Review: Grayson Vol. 2: We all Die at Dawn

Quick Summary

Pros: The action, mystery, humor, and drama from the first volume all return in full force. The examination of Dick Grayson’s morality is interesting and leads to some cool plot point.

Cons: The emotions in this story do not run nearly as deep as they try to.

Overall: This is a worthwhile and entertaining continuation of what has, thus far, been a great series. Though not as remarkable as the first volume, there is still a lot to love here: from the intensely developed morals and ethics, to the mind-bending conclusion, and even to the jokes about Dick Grayson’s butt. Plus, the ending concludes with a cliffhanger so good that fans will be more excited than ever to keep reading.

Story

Though not necessarily as good as the first volume, Grayson Vol. 2: We all Die at Dawn is still a great book in its own right. It has most of the action, suspense, and mystery that the first volume has, while still retaining a few unique factors of its own. The only place this story falters is in the middle, where emotional impacts fall flat and bring the story down. However, things pick right back up again for a twist conclusion that seems to be capable of changing up this entire series. Once again, Seeley and King leave readers wanting more; it will be exciting to see where the series goes from here.

(spoilers start here)

The story begins rapidly, with our heroes delivering a baby while trying to land a falling aircraft. Things slow down quickly though, and the rest of the issue sees our heroes slowly walk their way out of the desert in which they just crashed. The main conflict here is between Midnighter and Dick. Midnighter wants to kill the baby they just saved and use its power to get them out of the desert; Dick disagrees. This leads to a battle of wills which has Dick come out on top. It is a nice story, mostly disconnected from the main plot of the series, which serves to show the reader how determined and uncompromising Dick is as a person.

A while after this mission, Midnighter captures Dick as part of his mission to stop Spyral. This leads to a story revolving around Dick trying to convince Midnighter to help him save thousands of lives while The Gardner tries to convince him that letting them die will serve as a message for people to end the “superhuman arms race.” Dick wins the argument, and they go on to save everyone. This all directly reflects back on this collection’s opening story as it further builds up the integrity of Dick’s moral code. In particular, the moment Dick saves everyone is the epitome of this, as Dick has to overcome all of the hate inside of himself in order to do the right thing and win the day.

Along with all of this though, is the relationship between Midnighter and The Gardner. The story tries to set up him leaving her as an epic and grandiose move for both of them. However, with The Gardner only making a handful of appearances thus far, the emotions here are not nearly as poignant as they are designed to be. This, in turn, leaves this portion of the story feeling a little superficial and weak.

My biggest critique on this collection was going to be on the conclusion. Everything wrapped up in a neat little bow, Dick was even able to defeat a being with the powers of the majority of the Justice League. It was too perfect and cliché for it to be realistic.

However, the next few pages flip the script. It is revealed that Minos was never really in charge of anything; he was just as much a puppet for someone else as Dick and Helena were puppets for him. This subversion turns this fairytale ending for the heroes into an opening act of something much larger. Therefore the problems and clichés which were weighing down the story are turned around and end up enhancing the story’s conclusion even more. It is an innovative way to enhance the story’s conclusion and leaves me more excited to read the series than ever before.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The first and last issues of this collection are both drawn by Mikel Janín. Janín did most of the art in the first volume of this series and did a great job in doing so. For a more in depth analysis of his art read the “Art” section in our review of the previous volume.

The other issues in this collection are drawn by Stephen Mooney. Mooney draws with an art style very similar to that of Janín, even movement of characters is portrayed in the same way. However it does not look quite as nice overall. Issues drawn by Mooney tend to be a little less attractive visually. This stems from mostly from how characters are drawn, as they do not look nearly as high quality in these issues.

Continuity

This volume flows directly out of the events of Grayson Vol. 1: Agent of Spyral (Review). The story then continues in Grayson Vol. 3: Nemesis (Review).

This volume also references the stories from other comic books, all of which are detailed below:

• The story Dick tells the baby and the title of the issue it is found in are both references to the “Robin Dies at Dawn” story from Batman #156. This issue can be found collected in Batman: The Black Casebook.
• Nightwing saying he is going to think “clean thoughts” is a reference to what has become a running joke for members of the Bat-family.
  • This joke first appears in Superman Annual #11. This story can now be found collected in DC Universe by Allen Moore and Superman: Whatever happened to the man of tomorrow?
  • It then appears in Nightwing #142. This can currently only be found collected in Nightwing: Freefall.
  • The joke returned in Nightwing Annual #2, which is currently only collected in Nightwing: The Lost Year.

Collection Notes

Every issue found in this collection can also be found in Grayson: The Superspy Omnibus.