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Sunday, January 13, 2008

Nightwing: Now With Less "Dick"


A poster on Scans Daily commented on how new Nightwing writer Peter Tomasi has removed some of the "Dick" from Mr. Grayson, having characters refer to him as "Richard."

Obviously, Mr. Grayson's first name has been the source of many a cheap shot at the Bat-clan, though it must be remembered that at the time the character was created, "Dick" was a popular name for young men. (actually, I have no idea if that's true or not, but it sure sounds good dunnit?)

However, it should be noted that Nightwing #140 indeed contains several "Dicks." So I see Tomasi as not removing the "Dicks" from Nightwing completely, but merely providing some variety as to the nomenclature of the character.

I hope that clears things up.

-- Occasional Superheroine, who saw the cheap shot inherent in this topic and went for it.

4 comments:

  1. Yes, but, more importantly, is there a shower scene?

    Certain Dick traditions need to be upheld.

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  2. Val's correct that back in the 30s and 40s, it was very common to use "Dick" as a nickname for Richard. It was disappearing by the 60s, though. My dad's name is Richard. After he left the Marines in 1963, his first boss started calling him "Dick" and he hated it.

    I'm sure there have been many writers and editors that would have liked to just use "Richard," but the character's been around for so long it will probably never happen.

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  3. Oddly, we have a couple of guys at work that go by Dick. One of them, I kid you not, is named Dick Johnson. Nice guy.

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  4. I work for Dick Joooooones!!!!

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