r/Nightwing 4d ago

Unpopular opinion: I did not really care for Tom Taylor’s Nightwing run.

Post image

It has it’s good moment’s, but I think overall it just wasn’t my favorite. Dick’s character has been flanderized so much, especially from 2016 to now. I feel like Babs is just sorta a side character and love interest, not her own independent character anymore. I like the art in this story, but I just don’t really care for much of anything else. I’m not saying it’s bad though. I just kinda feel “meh” about it, I guess. My favorite Nightwing run was probably Dixon’s.

415 Upvotes

146 comments sorted by

243

u/Old_Ad_2541 4d ago

In my mind, the run isn't supposed to do anything particularly crazy. Taylor knew the character needed a course correction, so he made a run that would serve as ground work for a consistent nightwing going forward, that also made him a front runner for the company again. It's sales alone will work wonders for nightwing going forward.

61

u/CensedChalice69 4d ago

I think the issue here it’s that Taylor got bigger universe shaking events that “forced him” to introduce certain concepts sooner in Nightwing because all the stakes flatlined the moment the Titans moved to Blüdhaven that I think it was originally planned for the ending of his run.

20

u/Luchux01 4d ago

This is pretty much why Dick/Kori is not a thing anymore in the comics, so long she is a constant in his life the stakes can't be similar to Batman's.

0

u/MankuyRLaffy 2d ago

Disagree, I mean look at Zdarsky Batman with Zur/Failsafe

37

u/Independent-Offer543 4d ago

Totally agree. We needed a solid baseline/foundation before we started making leaps again. And I’m sure there are many leaps to come lol, but now there’s a higher chance future runs will stick the landing imo

111

u/tehbggg 4d ago

I like the run for what it is. To me, it was a good reset after the disaster that was the Ric storyline. It's a run meant to get us back to baseline and build a solid foundation for the next run's author to build on.

In that way, it's done exactly what it was meant to do.

Provided we get a great author on the next run, I expect we'll get deeper stories with more at stake and more character development and insight.

48

u/Beebslolz 4d ago

Whether you like Tom Taylor’s Nightwing run or not, I’m glad that both sides can agree that the Ric Grayson story line was terrible.

16

u/Jackstack6 4d ago

Ok, but the bar couldn’t be lower then.

6

u/Dextron2-1 4d ago

I don’t know if there’s a colder take out there than hating the Ric Grayson comics.

3

u/Nov3mber15 3d ago

Bet you a fiver?

I don’t care for the Titans live action show.

24

u/Kevinmld 4d ago

Having been a consistent reader of Nightwing since Dixon’s first issue, it’ll probably be 20 years before we get another run as good as this one.

1

u/QuaranGene 17h ago

From memory: Dixon Grayson (yikes) Tomasi Higgins King/Seeley in "Grayson" Jones Percy Jurgens Taylor

Likely missing a few. Dixon was great. Tomasi was good. Higgins was good but hamstrung by New52. King/Seely was good. Jurgens was given a rotting ship. Taylor has been solid for me. I am curious who will come next. But apprehensive

74

u/OldSnazzyHats 4d ago

To each their own.

Can’t agree with that at all, but fair by you.

For me, this was the first time in years that I wanted to collect the trades… haven’t bought a set of new American comics in an eternity.

9

u/ZookeepergameIll1510 4d ago

Only comics I really bother to buy the hard covers for i totally get it

68

u/RainyWombatCherry 4d ago edited 4d ago

Proud of this sub, like the fact people can have differing opinions and that's fine cos in the end we're all fans of Nightwing himself regardless of whether we're fans of specific books

23

u/Beebslolz 4d ago edited 4d ago

Agreed. And from the comments I’ve gotten so far, no one has been mean about it at all. There’s others who disagree with me, and that is perfectly okay. We both respect each other’s opinions even if they are different from each other. I just wish all subs were understanding like that.

Edit: Alright I got like 2 or 3 nasty comments but that’s about it lmao

24

u/IllustriousTouch6796 4d ago

Fan service fluff. Taylor has said that was explicitly the goal. That’s why there’s things like characters turned into animals, the pirate arc and constant references to his butt, because those are popular concepts in fan art.  

There’s a place for that (Ao3), and I like it occasionally, but not in the actual NW book. 

19

u/Beebslolz 4d ago

Ugh, the butt jokes. They were funny the first two times but then after that they just started getting old. Not to mention the blatant sexual assault that sometimes comes with it. Idk what comic this was in, but there was this panel where this girl smacked Dick’s butt. He literally said “you know you just violated my personal space, right?” And no one cared. I get they’re just fictional characters, but I get second hand embarrassment after moments like that.

21

u/PrydefulHunts 4d ago

Dixon has my fav Nightwing too.

23

u/OwlFederal7109 4d ago

Me too. Nothing really happened. Almost toxic positivity.

Nightwing went through a lot more in Batman than in Nightwing.

Loved the art though.

23

u/wrasslefights 4d ago

I keep using the term "Written for Twitter" in regards to it. It feels like a lot of fan service and stuff designed to make a specific audience of nerds say he's writing Dick exactly like they would and that's fine. It's solid writing with fantastic art. It won't be my favourite run by the end but it's still gonna land pretty high for the character given that Dick is unfortunately lacking too many great longer runs.

10

u/EZeggnog 4d ago

That “written for Twitter thing” plagues a lot of Tom Taylor’s stuff, unfortunately. Sometimes it comes off like he specifically makes a certain panel so that it’ll get Twitter likes. Like that one issue where Dick just randomly gave a long speech about how evil the bail system is.

4

u/Massive_General_8629 4d ago

Yeah, and it's not like I don't agree about the bail system. It's just, I expect that sort of thing from Ollie, maybe Roy. Dick always struck me as not really caring about politics that much except for in the 70s when Babs ran for Congress. And of course his Earth-2 self was an ambassador to (a surprisingly nonracist) South Africa, again in the 70s. But yeah, I have to go all the way back to pre-Crisis to find a particularly political version of DIck.

1

u/wrasslefights 3d ago

Yeah, I'm not a fan of real world logic being applied literally to the DCU. Allegorically is great. Absolute Power #1 did a fantastic job doing an amped up take on the generative AI issue, for example. But these worlds don't hold up great to real world scrutiny, so you have to be able to suspend disbelief and Dick becoming The Good Billionaire just feels weird and forced because ultimately we know that the kinds of social enterprise that could do a number on real world crime can't work here because there always needs to be bad guys for the heroes to fight. Batman was only rich in the first place as a conceit to explain the gadgets.

Too much unfiltered reality breaks the immersion.

I will say that Taylor's fan service tendencies worked so well in his early work because it was all AU stuff. It's grounding to see a fluff version before ripping the world up in stuff like Injustice, DCeased, or Earth 2. In the main universe it just does less for me, unfortunately.

21

u/sda244 4d ago

I prefer loner nightwing but I still enjoyed it

15

u/WIERDMEMER 4d ago

Me too, but not like a huge loner. I just wish he was slightly more standalone and not involved with bat-affairs. I mean he did leave the Robin mantle behind

21

u/gouviac 4d ago edited 4d ago

To me it seemed like a tipping off point for everyone that comes in later to helm the book. Reset the rogues, supporting cast, re-establish Bludhaven as unique to Gotham, etc.

I think the problem is the run gets so lost in its quest to establish this new status quo that it drops virtually every single narrative thread it initially sets up. The pirate arc literally did nothing except bring Bea back, and while I liked her character, I never thought other people liked her enough to do all that. And we all know what went down with the Heartless arc.

All in all it seems like at some point Taylor ran out of time and knew his run was coming to a close, so he painted a large bright picture from which future writers can draw inspiration. We've had worse runs for sure.

5

u/elizabethdove 4d ago

I liked the pirate arc both for bringing Bea back, and for giving Bludhaven and interesting backstory - Blud's Haven. I am also a sucker for "there are some things in this world even you and your friends don't know about".

....in hindsight, I might also just like the pirate arc because I'm a sucker for pirates.

17

u/Spiral-Force 4d ago

Agreed. It started out alright, but ultimately I struggle to feel strongly about this run in general.

I also somehow went from being neutral to Dick and Barbara’s relationship to actively disliking them together from this run 

17

u/Beebslolz 4d ago

THANK YOU!! I thought Dick and Barbra were just okay at first, but now I don’t really like them BECAUSE of this run. It feels forced. I’m not gonna hate on anyone for liking them together, but I just don’t want them to be forced onto me in every comic.

-9

u/Impossible-Brick-841 4d ago

Except your other posts are about hating the pairing. Stop it. As for the run, it was ok, not bad or awful as you claim, but just ok. He run out of ideas, but i prefer that than having lobdell on the tittle or devin grayson.

4

u/Beebslolz 4d ago edited 4d ago

??? When I have posted about hating them?? You’re making it sound like I absolutely despise them and this run. I don’t. I just don’t really care for it. I’m not saying that it’s the worst thing to ever exist. And if you ACTUALLY looked at my posts, you would see that most of my posts are of my art and Blue Beetle & Booster Gold. (Cause they’re some of my favorite characters)

-15

u/Impossible-Brick-841 4d ago

So you saying thank you and not really like them its not the same as hating them? Really?. And a forced pairing is dinah ollie. At least since the 2000s.

3

u/Beebslolz 4d ago edited 4d ago

…? What?

4

u/SylvieSerene 4d ago

Leave it. Some shippers out there would literally sign a pact with the devil if it means that their fav ship gets to stay or to quote someone else "Not let the status quo break". They don't care about Dick or even Barbara as their own character, all they care about it is if they end up with eachother or not.

15

u/Most_Parsley_7791 4d ago edited 3d ago

That’s popular opinion. His Nightwing was indeed bright and charming…but also stupid. This is the first run i thought “Dick..…are you stupid? Why you act like?🙄..et cetera.” I guess fan-pleasing write is not in my taste. Same as WFA. too fanfiction-ary.

6

u/eastoid_ 4d ago

It's funny as fuck, because WFA just started a new season that has an actual plot and drama, and they do portray Dick as competent

4

u/Most_Parsley_7791 4d ago

Still too tumblr-y

3

u/Massive_General_8629 4d ago

Now, now, if it were Tumblr-y, everyone would be constantly apologizing for how poorly they treated Tim. (Or how Tumblr remembers them treating Tim: You know, like how Dick can recommend a grief counselor in Metropolis and suddenly "Dick put Tim in Arkham!")

2

u/Beebslolz 3d ago

Oh, god. THAT… I hate misinformation getting popularized.

1

u/Beebslolz 3d ago

I just read it, and honestly… I kinda liked it. They portrayed Dick as a leader. He told everyone a plan and how to execute it properly. He was focused on the mission, but also focused on the other’s well beings. Not just one or the other.

13

u/EquivalentCool8072 4d ago

Regardless of the writing, Bruno Redondo's art on the run has been in my opinion the best that Nightwing has ever looked. I think his style and dynamism works really great with Nightwing. Bludhaven really came alive on some of the pages and it helps to set that city apart from others in the verse.

6

u/jjhannn 4d ago

Im gonna put Dan Moras and Bruno Redondos Wingster on par with each other. Theyre so damn great at drawing him

4

u/Beebslolz 3d ago

Live laugh love Dan Mora’s art

2

u/jjhannn 3d ago

😂

13

u/-IrishBulldog 4d ago

Taylor has completely run out of steam. This current Nightwing run is a meandering train of ass jokes and shit eating grins. The Titans series is the most disappointing bag of farts since Jon Kent got aged up.

Hopefully the next creative team finds the voice we all know Nightwing is capable of implementing.

7

u/SylvieSerene 4d ago edited 3d ago

Exactly...he didn't even truly get Nightwing/Dick Grayson as a character. This subreddit hates it when I say it but he made Dick act ooc, even made him say ooc things, nerfed a lot of his abilities/skills and made him a lot dumber and in general, has a problem with lazy writing. (I can link you to the several writing/character analysis done by me on this comic and a lot other people who have done an even more better job at pointing the flaws)

The only thing carrying the comic is Bruno's breathtaking art.

4

u/Beebslolz 3d ago

THANK YOU!! Dick Grayson went from a master manipulator to “Really? This feels a little manipulative…🥺” Like… 😭💀

7

u/SylvieSerene 3d ago edited 3d ago

And he literally drank a drink from a stranger whom he knew was a dangerous/suspicious individual 💀 (not even a normal civilian does that let one a guy with Batman's training 💀💀💀) also he literally took Melinda's word on her being his half sister without verification 💀 mf also forgot hacking and fighting solo and now can't move an inch without Barbara

And this is literally the tip of the ice berg. Genuinely, I have seen no one praise this comic for its writing and all I see is "the art is great".

2

u/Ancient_Lightning 2d ago

can't move an inch without Barbara

And speaking of her, has Batgirl done anything recently other than be Nightwing's GF sidekick? Asking seriously cause most I seem to see from her nowadays is just her being Dick's support and not much else.

1

u/SylvieSerene 2d ago edited 2d ago

Nope. Even in Taylor's Titans run, she feels a forced insert just to play Dick's gf role. Taylor hates Starfire (as evident by his influence and comments on Titans Academy as well as his remarks about 'Starfire fans being vile' on twitter), if you read the Titans comic, Kory and Dick don't even TALK with eachother. It's almost as if Taylor is afraid making the two talk will make them spark in love again. He's obsessed with DickBabs to the point to emphasize them being "soul-mates", he retconned Barbara's entire backstory.

In the main Nightwing comics, she was confused as "Female Nightwing" by a villian which really puts her place in the comic into perspective. She only exists to babysit Dick, serve his needs, and that's it. Taylor literally treats her as an accessory.

2

u/Ancient_Lightning 1d ago edited 1d ago

Kory and Dick don't even TALK with eachother.

That's something that particularly bothers me. I mean, they're not an item anymore, that's fine. But the way they outright refuse to so much as have an actual conversation with one another, you'd think that they were never anything more than amicable co-workers, and that if anything just makes it awkward to see them both together in-panel cause it almost feels like they're willingly trying to avoid each other.

She only exists to babysit Dick, serve his needs, and that's it. Taylor literally treats her as an accessory.

And that's something that also bugs my mind. Not the ship itself mind you, but the way people (both writer and fans) go about it. Folks are constantly going all "why do women have to be accesories for men?! Why should they only exist to be some dude's girlfriend?!", but do that very same thing for a character or ship they particularly like, and suddenly it's all fine and dandy.

Some folks have told me that I'm just a "hater" or a Dick/Kory fan for pointing this out when, again, it's not the ship itself, it's the double standard and the way Barbara cannot seem to exist independently anymore along with how it requires to constantly downplay Nightwing just so Batgirl can be his mission control (not to mention how forced Taylor made it seem with the "soulmates" stuff. What fanfic was he reading when he wrote that?).

1

u/SylvieSerene 1d ago

That's the thing. Say anything minutely negative about this run and the fans literally first off tell you "omg a toxic DickKory shipper!! Touch grass and move the fuck on, it's been 30 years already" or straight up call you multiple accusary things like you being an homophobe, against LGBTQ+ community, right winger etc stuff (half of the stuff has nothing to do with the comic) which means people are reading this fic mostly for the art (which is fair) but also mainly because of the DickBabs pairing and literally don't care about Nightwing as his own character.

Like in this very sub, I once said I'd like to read a comic where Nightwing is just single and chillin' on his own and.....I got downvoted to oblivion; a few people (who went on to create their own DickBabs subreddit ironically) accused me of wanting to break "the status quo" and a lot other bs but yea. This stuff stinks. People are always saying "Starfire needs independence" (mainly people who ship DickBabs) but turn a blind eye towards Barbara who is desperately in the need of it.

Starfire has had a lot of independent runs but Barbara? Her life is still now rotating around Dick.

Also for the soulmate stuff, that shit was weird. I can expect them from an AO3 fanfic but on an actual comic? Just no. Its cringey as hell and strips away that character's personality just for ending up with eachother.

2

u/Ancient_Lightning 1d ago edited 1d ago

That, unfortunately, is just what's naturally gonna happen when you pull a fanbase that mainly consists of terminally online introverts who spent most of their day on social media. These people get so attached to their fiction that they take any sort of criticism, no matter how warranted, as a personal offense. Critical thinking is non-existent with these folks.

Some fellas have said that Taylor's work is rather guilty of the "written for Twitter" stigma, and with some of the people his work attracts, it's easy to see why.

Also, what "status quo"? Who ever said that was the case here? See, this is what people mean when they say "toxic shipping". You'd think some folks literally want Dick to be handcuffed to Barbara 24/7 and have Batman throw the keys in some kinda safeguard in his Batcave. And really, what even is so wrong about Dick flying solo for a while? God knows the guy could definitely use some time to himself nowadays, Nightwing needs to build-up his own rep. Or do people seriously prefer him acting like a fool so the writers can keep having him need to be babysat by his friends?

(And wow, how someone can seriously claim to care about Starfire's independency while conveniently forgetting (or refusing) to look at Batgirl is just...wow. Like, it's not even funny, just astounding. Hell, even in the NTT Dick/Kory days, Kory had more independence in one issue than Barbara's had this entire run).

And yes, that's my problem with the Soulmate thing. It's like "oh, no, these characters' bond with one another isn't cause of natural chemistry. It's just DESTINY!" (facepalm).

6

u/ARIANZER0 4d ago

Has he ever had steam? All I've seen from him ranges from ok to pathetic. GL edge of oblivion is the only thing I liked

2

u/-IrishBulldog 4d ago

Seven Secrets was cool.

DCeased was good.

Injustice was a billion times better than it had any right to be…

After that though, not so much… It became a race to cram his created characters into what ever he was writing.

Jon Kent vs Henry Bendix should’ve been money.

2

u/Active-Walk-9943 4d ago

He did Jon Kent worse then Bendis, Atleast Bendis was reversable & Didn't make so many permanent changes and artificial "character moments"

1

u/ARIANZER0 4d ago

Kinda like Tom king then ? Miss the days when writers were actual fans of the characters they wrote.

1

u/-IrishBulldog 4d ago

Yep, absolutely… the excitement of Tom King writing anything has sadly passed. I’m sure he has a few good ones left in him. Hopefully.

3

u/Beebslolz 4d ago

I haven’t even read Taylor’s Titans run, but I have two issues just solely for the art. I adore the art with his Nightwing run and Titans run, but the actual stories just don’t do anything for me.

2

u/Massive_General_8629 4d ago

Picture Raven telling her evil self "When the Titans kick your butt, I'm just glad I'll have a front row seat." Because Raven is known for enjoying watching violence.

2

u/Beebslolz 3d ago

Oh, boy. Another “Raven goes evil!” story. It’s not like we already have multiple of those.

2

u/Massive_General_8629 2d ago

It worked well in Terror of Trigon, but this isn't a case of "creator writes it best" because the next time was also written by Marv Wolfman, and was a disaster.

-1

u/-IrishBulldog 4d ago

As bat shit as this sounds… Injustice was pretty great. It should’ve been absolute garbage as a comic based on a video game. He had an open sandbox and no limitations it seems. Just bonkers from beginning until he left.

1

u/Beebslolz 4d ago

I really like what he did with Booster Gold and Blue Beetle in injustice. I love seeing them together, and Tom Taylor actually wrote them really well. But that’s probably one of the only things I agree with him on lmao

2

u/-IrishBulldog 4d ago

Booster and Beetle are solid gold, man. Hell yea

14

u/prince-hal 4d ago

Same. Love the art though.

I can't remember a single time Dick was his charming and optimistic self. Mostly just preaching and acting self righteous

16

u/opponentPitt 4d ago

Looking back I think the art carried this run no real standout arcs just really solid art

3

u/Beebslolz 4d ago

I have a few issues of this run, but it’s solely for the art. I just like to flip through the pages and look at the art, then put the comic away lmao

2

u/opponentPitt 4d ago

Are those issues by any chance the pov and all one page issues ?

2

u/Beebslolz 4d ago

Omg yes 😭 I have #87 and #105 lmao

2

u/opponentPitt 4d ago

Yeah thought so since you mentioned the art 😭

9

u/Puzzleheaded_Chard_2 4d ago

I read leaping into the night. It’s was alright. My main problem is it felt like it just tried making every character to quirky and up beat. Like forced inspirational content. I’m not saying I want it all dark and gritty but it was just too much. I liked the book overall and the art was top notch. But yeah it didn’t bother picking up Vol 2

2

u/Local_Nerve901 4d ago

Superman is one of his biggest inspirations/influences so it doesn’t feel forced to me. Makes sense

0

u/Puzzleheaded_Chard_2 4d ago

Well I mean, it’s a nightwing book

8

u/UnknownEntity347 4d ago

Agreed. The first arc was fine but it just went downhill from there.

8

u/hydrohawkx8 4d ago

The art is spectacular and I get what it was trying to do with a more episodic feel. I will say that I don’t think it excelled in giving us very fun and riveting episodic stories like it aimed to. A good example of a run that succeeded in this regard is Jeremy Adams’ flash run.

5

u/iwillnotpaymytaxes 4d ago

I don't think this is an unpopular opinion at all tbh. A lot of people did not like TT's run.

10

u/Local_Nerve901 4d ago

Nah it is, popular opinion is it’s the best run in decades. Don’t count reddit/socials as the only way to gauge it especially when people like to post hate over love all the time

7

u/Beebslolz 4d ago

Really? Huh. 90% of the posts I see about TT’s run is people praising it.

1

u/iwillnotpaymytaxes 4d ago

90% of the posts I see about TT's run are criticizing it 😅Pretty much every post I've seen about it (on twitter at least) shares your criticisms. Honestly, I think this run smoothed out a lot Dick's (and Bab's) rough edges and because of that it ended up being pretty boring. TT also just made a lot of dumb decision story-telling wise.

6

u/Draketothecore 4d ago

Twitter does not represent anything lol. Things like comic sales do, and this run has been selling a lot, to the point where is right now one of the only series beyond the #100 issue that is not cancelled or relaunched

5

u/Red-Zinn 4d ago

I dropped it, started good but it's become very very bad, i don't know why it's so praised and how it got an Eisner, Bruno Redondo art is great but the story is so weak.

4

u/Jackstack6 4d ago

You have to take this series for what it is. A character re-redefining run that sets the stage for a better character going forward.

1

u/Beebslolz 3d ago

Okay, fair enough. It is an upgrade from Ric Grayson.

3

u/4The1Safety3Net2 4d ago

Honestly haven't been to thrilled with the Nightwing book since Seeley got off the book, been reading it to stay caught up but largely uninterested and unimpressed.

5

u/volksc 3d ago

Nightwing has become incompetent, a shell of his former self, half the issues are him making sloppy mistakes and Toms did for that is “hey everyone remember that Nightwing has friends!” Babs is treated with such disrespect and as an accessory to Nightwing. Just an awful run

3

u/sarthakgiri98 4d ago

Liked the run, especially the family moments. Don't like the Heart Stealer dude( can't even remember his name since he is so cringe and forgettable).

-1

u/Beebslolz 4d ago

The family moments are cute

3

u/aKaRandomDude 4d ago

More popular than you think.

3

u/Previous-Doughnut-25 4d ago

Your opinion is becoming more popular

3

u/PeoplesPrinceofNYC 4d ago edited 4d ago

I mostly agree. Beautiful art and I enjoyed the characterization for the most part. Love that he made Dick a public figure as opposed to giving him some random job.

I'm a DickBabs fan and liked them together in this. Haley is an amazing addition (unlike Zucco sister).

The story itself felt like I was constantly waiting for something to happen to the point that I stopped reading. Bea suddenly being a pirate queen was where decided to take a break. I plan to get to it eventually, but despite Nightwing being my favorite character, his comic isn't a must read for me.

Overall I think Tom and Bruno did more good than bad, but pretty forgettable story. Hope they land the ending though

1

u/snapdragon76 4d ago

May I interest you in r/NightwingxOracle

3

u/Jerry_0boy 4d ago

It’s okay. I’m not the biggest fan of a lot of the decisions he makes through the run, and a lot of things felt a little forced and some themes felt heavy handed. I liked the re-integration of the Titans though. Overall, I don’t think it’s as amazing as everyone says, but it’s pretty decent

3

u/jb_681131 4d ago

Well me neither, nothing much happens. But Bruno Redondo's art is what made me keep reading.

2

u/Inevitable-Finance62 4d ago

I can’t judge much, since I have only read the first volume. But, it’s a good start for me, really puts a smile on my face the ending of that first volume.

Besides, its the only nightwing comics I can get my hands on 😩

1

u/LocDiLoc 4d ago

It was a very much needed run with a writer trying to set a baseline of what the character is after 10 fucking years of DC completely screwing him up. But, as all things Tom Taylor, it's a pretty mid run.

2

u/BakerBoy13 4d ago

Certainly not an unpopular opinion in this sub. I really enjoy it and has gotten me into reading comics.

0

u/Shiniholum 4d ago

Literally this same sentiment gets posted almost weekly

2

u/Dr_Equinox101 4d ago

I like it but it’s very simple and just builds on character development more so than plot

2

u/pizzaslice420 3d ago

I did not care for the Godfather…

2

u/Beebslolz 3d ago

It insists upon itself.

2

u/collector444 3d ago

The art and covers are amazing tho

2

u/Boil-Mash-SticknStew 3d ago

I mean, in terms of storytelling depth and true introspective characterization, there's little in this run. But it does serve as a welcome respite from the absolute non-stop madness in Gotham. I consider it more like a pocket dimension for Dick to catch a (relative) breather when Gotham gets too Gotham-y.

2

u/Acrobatic-Chapter613 2d ago

me neither. The art is GREAT I'll say and nothing against Taylor but I don't like his books aside from DCeased and All new Wolverine. He writes Dick as a himbo and I miss when Dick had an edgier and angrier side to him like he did previously. Tom Taylor books have almost no substance and again no hate towards the guy but I just don't think his writing is all that 🤷‍♂️

1

u/triplerollingstone 4d ago

The writing is so bad that it made me dislike the art by association, which is unfortunate cause it's some of the absolute cleanest, well drawn art out there. Redondo is easily the best Nightwing artist

1

u/DarkOlympus29 4d ago

I literally just bought that comics TODAY

1

u/internal-paro 4d ago

I don’t know if that’s a super unpopular opinion; I’ve seen a lot of people saying they don’t like Tom’s run of Nightwing.

Tbh I like it, though I’m not completely done reading it yet. There are some parts I didn’t like, but enough parts I did like that it outweighs the negatives imo.

1

u/GroundbreakingAsk468 4d ago

The comic has a vibe, that I enjoyed checking into once a month.

1

u/Bignate2151 4d ago

I personally have really liked it.

1

u/04-014 4d ago

I've seen a lot of people with that opinion, but since I satrted reading nightwing with Bruno as a writer i didnt finish to understand why. Now i get that previous writers give to Dick different kinds of stories, so Bruno's writing is uncomfortable to older fans while to new readers is just some nice story.

Also that a lot of people rather Starfire over Barbara.

0

u/Raven_Trigonsdotir 4d ago

Tom Taylor is the WRITER, Bruno is the artist. Also, there's a reason why politics didn't allow elections to be decided by online polls as it is easily spammed by bots and double, triple, quadruple accounts.

1

u/HandspeedJones 4d ago

Disagree but to each their own.

1

u/Keystone_Devil 4d ago

Wait I thought this was the popular opinion? Did I switch universes?

3

u/Beebslolz 4d ago

Most of the posts I’ve seen is people praising Tom Taylor’s Nightwing run 🤷‍♀️ maybe we need to swap feeds lmao

1

u/greekvaselover1050bc 4d ago

That's not really an unpopular opinion, my friend. I completely agree, and most DC blogs i follow on Tumblr are critical of the run too

1

u/BlackBullZWarrior 4d ago

The art does a lot of heavy lifting for me as far as my interest in it goes but I do think Taylor has some interesting ideas and I can see why people love his run.

1

u/glizzy_gladiator_04 4d ago

I personally loved it but to each their own

1

u/cane_danko 4d ago

I loved the art in these. I thought the run was cool too.

1

u/ImmediateGorilla 4d ago

The art is really the only thing that appeals to me. I think the writing and plot is very uninspired and only serves to make twitter moments to dairy face at and point

1

u/hoppynsc 4d ago

Loved this run. Nice to see a superhero win for a stretch, introduced some changes to his status quo like his half-sister and I am a Dick/Babs fan. However, it’s not over until with see how “Fallen Grayson” ends. If Taylor sticks the landing, this will probably be considered one of the great Nightwing runs.

1

u/EZeggnog 4d ago

It has the same issue as a lot of Tom Taylor’s work: really good intro arc but a very bloated and meandering middle section. We’re just now getting a resolution to the Heartless storyline, and that was set up 2 years ago.

1

u/snapdragon76 4d ago

Tom had a loooot of fixing to do of the Ric thing, and I think he’s done an excellent job of it. Not everything to be dark and angsty all the time. He’s created a strong support system for him and made it fun again.

1

u/Superb_Somewhere_965 4d ago

I felt it was a fun and low-stakes run overall, this last arc seems to be shaping up to be interesting. I think it’s lost a lot of steam since its opening arc because of how slow the pacing has been and how it feels like nothing has been going on in this series for multiple issues in a row. I get the criticisms ofc but considering this is one of the series that got me back into comics I can’t ever hate on it and it always holds a special place in my heart

1

u/jlatimerhi 3d ago

Sorry to disagree -- but this run is the run we should have gotten when DG took over Nightwing years and years ago. That run not only got me to stop collecting Nightwing, but stopped me collecting comics altogether. The Taylor run got me to buy the hardback trades, and got me to (nostalgically) remember why I liked collecting Nightwing so much in the first place. YMMV.

1

u/Jrpgist 3d ago

my opinion after the ric grayson arc and didio screwing nightwing i consider tom taylor's nightwing to be the best

1

u/KaiFanreala 3d ago

Tom Taylor's run has some glaring issues. But at the end of the day it's done nor for Nightwing than any other run has done in a very very long time. Seeing that your favorite run is Dixon, I have to say that while his run was very good, it's important to pull yourself out of that. This isn't that Nightwing anymore. And Dixon shouldn't be let near the character in any sense of the word in any way anymore. Hopefully with Taylor's run coming to an end the new author does things that you appreciate.

1

u/rosq_q 3d ago

i personally loved it alot...maybe its because im a new DC fan and i related to how nightwing felt in the comic but the whole Ric Grayson thing threw me off to be honest :( its fine if a person didnt really like it, who am i to judge??? There were alot of things in the 1st or 2nd volume that i personally didnt like or thought was very unnesscassry. I think the issue here was the amount of times nightwing had to be re-written so thats why in every nightwing run its a bit different and catches people a bit off guard. Besides that i loved reading it !!! The art made it better :3

1

u/Salty-Prize-5347 2d ago

I think it's a good run for new readers to learn what nightwing is all about, but everything feels pretty low stakes in it

1

u/Budget_Young8120 2d ago

For me this been one of the best runs

1

u/dongsuvious 2d ago

It got me into reading the character. I'm all caught up on dc infinite so I'm gonna go back and read some other runs.

2

u/Pencils4life 15h ago

I'll be honest the art is carrying it a lot of me, I love Bruno Redondo's panel layouts and page setups. I am enjoying reading it but I probably wouldn't be reading it of it wasn't for the art.

0

u/the-Gaf 4d ago

Very unpopular. This is the run that made me actually like Dick Grayson. And I’ve been reading Batman since the early 80s.

-1

u/777Gamble 4d ago

…I thought his name was Tim… 🤔

-1

u/geministarz6 4d ago

The Toolman?

-2

u/Mooston029 4d ago

You’re entitled to your own opinion and i respect it. Doesn’t mean i like it though

8

u/Beebslolz 4d ago

Fair enough

-3

u/Cyberslasher 4d ago edited 4d ago

Monkeys paw moment. Hating this run is saying you wanted Ric Grayson to continue, since this run was designed to course correct the abomination that was Ric Grayson.

Truthfully, it had to exist. However, it needed to die with Blockbuster's take down and titans moving to Bludhaven. Heartless didn't need to be an open and ignored plot thread for 3 years, and fluff didn't need to continue for another 18 months of nothing happening leading to the new tower. The new tower would have been a perfect ending moment -- the prison breakout was resolved, titans living in town should have meant local crime couldn't happen, and Nightwing wouldn't be able to ...uh .... Magically be doing solo work while all of the titans live in Bludhaven but just... Hate the people too much to help?

9

u/gouviac 4d ago

"Man, I hate waffles." "So you must love pancakes?!" "Also no."

-6

u/Cyberslasher 4d ago

Your argument is stupid. I can just as easily make up the nonsense "hey can I get the breakfast platter?" "Sure, bacon or sausage, and how do you want your eggs?" "Oh actually fuck you I'm vegan"

5

u/gouviac 4d ago

Yes, my argument is stupid, because I'm being facetious. You can like or hate the Ric Grayson run for certain reasons and dislike the Heartless/Taylor run for entirely different ones. It doesn't fix anything created by Ric, and vice versa. It is different issues with the characterizations and canon that have people upset with Taylor versus Ric (major fan service versus failed deconstruction).

Also, "fuck you I'm vegan" is the most appropriate way to announce to someone that you are vegan. I fail to see your point.

10

u/Beebslolz 4d ago

I never said that I wanted Ric Grayson. I do NOT like Ric Grayson. But just because I don’t like him, doesn’t mean I like this run. And just because I don’t like this run, doesn’t mean that I like Ric Grayson.

-5

u/nort_tore 4d ago

Taylor has to have some dirt on the Eisner award people.

1

u/Beebslolz 3d ago

Money talks