#and that's probably mostly because dick isn't involved in it other than in flashbacks

[hood-ex]

Hi, Emily! Sorry to bother you with this but what are your thoughts on Nightwing's new villain Heartless? Like, do you like him, despise him, think he's interesting or... something...? I confess I haven't read the new series of baby boy Dick but I've seen pictures of this dudebro and I'm????? kiiiiiiiiiiiiinda intrigued but not as much as I could?????

I'm kind of indifferent towards him.

He was brought out of his nonverbal state after witnessing Dick's parents fall to their deaths. He reveled in their deaths, and because of that, he kind of has an obsession with the demise of Dick's family. Er maybe not an obsession but... their deaths filled him with life. Using his inherited money, he intentionally had parts of his body amputated and replaced to make him more like a cyborg. Now he goes around ripping people's hearts out of their chests because he loves the thrill of the hunt as well as the fear from his victims.

The fact that he was there the night that Dick's parents died is kind of annoying because there have already been quite a few people/rogues who happened to see the Flying Graysons perform. But eh. It is what it is.

I think TT dropped the ball a bit by introducing Heartless and showcasing him as a menace that needed to be stopped immediately, but then he put Heartless on the back burner and had Dick put all of his attention on stopping Blockbuster instead. Now I know Blockbuster had to be involved at some point in order for Heartless to rip out his massive heart, but by shifting the focus to Dick and Blockbuster so early on, TT took away all the tension and sense of urgency that could've been built up between Dick and Heartless.

Dick's lack of urgency in taking down Heartless made Heartless seem like less of a priority, and therefore, less of a threat. That idea was reinforced when Dick realized that Heartless had ripped out Blockbuster's heart, but instead of putting all his attention into going after Heartless, he went to go babysit a mobster and have sex with Babs.

Later, Heartless broke into a prison and sicced all the prisoners on Bludhaven. Did Dick end up going after him after Heartless fled? Nope. A whole new storyline involving another villain started up instead.

So, yeah, Heartless could be more interesting if he didn't keep popping up just long enough for Dick to be like, "Oh damn!! That heart stealing dude!" and then having Dick forget about him 10 seconds later.

#honestly don't think they should've shoved heartless's backstory into the annual issue. they should've put it in a regular issue #i personally think it's the best thing tt has written in his run so far #and that's probably mostly because dick isn't involved in it other than in flashbacks #so i don't have to suffer through tt's bad characterization of him and can instead focus on learning about a new character #but also. i've mentioned that tt's dialogue really grinds my gears #and it surprisingly didn't when i read heartless's backstory #which goes to show me that tt is better at writing OCs than he is at writing established characters. which like... same lmao. #Shelton Lyle #Heartless #anon