The Tom Taylor run so far doesn’t rely much on reading previous runs, if you want to start at the beginning of it all you really need to know is that Tony Zucco killed Dick’s parents, Blockbuster is the main villain who is the crime boss of Blüdhaven and that Dick and Barbara Gordon have a long on and off again romance.

However I would still recommend checking out Chuck Dixon’s 70 issue run on the character, as well as the shorter (and not as good) runs by Devin Grayson, Kyle Higgins and Tim Seeley, although Grayson’s is controversial, mostly due to one specific moment in issue 93 which is terrible and deserves all the hate it gets.

^I think I know what you're talking about. But can you give a recap anyways? (Put a spoiler and a few spaces between that please)

Sure yeah,

SPOILER and also TW

The run leads up to a big fight between Nightwing and Blockbuster, where Nightwing doesn’t stop Tarantula from killing him and then spirals into being barely conscious out of guilt and trauma, where Tarantula then has sex with him despite him saying no. Tarantula raping Dick was awful, a terrible plot point that Grayson herself has (eventually) realized was a bad thing to write in (although before she did she had the very unfortunate “I didn’t say rape it’s just nonconsensual sex” comment which she has also apologized for, although I don’t think that’s found anywhere outside of an interview of her in this one book about Dicks history that I own) I know that the whole lead up to that is controversial too but I really liked it, it’s just that the rape and its lack of being dealt with brings down her run significantly.

I think you can start with Infinite Frontier. Like someone upthread said, all you really need to know is that Tony Zucco killed the Graysons and Dick and Barbara have an on again off again romance.

I would not read Dixon and Graysons runs until after you’ve read what’s out so far of Taylor’s run. I highly recommend them, but Taylor borrows a lot of ideas from Dixon and Grayson that he changes and makes his own and it can be confusing and annoying if that’s what you’re familiar with.

^^Thanks. I did read that a long time ago when Invincible from Image Comics was "raped"

I don't know what to think of this. I'll admit I don't particularly care for either characters, but I understand not liking something that's happened to characters I care for that's considered extreme

Mark Grayson being raped for shock value is the main reason I never finished Invincible. Here's hoping that's excluded or handled more delicately in the Amazon adaptation

It definitely was a shock, but it held long-term effects and was ultimately instrumental to the course of the plot. The trauma Mark had to go through felt real, and the woman who did it eventually felt genuine remorse and sought his forgiveness. I didn’t like that it happened, but it helped keep Earth alive in the long run, for reasons I won’t completely spoil. I think Invincible is worth finishing, even when that moment exists.

Wow that's depressing; remember when superheroes used to be about catching a thief or punching supervillains

Also, thank you everyone for the recommendations

I mean, tackling real-world issues is largely respectable, but the follow-thorough is really important.