Dick Grayson

"Robin was an explicit role model for youngsters. The last panel in Batman #1, spells out the values that he stood for and urges readers: "Always be helpful to those who need help!" Why not become one of "Robin's Regulars?" No button or badge is needed- the world will recognize your golden acts without them! Be a "Robin Regular" by being regular!"

"Robin was an outgrowth of a conversation I had with Bob. As I said, Batman was a combination of Douglas Fairbanks and Sherlock Holmes. Holmes had his Watson. The thing that bothered me was that Batman didn't have anyone to talk to, and it got a little tiresome always having him thinking. I found that as I went along Batman needed a Watson to talk to. That's how Robin came to be. Bob called me over and said he was going to put a boy in the strip to identify with Batman. I thought it was a great idea""

"I knew many homosexuals but I certainly didn’t think of Batman in those terms. I thought of it in terms of … Frank Merriwell and Dick Merriwell, his half-brother, who was the kid he was taking care of. … In America we always talk about the Western hero and the pioneer kind of man—the Davy Crockett types—as being loners. They’re never really. They always have a sidekick. … Certainly there’s no homosexual relationship. It’s just part of the American syndrome. … It was just that the author realized that you’ve gotta have somebody to talk to. Sherlock Holmes had Watson—were they homosexuals? Baloney. You just can’t have your hero walking around thinking aloud all the time. He’d be ready for the men in white coats after a time. So we created a junior Watson and that’s all [Robin] was."

"The character beat I find most interesting with Nightwing is how deeply he experiences frustration and pain, and then how totally done with that he is by the time he's making an actual decision or evaluation. He's not in denial about the darkness in his life the way Batman sometimes is, and in fact he's remarkably self-aware and conscientious, but he acts from a place of loyalty and gratitude and even joy."

"The dynamic that most interested me about Batman from day one was that he was, in his own weird way, a parent - and that relationship is just as fascinating when you flip it to look at it from Dick's point of view. As Robin, Dick lived out one of the most enduring human fantasies: the chance to be respected by and useful to a hero figure who fills your life with adventure. The price paid for that, though, is having Batman as a parent - Batman who is able to do the incredible things he does in part because he has sacrificed other developmental aspects of himself, such as the ability to be intimate or supportive. And in the face of all of this, Dick has had some resentment and some anger and, I think, a lot of pain, but he has also never for one moment of his life shied away from it, or away from Bruce. He embraces his life and his vocation and his sometimes-difficult mentor with absolute commitment and gratitude. Nothing is wasted on Nightwing - he makes use of every single gift bestowed upon him."

"Throughout his history, Dick Grayson has been an integral part of one of the most famous and financially successful franchises in history. Dick has also repeatedly been on the cutting edge of developments in superhero comics, starting with his inception as the first sidekick and continuing to his adoption of Batman's cowl. But the character can also serve as a lens for viewing the world outside of comics, whether it be moral development, the homoerotic, or gendered readership. Dick Grayson is not simply a one-note sidekick but one of the most complex and developed characters in comics. Surprisingly, especially given the interest in studies of popular culture, Grayson has received scant scholarly attention. Grayson has been connected with Batman for all but the Bat's first eleven months (May 1939 to March 1940), but, even if scholars are not deliberately excluding Robin from consideration, they tend to select topics of inquiry that focus on Batman alone. Those already familiar with the character will note that Grayson played a large role in a number of team books such as Teen Titans and The New Teen Titans. Unfortunately these books have received scant scholarly attention."

"Bruce Wayne in my mind came from privilege and I think that's why he's more dour and angry. He's self-made as far as his becoming all of these cool things we like him for... Dick Grayson didn't come from that. Dick Grayson came from a circus family. Essentially people who aren't rich and they are self-made. They're entertainers. They're gymnasts. They're people who live hand-to-mouth and that's something that informs him and his attitude... he's a fascinating guy to me, because he had all the same things happen to him. He's got some of the same negatives as Bruce Wayne and then from a society standpoint -- obviously he was adopted into Bruce Wayne's life... but he didn't start that way. He's this guy who has all these negatives and then even more negatives and yet he remains... Those are things why I like Dick Grayson, why I like the idea of Nightwing as a movie."

"Dick Grayson is kind of this consummate superhero. The guy has been Batman's partner since he was a kid, he's led the Teen Titans, and he's trained with everybody in the DC Universe. So he's a very different kind of Batman. He's a lot easier; He's a lot looser and more relaxed."

"...I like him a lot because of his history, he's been around so long, and there's a certain sleek sexuality about the character. He's got a certain sense of everyman, a young swashbuckler type. He's probably the only character to have developed a rabid following. That I find incredible, particularly because he came out as a sidekick - that he's got the strongest following of any character really makes me feel good about Nightwing. He's the only Titan who made the CBG poll, and it was great, you know. The fact that he's still fresh after all these years."

"Dick not only saw his parents die, but he was raised by Batman with a strict code of ethics. Whereas Batman festered with his anger, Dick did not. But Dick saw how someone like Batman was able to help him and many others. Since he fought alongside Batman, he saw how much good he could do, and therefore he has the need to continue to do it. But unlike Batman it doesn't come from some long ago need for revenge, it comes from a true desire to make a difference. Therefore Nightwing has a positive attitude rather than a negative one. But it has had impact on his persona life, and now that he's in his mid-twenties, his early decisions are demanding some new thinking."

"My view of Nightwing, or rather Dick Grayson is that he's a very capable person, caring, smart but not overly so, but has the ability to see through puzzles. Unfortunately, he can't see through the puzzles of his own life, as few of us can. He's trying to figure things out assuming life always have answers, which of course it doesn't. But I see him as very, very competent, just not always self-aware. And he is perhaps a bit too critical of himself."

"… A Nightwing story should have what every good story should have, which is a character you simply want to follow through thick and thin. A character who's adventures you wanna go on. A character with heart, intelligence, and wit. And as I mentioned earlier in a previous interview with ya, Nightwing is a character who can support all kinds of genre inclusion. I don't think there's a box. The world is literally wide open for Nightwing and you can put him on any ride you want and I feel it will work, whether in crime alley land, space land or jungle land. Nightwing is a character who travels well, and has no limits except for the ones a writer puts on him."

"Dick is a sponge. He of course learned a great deal from Bruce, but I see him as taking what he knows and improvising, using his natural acrobatic prowess in everything he does. It's ingrained in him. He's more fluid. But let's face it; Dick and Bruce simply know how to open a can of whup-ass better than anyone."

"“Dick has so many connections to other characters. In many ways, even more than Superman or Batman, Nightwing is the soul, the linchpin, of the DCU. He’s well respected by everyone, known to the JLA, the Titans, the Outsiders, Birds of Prey – everyone looks to him for advice, for friendship, for his skills. He’s the natural leader of the DCU."