#devin grayson

Someone asked me why I defend Devin grayson when she's not a good person and my answer to that is it's not actually abt her specifically, it's abt how women as a whole are treated in comic and fandom spaces. I don't know her, I don't know if she's a "good person," I'm not saying she's a saint and I do have critiques for her writing but the way she's viewed and talked abt is insane. It's an insidious misogynistic problem that's hard to call out be people refuse to examine their own prejudice, but please can we think really hard abt why when the topic of SA/self inserts/ s3xualization is brought up, your knee jerk reaction is to drag one of the few women in comics (who happens to be an SA survivor herself) instead of the very famous men who have done all these things more times and far worse. For every small mistake Devin grayson has made (or has been wrongfully accused of making!) there is a much more famous man who has done the equivalent times ten. Can we think about why when is comes to Devin grayson, everyone for some reason knows an out of context quote from a 20 year old interview, but when I say one of the many very famous bad things marv wolfman has done IN CANON TEXT (of some of the most popular ongoings in dc), suddenly no one knows anything. But they do know a bunch of misinfo they picked up in TikTok comment sections abt Devin grayson. Bc it's not actually abt calling out bad people/bad writing, it's abt hopping on the hate train and spreading misinfo on tiktok for likes and views instead of actually being informed (but not all of course, some people just genuinely don't like her writing and that's ok! But that is a very small percentage). The standards that female writers are held to compared to male writers is not ok. Her hate is targeted and misogynistic in nature. There is no reason in the world that she should be getting accused of writing a self insert and being obsessed with a fictional male character. She's an adult woman with a job. It's not abt defending her as a person bc l'm not gonna keep picking apart and explaining every one of her actions when I never have to do this for the male writers I like, it's abt how people handle misinformation, mob mentality, subconscious misogyny, etc. in general. It's not normal that I can't say that I like her comics without a bunch of hate comments. It's not normal that in nightwing rec posts people say "this one was written but Devin Grayson tho so you can skip it if you want" right after a comic written by Marv Wolfman with no such comment. It's not normal that all of her accomplishments go without credit in the fandom. I'm not saying you have to like her or support everything she's done but even the things that she genuinely has done wrong get exaggerated in a specifically misogynistic way to make her look like a crazy fan girl. She played into racial stereotypes when addressing nightwing's Romani heritage in one Gotham knights issue which should be called out, but twisting her true intention of simply expanding the character's backstory and representing a culture other than "white European" (in her own words) into smth abt f3tishization bc of how supposedly obsessed she is with nightwing... that's weird! Yes, she was a tone deaf author almost 30 years ago. That's not good, but that was genuinely her biggest crime. Yes she has flaws but it makes no sense that she's the first one on the chopping block while her cartoonishly evil male peers get off scott free bc no one cares enough to turn them into some kind of effigy like they do to her, one of the few female writers in the industry. I know no one is literally thinking to themselves "I'm gonna hate her bc she's a woman" I know it's bc of all of the misinfo spread around, but it's a vicious cycle started and fueled by misogyny. Just think for a second abt how you view her vs her male peers.

fascinating that people continue to choose to claim that devin grayson's entire life revolves around her supposed desire to personally rape dick grayson literally two decades later. i can understand why she seems to want nothing to do with dc or its fans these days when people are so giddy and delighted to make her entire existence about their own bizarre obsessions with framing her as a pseudo-rapist.

I ask that you please read the introduction as it has some important context for this whole thing. Thank you!

(also I like his silly half-cowl that has the shape of the Nightwing mask peeking out, like it's a metaphor for his true heroic self never being completely overshadowed by his failures)

In defense of Devin Grayson