Grayson #11

‘Grayson’ #11 cover art by Mikel Janin

• Written by Tom King & Tim Seeley
• Pencils & Inks by Mikel Janin
• Colored by Jeremy Cox
• Cover by Mikel Janin

It’s Grayson versus…Grayson? To save Agent 1, Dick must face his most dangerous enemy yet: himself.

Pickup your copy of ‘Grayson’ #11 at Comixology now!

Things have been a little confusing in the world of Dick Grayson for the past few months but thankfully all will become clear when you read ‘Grayson’ #11.

For the past few issues poor Dick has been facing a barrage of questioning from his colleagues at Spyral as a number of other agents have been taken down seemingly by Dick himself. This issue is the culmination of that storyline teamed with the reveal of the real culprit. At the end of issue #10 Dick was prepared to face off against himself but who is the mysterious second Grayson?

Well that question alone leads to some great interplay between the two for most of this issue. The real Dick questioning the other as to whether they might be Clay-face or even Croc or any of the Bat-family villains that he has faced over the year. The brilliant twist on this scene? The non-Grayson questioning real-Grayson as to his true identity: Dick Grayson? Robin? Nightwing? Or Agent 37?

Where ‘Grayson’ #11 was almost setup to be an action set piece but actually what King and Seeley do, brilliantly I might add, is flip that completely on its head and play the action as a secondary to the dialogue between the two characters. Throughout its run-to-date ‘Grayson’ has played perfectly on the psychology of its main character and here all of those psychological threads are pulled together to form a climax which could, probably for man who want him back in the Nightwing costume, culminate in his return to Gotham and a return to vigilantism.

That however is all to come. In the meantime this issue, pencilled by Janin and coloured by Cox, is the usual mix of trippy spirals and dark interiors. Much of the action takes place in the cave last seen in issue #10, the cave itself gives the artists lots of space to draw the many skulls which line the walls but other than that there is not a lot of atmospherics to play with. All of the focus of this issue is on the two Grayson’s, masterfully separated by ones clean face and the others covered in blood. The artwork in this series has never been standout to me but it’s consistent where other books struggle and it never fails to convey the message of the story.

It would be great to see some other artists given the chance to take a shot at pencilling this book but in the meantime I’ll settle for the always stunning covers by Janin.

3 stars