What an issue!

Lex and Dick's repartee was great. And Lex was written so magnificently.

The art continues to be gorgeous.

Incoherent rambling incoming.

I was a bit lucky to have read it at 11:30 last night (benefits of reading comics on a tablet I guess). It was another solid entry in the Grayson series. Maybe it was because of the lack of double-page spreads but this issue felt much longer than Grayson #8 - Cross My Heart and Hope to Die and Grayson #9 - Nemesis. There was certainly a lot going on, every member of the Grayson trinity, Dick, Tiger and Helena started to have serious doubts about the other. I like that even though Dick and Helena are miles apart, we still see their relationship develop (though not in a linear pattern). You do also feel sympathetic for Tiger because he's clearly being manipulated by Helena. Since the last issue of Grayson, the series does seem to take more of a Bond/Archer feel, the quick transition from Spain to Corisca to Rome (I think) really showed the diversity in the settings as well as how much effort these guys put into the series.

When Lex Luthor was initially announced to be showing up in this issue, I was excited but very curious to see where they were going with that because it does seem kind of random. But Tim & Tom weaved his appearance in with the kryptonian jewel and his cameo felt organic. Dick and Lex really bounced off each other, my favorite part was when Dick called Lex "Mr. Clean." It did take me a few times to understand what the hell Lex was doing to Dick, when I first read it, I thought Dick was having a stroke or something lol. Anyway, it's clear that Tim/Tom as well as DC want to put Dick in as many situations as possible where he interacts with a serious character as it's a great way to establish his personality and what he brings to the table (charm and heart). I hate to bring up Red Hood/Arsenal but there you basically have two idiots and the only distinguishing characteristic is that Jason has black hair with blue eyes and Roy has red hair with green eyes, also Roy is a slightly bigger dumb-ass than Jason. But besides being stupid and shooting things, we really don't know what those two bring.

The art was fantastic, Janin and Cox really work well together, especially in Corsica, the whole bit was gorgeous to look at. Janin drew a really great and smug Lex Luthor. Also, Dick in aviators, I could use more of that.

Overall I'd give it a 9 out of 10. Didn't have any significant flaws to speak of, only a few nitpicks like Tiger's dialogue in the beginning was a bit over the top.

Also did anyone else spot the Ninel cameo (at least I thought it was him).

Have to look for that Ninel cameo they always throw in so many hints I could believe they actually did it and did Spyral not mention they send him to a hospital on an island to recover or something like that?

I really like how this character captured the motives and distrusts of the core members and that we saw more of Tiger and why he is Agent 1 in the first place. Screaming his full name was a bit over the top but otherwise I like the scene. I loved that the Dutchess was shown as someone who expected thiefs. I hate too wait another month for the revelation and I hope we'll see a great fight between the copycat and Agent 1 before Dick comes to the rescue.

I also wonder if Lex is the reason that he has a slight break with Spyral and they allow him to go to Gotham because of that.

Overall I really can't find anything I did not like at the moment which makes this for now a 9 to me too.

This is obviously early with plenty of more reviews to come, but as of now, Grayson is the highest rated DC series out and top 10 overall. It'll likely come down as IGN messed things up with a 6.8 review but hopefully it'll still stay up there.

Every IGN review sounds like they just skimmed over the pages without actually reading the dialogue.

If this issue really stays under the 9.1 score #3 got when all reviews are out I'll lock myself in a room and start crying.

That's just about exactly what they did. You can't tell me Lex Luthor being a contact to Spyral whom they're willing to sell out in an effort to get access to upgrades to directly control people with Hypnos (something revealed that he developed) is "inorganic" and "feels like filler" when this book is not just showing Dick at his best but also testing him by using a shady organization that likes to be unconventionally creepy and shady.

I really don't like when "Review" aren't actually reviews. There's got to be some analysis and understanding of the story structure. That's why I trust selected sources that actually give you a summary and their opinion and even explain the structure to you. I feel they at least READ the thing.

Issue 10 is actually a really good issue imo

Dick Grayson is much more in character to how people want him to be, and I feel like all the panels were meant to be, and nothing seemed wasted or out of place.

His interaction with Lex is probably my favorite thing, because it has that "Bruce trained me to be wary of all evil" and I felt like that's very true to his character. Such as when Bruce and Lex had that conversation at Wayne Manor in Justice League whatever