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Volume 20. Spring 2020 • on the web 2020 • Spring 20. Volume Nightwing superheroes, masculinity, able-bodiedness, comics, ori able-bodiedness, masculinity, superheroes, nuanced but ultimately normative heroic ideal. nuanced but ultimately normative heroic Keywords: entation and he’s gotta be fast, and he’s gotta be larger “He’s gotta be strong, the most common in what is perhaps than life,” sings Bonnie Tyler a scholarship, “Holding out for song in superhero ly referenced This article discusses the run of the comics series of the comics This article discusses the run focus on how hegemonicon/McDaniel 1996-2009) with particular linked and tied to a norma are masculinity and bodily capability the visual style of the comics and Through tive concept of heroism. the excess and precar the use of antagonists, the comics rehabilitate extreme Nightwing, by contrasting him to more ity of the hero, Although the comics show Nightwing’s priv forms of masculinity. of anxiety and height and a source ilege and ability to be precarious By unrealized. ened visual tension, the subversive potentials remain excessive, disabled, and working-class forms of mascu relegating a uphold the comics and villainized characters, linity to queered Abstract doctoral research investigates manifestations of super investigates doctoral research American superhero girlhood in contemporary heroic in the in research comics and builds upon her previous She has comics studies and critical theory. tersection of and super the monstrous published work on previously body politics. hero Culture at the University of Southern Denmark. Her the University of Southern Denmark. Her at Culture is a PhD Candidate at the Department for the Study of for the Department at Candidate PhD is a quarter

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Heroism and hyper-capability 90s and hyper-capability Heroism Precarious Lines Precarious Charlotte Johanne Fabricius

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run run fits with Precarious Lines Precarious Despite the male- 2 Volume 20 Nightwing Charlotte Johanne Fabricius Johanne Charlotte , masculinity remains under-analyzed, apart under-analyzed, , masculinity remains 3 At surface level, the Dixon/McDaniel the level, surface At Dixon and drawn mainly by Scott McDaniel. In doing so, I will be paying special attention to how Nightwing’s masculinity is con and contested, as well as how it intersects with negotiationsstructed rela of masculinity in of able-bodiedness and class. The emergence how in the comics reveals tion to able-bodiedness and precarity performances of gender and embodiment. is coded through heroism As schol both the aesthetic and the politics of its historical context. is the first collected edition to explorehegemonic masculinity in subset of studies, in superheroA media (Parson and Schatz 2019). Pep Anna F. as well as Avery-Natale and cluding work by Brown to the excessive and extrav 2018), pays attention (Peppard pard in 1990s and the turn comics agant ‘beefcake’ style of superhero bodies (see Beaty and Woo hyper-gendered increasingly towards aes detailed discussion of the 90s Beefcake 2016, 79–80 for a more cre focuses on the superheroes thetic and politics). While Peppard McFarlane, Jim Lee, and Rob ated and drawn by artists Todd who came Liefeld, I wish to turn my attention to another superhero into his own in the 90s: DC comics’ Nightwing, as written by Chuck imagined readership from a few key contributions: A.Jeffrey Brown’s studies on the in in comic books, with a par tersections of masculinity and blackness 1999; titles (Brown superhero ticular focus on Milestone Comics’ Superman, Batman, superheroes, 2001); work on the classical male and Rob Avery-Natale as Edward and Spiderman by scholars such 2013; Voelker-Morris (Avery-Natale ert and Julie Voelker-Morris 2014); as well as a study by Mervi Miettinen and Voelker-Morris in the context of the oft-claimed which investigates masculinity (Miettinen 1980s late the in superhero” the of “deconstruction J.L. Schatz, edited by Sean Parson and anthology, recent A 2014). Hero” from 1984. The lyrics epitomize many of the traits associated 1984. The lyrics epitomize from Hero” in 1938: appeared since Superman superhero with the comic book in the least, identi and, not presence speed, superhuman strength, fied by the masculine pronoun. Growing diversity in superhero between exchange of degree heightened the as well as scholarship, num has led to an ever-increasing queer theory, comics studies and able-bod sexuality, of gender, ber of analyses of the constructions comics. class, and race in superhero iedness, in general and their dominated makeup of both superheroes quarter

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Precarious Lines Precarious Volume 20 Charlotte Johanne Fabricius Johanne Charlotte , Grayson loses his exceptionally Nightwing #1 ning with his move from Gotham to the neighboring town of Blüd of town neighboring the to Gotham from move his with ning jurisdic unofficial the outside and crime organized with rife haven, tion of Batman. In long ponytail when it is cut off during a fight (Dixon et al. 2014, this begins the obvious castration metaphor, Apart from 117). Nightwing’s journey of ’growing up’, donning not only a more like Batman. but one which makes him look more practical haircut slightly less and streamlined, more darker, becomes costume His Nightwing: the manliest hero of them all? Nightwing: Nightwing, alias Richard ‘Dick’ Grayson, first appeared in comics As the character aged and new as Batman’s sidekick Robin in 1940. characters took his place as Robin, Grayson became known as the Nightwing, working both alongside Batman, in various superhero and on his own. The Titans, teams including the Teen superhero by writer published by DC Comics and spearheaded 1996-2009 run, Chuck Dixon, was the first solorun for Nightwing (outside a cou ple of mini-series published in 1995). The main storyline details begin Nightwing’s coming-of-age as an independent superhero, for this gender binary are precarious and hinged upon an impos precarious for this gender binary are The vulnerability of Nightwing, of bodily capability. sible standard the narration and through fore which occasionally comes to the as body hypermasculine the presents structure, panel in changes conven The genre stable ‘truth.’ surface with no underlying pure that an impossible standard tions and idealized bodies uphold Read against the grain, the goes beyond exaggerated physiques. of masculinity and natures comics tell a story of the entangled which one must go to keep up to able-bodiedness and the extremes is ultimately relegat the charade, as well as how non-normativity ed to the bodies of villains. ars such as Brown, Carolyn Cocca, and Ramzi Fawaz have argued, have argued, Cocca, and Ramzi Fawaz Carolyn ars such as Brown, in the 1990s, U.S. comics market mainstream the changes in the led to a ho market and sales for direct which traded newsstand gender extreme an in resulted reader,’ comics ‘the of mogenization (Cocca 2016; Fawaz 2016; comics in mainstream binary prevalent to stereo cast adhere Nightwing and his supporting 1999). Brown of hypermasculinity and hy typical and exaggerated depictions that close read however, I would argue, persexualized femininity. that the foundations within the comics an awareness ing reveals quarter

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Precarious Lines Precarious Volume 20 comics are as dark and comics are Charlotte Johanne Fabricius Johanne Charlotte (1997): Nightwing comics. The increasing similarities comics. The increasing comics. Dick Grayson so closely approxi closely so Grayson Dick comics. Batman Extraordinary Bodies Nightwing in sports. (Erving Goffman, quoted in Garland-Thomson 1997, 8) [there is] only one complete unblushing male in America: male in is] only one complete unblushing [there a young, married, white, urban, northern, heterosexual, fully employed, of father of college education, Protestant record and a recent good complexion, weight and height, The interdependency of gender and able-bodiedness are at the able-bodiedness are of gender and The interdependency “Classical comic book depictions of masculinity are perhaps perhaps “Classical comic book depictions of masculinity are class privilege and enables him to perform vigilantism aided by by aided vigilantism perform to him enables and privilege class sophisticated and expensive gadgets. of the forefront fantastical as those in the fantastical as those upon explicitly in the touched and mentor are between protege over’ admits to expecting to ‘take comics, as Nightwing as Batman a symbol of successful masculinity, Batman becomes in the future. ex as well able-bodied, as and capable physically as presented his civilian identity through which both protects wealthy, tremely However, I would argue that a closer look at the comics reveals a reveals comics a closer look at the that would argue I However, deal great of ‘body attached trouble’ to and the surrounding figure the of Nightwing, destabilizing his normative status and revealing masculinity. contingency of superheroic what of our cultural beliefs about the quintessential expression it in his study of masculinity in claims Brown means to be a man,” masculinity as understands 1999, 26). Brown books (Brown comic Apart from being unwed, childless, and lacking college education being unwed, childless, and Apart from (for which he makes up by actively dating women and joining the police academy), Nightwing fits this description to a tee. He also fits the stereotypical idea of the superhero as a white, adult, able- sexual man in possession of (and, indeed, hyper-) bodied, hetero- above-average fighting and acrobatic skills (See e.g. Coogan 2006; 1999). Nightwing should feel right at home on the pages of Brown comic, especially one drawn in the beefcake style. a superhero mates Rosemarie Garland-Thomson’s definition of the Normate, which appears in garish than the tri-colored Robin Andoutfit. while he stillretains the story- with the character, wit associated sarcastic the quippy, of the and associated villains arcs quarter

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Precarious Lines Precarious Volume 20 Charlotte Johanne Fabricius Johanne Charlotte ing to inhabit a masculine-coded body and/or social posi body and/or ing to inhabit a masculine-coded argues that, despite the superhuman and transgressive capabili and transgressive that, despite the superhuman argues the gender binary seems to be the body, ties of the superhuman unable to transcend (Avery-Natale are one thing superheroes 2013, 95). This argument dovetails with Brown’s identification of exempli body as a site of masculinity, superhero the male-coded as coded usually traits and musculature exaggerated through fied and impenetrability. hardness, masculine: strength, duction; we need to recognize social struggles in which subordi struggles social to recognize we need duction; authors the Finally, forms. dominant influence masculinities nated what review has been confirmed early from formulations (the idea and the em of multiple hegemony, masculinities, the concept of a phasis on change. Like the Normate, hegemonic masculinity is which no one person necessarily inhabits but model or construct, equa Brown’s orient themselves. which men, in particular, around in super tion of the male body and masculinity is not uncommon embodiment study of superhero Avery-Natale’s scholarship; hero identifies Superman as not only an archetype of but superheroes, 2013, 72). He further of masculinity (Avery-Natale an archetype pression of the dominant forms of masculinity at a given spati of the dominant forms of pression negotiated by those otemporal location, which is continuously attempt­ de authors 854)the 841, 2005, Messerschmidt and (Connell tion which in most re masculinity, fend the underlying concept of criticism the However, essentialist. nor reified neither is use search of trait is sound. The treat models of gender and rigid typologies ment of the subject in research on hegemonic masculinity can be although models, psychological with the aid of recent improved limits to discursive flexibility mustrecognized. be The concept of repro of social not equate to a model hegemonic masculinity does emblematized in the male-coded body, in particular the muscularthe particular in emblematizedbody, male-coded the in “clearly marks “male superiority” and which which represents body, 1999, 27). of masculine power” (Brown a bearer an individual as Brown here indirectly identifies what Connell’s might, with R.W. incomics of superhero masculinity hegemonic the named be term, of of the use and development reexamination the 1990s. In a 2005 by Connell and co-authored the term “hegemonic masculinity,” it is emphasized that hegemonic mascu Messerschmidt, James W. linity is not a fixed and ahistorical set of traits. it Rather, is the ex quarter

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Precarious Lines Precarious Volume 20 Nightwing Charlotte Johanne Fabricius Johanne Charlotte Mainstream Mainstream superhero narratives are significant to ex which in the ways because of in terms of gender plore of seemingly one-dimensional muscle- representations bound males tap into complex multi-dimensional social and socio-political themes. (Voelker-Morris archetypes 2014, 101) and Voelker-Morris Nightwing’s hypermasculinity is tied to his status as hyper-capa is tied to his status Nightwing’s hypermasculinity as the continuation of the deconstructive trend in superhero comics in superhero trend as the continuation of the deconstructive to the same to Miettinen is a reaction in the 80s, which according to masculine embodiment in “crisis in masculinity” with regards theof example the to pointing suggests, further Miettinen U.S. the character Rorschach in Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ move of pushing masculinity to(1986-87), that the ‘deconstructive’ ideals, also leads to an embodiment of those extreme the extreme which might hold appeal not just but as as parody, an affirmation and to Voelker-Morris according (Miettinen 2014, 107). Further, Voelker-Morris; peatedly underline the contingent nature of the hero’s impenetra of the hero’s nature peatedly underline the contingent ble body and capability in both narrative and visuals. Should he to understand, his entire led abilities, we are lose his extraordinary to According him. around identity would come crashing down Peppard, a strictly binary gender difference is upheld and pushed the “excessive reads Peppard in 90s comic book style. to extremes under that desires and “fears the expressing as bodies” superhero of the 1980s and 1990s,” citing pinned the image-focused culture trends body image-focused other and culture, fitness bodybuilding, ex the argument, this Following 3). 2018, (Peppard era the during comics can be seen in superhero cessive style of drawing prevalent ble. His body, which is drawn in great detail by McDaniel and is the detail by McDaniel is drawn in great which ble. His body, a site for every page of the comic, becomes visual focus on almost able-bodiedness. and gender between links exploring the fraught that the visual has argued Batman, discussing Cynthia Barounis, works to link genre aesthetic of impenetrability the superhero in and heightened capability with able-bodiedness heteromasculinity queerno to sees little although Barounis But 316). 2013, (Barounis potential in such depictions, I find that the quarter

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(Dixon, Gray Precarious Lines Precarious Nightwing Volume 20 Charlotte Johanne Fabricius Johanne Charlotte comics, which is especially suited which comics, Nightwing , titled “The Boys,” which depicts Nightwing and Nightwing and , titled “The Boys,” which depicts This characterizes Nightwing as a dynamic character who is al This is a departure from the mostly vertical panel structure uti the mostly vertical panel structure from This is a departure the technique known as simultaneous figuration (Groensteen multi depicted is character a which in 2008), Gravett CF 24; 2013, (See the page to illustrate high-speed movement ple times across e.g. Dixon et al. 2014, 139). as they the eyes of the reader most always in motion, directing at the pages. He is the master of his own narrative, move across Dixon/ the in shape panel standard The unchallenged. when least discussions of the risks inherent in vigilante work, Nightwing and of the risks inherent discussions Robin former another Todd, Jason of subject the upon touch Robin sequence The Joker. The villain the by death to beaten was who by using of the two heroes highlights the emotional vulnerability wide panels showing close-ups of their faces low, son, et al. 2016, 275–77). the lized throughout Full-page panels for showing Nightwing’s high-speed acrobatics. fre tall panels are side-by-side and highly stylized pages of three often showing Nightwing in the run, quently utilized throughout a complicated social space somewhere between the extremely het the extremely between somewhere space social a complicated which amongst other things results ideals of gender, eronormative col and a homosocial of women, in the hypersexualized images lective practice of donning tight spandex suits and fighting crime Nightwing’s narrative explores in all-male (or mostly male) teams. in particularly This becomes apparent this contingent masculinity. Nightwing #25 expedition atop a moving Robin on a training the then-current The story serves as a break train, voluntarily blindfolded. freight vil as the pair encounter no recurring the overall story-arc, from in open investigations. During their lains and make no progress In other words, depictions of superheroic masculinity as excessive masculinity of superheroic depictions In other words, potentials. Keep both normative and subversive embodiment has masculine ide I will now look to how hegemonic ing this in mind, both negotiated through comics are to 90s superhero als prevalent in the Dixon/McDaniels style and narrative with heroism. entangled how these are Masculinity on the edge in superheroes male placed has genre the superhero For decades, quarter

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Precarious Lines Precarious Volume 20 Charlotte Johanne Fabricius Johanne Charlotte “Excerpt from Dixon et al 2014, 139. “Excerpt from Figure 2. Figure © DC Comics ” forward at breakneck speed. In contrast, the horizontal panel orien at breakneck forward tation which dominates “The Boys” makes it possible for both he but also brings the to be depicted at once, next to each other, roes in their relationship. taking part closer to them emotionally, reader The intimacy of the discussion leads to Robin confessing to feeling Night and unlike Batman superhero, a working as fearful when wing, whom he believes to be fearless (Dixon, Grayson, et al. 2016, 276). Nightwing explains that the fearlessness is a façade and that McDaniel run, which can only be described as phallic, frames frames phallic, as described be can only which run, McDaniel Nightwing literally as an ‘upstanding guy’, pushing the narrative quarter

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© DC Comics Figure 1. “Excerpt from Dixon et al 2016, 276. from 1. “Excerpt Figure

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Precarious Lines Precarious dying Volume 20 ?” (Dixon, Grayson, Charlotte Johanne Fabricius Johanne Charlotte tonight . Sometimes of failing Garland-Thomson argues that able-bodied people shy away Earlier in the sequence, Nightwing and Robin are forced to leap forced and Robin are Earlier in the sequence, Nightwing put that they are to which Robin protests Nightwing exclaims, from disabled bodies because they are a visual reminder of our ownour of reminder visual a are they because bodies disabled from of able-bodiedness. Highlighting the unstable nature precarious normative embodiment can thus destabilize the permanence usu linked to as they are ally ascribed to gender and sexual identity, a makes Peppard 37). 14, 1997, (Garland-Thomson able-bodiedness superheroes: of hyper-masculine in her reading similar argument duty, “So duty, what’s so about different always means living on the et al. 2016, 275). Being Nightwing the reader, to clear It becomes the circumstances. matter no edge, hyper- Nightwing’s that the run, in this sequence and throughout so identity are closelycapability and superheroic linked that one the This is further emphasized by cannot exist without the other. fact that we rarely see Grayson out of – costume and in the rare cases that we do, he is posed dynamically and usually on the move or fighting. Nightwing is always in movement and testing hislim its, which is reflected in the visuals, linking his embodied mascu with able-bodiedness and hyper-capability. line heterosexuality ability and bodily hyper-capability in different panel styles suggests styles panel different in hyper-capability bodily and ability an incompatibility of the two. off the train when a group of teenagersrocks throw onto it. Night wing only just manages to cling onto the carriage and a shocked Robin wants to take off his blindfoldand stop the training. “NO! can’t change the rules when You the game is Gray rough.”(Dixon, son, et al. 2016, 275). for training. Nightwing purely ting themselves in mortal danger when on constantly line on the put their lives they that retorts he often gets scared, “Mostly of he often gets scared, Grayson, et al. 2016, 277). But just as to the com sequence threatens team of would- the the tough and capable heroes, pletely dismantle their prove to chance the heroes our giving up, shows robbers be and between depictions of heroism The tension physical capability. pan the changing becomes clear through depictions of vulnerability On the one hand, vul and the discussions of heroism. el structure of being a to be part and parcel is shown nerability and precarity vulner emotional of the visual separation the other, On superhero. quarter

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Precarious Lines Precarious Volume 20 Charlotte Johanne Fabricius Johanne Charlotte comics foreground this cultural anxiety by making this comics foreground the combined rigidity and ultra-detailed partible-ness of and ultra-detailed partible-ness the combined rigidity abil their (super)heroic advertises Lee’s male superheroes for action self-contained, and ready hard, ity to remain of the seemingly impossible challenge amid and despite individually articulat of tiny, hundreds holding together moment of movement – or one wrong ed parts that one or at the very least re softness – might otherwise topple, 2018, 10) arrange. (Peppard Nightwing Nightwing encounters in Torque the very first issue as the cor rupt police inspector Dudley ‘Deadly’ Soames. Soames is a tradi police rupt tional ‘dirty cop’, who both helps Nightwing and sells him out to über-villain Blockbuster (Dixon et al. 2014, As 262). Soames fails to by Soames eliminate Nightwing, Blockbuster attempts to murder 180 move: twisting the victim’s head around applying his signature his life on attempt this survives Soames Miraculously, degrees. and extensive physical (Dixon et al. 2015, 75), and after treatment whose head is permanently as the villain Torque, therapy returns apparent apparent that the comics themselves offer a critique of the mutu This and masculinity. of able-bodiedness standards ally reinforcing but is also complicated, when apparent, critique becomes more considering the antagonists offered as contrasts to Nightwing Nite- and I turn now to two examples, Torque the run. throughout to illustrate how their embodiments of disability and work Wing, the hegemonic masculin rehabilitate ing-class youth, respectively, ‘bad’ traits by Nightwing by disassociating it from ity represented by contrasting it with the explicit villainy and linking it to heroism of the antagonists. The identity is explicitly shown Nightwing embody it: his superhero which is neither guar capability, and described as dependent on his being. entire his scaffolds nevertheless which but stable, nor anteed of nature extreme the visualizes body his of depiction extreme The while at the same time highlighting the shaky ground his identity, on which his identity is erected. Villainous masculinity and masculinity is explored how Nightwing’s Having explored of the comics, it has become the visual style challenged through quarter

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Precarious Lines Precarious me now. / That’s a / That’s me now. Volume 20 Charlotte Johanne Fabricius Johanne Charlotte behind humor.”(Dixon, Beatty, et al. et al. Beatty, humor.”(Dixon, cripple Although Torque and Nightwing may may Nightwing and Torque Although 2016, 116). His wholesale embrace of this newthis of embrace wholesale His 116). 2016, and different form of embodiment isreflect ed in the page layouts, which increasingly have panels, which in circular Torque feature the run. throughout feature been a recurring uses which Torque These mimic the mirrors motif to to navigate, connection the circular 186).him (Dixon, Grayson, et al. 2016, an positioned and are seem like opposites each their narratives mirror tagonistically, to other: as Soames leaves the police force Nightwing become the vigilante Torque, joins the police academy to aid his vigilante fixed in a backwards position (Dixon, Beatty, fixed in position a (Dixon, backwards Beatty, his ‘creator’,et al. 2016, 76). Like Blockbuster, to inhuman size andwhose body is distorted inhab Torque steroids, advanced by strength His en body. and impossible its a grotesque figura and literally reoriented, is identity tire his new body; he takes the name by tively, after the ‘Torque’ force which rotates objects their own axis, he leaves palindromic around frequently messages for his enemies, and When disability. to his speaks in puns related identified as Soames by Nightwing, here plies, “That life’s bit o’ (Alaniz 2014, about point a utilized to make are tropes Both 88). logic of the comic, awaits some to the according which, fate the one irreversiblydisfigure and villainy exploits: their by disabled exaggerated and and Blockbuster both represent ment. Torque coded as evil and which are deformed versions of masculinity, linked to a failed performance of able-bodiedness. While the dis in line with a long-stand which are comic, the of politics ability ing tradition in the genre, they do not exactly progressive, are work. The trope of the villain as a ‘dark mirror’‘dark a the villain as of trope work. The the superhero of (Coogan 2006, 103), as is the framing of dis is a staple of the genre ability and/or disfigurement as leading to a villainous nature quarter

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Figure 3. “Dixon, Gray Figure son, et al. 2016, 186. © DC Comics”

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Precarious Lines Precarious Volume 20 Nightwing #22 Charlotte Johanne Fabricius Johanne Charlotte , contains thinly veiled ref Nightwing Vol. 4: Love and Bullets 4: Love Nightwing Vol. Nite-Wings origin story, revealed in an appendix to the trade pa in an appendix to revealed origin story, Nite-Wings Another antagonist who mirrors Nightwing is Tad Ryerstad, a ju a Ryerstad, Tad is Nightwing mirrors who antagonist Another he is a ‘discount version’ of the main hero; As his name suggests, paratively, Nite-Wings grossly caricatured past and blundering past and blundering caricatured grossly Nite-Wings paratively, of class can be understood as a comment on the role aggression more is trusted the well-to-do hero where privilege in superheroics, how Torque, and Nite-Wing Both version. do-it-yourself the than as by their choice to ‘do evil’, framed purely marginalized are ever, a voluntary turn of events. The comics do not seriously comment on the privileges which allow Nightwing to inhabit a morally supe man self-made a as him framing rather vigilantism, of form rior erences to Dr Fredric Wertham and the Comics Code controversy, controversy, Code Comics the and Wertham Fredric Dr to erences by upbringing traumatic a flees who boy young a as Tad up setting make him a sociopath with a violent comics, which in turn reading Unlike 278). 2016, al. et Beatty, (Dixon, reality of sense distorted up poor and without the privilege of be Nightwing, he has grown who could act as a mentor. superhero ing taken in by a billionaire without the class privilege and Nightwing is, essentially, Nite-Wing antagonist. While conventions as a ruthless is framed by the genre with Nightwing’s perspective, making the comic aligns the reader identify a cri can one sympathetically, Nite-Wing to read it hard Read re as Nightwing’s mirror. tique in the framing of Nite-Wing working alone and without a mentor like Batman, jumping into fights or with investigative no work, premeditation accidentally empathy no to little and assaulting showing innocent passers-by, in his work. His outfit is homemade, and, unlikeNightwing, he has su of lack his for up make to training or equipment specialized no perpowers. He is quickly foil to Nightwing, established as a who occasions (e.g. in him on several must rescue as police and criminals alike mis with his blunders, often credited take the two for each other. perback hint at the dangers of hyper-masculinity and its entanglement and its entanglement of hyper-masculinity hint at the dangers ex even more able-bodiedness by villainizing with compulsory by Nightwing. forms than those embodied treme don to vigilantism by Nightwing, who is inspired venile delinquent street- and employing ultra-violent ‘Nite-Wing’ ning the moniker style fighting along with very poor judgement (Dixon, Grayson, et al. 2016, 181). quarter

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Precarious Lines Precarious Volume 20 of the devalued side.” of the devalued side.” Charlotte Johanne Fabricius Johanne Charlotte inclusion While rehabilitating Nightwing’s privilege, Torque and Nite- privilege, Torque Nightwing’s rehabilitating While the day and the girl’, frequently assaulting innocent bystanders and the day and the girl’, frequently lashing out against those who taunt him for his lack of finesse and class. Neither villain shows nuance or any sign of being in touch and with any other version of masculinity than a hard-edged ruthless and violence. Between them, on physical strength reliance Nightwing’s masculinity to be entan reveal and Nite-Wing Torque gled in able-bodied and class privilege, as well as how Night following masculinity, vulnerable and less hard-edged wing’s more (Brown 1999, 32) In other words, Nightwing’s vulnerability marks 1999, 32) In other words, (Brown to the antagonists, as more him, both in the visuals and in contrast as able-bodied is status masculine, not less. When Torque’s ‘truly’ dirty-cop masculinity turns from him, his stereotypical taken from evil is characterized in His tendency towards cocky to murderous. women, whom he deliberately his attitude towards part through Block endangers and/or kills to save his own skin. He threatens buster’s mother in an attempt to get the upper hand on the elderly the woman doctor in (Dixon et al. 2015, 69) and murders crime lord et al. 2016, 32). Similarly, (Dixon, Beatty, of his rehabilitation charge to ‘saving and crass approach an immature represents Nite-Wing locate non-normativity outside of the hero. locate non-normativity outside of for Nightwing’s masculinity as also function as guarantors Wing is Nightwing’s masculinity linked Not only and mature. respectable in it is also linked to his heroism to his able-bodiedness and class, characters. In his study ofcontrast to the gendering of the villainous re that the male superhero argues Brown comic book masculinity, ‘masculine’ side – usually, of both a strong, lies on the dual nature ‘feminine’ side – usu a softer, the one wearing the costume – and writes, Brown Comic book masculinity, ‘civilian’ identity. the ally, on the “is ultimately premised who comes up from nothing and chooses to do good. As long as As long to do good. nothing and chooses who comes up from our and Nite-Wing, in the bodies of Torque ‘evil’ is safely contained mud boundaries are The safe – and, indeed, heroic. remains hero on Nightwing’s emphasis placed by the repeated dled, however, by the darkness villains. He risks being ‘tainted’ similarities to these and positioning panels to Torque the circular at every turn. Tying of sense with the narrative infuses the a ‘dark twin’ as Nite-Wing orientationas function thus villains The above. discussed precarity narrative and visuals; at surface level, they safely in both devices quarter

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Precarious Lines Precarious Volume 20 Charlotte Johanne Fabricius Johanne Charlotte The deconstructing move performed on the comics pages is move performed on the comics pages is The deconstructing visual style at the time of publication. Nightwing may appear, par visual style at the time of publication. Nightwing may appear, But in the hyper-gendered. to be absurdly today, ticularly to readers the vulnerability context of the comics, however much they explore em than grotesque, rather he is positioned as a heroic, of this body, and prowess. bodiment of masculine strength seems in the use of villainous characters, whose function countered Nightwing’s masculinity and norma primarily to be to rehabilitate read in several ways: as visual dominance and a power play AND and a power play in several ways: as visual dominance read hypermasculine body as the as a subversive moment which renders While a classic territory. ‘feminized’ bleeding into stereotypically masculine and vul as invulnerability would identify gender binary nerability as feminine, as well as the active/dynamic as masculine by represented and the passive as feminine, the hyper-masculinity andvulnerability re-coding By vulnerability. to linked is Nightwing as masculine, the comics turn the binary on its head, at the precarity The masculinity as vulnerable and precarious. same time re-coding It reworked. is completely, deconstructed not while binary, gender to keep in mind the ubiquity of this extreme is important, however, ratively, as an embodied experience of privilege, although of a fleet a of although privilege, of experience embodied an as ratively, body can hyper-masculine of the spectacular nature kind. The ing dominance, but also as placing the superhe its as reifying be read inhabitedof as being usually think position we a male body in roic of the visual spectacle, the fet by the feminine-coded body: that ishized object, the body on display in suggestive poses. Peppard’s that the excessive way in which work on the 90s visual style argues suggests “a new permeability of the depicted male bodies are and/or between and femininity, boundaries between masculinity that bodies spectacular and ego ideals that are bodies spectacular are sexual objects.” (Peppard 2018, 7). This move, in turn, can be Brown’s argument, is reinforced as hegemonic. In this, of course, as hegemonic. In this, is reinforced argument, Brown’s with other forms of privilege is essential.its entanglement Queering the beefcake that Nightwing is never leave us in any doubt Dixon and McDaniel stress They do, however, traditional superhero. as ‘manly’ as any makes him vulnerable and meansthat constantly living on the edge and, by extension, masculine that he could lose his able-bodied visually and nar is expressed, privilege at any point. Masculinity quarter

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Precarious Lines Precarious Volume , but read today, it is today, , but read 20 Charlotte Johanne Fabricius Johanne Charlotte establishes an almost pic Nightwing Nightwing comics a present who hypermasculine fits superhero The 90s ‘beefcake’ style may have been the norm at the time Dix The 90s ‘beefcake’ style may have The vilification of the antagonists hints that Nightwing’s over- almost impossible to overlook the queer potential of the grotesque almost impossible to overlook the queer potential of the grotesque art style and the clichéd plots. tics of the time, close reading reveals a more nuanced negotiationnuanced more a reveals close reading time, tics of the masculinity – even though the ex of extreme and rehabilitation ultimately are tremes vilified. The queer potential is thus never but exists as messy negotiations on the visually busy realized truly linked to a form of mascu nevertheless, remains pages. Heroism, of able-bodiedness up by privileges which – when shored linity, and wealth – can encompass vulnerability. muscle mass also frame the superhero body and genre as a warning body and genre muscle mass also frame the superhero masculinity. against one-dimensional, invulnerable on on and McDaniel began their run Normate, only to test and question him at every turn, ture-perfect being would entire his about how aloud muse making him even And while, at surface level, the collapse should his body fail him. Nightwing aesthetics and conservative gender poli perfectly with the extreme normalize a hero whose masculinity and capability whose masculinity would other normalize a hero wise be understood as extreme. in danger of sliding identity are compensatory embodiment and him, protects privilege his that clear becomes it While villainy. into as a warning about excessive be read can thus also his precarity of the gender at the extremes masculinity and the dangers of being body and the super still an idealized is body The superhero binary. wish-fulfillment, as exploits its and body this frames still genre hero at of the visual style and the careful extremity but the parodic tempts to masculinity rehabilitate as than more just having a lot of tive status by embodying disability, working-class crassness, and crassness, working-class disability, tive status by embodying entangled in the villain all of which are misogynistic masculinity, as even framed are ous ‘other’. like Blockbuster and Torque Villains masculin embodiments of able-bodied exaggerated absurdly more And failed vigilantes that become disabling. pushed to extremes ity, of class privilege and maturity embody the lack such as Nite-Wing up with a billionaire by growing which Nightwing has transcended mentor/father Torque and asfigure. By Nite-Wing more framing crass than Nightwing, the comics and more queer, more extreme, quarter

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Precarious Lines Precarious 7 (3): 305-320,355. 2005. “Hegemonic 2005. “Hegemonic 33 (1): 25. Volume 20 Gender and Society Charlotte Johanne Fabricius Johanne Charlotte The Greatest Comic Book of All Comic The Greatest Social Thought & Research Social Thought & Superhero: The Secret Origin of a Origin of a The Secret Superhero: . Burbank, CA: DC Comics. Journal of Graphic Novels and Com Nightwing Volume 3: False Starts Nightwing Volume . African American Review Nightwing Volume 2: Rough Justice Nightwing Volume Death, Disability, and the Superhero: The Silver Age The Superhero: and the Death, Disability, . Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. Press . Jackson: University Superwomen: Gender, Power, and Representation Power, Superwomen: Gender, . Austin, Tex: MonkeyBrain Books. Austin, Tex: . 5 (4): 411–28. Greg Greg Land, Bob McLeod, John Roberta Costanza, Tewes, and Joe Chiodo. 2015. CA: DC Comics. Giddings, Noelle Tewes, Roberta Sienkiewicz, Bill Land, Greg and John Costanza. 2016. bank, CA: DC Comics. ics Plc. An imprint of Bloomsbury Pub. Academic, bury Masculinity: Rethinking the Concept.” 829–59. Genre Dale Eaglesham, et al. 2016. McDaniel, Eliot R. Brown, 4: Love and Bullets wing Volume Time: Symbolic Capital and the Field of American Comic Books Symbolic Capital and the Field of American Time: Palgrave Macmillan. York: grave Pivot. New Black Superhero.” doi.org/10.2307/2901299 of Mississippi. Their Fans.” University Press Su in Mainstream of Women Analysis of Portrayals Qualitative Comics, 1993–2013.” perhero and Beyond in DC Comics.” Six Superheroes (September): 71–106. The Dark Knight.” formance in Christopher Nolan’s Liverpool Literary & Cultural Disability Studies; Dixon, Chuck, Devin K. Grayson, Scott McDaniel, Karl C. Story, Dixon, Chuck, Devin K. Grayson, Scott McDaniel, Karl C. Story, ———. 2016. Messerschmidt. and James W. Connell, R. W., Coogan, Peter MacFarland. 2006. Scott Grayson, K. Devin Brown, R. Eliot Beatty, Scott Chuck, Dixon, Beaty, Bart, and 2016. Benjamin Beaty, Woo. Brown, A.Jeffrey 1999. “Comic Book Masculinity and the New and Comics, Milestone Superheroes, “Black 2001. A. Jeffrey Brown, Quantitative and A Test’: Back ‘Broke 2014. “The Carolyn. Cocca, References Alaniz, José. 2014. Among Analysis of Embodiment 2013. “An Edward. Avery-Natale, so Serious?’ Cripping Camp Per Cynthia. 2013. “‘Why Barounis, quarter

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0 (0): 1–22. 0 (0): 1–22. PS: Political PS: Political Nightwing Vol Precarious Lines Precarious Journal of Graphicof Journal . S.l.: LEXINGTON . Jackson, MS, USA: Volume 20 Charlotte Johanne Fabricius Johanne Charlotte https://doi.org/10.1017/ Superheroes and Masculinity: and Superheroes Extraordinary Bodies: Figur https://doi.org/10.1080/215 . Postmillennial Pop. New York; York; Pop. New . Postmillennial 1 (1): 21. Comics and Narration 47 (1): 104–7. 5 (1): 101–17. The New Mutants - Superheroes and the Radical - Superheroes The New Mutants . New York: DC Comics. York: . New Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics European Comic Art European 857.2014.889732. Reading Excess in the Styles of Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee, and McFarlane, Jim Lee, and Reading Excess in the Styles of Todd Rob Liefeld.” Unmasking the Gender Performance of Heroism Unmasking the Gender Performance BOOKS. Land, Mike Sellers, and Nick Napolitano. 2014. Land, Mike Sellers, ume 1: Blüdhaven https://doi.org/10.1080/21504857.2018.1493520. Comics’ Habitual Limitations Superhero Mainstream in Tights: Superheroes.” Male of Constructions Social on Novels and Comics 04 Box.” of Mississippi. University Press Masculinity.” Deconstructed and Watchmen’s Science & Politics S1049096513001686. Imagination of American Comics Imagination of American University Press. York London: New and Literature Culture ing Physical Disability in American University Press. Columbia York: Peppard, Anna F. 2018. “The Power of the Marvel(Ous) Image: Marvel(Ous) Image: 2018. “The Power of the Anna F. Peppard, 2014. “Stuck Robert, and Julie Voelker-Morris. Voelker-Morris, Gravett, Paul. 2008. “De Luca and Hamlet: Thinking Outside the 2013. Thierry. Groensteen, of Steel? Rorschach, Theweleit, Miettinen, Mervi. 2014. “Men 2019. Parson, Sean, and J.L. Schatz, eds. Dixon, Chuck, Dennis O’Neil, Scott McDaniel, Karl C. Greg Story, Fawaz, Ramzi. 2016. 1997. Rosemarie. Garland-Thomson, quarter

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Precarious Lines Precarious Volume 20 Charlotte Johanne Fabricius Johanne Charlotte The author wishes to thank Dr. Michael Nebeling Petersen for his help Michael Nebeling to thank Dr. The author wishes article. and advice on this About “Queer Literature, American issue of See e.g. the 2018 special Alaniz (2014), Cocca monographs by Nama (2011), Comics”, as well as (2016), to name a few. (2016), and Fawaz scholarship which imagines a I am yet to identify a piece of superhero primarily at girls or women. title to be aimed male-led superhero Endnotes 1 2 3 quarter

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