Grayson #2

By Tim Seeley, Tom King, Mikel Janin, & Jeremy Cox

Dick Grayson’s post-Nightwing career continues in Grayson #2 as he comes to terms with being presumed dead. Last month’s premiere issue introduced us to Dick’s new role in the world and his affiliation with the mysterious organization known as Spyral. Not much, if anything is known about Spyral and thats the point. This issue doesn’t answer all of your questions (which it shouldn’t because it’s only issue two), but it does give us more of Dick being awesome and introduces a few minor elements that provide good bases for future stories that are sure to only get more complicated and intriguing.

This time around we receive a guest appearance from Batman (who seems to be popping up all over the DCU of late). It was a nice inclusion that makes us remember where Dick is coming from. This issue’s story was a little flat compared to last month’s. It introduced more questions than answers, but was still an interesting read nonetheless. For those veteran fans of Dick Grayson from his days as Nightwing and prior, this version of Dick will take some getting used to as he is presented more as a secret agent and less as a superhero.

Mikel Janin’s art looks better than ever, reminiscent of his highlight days back on Justice League Dark to name the most recent. It’s really the character work on faces and figures that stands out as Dick, Helena, Batman and everyone else are drawn to near perfection. Janin’s speciality is how realistic his human forms are and it shows here. There are a lot of empty spaces in the art though where Jeremy Cox enters the mix, adding his supreme quality colors to enhance Janin’s pencils. These two are a creative match made in heaven and the overall shading and color work may be some of the finest in all of DC.

Grayson #2 hit a lot of home runs, only striking out on a few components here and there. While there wasn’t any “wow” moments this time around, we received a much more detailed look at Helena and Dick as super-spy badasses. Batman’s minor appearances were nice inclusions and the introduction of Dr. Ashemoore brings to light some interesting questions involving her ties to a well-known Justice Leaguer. What is Spyral? How are they connected to the rest of the DCU? We have yet to find that out, and we probably won’t next issue either, but the build-up has been great and the anticipation only heightens the quality of the issues, so bring on the suspense.