Chapter Text
THE RIC GRAYSON ‘AMNESIA ARC’ SUMMARIZED
[SO YOU CAN AVOID (MOST OF) THE NONSENSE]
****UNDER CONSTRUCTION BUT POSTED EARLY BC I'VE GOTTEN FOUR DIFFERENT ASKS ABOUT IT**** [Which is really cool]
First and foremost other people have said all this before and better so please go check out the following analysis:
1. celestialsucculent|NightwingMyBoi's AMAZING succinct summary HERE and additional commentary HERE and also here. Here again!
2. I've also used some of the images from NightwingMyBoi's various posts as I must use a URL to get images up here vs my own scans and screenshots... which is frustrating as honestly I'd rather just use those vs another's links like this but...
If asked to take the images/chapter down, I will. For now though I hope they don't mind my using their Tumblr links for image URLs.
START
General Backstory | The Amnesia Scenario
There's a Hit on the Titans that somehow gets around Dick's security flags.
Roy Harper is shot (later revealed he also survives. KGBeast is not worth the money apparently).
Dick Grayson is shot in the head while out as Nightwing, in the GCPD, in front of Batman (Bruce Wayne) and Comm Jim Gordon.
Dick survives but has amnesia which... isn't the worst case scenario having been sniped through the head.
The Initial Plot | Even DC Admits That Dick Wouldn't be Ric Without Outside Interference
Long short, it turns out Dick’s long term care doctor, Dr. Haas, one that Bruce apparently personally chose whoops, conditions Dick to be uncomfortable around his family during the first stages of his recovery.
The story really kicks off because Dick, despite this conditioning and later revealed actual magical mind control, still goes to the manor, despite Dr. Haas's repeat and explicit warnings that it would set his recovery back and was a bad idea, and gives the whole Wayne family thing a chance.
So this means, per se, that Ric Grayson is a created and manipulated persona. The Ric persona is NOT the baseline Dick personality or even indicative of what Dick would be like with amnesia. Dick's actions, choices, and most notably his persisting kindness are all in-spite of great acting outside forces!
[ **Nightwing #70** My own doctor is responsible for this. She used this…memory crystal to manipulate me. Wayne brought her in after the KGBeast shot me. The world saw her as just a brain trauma specialist. What no one knew was that Dr. Haas was with the Court of Owls. They’d been cultivating me since childhood to join them as an assassin. A Talon. With her drugs, advanced psych techniques, and this crystal…I was putty in her hands.]
BatFam Is Fanon Confirmed
And the bat clan (mostly Alfred, Barbara, and Bruce but I'd argue Tim is also culpable) were present and thus directly complicit in this... Instead of gently supporting him, or calling help from any number of Dick’s past allies and friends to help support him or jog his memory, or even calling for one of the magic users or meta healers (that are also Dick’s teammates or friends) choose to traumatize Dick with a video of Dick getting shot in the head because they needed Nightwing *now* and no one cares if they have to harm Dick to make that happen.
I’m not even kidding. It’s… horrific. And! Like most events regarding Dick Grayson in the DC universe, it gets WORSE with context! Because as some may recall, Bruce RECENTLY lost his memories and ya know how that was handled?
Alfred literally throws the kids out of the Manor, hides all evidence of their existence, and gently walks Bruce through his own history.
*Batman (2011) #43* [A note that this is not too long after Bruce brutalized Dick into going undercover at Spyral and that at this time no one other than now amnesiac Bruce knew Dick was alive and now stranded in a lethal op with no back up or exit strategy.]
Alfred allows Bruce the choice to do what he wishes with his life.
Even if it means he doesn’t choose to be Batman OR associate with anything that came of him being Batman... Like funding the JLA.
Or, oh, hey, the like six children he’s taken in and trained and abused.
…hell, Alfred even encouraged that choice, and everyone bent over backwards so that it could happen; wanting Bruce to be happy first and foremost.
I mean, moved everyone out of the Manor and locked up the Batcave all so Bruce could be an amnesiac billionaire, with all the money in the world, a fancy, empty, house, etc. Living his best, selfish, life. Thanks, Alfred. [I'm really no longer fond of Alfred.]
But Dick? The second he won’t “become Nightwing” (described as a selfish act ("He doesn't realize we need him.") by Barbara Gordon in a panel down below) he is literally thrown out onto the streets.
Are we worried about how Dick is recovering from being shot in the head?
Or how this is all very traumatizing?
[SURE. ALRIGHT. SHOW THE AMNESIAC A BLOODY SUIT AND LIKE 7 SCREENS OF HIM GETTING SNIPED IN THE HEAD GREAT IDEA. GROUP OF GENIUSES. SURE. Also the cult vibes are strong here - "So you'll remember," "And come back to us." CREEPY!]
Apparently what matters about Dick Grayson is that he is *there to support you all!*. If he can’t do that, does he even matter?
(You know what, why don’t we just play Surface Pressure from Encanto? It might actually be a faster recap: https://youtu.be/tQwVKr8rCYw except, you know, Louisa’s fears are Dick’s reality and this whole arc just establishes it as canon.)
Okay where were we... Ah, yes. We showed an already traumatized, and drugged, and magic-affected amnesiac HD videos of himself getting sniped in thread from multiple angles and a super suit covered in his own blood.
After all that, Dick is horrified and angry because they’ve hurt him with this, and so he tells them all to leave him alone, says that he doesn’t want to be Nightwing because all of this scares him… and that’s somehow unreasonable on his part.
[Right. Good to know how you feel about this, Babs, but, uh, I'm not sure why it's the focus of this panel? Like, she looks great here, that's nice, but what she's saying is... really concerning. Babs' character has gone through the wringer right alongside Dick's recently.]
Dick does run screaming out of the manor. Which between the actual bat cave, the people dressed as bats, the super suit with his blood on it and everything else feels pretty reasonable.
What's not reasonable is that, after shouting at Dr Haas as Dick flees - once again ignoring Dick's agency - the Bats then proceed to cut Dick off financially. They confiscate/bar Ric from accessing Dick Grayson’s personal assets - but note they do not distribute his will bc that would drag in the over-verse of DC!
This includes barring "Ric" access to Dick's Bludhaven apartment [ie: a place to LIVE beyond the medical center].
The disparate treatments here between Amnesia!Bruce (which occurred during the Spyral Arc) and Amnesia-sniped-in-the-head!Dick are pretty wild.
And then Dr. Haas “suggests” Dick move to Bludhaven (alone! No finances or set up!!) — of course you find out later that this wasn’t a suggestion at all bc she’s drugging him and using MAGIC to subtly control and isolate Dick.
DC then writes that the Bat family is A-OKAY with this. That they all, with a billionaire’s funds and all the resources in the world, just give up and leave Dick all alone to live homeless, on the streets, after getting shot in the head. Without (as far as they're aware) even his skills as a vigilante to protect him in a rough town like Bludhaven (because– amnesia!)?
So - likely due to the whole magic memory crystal and drugs, Dick does move to Bludhaven. And he doesn’t have a place to live. (Now, why the CoO doesn't scoop him up here is likely 100% due to the fact that this whole project got bounced between 4 different authors but re-reading it is a trip and a half. This is Dick's second canon forward foray into homelessness and his third if you count the implied time span between Dick being kicked out of the manor or as the fandom calls it; "fired" and Dick establishing Nightwing and the Titans.)
Ric eventually lives out of a cab (that he was barely able to get given he has no history and no ID). He had to hustle pool to get pocket change to eat, and Bea Bennet (best love interest since Starfire, I said it, even with DC’s clumsy writing) still had to cover Dick's tab for meals at her bar, something she did out of Kindness (and because she too once was hungry and homeless).
And the few times we see the "BatFam" visit? They're not there to check upon Dick. It's not to see if he's alright, or happy, or even safe... No, they're there to get what they need - namely, a Dick Grayson who will support them. Because that's what matters most!
They're aware Dick/Ric is homeless and living out of a cab. They just... don't care.
And I mean, allegedly they were aware of everything including but not limited to: Dick getting targeted by Scarecrow, being homeless, starving, and having to gamble for food money...
I really hope you weren't actually watching Bruce, that is NOT a good thing to admit... also that's Tim, not Damian. Damian is with the Titans but is also just hand waved out of the story bc... reasons?
This all just gets... incredibly worse when at the end of the saga Bruce "comfortingly" informs Dick that he was "watching over him the entire time." Like holy cripes Bruce I sure hope you WERE NOT! I mean, Dick was attacked by Scarecrow, the Court of Owls, *and* the Joker and not a PEEP from the entire supposedly hyper vigilant and caring Batman and Bat Clan. Right. [ BatFam is Fanon Confirmed.]
The Needless Nightwings | No I Don't Know Why DC Wrote These Guys In Either
Now in the meantime, Ric managed to come across one of Dick's Nightwing stashes and, due to the magic crystal brainwashing, promptly had a panic attack and attempted to burn all of his vigilante gear.
Now because Dick doesn't make cheap shit, the gear survived... and gets found by Dick's rampagingly arrogant and incompetent former peers at the BHPD some BHPD officers.
The officers steal take the singed gear and start trying to live the vigilante life, calling themselves (creatively) the "Nightwings" -- they are not very good or effective but do indeed believe themselves to be hot shit.
They, like most DC characters, oscillate between being dramatically impressed by 'Ric' and talking down to him within the same panel.
(If we could please stop calling Dick Grayson any variant of the term 'rookie' when he's literally one of the veterans/founders of the DC universe that would be swell. It's not even ironically entertaining.)
The Court of Owls | Road Trips to Bludhaven for This, Which is More than the Bat Clan Really Bothered to Do
This is a problem because when the Court comes a knocking for Nightwing... they find those chumps instead and are NOT amused.
[Nightwing #63] We actually get a lot more respect FOR Dick Grayson out of William Cobb than any other character in this arc. Which, given he's categorically Evil, isn't great.
I won’t go deep into the CoO stuff - though it IS so cool and SO underused for Dick (outside of fandom whumping).
It is also another thing that's been cut up and handed out to other characters... Here, Damian and Bruce in ways that frankly don’t make sense in the reboots/retcons.
For quite a while, the Court of Owls was thought to be a myth, known only through a nursery rhyme.
The guy in the bad rubber-looking suit who shows up via knifing some of the Nightwings is Dick’s Biological Great Grandfather, a quasi-immortal assassin named William Cobb. He’s referred to as The Talon (as opposed to the other ‘talons’ who are the lesser quasi-immortal assassins who are kept in cryofreeze to stay young vs Cobb The Talon).
Talons have incredible healing powers/regenerative capabilities; the only way to take them out is to freeze or decapitate them. Anything else and they’ll just heal.
Court of Owls arc reveals that Dick was intended to eventually serve the court of owls based on his lineage (great grandfather, William Cobb). The extent to which Dick was anticipated isn't established (though the Graysons specifically were shown to be under watch, not just the circus in general. Likewise Dick's early practices and performances were shown to be known and watched by the Court). What for and how much contact was ever had is unknown.
Moreover, Haley’s Circus (Dick’s childhood home, the place Dick funded and maintained with his own savings through and across multiple canons, the place that we see him returning to for comfort) is a child trafficking ring to both collect and pre-train kids who later serve the Court in various capacities.
[[The Court of Owls storyline from *Batman (2011) #7* is now CONFIRMED to have been originally written for Batman!Dick Grayson... which makes so much more sense!!!]]
Note that the CoO of Batman 2011 was a weird retcon rewrite of the original Court of Owls saga where, despite literally revealing that this is a whole connection to Dick Grayson… they rewrote the story line in Batman 2011 #7 to be like… no… they want Bruce Wayne to Join Them and they write in Bruce’s supposedly dead older brother from another dimension, "Thomas Wayne Jr" to be “Owlman” as the main villain. Like. that’s not contrived and forced at all. Noooo.
[Some readers may recognize Owl Man from the end of Forever Evil when he kidnaps Dick, because he's pre-teen Tim Drake levels of obsessed with Dick Grayson yikes, and beats the living shit out of him with Superwoman (Wonderwoman's evil counterpart) and crew before strapping him into the Murder Machine which ends with Lex Luthor suffocating Dick and launching us straight into Spyral.]
The above aside, the reveal on the 2011 Court of Owls and Talon retcon backstory was… miserable.
Especially because, as noted above, they wrote Dick out of the main plot.
But especially so because they drag Dick in as a cameo for the sole purpose of proving the Talon connection... via having Bruce punch Dick hard enough to knock out a molar without any warning or preamble.
And, again, WHY did Bruce jump immediately to hitting Dick? Okay you need the tooth. Great. Lucky hit much??? The odds of that getting the tooth out AND GETTING THE RIGHT TOOTH ON THE FIRST TRY?! Completely unnecessary and gratuitous violence directed at Dick by a family member he’s supposed to be able to trust (somehow) (despite the numerous past examples of physical abuse)! I don't care that "he's Batman" that was a DUMB way to do that!
Which is double great, because hitting Dick (usually in the face) is actually a canonic Bat Clan method of dealing with emotions and disappointments.
Bruce of course starts it all and this is one of the more famous ones.
[IMAGE - Jason: I'm spoiled for choice here. Jason has shot Dick several times, hit him, punched him specifically for Spyral, and even intentionally murdered while in a stolen Nightwing suit... And all of it is based in Jason's personal dislike for Dick, not for any specific reprisal.]
]
Cass: Batgirl #46 Cass throws Dick out a window after hearing from Babs how she (Barbara) somehow misconstrued Tarantula (Dick’s soon-to-be rapist) kneeing him in the groin and forcing him into a kiss to be ‘romantic’…aka Barbara saw Dick get sexually assaulted and blamed him for it. And Dick’s thrown out a window for that.
Damian apparently just smacks when he doesn't like what Dick has to say... Like Father, Like Son.
Tim Red Robin #4 - I'm using this one specifically because its become a personal pet peeve. Dick suggests (calmly) that Tim seek help to deal with his grief. Tim attacks Dick.
Right, I digressed, back to "Why" Dick was hit in the fist place...
Bruce punches Dick hard enough to damage his jaw in order to remove an electrum tooth. Supposedly proving without a doubt that Dick was meant to become a Talon and then, having dropped both Dick to the ground and this horrible news proceeds to focus on... well, himself.
-
Also note that Dick immediately has to start comforting Bruce right after this. He just picks himself up and starts planning their next Atk. Bruce, meanwhile, yells at Dick some more - gets emotional about Bruce’s supposed place in all this, and then shouts that Dick has to leave Gotham. At the very least we get to see a bit of Dick's classic 'Defy Fate' mentality...
Right, Okay, background asserted -- Back to the Court of Owls in the Ric Grayson Arc!
Grandpa Talon Cobb rolls up and starts taking out the Nightwings (who no reader is really fond of but probably not so much that you actually would wish stabbings and impalement upon them). Ric shows up with Bea.
Cobb attacks Bea. Ric - still with no memories! - fights Talon. Talon overpowers Ric, and forces him to wear *memory-altering goggles* (what.) that implant a second life in his head – a life where Dick was raised to become Talon.
Naturally this results in nothing good.
Dick/Ric/Talon proceeds to assault and seriously injure the remaining Nightwings as his first Court assigned assassination targets.
(Literally continuing the over all theme of "Nightwing must die.")
Sadly this whole arc is left feeling cheap and honestly needlessly confusing as Dick is freed from the Court's control shortly thereafter due to a lucky hit to the goggles.
Which rendered them totally useless? Which... fine, okay, sure, whatever. The memory crystal was a thing from the Court, w h y did we need memory goggles?!
Dick (in a frankly superior owl themed get up, step it up Cobb what was with the original Talon gear?) then turns around and proceeds to beat Cobb up a little, and tell him that no one can define his fate but him. This defying fate trope is a throwback to a lot of the original Nightwing and Titans arcs.
Sadly, this is where the CoO strangely just fade back away into the shadows…
Dick is now struggling with the memories of two lives in his head, causing debilitating headaches. Bea and Dick discover Dr. Haas is responsible for Dick’s memory loss, and Dick tracks her down. He manages to take the memory crystal from Dr. Haas–a key tool in controlling him.
All should be well now, right?
The cops realize they’re not cut out for this and hobble home or bleed out. Dick can probably hand-wave his secret ID again somehow, Bea is Ride Or Die for real and Dick is getting his head back in order with the boost from the goggles and now possession of the magic deus ex machina crystal!
We’re just about done here, right?
…Right?
I mean… wasn’t this all about retiring Nightwing one way or another?
(Can’t we be done? Hasn’t Dick been through enough now?)
Nope. Of course not.
GUESS WHO ELSE ROAD TRIPPED TO BLUDHAVEN? | The Joker!
[***Space Spazz 101, this is the“Boogie-Woogie-Trauma-Crystal, I’m your Dad!"]
Because why not. Like Murder Granda Cobb, the Joker is... weirdly defensive of the Nightwing mantle?
And he also, apparently, knows about this crystal because why wouldn’t he? It’s not like its unique and the first time we’ve ever seen one ever before! Cripes.
But instead of killing Dick. Or flat out breaking his brain or enslaving him, the Joker goes a really weird, possibly darker actually, route instead.
‘Cause Joker. Memory Crystal. Dick getting passed around between parties like a toy And what does Joker choose to do??
Yep. “OH LOOK, FREE REAL ESTATE. MY SON NOW, BATSY.”
Wild.
There’s a few issues in between. And Joker!Crystal!Dick actually beats the daylights out of Jason Todd as Redhood in the Nightwing Issue AND in the Red Hood & Outlaws publications (this is the source of the somewhat infamous "little red riding hood" & "big bad wolf" quotes). Because ofc Joker thinks it's hilarious to send Dick after Robin 2 (aka the one Joker beat to death). Classy, DC. Very classy.
This is about the point Bea when (SENSIBLY) runs to Gotham to get help.
She finds Barbara Gordon instead.
Babs... pretty much ignores everything Bea tells her, and finally tracks Dick down. Only for him to kick her ass.
Babs on panel verbatim wonders "how Dick could do this to her." (BECAUSE HE IS BRAINWASHED, BARBARA. And also you left him to live on streets - AGAIN - when he didn’t snap to when you all demanded after having been SHOT IN THE HEAD. I am just SO upset by the writing and portrays of Barbara Gordon in recent Nightwing Arcs. It's not quite as bad as what they do to Dick but it's getting really close in my opinion.)
In the end, Barbara manages to escape from Dick, Dick in turn runs into Jason and Tim who manage to stall him out while Bea and Barbara get the crystal back from the Joker.
Dick’s internal narration during these events, meanwhile, has devolved into nonsensical sentence fragments because his brain has undergone physical trauma (bullet), emotional trauma (made up, implanted, and absolutely already knocking around in there), a solid does of drugs from Dr. Haas and Scarecrow, the goggles from the Court of Owls, and now the crystal again (blunt force) via the Joker. I mean, Dick ”remembers” his parents beating him, which is just heartbreaking.
Bea recovers the crystal from JokerBY HITTING HIM IN THE HEAD WITH A BASEBALL BAT, WE STAN, and then gives it to Dick.
Bea emphasizes Dick’s choice. She is the only character to do so in the entire narration but the panel serves as good summation of most of her and Dick’s conversations.
Bea gives the crystal TO DICK. SHE DOESN’T USE IT which is so important.
Because you now know the Bats wouldn’t hesitate to either use it themselves or be a little petty with it- intentionally or otherwise.
I shudder to think what Bruce or Babs or Tim would have ‘said’ thinking they were ‘fixing Dick.’ For once, Jason is the least of my worries.
She inspires Dick to heal himself with the crystal even through all the odds against him.
This is as warm and fuzzy as it gets because disgustingly, the very first thing you as a reader and Dick with his memories restored get to hear post his autonomy and memory and sense of self are returned to him for the first time in nearly 100 editions is literally... “He’s Ours Again” from Bruce Wayne.
Also Babs looks so smug???
Could we please for five seconds just care about Dick as a person, instead of a thing to claim. Please .
AND THAT'S THE END OF THE Ric Grayson ARC [and also into Joker Wars among a few other minor arcs but that's the be all end all of 'Ric']
EDIT: Where was Damian Grayson Wayne in all this?
(Nightwing Annual #2)
Damian was kept off panel despite both characters (Damian and Dick) being alive and knowing the other was alive for the first time in real-world years and quite a few arcs in the comics time line.
(Noting that Grayson, better known as the Spyral Arc, was published in 2014-2016 and the Ric Grayson (coordinated by Tom King, who was writing the Batman side of things, and Dan Dido - who has repeatedly said he wants to kill Dick Grayson off permanently) was published from 2018-2020. I know everyone loves the drama of Spyral but a lot has actually happened since! ...unfortunately including all of this.)
Going back through it, this was around the same time as Damian's Titans debut (see: DC once again recycling characters and comic plot arcs from Dick's history), meaning Damian was (again, meta / real world stuff) TECHNICALLY shifted outside of the Batman Comics corner.
So, much like with Jason, the authors who had their hands on Dick for this saga couldn't get their hands on Damian (thank goodness).
I think the fandom consensus is that Damian would Not Have Handled It Well and interpretations on that vary from awful angst (usually ignoring that Dick is being HEAVILY drugged and magically influenced to slam Damian's insecurities) to, frankly, the realization that there'd be little stopping Damian from trying (and likely succeeding) to shove Ric into the nearest Lazarus Pit, side effects be damned.
I don't have similar answers about Tim's character in this arc. While he's not on panel NEARLY as often as Barbara or Bruce, he's still referenced and is depicted as living in Gotham AND made aware of Dick's situation. DC really just wanted to obliterate the previously solid Dick&Tim relationship and rapport. Which is devastating as a reader because it was such a cornerstone for both characters...
EDIT: Post Arc Babs Continuing to be a Victim Blamer and Generally OOC
Like, okay, we got this characterization FIRMLY established back in the Block Buster arc but WOW.
Clear example below, Babs flat out blames Dick for his actions while suffering amnesia, from being shot in the head, and then drugged and then magically whammied not once, but twice. And she blames Dick for what he was made to do. So again, Babs is a canonical victim blamer. At least she didn't blame Dick for being sexually harassed, assaulted, and then raped this time.
TLDR: I can't stomach Barbara Gordon anymore, I am not upset about Warner Bros canceling that movie before it could premier because I was genuinely AFRAID as to where they'd be pulling the basis of her character from, and Babs/Dick has become a NOTP. Which is unfortunate because I used to like Babs|Batgirl|Oracle but, well, not anymore. Thanks, DC!
EDIT: Everyone Was Pissed About This, But Wally West Really Wasn't Chill
I honestly can't stand the new "Nightwing" [aka Weekly Cameo and Show-Off of every character except for Nightwing] but this one caught me...
That position at the end kills me. Paint him like one of your murderous French girls~
EDIT: Who is Bea Bennet Anyway?
Bea Bennet is a human civilian. She has no training.
Her background isn’t well done by DC bc DC struggles to write women in general and women of color especially, but she reveals to Ric (Dick) that she had to survive being homeless at a young age (in Bludhaven) and to work to build her life from the ground up. It’s a big reason why she first reaches out to help him (and others).
Her courage, spirit, kindness, and drive are a rarity to see in DC comics and in the Batman corner especially.
Also, in arc totally devoted to breaking Dick Grayson for not being Nightwing it was nice to see someone value his intrinsic worth as a human.
I was 100% up for Bea being a friend, but she actually rocked the love interest category trope too given her behavior doesn’t really change outside of being more physically affectionate right up until the very last scenes where DC decided they had to get rid of her.
They uh very blatantly did so in order for Babs to be the love interest in the Nightwing 2021 comic reboot. Which is another saga of gorgeously drawn character assassination that panders mainly to Tim and Babs while making Dick look weak and ineffective… there is a three legged pitbull puppy though so it’s not ALL bad.
But oh wow does the whole Pennyworth Foundation feel really freaking awkward in context. Like, if you hadn't read this arc/series it's still pretty bad/meh but if you're not feeling uncomfortable WITH context? The back button is usually on the upper left, go test it out.
On the one hand, I deeply enjoy Community Center|Pillar Dick Grayson (Philanthropist works, albeit the massive publicity of it's not necessarily the path I'd expect him to take but then given this Author...) but on the other just imagine that broadcast coming on screen in Bea's bar. Following this:
((Meta Note: The break up scene is remarkably similar to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zA1efN9u5Q Skip to 13:37… from the Witcher 3. And that was published in 2015 → and this is 2020.))