| Nightwing OYL: So Not The Drama (and that's the problem!) |
[Feb. 3rd, 2007|12:24 pm] |
Well, people seemed to like my Superman Manifesto, so here's the Nightwing OYL Manifesto.
1. Bludhaven
New Orleans post-Katrina. A year's worth of rebuilding has taken the city out of No Man's Land territory and Whatever Technology has gotten rid of most of the radiation (except for a few cordoned-off "hot spots" for plot point use). Amy Rohrback is now police commissioner and has made Dick Grayson into Inspector Grayson (the same position the late Dudley Soames used to hold). Grayson works outside the police department to solve cases too dirty for other departments. Narcotics, homicide, sex crimes, and especially anything that stinks of metahuman. Think Dirty Harry or Jessica Fletcher.
At the same time, the forces of evil have regrouped too. Dudley Soames/Torque has become the new crime boss of Bludhaven and he has deep roots in the police department. There's a civil war brewing within the very wants of the BPD.
2. Tamaran Quarter
To rebuild the city, the INS (Extraterrestrial Department) issued visas to any Tamaranian that wanted to live there. This was done mainly as a result of a deal between Queen (you heard me) Koriand'r and the federal government to use Tamaran technology to clean up the radiation. The alien immigrants bundle together in Tamaran Quarter, recreating their lost home world as best they can, trying to assimilate to life in the big city. They're ruled over by Kory, although she delegates a lot of the day-to-day work to a democratically-elected community government. Still, tensions run deep between xenophobic humans and paranoid Tamarans (hey, you'd be paranoid too if two of your home planets blew up). Given that Dick Grayson is one of the few Tamaranese-speaking detectives on the force, he quickly becomes a flashpoint between the Tamaranians and the rest of the city. Just trying to keep the peace.
3. Personal Life
Okay, I don't begrudge a Dick/Babs break-up, so long as it's done well. But OFFSCREEN? Jesus, have you guys ever read William Goldman. This is dramatic material and you're... did Hamlet kill Claudius offscreen? Did Luke Skywalker fight Darth Vader offscreen? Whether they stay together or not, we've got the makings of some seriously Tennessee Williams shit right here!
It's OYL and they still haven't tied the knot. Haven't even set the date. Dick Grayson seethes in private over Barbara's cold feet and Barbara wonders why she's so reluctant to marry him. Their relationship has problems. He acts like a child around her; she treats him like a child. He does something wrong, she doesn't talk to him about it, she lectures him, she scolds him. After a year of grin-and-bear-it repression, Dick's had enough. He grabs his coat and walks out the door.
Kory's waiting for him.
Their relationship has problems too. Kory treats him like a man, but she's too forgiving, too enabling. She'd let him get away with murder. For either of these relationships to go forward, things have to change. But that's in the future. Right now, Dick bitches to Kory (and helpfully exposits to the reader) about how bad things have been with Dinah over the lost year. She agrees with him, slyly making him see Barbara as the bad guy. Then she kisses him. Dick smiles, frowns, excuses himself hastily, wipes the alien lipstick off his lips (tastes just the same as it used to), and walks back into his apartment. Barbara is still waiting there for him (she lives in Metropolis with the BOP, but they have JLI teleporters to make the long-distance relationship work. Too sci-fi for the Batbooks? Tough it out). He says he just needed to get some air, she doesn't believe him but doesn't contradict him either. They go to sleep in each other's arms, knowing that things are going to get worse before they get better.
Now, isn't that more interesting than a Dick/Jason/whatsherface love triangle? With golems and male modeling?
4. Villains
Aside from the usual rogue's gallery (why, look at that! They all managed to survive the Chemo blast), there are mutants generated by the radiation running amok. There's Lexcorp, rewarded the contract to rebuild the city and none too happy about "aliens having a foothold on Earth soil." There's the corrupt cops who are trying to set themselves up as feudal overlords in the devastated city. There's all the trouble the Tamaranians bring (three words: Nightwing Vs. Lobo). Ya know. The usual.
5. Supporting Cast
Barbara Gordon, of course, and Dinah Lance is always there to commiserate with her. Clancy has become a doctor and is one of the volunteers in the relief effort; she's Dick's best friend outside of the Batfamily (his Alfred if you will). Amy Rohrbach is police commissioner and there should be some good stuff in how different she is from James Gordon; she knows Dick's secret identity and is willing to take steps to make sure he crosses line.
Also, there's a paroled and "rehabilitated" Tarantula, just to make life interesting. She's still in love with Dick and he still doesn't trust her as far as he could throw King Kong Bundy, but he needs all the allies he can get. Like maybe Jason Todd, who wants to rule Bludhaven's criminal underworld with an iron fist and also severely fuck up Nightwing's shit?
6. In General
Noirish detectives stories mixed with "urban swashbuckler" adventuring. Love affairs that make The OC look like Muppet Babies. Also, since only Nightwing's title is involved in Bludhaven, no split-second rebuilding. The rehabilitation of Bludhaven is a years-long overarc that parallels Nightwing's attempts to fix himself. Although okay on the outside (because otherwise it'd be too depressing to read. I'm looking at you, Devin Grayson), he's a raging powderkeg of repressed trauma on the inside, just waiting to explode and land him in a mental institution. Hopefully, the characterization will lend just as much drama to the proceedings as the plot intrigue and alien stuff.
But no threesomes. Even though Kory suggests it. And Dick thinks about it before saying no. And really, we're just assuming they didn't do it, because there was a lengthy span of time between issues and all the dialogue is layered so you can't tell if they're talking about... okay, I'll stop.
By the second story arc, I promise that, for whatever reason, Dick, Kory, and Barbara will sleep in the same bed.
Fine.
Also, Dick and Roy hug or something. There, everyone happy? |
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