rating of classy. Writer Tim Seeley tells a good story with some compelling characters and manages to use continuity without clubbing the reader over the head. Which makes for a very different sort of comic. The art is fairly good and Nightwing continues to be one of the more solid series in the D.C. Rebirth line.
Alright, that’s it for now. If you do have a comment, send it to me classycomicsguy@gmail.com. Be sure and rate the show on iTunes and follow us on Twitter at classycomicsguy and check out the website classycomicsguy.com. From Boise, Idaho, this is your host Adam Graham signing off.
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