Grayson, Volume 1: Agents of Spyral

I love grayson sm

I mostly read Marvel stuff and usually only pick up DC stuff when it's come highly recommended to me. I'd read some positive things about Grayson and I have a fondness for anything that can be described as “James Bond-y” so when it came in at my library, I picked it up, even though I haven't read much Nightwing or other Batman-y things. So, I didn't really have most of the context for whatever started this, and also I really don't care. Dick Grayson is playing dead for some reason, fine, I get it, let's do SPY STUFF NOW!! And it was really fun spy stuff!! Also I had sort of mentally filed this away in my head as an LGBTQ book and I guess I wasn't sure why? idk if this is a spoiler but anyway the end of this arc includes Dick Grayson being ordered to pretend to be gay, which seems like... it could be interesting... or a trainwreck... and I can't actually remember what else I've read about it. So, I guess I'll have to read [b:Grayson Vol. 2: We All Die at Dawn 28700658 Grayson Vol. 2 We All Die at Dawn Tim Seeley https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1453784598s/28700658.jpg 48911177] to follow up on that!Oh also at the end of this is a one-shot (I guess?), GRAYSON: FUTURE'S END #1, which I thought was really cool and also confusing? It's told backwards... and also maybe in some kind of Soviet AU... or something... but I really liked it. I liked it enough to read it twice and do some light code-breaking even though often when books want me to do things like that I can't be bothered to follow through with it.

This was just the light hearted graphic novel I needed after reading the very good but topographically heavy Watchmen. This was very cool with how Dick Grayson has to become a double agent against the agents of Spyral. It is very fun and cool to also see all of the villains he has to face. I also liked the art style. It was much more colorful and smooth than say in Watchmen or the Fable's series. However, the rest just seems unimpressive.

The idea of Dick Grayson becoming a double agent is cool and interesting, but very little seems to be done with it. The plot is a little nonsensical. I know that Dick is supposed to infiltrate Spyral (incidentally, I keep thinking of it as Spyro. Is that wrong?) but beyond that it is very unclear of what he is supposed to do in this secret agent team. What are their motivations? We don't know. What do they plan on using Dick for? Not made clear. And what kills me is that we have certain scenes told outside Dick's perspective that can make for a good way to tell the reader of Spyral's motivations, but it doesn't happen. Therefore, much of the dramatic irony is wasted.

Another problem is tone. It ranges from the deeply serious to the overly ridiculous. In one scene we see a main character being killed by a shot through the head, then in the next scene, Dick is bounding on the rooftops of the school he's staying at while girls college girls try and get a picture of his shirtless self. Hardcore death to shirtless Grayson. See what I mean? It just doesn't work for me.

In the end, this is one I'd stay away from. It had so much potential, but a inconsistent tone, and confusing plot made this one to put down. I give it a two out of five. I doubt I'll be continuing with this comic series.