Boy Wonder No More: Robin Becomes Nightwing

One of the more endearing qualities of the Batman Mythos is the concept of the Dynamic Duo.  Since the Spring of 1940, the team of Batman and Robin have been featured in comic books, television, movies, video games, etc.  Many people may not even know that there has been more than one young man to bear the mantle of the Boy Wonder (there have been several), mostly because the longest tenured and arguably most popular was the first: Dick Grayson.

 

Nightwing: Year One trade paperback cover art

Debuting in Detective Comics #38 (April, 1940), Dick remained in the pixie boots of Robin until mid-1984 when his role as leader of the group of sidekicks known as the Teen Titans and the lengths of time he was spending away from Gotham became longer and longer.  In order to step out of Batman’s shadow, Dick took on the role of Nightwing.  Dick first appeared as Nightwing in Tales of the Teen Titans #44 (July, 1984) battling his nemesis Deathstroke.

 

Tales of the New Teen Titans #44 (July, 1984)

It wasn’t until Nightwing got his own series (and 100 issues in at that) that the story of his transformation from Boy Wonder to Man Wonder was told in full.  Written by Chuck Dixon, Nightwing #101 to Nightwing #106 served as “Year One” for Dick Grayson as Nightwing.  The story begins with Robin returning to Gotham City from a mission with the Teen Titans to help Batman in a fight with Clayface.  Once back at the Batcave, Batman asks Alfred to get the Dynamic Duo a warm beverage to counter the effects of the winter weather to which they were just exposed.  Dick realized this request is just an excuse to get Alfred out of the room, which his internal monologue states might have prevented him and Batman from saying things they might regret.  After chastising him for never being around anymore, Batman fires Dick from being Robin.

 

Bruce being a total douche

Throughout the story, Dick encounters several other heroes, namely Superman who Dick turns to immediately after being fired, as Dick looks up to Superman and considers him a friend.  It is the Man of Steel himself that gives Dick the idea for the name Nightwing when telling him a story about a superhero of the same name on his native planet of Krypton.  Another hero the newly christened Nightwing teams-up with in this story is his former flame, Batgirl.  Having experienced a romance in their younger years, Dick and Batgirl have since split and Dick has been involved with Starfire of the Teen Titans more recently.  This leads to more than a few… Tension filled moments between the two.

 

Nightwing copping a feel

Lovebirds-of-Prey

Once establishing his new name and costume, he makes a visit to Arkham Asylum to see an “old friend”.

 

The Clown Prince of Crime getting dealt with

While the plot-line of the story is that of Dick’s transformation to Nightwing, it also serves to introduce the second Robin, Jason Todd.  Jason was a street-wise kid that Batman caught attempting to steal the hubcaps off the Batmobile.  Rather than turn him over to the authorities, Batman takes in Jason (who is either an orphan or has a deadbeat mobster for a father, depending on the story you’re reading) and trains him as the new Robin.  This is significant for two reasons.  First, it establishes the concept of “The Boy Wonder” as a role to be passed on, rather than being the identity of one person consistently.  Secondly, it grows the “Batman Family” by one.  Eventually, Batman’s network of allies would grow to be a formidable force and this story begins this trend.

 

Boy Wonder version 2.0

Jason is put through a gauntlet of challenges that serve as a “final test” for him to finally become Robin.  Through the course of this, he encounters Nightwing and the two team-up to complete the challenges together, effectively passing the torch from one to another.

 

A Duo of a different Dynamic

Now, this isn’t a “Batman” story, per se.  It’s about Dick Grayson (which is ironic because it’s Batman that acts like a total Richard throughout the story).  But, Dick (or Robin or Nightwing) has been around just one year shy of the amount of time that the Dark Knight has and is, in my opinion, the second most important person in the Batman Mythos.  Consequently, we’ll be seeing quite a bit more of Nightwing in the posts to come.

Thanks for reading!

-Josh

Sources: Wikipedia

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