Queering Dick Grayson

Dick Grayson has been singled out as a rare (and highly prominent) example of a queer-coded male character in North American comics. This reading extends throughout the character’s history, but takes a new permutation in his relationship with Starfire. #TeenTitans 1/10

The first thing to note is the counter-intuitive nature of this relationship. Dick/Kory (DicKory) is (canonically) a committed, monogamous relationship between two consenting young adults. Yet within that seemingly-nuclear structure, queer elements still emerge. 2/10

In the article “Queer(ing) Robin: Performances of Sexuality in Dick Grayson and His Aliases,” scholar Micah McCrary argues that Dick’s relationship with Kory “cements his simultaneous movement away from youth and ‘traditional’ heterosexuality.” 3/10

Starfire is specifically embedded with a wide number of symbols of the sexual revolution: costume, Farrah Fawcett hair, sexual aggressiveness, and, above all else, an enthusiastic and open-minded approach to exploring her sexuality. 4/10

In this capacity, she draws Dick into that same sexual revolution in their famous first kiss. By placing her in the role of sexual aggressor, and Robin in the role of willing devotee, the gender dynamics are all but inverted from the outset. 5/10

Visually, this character dynamic is reinforced through the illustrations of Pérez , who frequently draws the couple together in ways that emphasize her size (bigger than him) and that often juxtapose Starfire’s self-confident satisfaction with Dick’s discomfort. 6/10

Additionally, a later love triangle between Nightwing/Starfire and teammate Raven is resolved, subtextually, only when Starfire teaches Raven non-monogamous intimacy. The scene is not literal, but one couldn’t call it subtle in its symbolism either. 7/10

All of this unfolds within the broader bildungsroman framework around Dick Grayson in Titans, which specifically portrays the hero’s coming of age through maturation from the Batman-dominated Robin identity into the more independent Nightwing identity. 8/10

That sexuality would play a role in that can’t be surprising, given the obvious correlations between sexuality and maturation, but the simple point is that Kory may have played a significant role in making Nightwing the queer icon that he has become today. 9/10

And if we had time we could talk about how the Batgirl/Robin relationship can be read to offer a competing heteronormative force for the character, but let’s just let that hover for now! 10/10