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He's lost his day job, been dumped by his girlfriend, his childhood
stomping grounds were set ablaze, and his apartment building's
just been blown up, killing several of his closest friends.
When you look at it, one can't help but draw the conclusion that
Dick Grayson's life really, really sucks right about now.
Fans of Nightwing are having mixed reactions to the series' current
ac - and its current writer. Devin Grayson (who, this writer has
discovered, shares the same last name as the hero not by
accident, but by deliberate design), self-proclaimed fangirl of the
Hunk Wonder, has a job most Wingnuts can only dream of - the
real question is, is her closeness to the character an asset to the
title, or a liability?
It's not uncommon for a fan to bombard their favourite character
with trial after tribulation. It's a complex psychology that exists in
fandoms and in published works around the world. It also seems to
be a common theme among women writers writing for male
characters - although they don't hold the exclusive rights to it. This
phenomenon has resulted in the term, "hurt-comfort syndrome"; but
who's going to be doing the comforting when this is all over? What
drives writers to unleash hell on a character they claim to adore?
It's all rather shamelessly Freudian, when it comes down to it.
When you're reading about a character you care for, you can't help
but live vicariously through their own experiences. You're drawn
into their world, and consciously or otherwise, for a short time every
month, you're part of what's going on in their lives - public and
private. If they go through hell, you sympathise and want to know
why. If they're having a fairly good time of it (which has been known
to happen on occasion), you feel good too. And yet, it's through
their darkest hours, their most traumatic of experiences, that most
characters come into their own. We identify with their hardship, and
through them, we do a little growing of our own. Tragedy defines
destiny; it also defines a good story. It can also make or break a
writer's fanbase.
Let's be honest here - predecessor Chuck Dixon's "rogues gallery"
is painfully shallow; not to mention unmemorable. Rootin'-tootin'
gun-slinging cowboy twins Tom and Tad barely make Nightwing
break a sweat; Giz and Mouse, a couple (with a pet squirrel? Come
on) who seem so fond of bombs, are intimidated by a little fire, and
Brutale just gives one the impression he dressed up for a
Hallowe'en party one night and forgot to change. Lady Vic's
condition is uncertain after a well-placed bullet from the new
Tarantula in town. After that, we're just left with Shrike Mark II and
Blockbuster, only one of which can truly claim the title of Villain
(with a capital V). So while Dixon's old die-hard fans protest the
end of an era, most of the rest of us are thinking, "This is Nightwing
we're talking about - you know, the guy who beat Joker almost to
death! Doesn't he deserve a few more half-decent enemies than
this?" Damn right he does - but is he going to manage to keep his
own head together long enough to meet them?
In systematically deconstructing the world that Dick's come to call
home, there is a deliberate void being created - one that I am fairly
confident the writer has plans to fill - and has the capability to do so
well. The dismantling of the relationship between Dick and Barbara,
however, has left others, including myself, somewhat cold. Other
than to kickstart the snowball of bad karma in Dick's life, it seemed
to serve no real purpose - Babs' reasoning behind cutting him off
felt contrived, lending weight to some critics' assertions that the
writer was just either adding fuel to the building fire, or has plans to
introduce a new interest in the near future.
It's like the old saying - you always hurt the one you love - but then,
not everyone's writing a popular comic book when they're doing it.
It's admittedly a big risk, but I believe that maybe this title is starting
to really come into its own. Devin's love for the character really
does show - his passion, his fury, his humanity that makes him
unique among every other vigilante out there, and it's clear that she
wants it to move in a new direction. Despite everything he's going
through, it's fairly reasonable to assume that he'll come out of this
having turned a corner. As for who gets to comfort him after it's all
over - well. He's more than welcome at my place.
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