The origin of Nightwing's name, post-Crisis?

[yendi]

Okay, so my earlier riff on Kandor and spam had me thinking about something I'd wondered about before:

In the pre-Crisis DCU, Dick Grayson, when he shed his "Robin" identity, decided to name himself Nightwing for two reasons: First, it still had a "bat" association, and second, "Nightwing" was the name that Superman took when he adventured as a hero in the Bottled City of Kandor. And since Superman and Batman were his two mentors and heroes, it was a logical choice.

But in the post-Crisis DCU, Robin didn't really have Superman as a mentor, and Superman sure didn't have a cute little city in a bottle where he could visit his shrunken cousins. And Dick and Bruce didn't have the same warm fuzzy relationship that would cause Dick to choose a name in tribute to his mentor.

So, anyone know if Dick's name/costume change was ever re-examined, post-Crisis?

(And yeah, I know it's not nearly as fucked-up a situation as Donna Troy's, but it's still something I'm vaguely curious about).

Comments

[shellefly.livejournal.com]

Ask smittywing.

[yendi]

I already asked her about Dian Belmont and Sand last night. Figure I don't want to overwhelm her. Besides, murnkay answers below.

[shellefly.livejournal.com]

Oh, ok.
But I wouldn't worry about overwhelming her, she loves comic book continuity questions ... though she HATES some of the answers!

[murnkay.livejournal.com]

About an issue ago in Nightwing, actually.

And it has a root of "A crime fighter from Kypton back in the day that Superman admired". Dixon/McDaniel doing a Nightwing year one in the book for a few issues. So much fun.

[yendi]

Cool. I might grab the trade. Dixon's always a hit/miss kind of writer for me, but when he hits, it's usually worth it.

[murnkay.livejournal.com]

If you liked his Nightwing ever, this is up to it.

[jeff-morris.livejournal.com]

Good luck finding the individual issues. They've been flying off the shelves from what I've been hearing.

JSM

[yendi]

I pretty much avoid individual issues in general, if trades are an option.

[unquietsoul5.livejournal.com]

Sorry but I've given up on the DC titles at this point. I was down to just one (JSA) because they canceled everything I was reading there for some time. Now that they've annouced ANOTHER upcoming 'Lets Revise the Entire Universe' event and multi-title crossover nonsense I decided it was time to toss in the towel and let it stay dead.

Why does every comic company decide to screw with the universe, screw the consistency and screw with what their readers like? Marvel Did it multiple times, almost into bankruptcy; DC has done it and is doing it again; Cross-Gen did it, with equal results.

This leaves me reading the new 'Hero Comics' revival (Flare, Dark Enchantress, etc.) titles, PS 238 and Dork Tower.

The comics industry.... shooting itself in the foot to spit its nose :-)

[unquietsoul5.livejournal.com]

that should be spite, not spit. Damn useless spell checker....

[yendi]

*nod* I read JSA in trades, and I'll pick up the occasional trade of other books, but other than Legion, I'm not reading anything in regular continuity.

That said, I'm actually intrigued by some of the event books. I just don't want crossovers that tell me I need to purchase a different title. But they've done a good job in the last year or so of avoiding that (unlike, say, the Last Laugh crossover).

[clawfoot.livejournal.com]

Heh. Poor, poor Donna Troy. That's the character I often use as an example when I talk about "character pollution."

[yendi]

Donna Troy and Hawkman. You can't tell either of their histories without sounding like Grandpa Simpson.

[taraljc.livejournal.com]

I just recently tried to explain Wonder Girl to someone, and round about the "and then the Titans of myth--" part, her eyes glazed over and I lost her completely.

Thank you, Rob Kanigher. I'm sure Marv and George want you dead, too.

[yendi]

:-)

You get that far? I usually lose folks when I explain that she started as the WW equivalent of Superboy, then all of a sudden wasn't.

[merrick42.livejournal.com]

And then there's explaining Legion continuity...aneuryism inducing I tell with all the character-induced reboots.

[yendi]

Well, with the currently rebooted state of things, they're pretty unmuddled. Now, trying to explain how Superboy was created by the Time Trapper (who was really Cosmic Boy) in a pocket universe could give one a heart attack.

[merrick42.livejournal.com]

*chuckles* True, very true. I actually did try explaining the mess to another person once and decided to draw part of it out. It looked like a plant's root system when it's potbound. I'm wondering now how they're going to explain Lightning Lord, Saturn Queen and Cosmic King in Supes/Bats. ;) It's probably happening "before" the Titans/Legion crossover, but still...