A recent survey by DC revealed that 95% of people who were buying their New DC reboot comics were male. Now, that figure is nowhere near an accurate reality of the comic-book market, but it does serve as a reminder that mainstream comics don’t have anything like as many female readers as, say, anime does. Or normal novels. People can and have repeatedly gone into discussion over why this is, and what it is that female readers actually want. Do they want fewer female characters who aren’t worried about their sexuality? Would they like Zatanna to show less leg and for Wonder Woman to be more aggressive and violent? Or, as I’m now going to suggest, do they actually not care especially about female-led comics at all?
Ask a full-on female fan of DC who their favourite character is, and you’ll get all kinds of answers. But if you really want to get into the heart of what drives female readers into stores, just as them the following question:
“do you like Nightwing?”
YES YES OF COURSE YOU DO. Nightwing is an insanely popular character, the very first Robin grown up and turned into a youthful, vibrant, witty version of Batman. Imagine Bruce Wayne but with most of the brooding replaced by silly banter and acrobatics. That’s Dick Drayson. As written by Kyle Higgins in the current Nightwing series by Kyle Higgins, Dick Grayson remains the most eligible bachelor in the DC Universe. He may be capable and smart, but he’s also quiet and introverted in a way which makes him struggle to keep up with the women in his life. Batgirl runs circles around him on a constant basis, for example. And he’s fine with it. Unlike Spider-Man, who is smarter than all his female companions and also has no difficulty keeping them around despite being a bit of an entitled idiot, Nightwing consistently fails to keep the attention of the girls he likes. He’s lovelorn in the extreme.
And that’s something which you don’t see anywhere else in comics, for the most part. Especially at DC where, the central Trinity of characters are disarmingly sexless. Wonder Woman is maintained to be a virgin, while Superman keeps in chaste marriage to Lois Lane and Batman has to be doused in chemicals before he can be persuaded to take a woman to bed. The DC Universe has sexless characters at the core and “sexy” characters like Catwoman prowling the perimeter, constantly threatening to unsettle the flow of power. Nightwing sits in the middle, a sexually-active but inconsistent romantic who wins over women but can’t keep them. He wants to be in a relationship – unlike another female fan-favourite, Gambit, who can never admit how devoted he is to Rogue – but can’t quite keep it together. Even now, the girl he likes is secretly betraying him, once again showing him to be one step behind the woman in his life.
That’s where the line of gender melts away for DC. It’s not in changing the way that the female characters are represented – they already have some of the most diverse and interesting female characters in the entirety of comics. Changing the female characters to make them reflect the male ones doesn’t help anything, and it certainly doesn’t make the female fanbase more interested in reading, say, the Joker-inspired Harley Quinn from Suicide Squad. It’s by offering more interesting male characters, who neither balk at sex nor treat it as their right, that DC can start making comics more interesting for both sexes. Nightwing has a massive fanbase, both male and female, because he speaks to both. Women aren’t interested in reading another issue where Superman fights a robot and then goes back to gently tuck himself into bed with Lois (generalisations!), but seeing Dick Grayson beat himself up over not being able to approach a girl he likes? That’s more realistic, interesting, and entertaining for everyone. Isn’t it?
Incidentally the current Nightwing series by Higgins and artists Eddy Barrows/Geraldo Borges is very good right now.
7 comments:
You're insane. Batman is a manwhore and Dick takes after him. I'm surprised there aren't more Bat-kids running around.
Also, like Bruce. Dick has been engaged multiple times but fucked it up because he can't keep his penis in his pants. I love him <3
I don't think you're right about Nightwing at all. And you have a lot of mistakes (misspelled words, repeated words) in your post.
In all my years of reading the character, he has never been lovelorn to the extreme as you put it. He has been in serious relationships and in casual relationships. He has been the one to break it up and has been let go (though for some reasons that do not make any sense when I read it). He is not outsmarted by his female companions and you really, really don't seem to get the character.
Sorry, but this ISN'T AT ALL the reason why I like Nightwing.
I don't like him because he's some kind of lovelorn Boy-Next-Door who can't stay in a relationship with a woman.
I LOVE Nightwing because he is capable of maintaining deep and meaningful relationships with other characters of all kinds, from the younger heroes who see him as a leader and the older heroes who have watched him come into his own.
I love Nightwing for the fact that even after a break-up or a strange one-night-stand, he can stay friends with a girl because he's a friendly person who genuinely respects and cares for her.
Yes, Nightwing frequently has girlfriends who are smarter, more powerful and (dare I say it) taller than he is. But that's another thing I like about him. He's not afraid of women OR belittling to them; they are his equals, his partners, and his friends. I can't think of an attitude I find more attractive.
I don't understand why you've come to these conclusions... maybe this is what Rebooted Dick might become (yuck) but the Dick I know and love has much deeper emotional appeal than this.
I usually don't respond to blogs because people have a right to theorize an appeal to the character all they want.... but I really don't know of anyone who likes him for the reasons you said. In fact, I know some people that are frustrated with DC because of this portrayal of him.
It sounds like you're saying women read the comic stories and that's why they like the character. More likely, they're reading the current stories because they like the character. Most women I've talked to hated characters like Cheyenne, Catalina... even Babs, because of the way writers made him a moron in the storylines. While at the same time, an honest even keeled relationship with Donna is as popular a pairing as Harry and Hermoine.
Why do women like Nightwing? I may not be thinking enough about it, but he's a modern day prince/billionaire's son who's ridiculously good looking and in his early 20s. Also, he fits as the noble nomadic carnie with nothing tying him down. He's a charismatic leader. He's funny. He's a limber gymnast and a swashbuckling hero. For a little kink, he's also the neighbor's kid that grew up. I'm not a woman, but I can't find anything in there that is thought of as unappealing to women. Oh, he's also very open and honest about his emotions, comically humble, smart, considerate and is a really good listener. This may be why women like Nightwing.... Oh, and his costume is a skin tight black leotard that shows off his muscles and tush with accented lines along the front and down his arms that broaden his chest and gives the feeling he gives great hugs and a Domino mask that does absolutely nothing to hide his always perfect hair.
See, any of that could be a reason for women liking Nightwing, while at the same tim would explain why DC editorial [with their frat boy mentality] hate him [or at the least, don't know that or why people like him].
I'm a woman. I like Nightwing because he's intelligent, easygoing, tough, strong, competent and not afraid to pick himself back up after a fall. He's spent years looking at the seamy side of life, faced triumph and tragedy and still hasn't lost his idealism.
He's never been lovelorn. More of a serial monogamist.
It sounds as if you're saying women only respect men they can look down on. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Oh and by the way? I added Suicide Squad to my pull-list for a couple of months. I'm a Harley Quinn fan too.
Why do I love Nightwing?
Well, not for the reasons that this article says.
Just as the ones before me who gave their comments, Nightwing is a well-rounded character. He's so many different things--the boy next door who grew up to be the hunk that he is now, the hero who's there to save the day, the idealist who fights the odds in such a dark world, the guy who can be funny without compromising his ability to say something profound.
He's witty, respectful, honest to himself (especially when he does something callous or clueless towards women, just as he did with Clancy). And even if there was a point in time that he did beat himself up, he came back a much-stronger person.
He doesn't consider extending kindness, shedding tears over losing a loved one while feeling helpless for that moment(when Bruce died), or choosing not to throw his authoritative weight to coerce someone (just as he honored Tim and Damian to make the right choices from time to time, especially in the most important decisions).
He's a charismatic leader who celebrates the strengths of his colleagues. He's the cheerleader when everyone else couldn't. He can be tough to bring everyone in accord--even against a hot-tempered Green Arrow. He's a very interesting, multi-dimensional guy who's just oozing of sexuality and doesn't treat women as sex objects...so who WOULDN'T fall in love with him?
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