Carrie Kelley, in 1986, was the first Robin to have an iconic weapon (her slingshot).
Tim Drake, in 1991, was the first main-line Robin to have his own distinct weapon (his bo staff, though he ALSO started out with a slingshot as a secondary).
Dick Grayson got his escrima sticks as Nightwing in mumblety 1995-1997. The first ART you could say they appear in is Nightwing vol 1 #2 (his first page in the Blue Fingerstripes outfit).
They are drawn in at least once more in the miniseries, in #4, but Dick never draws them or acknowledges them.
The first time he holds them is the cover of Nightwing Vol 2 #1: however they don’t appear inside.
As far as I can tell the first time Dick FINALLY uses his new weapons is #5. Lady Vic gets the honour of being the first rogue smacked around with them.
What’s the point of tracking all this down and establishing the 18 month long process of Dick actually USING his new weapons?
Well, mostly because I just read Oracle Year One again, and just gonna put it out there, but Richard Dragon gave Barbara Gordon escrima sticks and lessons to defend herself in Batman Chronicles #5 in June 1996, several months before we ever see Dick drawn holding his.
Yeah yeah later Year One stories like Robin and Nightwing Year Ones will flirt with the escrima coming earlier for Dick, but the fact that in our timeline the development of Babs and Dick both using escrima sticks in their fighting styles occurred in an overlapping period is fascinating to me.
Of all the weapons to pick for them both. Dick, after returning to work in and near Gotham, picks up the fighting style that Babs acquired to allow her to fight in her wheelchair.
I wonder what is the logic for them giving Dick escrima sticks, I know in the issue Dick basically picks up some stuff at the circus and uses them as stand-ins for escrima sticks. What does that say about his fighting style? his characterization?
(And to be clear, I love Dick having the sticks. Big supporter of it. I love that in the arkham games the sticks get a shock function too. I think it makes him more unique.)
Like with Tim–Tim had the bo staff from the original design documents seen in knightsgallery. I’m not sure which artist exactly had the idea of Tim using a bo-staff, I know that Neal Adams made the final design, but I’m not sure if he’s the bo staff idea person.
Anyway, Tim with the bo staff makes sense. Tim, despite being older then Dick or Jason when they started, compensated for him being smaller then most of his opponents. The bo staff is for range, versatility, it adds a degree of martial flair that Dick and Jason lacked as robin.
The escrima sticks are a curious choice though, I know that Dixon was the originator of the idea(I think), but interviews never explained on his reasoning.
Oh, this is one of my favorite little-known facts: we do actually know the timeline re:Babs & Dick each beginning to use escrima sticks, and it was definitely cause-and-effect/direct inspiration in real life, and implicitly in-universe. Also it wasn’t actually Dixon’s idea for Dick to start using them; the credit actually goes to Brian Stelfreeze, who illustrated Showcase ‘94 #12, Oracle’s first solo appearance, where it’s first established that she uses escrima sticks now. When Stelfreeze redesigned Nightwing’s costume a year later, he included escrima sticks because it was so cool when Oracle used them.
So based on the IRL timeline of events, what Dick Grayson’s choice of escrima sticks as his signature weapon says about him is that he thinks Barbara Gordon is extremely fucking cool.
nothing more utterly humiliating than knowing twenty-seven different ways to eviscerate someone and then being relentlessly teased and tickled before you can use any of them
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