New For Patrons: The Definitive Guide to DC's Nightwing, Dick Grayson

Today’s new guide for Patrons of Crushing Krisis fills in one of the major gaps in my DC coverage and brings my collection of Bat-Family guides a little bit closer to being complete:

Nightwing, Dick Grayson – The Definitive Reading Order and Collecting Guide

Dick Grayson occupies a distinct spot in both DC and Marvel history as a rare hero who had a long-standing, in-continuity early identity to which he will likely never be reverted.

That’s because Grayson was the original Robin to Bruce Wayne’s Batman in the Golden and Silver Ages – but, he’s spent the entire Post-Crisis modern age of comics as Nightwing (except for those few years he was Batman).

As a reader of primarily Marvel Comics, the first time I encountered Dick Grayson was during his time as Batman in Grant Morrison’s epic run with the caped crusader. I really didn’t know a thing about him other than that he was the first Robin, which made him seem pretty boring to me – like a character DC kept publishing just out of habit. It seemed like a dull gimmick to turn him into Batman.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. Grayson was new to wearing the cowl, but not to being a hero. He wasn’t as foolproof as Bruce as Batman, but he was more emotionally complex and pragmatic.

After Bruce retook the mantle, I was eager to read Dick Grayson as himself in DC’s New 52. It was there I fell in love with him as his own hero. He was like a cross between Batman and Daredevil – detective and acrobatic, experienced but imperfect, and also a hopeless flirt. All of those traits were emphasized when his series transformed into the brilliant Grayson, which made him a triple-crossing super-spy in the mold of TV’s Alias.

Nightwing’s guide should have been an easy one to create – he has only one pre-Flashpoint ongoing series, plus three tidily-collected series in New 52 and Rebirth.

Of course, I don’t know how do make an easy comic book guide.

The lack-of-ease began with realizing that I ought to make the Teen Titans and Outsiders guides before completing this one, since Nightwing’s guide would reference them both heavily.

Then, I hunted down every Dick Grayson appearance as Nightwing. There were way too many for me to summarize each one, but I did break them into chunks of Bat-Title Appearances, Team Appearances, and general Guest Appearances and then intersperse them through the years of his solo title. Plus, I listed all of Grayson’s appearances as Batman and where to find them in other Crushing Comics guides.

The result? A complete, issue-by-issue guide to Nightwing’s complete history in DC comics!

Want access to this guide today? It’s available in exchange for covering $1.99 a month of CK’s hosting expenses.