Comic Vine Review

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Grayson #12 - A Fine Performance

5

Grayson decides it's time to return to Gotham City. How will he handle everyone thinking he's dead?

It's hard to believe Dick Grayson has been "dead" and a spy for over a year now. I've always loved him as Nightwing but was intrigued to see where life as a spy would take him. This series has gotten better and better with each issue. We've seen some crazy and exciting things as Dick's gotten deeper and deeper into the Spyral organization. Now with the recent shift in power at the top of the organization, the question has been, where does that leave Dick? His original mission that Batman set him out on is complete. So with that, Dick decides to go back home.

Within the year he's been away, there have been some other changes in Gotham and with characters such as Batman. Dick decides to try to interact with his "family." He is now good at disguises so that could play a part. Tim Seeley and Tom King do a remarkable job with the interactions and emotions contained here. There's a great use of dialogue from past stories that's really fun to see. You'll want to read and try to identify each one. And because this is a comic book, nothing is ever as easy as it could be. Of course there's going to be a fascinating complication that will have a big affect on where Dick can go from here. If you're worried there might be a lack of action, you can rest assured. Seeley and King deliver some juicy twists to shake things up. When you get to the end, you might find yourself scratching your head.

What can be said about Mikel Janin's art that we haven't said before? As enjoyable as Seeley and King's stories are, I love seeing the way Janin depicts each character. There's always a nice mix in the layouts. We usually get a cool two-page spread along with different shifts in how the panels are laid out. Even the pages with all the conversations are enticing because it gives us a detailed look at the characters. Jeromy Cox's colors highly compliment the mood and tone of the story. There's a variety of settings and levels of brightness and each page just looks great.

Grayson is returning to Gotham City. That doesn't mean you can predict what's going to happen within these pages. Many feel Dick Grayson should be Nightwing but Tim Seeley and Tom King's story of Dick infiltrating Spyral has been fast-paced and exciting. With Dick returning to Gotham, there's a complete feeling of not knowing what's going on or coming up and that makes things even better. There are many moments you've been waiting for in this issue and we won't even hint at what happens but it's all pretty dang glorious. And then there's the explosive ending as well. GRAYSON remains one of DC's best comics. If you're not reading GRAYSON, fix that error ASAP.