Comics & Other Stuff!

Spider-Man: The Gilded Cage Graphic Novel


Written by Bob Layton, Penciled by Paul M. Smith, and Inked by Barry Windsor-Smith

Bob Layton:

“Then, there was the unpublished Spider-Man graphic novel ‘Gilded Cage”, written by me, penciled by Paul Smith and inked by Barry.

It was one of those dream projects that, for one reason or another, never fully got off the ground. During Jim Shooter’s reign as Editor-in-Chief, he approved my concept for doing a very adult Spider-Man story, one that left the character somewhat altered by the end of the graphic novel. In order to give the book the maximum amount of impact and attention, I was able to recruit two of the most sought-after talents working in the business at that time - Paul Smith (Penciller) and Barry Windsor-Smith (Inker). In fact, Barry had submitted copious notes on the story itself, prior to us actually getting into production.Bob Layton- Spider-Man Guilded Cage Concept Art

Needless to say, with talents like that, who are in constant demand, the project got off to a somewhat slow start, although Paul did get twenty-some pages penciled before being pulled off to work on other assignments. Unfortunately, those pages, along with the rest of the story, sat in limbo for quite a while.

Eventually, Tom DeFalco took over as Editor-in-Chief and decided that the storyline itself was far too life-altering for the character. Keep in mind, that prior to taking over the center seat at Marvel, Tom was the editor of all the Spider-Man titles and had some serious opinions concerning the future direction of the character.

Dick Grayson’s Nightwing Suits (½) - Comics Canon  Edition

Over the years Dick has had many Nightwing suits. Some of them look quite different - especially in his first decade as Nightwing - while others have gotten slight variations over the years. Dick’s most recognizable Nightwing suites can be seen above.

70s-80s suit: DISCOWING Created by: George Perez First Appearance: Tales of the Teen Titans #44 (1983)

Dick’s first Nightwing suit is the most colorful of the bunch. It owes its name to the popular disco fashion of its time. Even though the darker fabric of Dick’s first costume is often colored in a darker blue, it’s actually intended to be black. The variations of the suit mostly differentiate themselves by the height of Dick’s collar and the deepness of his neckline. On some occasions, the golden feathers already get replaced by the golden squares more prevalent to Dick’s second outfit.

The origin of Dick’s suit depends on his Nightwing origin. In some cases, it was his father’s old aerial suit that later got repurposed by Alfred to make Dick a suit, while in other cases Starfire made him the suit. In Nightwing Year One, we see that Deadman also had a suit inspired by John Grayson’s aerial suit.

90s suit: MULLETWING Created by: Tom Grummett First Appearance: The New Titans #88 (1992)

Dick’s second distinct Nightwing suit owes its name to his hairstyle - though on some occasions Dick had his mullet in a ponytail. While it retains the same blue-black-gold color scheme, the blue isn’t as prevalent as before. In some cases, Dick can use his golden wings as a parachute. Ironically, the golden feathers had by then been replaced by golden squares. The outfit mostly stayed the same over the years. Only his belt comes in slight variations. Though the most recent modern versions of it that appeared during the New 52 and in Future State: Teen Titans are quite different from the original suit.

90s-2000s suit: FINGERSTRIPES Created by: Brian Stelfreeze First Appearance: Nightwing (1994) #1

Dick’s most famous and beloved suit was created for his first solo-comic. It rarely changed visuals in an obvious way. Mostly, the arm and shin guards were drawn differently depending on the artist - Rick Leonardi made them much more obvious and bulky, reflecting street fashion in the early 2000s, while Jim Lee slimmed them down, making them almost invisible. While on Titans, Phil Jimenez decided to color Dick’s shin guards blue. It’s one of the more obvious design deviations from the initial suit. Though this design started with Dick having a long ponytail, early in Nightwing (1996) his hair was cut, which became the most iconic version of this design.

2011-2014:The New52 Red Suit Created by: Jim Lee & Cully Hammer First Appearance: Nightwing (2011) #1 (2011)

This is an awkward one. The suit is mostly known for doing away with the blue color scheme and the fingerstripes and is therefore not liked by many fans. That only changed a little when Brett Booth did not only bring back the fingerstripes but also gave Dick some nice stripes to accent his hips. Interestingly the concept art put Dick in black and blue instead of black and red. In an interview with Polygon in 2021, DC co-publisher Dan Didio said that he had several arguments with artists who wanted to make the suit blue.

2016 - 2021: Rebirth Suit Created by: Javier Fernandez First Appearance: Nightwing: Rebirth #1 (2016)

When Rebirth was announced, one of the first things Dan Didio proclaimed was that Blue Nightwing would be back. While the fingerstripes remained sorely missing, the Rebirth suit grew on people. The suit remained largely consistent. The quite thin chevron-bird became thicker as time went by. Brett Booth brought the hip stripes back for this costume while he drew Dick on Titans. He also gave the costume a more distinct collar.

2022 - Now: Redondo Suit Created by : Bruno Redondo First Appearance: Nightwing (2016) #88 (2022)

Redondo’s suit saw the return of the fingerstripes after about a decade without them. His first concept art introduced some other changes that sadly didn’t make it into the comics. Redondo’s primary design innovations have been in the gadgets hidden in Nightwing’s escrima.

Nightwing’s Shoes Some artists like to give Dick’s Nightwing shoes some extra flourish.

Nightwing’s Jackets Some artists occasionally give Nightwing a jacket, either plain or emblazoned with his crest. There are also two Elseworlds Nightwing designs that include jackets.

Another edit!

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i didn't know that i needed a jon showing duckie's volcanic ensemble

Oh, boy, where do I start??? The main reason is Pretty in Pink, but I’ll get there. For one thing, she rarely got along with anyone who wasn’t part of the brat pack, huge red flag because they were also kind of known throughout that period to be jerks. And she was unprofessional, which leads me to Pretty in Pink. The book that John Hughes adapted of it, included the original ending and the one he truly loved. It’s the prom scene, Duckie stills shows up and still doesn’t quite save Andie from the humiliation Blane brought on her, but he stays by her side through it and they slow dance to Heroes by David Bowie (I AM FERAL AT BEING DEPRIVED OF THIS SCENE) for the first time in the entire book she’s legitimately happy, without feeling pressured. She doesn’t spare blane or steff or anyone else a glance because she’s so focused on how good it feels to be with Duckie, and they’re just so damn happy together and those assholes just watch them (blane is happy for them tho) before other couples join them on the dance floor.

AND THE WORLD DIDNT GET THAT BECAUSE THAT STUPID FREAKING REDHEAD COULDNT SELL BEING IN LOVE WITH DUCKIE SINCE MOLLY WANTED HER CHARACTER TO END UP WITH THE ‘HOT GUY’!!! Not because she thought blane treated her better (he didn’t), not because she thought he deserved redemption (he didn’t, that apology was ASS) but because he was CUTE. THATS IT. oh AND because she didn’t like that Duckie had effeminate mannerisms so she just labeled him gay and the test audience couldn’t buy the ending with the lack of chemistry at the prom scene between them so they thought it’d be better with Blane and John Hughes was FORCED to rewrite it (it broke his heart, but thank god the books had already been printed so they couldn’t change the original ending in them) and he made Some Kind of Wonderful (which is the ONE good thing that came of this mess) in response. He offered Molly a role in it (the female Blane role and I think we all know why that role was offered to her and why she didn’t accept, and according to 80s gossip magazines my dad had, it wasn’t because she was tired of being a teenager) and wrote in a scene where a character bullies Susan (Watts) about her short hair and tomboy style and calls her a lesbian. Sound familiar? Anyways, I can go on and on, but I’ll end it with these pictures of the original ending and Molly looking like a freaking mannequin because she’s so stiff since she didn’t want to do it lmao poor Jon Cryer

I made a Duckie Dale playlist!! Finallllyyyy!!!