So what would you rather have everything go back to normal so they can retell the same stories all over again?

I actually love this idea.This is an interesting new direction for Dick and I am definitely on board for this.

My main problem is that he is using a gun in that image which seems a little out of character.

Guess they should let the fans write the scripts...that would be so much better right?

They will never please everybody.

I'm usually open-minded, but this seems like a step backwards for Grayson.

If written well the gun should be a non-issue anyway. Most spies never use guns in the field.

I read somewehre that batman knows about dick but he will not tell any other members of batfamily including Alfred

What freaking same story? Does Batman get the same story? Spiderman? Do you even know how much potential NIghtwing has as an character? Obviously you don't because you wouldn't be saying that. Taking away EVERYTHING that fans loved about the character and made him who he IS, is NEVER the answer to tell a new story.

@jonny_anonymous: Perhaps.

yeah really not liking this at first glance. HE WAS A GREAT SUPERHERO why make him a spy? And even if he was a spy why not give him a mask and let him still be a superhero

After thinking about it a little bit more if any comic character would get me in to the spy type comics it would be Grayson. It will be interesting to see how he uses that gun he is holding. Also i hope they mention that he is an expert marksman with weapons even though the Bat-family is known for not using them.

It sounds like Batman is the one that convinced him to stay dead and take this role which if true aggravates me. He should have made this decision on his own. I hope they don't just give him a character similar to Luthor of Joker (like the arch enemy he had in Chicago). His arch enemy should be like Red Skull or Sin from Marvel.

If you don't like Nightwing stories, don't read them. There are other characters out there. Why take everything meaningful about a character besides the name? Plenty of people enjoyed that character as is.

--

You know what? You're right. There have been 75 years of Superman stories. That's stale. Let's change the title to "Kent," remove his supporting cast, and have him work as a powerless cop in Detroit.

Oooh, even better: you're tired of James Bond right? Let's make him a female and call him 008 instead. Oh, and he's not a spy anymore. He's a short order cook in china town looking for his long lost father.

--

What's the point of reading about this character when there are no Nightwing stories? If you want other stories, read other characters.

Jeebus. Another character lost for 24 months.

I have no idea what the context of this scan is I just think it's funny

Exactly and The Hood is also an agent of Spyral and he doesn't kill either.

Yes... they do. And that's why writers do shake ups like Superior Spider-Man and Batman R.I.P.

The Spiderman elements are still there and so are the Batman elements. If it wasn't for the character's name, this character in this book could be a whole new one.

How does not telling alfred and barbara protect them? is bats afraid those two cant keep a secret? that is just lame comic book soap opera nonsense. i would love to know the reasoning behind taking one of dc most popular characters and changing his status quo this much. he is too much like batman? but the 4 or 5 batbooks arent too much like batman?

Using the same name for a totally different character =/= changing the direction for a character.

Take Superman's powers and focus the book on him being an investigative journalist in a war zone. << not Superman

Put Cyborg's brain into a clone of himself so he's a regular guy again and teach him Batman's 127 fighting styles. He becomes a wondering monk in the far East. << not Cyborg.

Et Cetera.

Putting that gun in his hand to me is like having Superman start breaking people's necks... oh wait..

I'm down with seeing how this pans out. A fresh and different approach to the character.

Well, the second is pretty far from the original :-P also don't give DC ideas!
I am still waiting for "Cyborg and the Metal Men"

I don't believe he will use the gun, for nothing more than intimidation and incapacitation.

@jonny_anonymous said:

@tdk_1997 said:

I actually love this idea.This is an interesting new direction for Dick and I am definitely on board for this.

My main problem is that he is using a gun in that image which seems a little out of character.

I have no idea what the context of this scan is I just think it's funny

I am seeing this scan for the first time in my life. LOL

DC's Agents of B.A.T. (lol) can he really be a secret agent ? we know who he is?

I don't know what to think of this, the gun seems wrong considering he was batman's student. I think it would be cooler if they made him a wanderer who would take care of random problems from town to town. The spy thing could be interesting but i don't know.

With Dicks skills, he's probably more useful as a covert super ninja spy than a public super-hero.
"Nightwing" has the means to be anything amazing really but this just looks... like wtf? His identity was revealed so... why isn't he wearing a damn disguise?!
I bet Red Hoods wondering where his pistol went..

I'm open to the idea. Can't knock the product until you've read the product

I really don't like this.

24 months, exactly. New takes on characters never last and it always goes back to the same old stuff because fanboys don't actually want characters to evolve naturally so why are you crying about it? Characters sometimes change and sometimes for the better like when John Stewart took over from Hal.

QFT.

Super spies don't wear disguise

1. 1-2 years is a VERY long time

2. When John took over from Hal, those were still GL stories. These are not Nightwing stories. They effectively cancelled Nightwing, when it had good sales. That's wrong.

A while back everyone was complaining how dc cinematics doesnt understand the true essence of their source material at many times. But i guess these days even DC is failing to understand itself.
This could have been so much different. Why a spy??!!
What was wrong with a rogue superhero... or everyone chasing greyson.
What about his connection to bruce wayne leading up to secret identities of the bat family??!! Nothing? Just make him a spy?
This is so getting a dumb retcon soon.

Note: Im really trying to not judge by the cover btw

I am open to the idea but I'm not thrilled about it. The gun concerns me. Others have pointed out that Dick has been a cop in the past but this is different. A (good) cop uses his gun only when he/she has no other choice. I just really don't want to see Dick bursting into fights guns a blazing. He is no killer. Plus, I'm going to miss him as Nightwing. At least the art will no doubt be fantastic.

The allusions to Bucky Barnes are stupid; the characters really don't share that much in common, other than being former sidekicks. Grayson isn't brainwashed. Grayson isn't an assassin. Only a person with very little imagination would claim that Grayson is being "Winter Soldiered."

Secondly, LOL at the high speed come apart by the fanboys freaking out.

I'd also like to add that his new look is really boring. The character that this seems derivative of (Winter Soldier) has a great look. This is just standard secret agent gear with a blue G and some blue trim. If they wanted to hearken back to his black and blue Nightwing costume, they could have made it a little more dynamic.

There could be worse things than being the DCU's James Bond/Ethan Hunt.

Same here. At last, something new in the "new" 52.

1st thought: Is that Dick with a GUN?! Wut......

*reads article*

2nd thought: They're gonna make him Bucky?. Smoove, DC, smooooove....... -____-.......

1. Remember when people lost their minds when Simon Baz had a gun?

2. I doubt that Dick would use his real name as a spy. Especially with a CIA guy as co-writer.

3. If he fakes his death, no one will be looking for him. Some may say " you look like that dead Richard Grayson guy"

4. Before he was Batman, Nightwing or Robin, he was Dick Grayson. He's more malleable than Batman in that respect.

This is a Jason Todd and Bucky Barnes rip off. Nope not for me.

HATE THIS DIRECTION!!

@jonny_anonymous: My stance on this has really softened maybe because I went back and read some old Nick Fury comics from the 60's and they where pretty fun. With that said fans do want new things and organic growth for the characters. I mean the best example of this is look at how pissed people where that Marvel stole all the evolution Peter Parker went through and I have heard countless people argue that there is no point in routing for a superhero couple because they will not let them get married or have children they are stuck in a state of arrested development.

Also this is not a natural evolution for Dick Grayson. If this was Batwoman yes it would make a lot of sense since she was in the navy and could have some ties to some intelligent agencies. Dick on the other hand it seems a odd.

What happened here is bad timing and people are just sick of DC's changes because so many in the recent past have been misfires so fans are quicker to judge.

Anyways that is my two cents.

It doesn't seem too bad. I may pick up an issue or two of this to try it out.

Yeah, sure, this is gonna suck, not like there's actually talented people working on this, right?

Comic book readers can be so dense sometimes.

Apart from having a gun, in what way is this a Jason Todd rip off? Besides Dick Grayson possessed guns long before Jason Todd became Red Hood.

this is really pathetic. As if Bruce, with all his resources, couldn`t come up with a new secret identity for his pupil. So he was the first robin, then nightwing and his own man, and now he`s a superspy working for an agency?? Lame. way to ruin a character. Way to mess with the Bat-status quo too. He was better off dead

Thanks Geoff Johns, I`m sure this is on you. You just can`t get enough of bad-bat characterization. F You

@Squalleon The gun is so out of character, even with him being a cop in Bludhaven the gun aspect just seems wrong and the super spy thing COMPLETELY came out of nowhere. I can see how you feel he fulfilled his role being Batman. But personally I feel Dick assumed the mantle of Batman out of obligation for what Bruce did for him, so he assumed the father figure for Damian. My take has always been Dick viewed himself as place holder until Damian became 18 or 21 & he could assume the mantle of Batman, get the keys to Wayne Industries & stately Wayne manor. So Dick reverting to Nightwing after Bruce’s return only seemed natural to me.

@GraniteSoldier I’ll give it chance, I love the character too much to not give it a chance. And I do like that they have a former spy/ operator giving input to the book. Seems more a black widow vibe, than Winter soldier. Red Hood seems t tap more into the Winter soldier vibe

For all the people that are mad that Dick Grayson has a gun, did you forget that Dick used to be a cop? Every cop carries a gun and is trained to use their weapon. So Dick isn't some character that has never held a gun and all of a sudden is now shooting people. Like I said in my first post, I just hope they don't have him killing people. Many people carry a gun every day and have never killed anyone.

The thing that really bothers me is all the so called Dick Grayson fans that are complaining about this and some of them say that they'd rather him be dead than a super-spy. Really? So you people would rather him die than get a cool new job. Are you that afraid of a character changing? Come on people, give the comic a chance before you shit all over it, especially if you consider yourself a fan of Dick Grayson.

A fan asked Seeley if it was a non-lethal gun. Seeley aswered with "You will see". I am not fond with the gun either but everything else is ok.
Obligation or not, Dick's destiny was always to pick up the mantle, even unwillingly. Nightwing may be his own identity but it is character degression.
The problem with Dick as Nightwing is that the character was stuck. He couldn't go anywhere from there. Evolution isn't possible because he will overshadow the Batman and we can't have that. So instead we got a Nightwing title that was a big tie in for Snyder's events. Higgin's literally spend half a year worth of issues to built something that will crumble in the next bat-event. And Chicago as good as it was, it was a journey Dick had completed multiple times(Bludhaven,NY etc.)

Hahahahahahahahaha *SNORT* Hahahahahahaha! whew!

Oh my...the possibilities of a government vs Batfamily war is...

So tantalizing I can't take it. Say hello to my next pull from N52 lol

Congratulations Comic Vine, you are currently the most negative mainstream comic book site, even the CBR users didn't bitch this much.

I like it.

so his now archer

While I'm not a fan of the Nightwing costume being retired, or passed on to another person, as I feel that act cheapens the persona & weakens the franchise by adding in main-stream confusion & the fact movies/tv will only use the original, I'm actually more annoyed by them using Spyral & not just having it be Checkmate. Same with ARGUS being on Arrow.

Done right, with Dick being public, it actually could direct away from Bruce why the Batfamily had so many resources in Gotham.

But I'd much rather Jason Todd be made into the super-spy. I am not a fan of him using the RedHood name if he is gonna be kept as a hero, anti or not. Put Dick back in as Nightwing, it'll happen soon enough anyway, honestly why even waste the potential on Dick, have Jason be the Super-spy & make RedHood be Dick or Tim's arch-rival.