Nowadays, it seems like everyone has one side hustle or another. Many of us have hobbies that we monetize as second jobs, even superheroes. Just look at Nightwing. Even though he’s a billionaire philanthropist, leader of the Titans and a superhero, he still finds time for the occasional day job or two. As we celebrate Nightwing’s historic 300^th issue, we thought it would be fun to take a look at a few of the unique (and occasionally straight up bizarre) jobs Dick Grayson has worked in his “spare” time.
 

Newsboy

How long has Dick been working a second job? Since his first appearance in 1940’s Detective Comics #38. Immediately after being taken in by Batman, the young Dick Grayson was ordered to get a job as a newsboy. In fairness, this was part of a plan to spy on the racketeers that killed his parents, but there are plenty of other ways they could have accomplished that. Imagine being adopted by a millionaire…and the first thing he does is make you get a job.
 

Telegraph Boy

At some point Bruce changed his attitude about Dick getting a job, because he started acting like a jerk when the Boy Wonder became a Telegraph Boy in 1944’s Batman #22. In addition to delivering letters, this job had extra duties such as being a golf caddy and mowing lawns. Bruce thought the job was distracting Dick from his duties as Robin and ordered him to quit. But it turns out Dick was only working the job so he could pay for Bruce’s birthday present…which was pretty embarrassing for Bruce when he found out.
 

Comic Book Writer

One day Dick was reading an issue of Crescent Comics and remarked that the story didn’t seem very realistic. Bruce responded by driving Dick to the editor’s office and asking him to repeat the criticism in person. The editor then challenged Dick to write his own comic story.

Yes, this really happened. Check out 1946’s Batman #35 for yourself.

Dick soon realized that he could rework some of Batman and Robin’s adventures into comic scripts. Crescent Comics began buying his scripts, and as far as we know, they never stopped. Heck, Dick could still be writing comics to this day. We don’t know who the next Nightwing writer will be once Tom Taylor is done. Hmmm…I wonder…
 

DJ

Just call him DJ Dickie Gee! In Star Spangled Comics #80, Dick briefly became a DJ for Gotham High School’s radio station. Dick went the extra mile, singing his announcements with an accordion. Who could ever forget lyrics such as, “If your brain is slow, and your marks are low, get hep, get in step. There’s a school that will make you wise. Guy, go to Gotham High.”

I wonder if the Titans ever tease him about this one.
 

Camp Counselor

A mere two issues later, in Star Spangled Comics #82, Robin decided to start his own summer camp…and make it all about him. He called it Camp Robin and designed a huge flag with his face on it. Before we bash Dick’s ego too much, don’t forget he lives with a man that puts the word bat in front of everything.
 

Congressional Aide

What does a Boy Wonder do when he’s on semester break from Hudson University? He takes a job as a congressional aide on Capitol Hill! Dick worked under Congresswoman Barbara Gordon, and I’m sure the fact that he had a big crush on her influenced the decision. His congressional duties included helping her with speeches, keeping her schedule in order and fighting the ghost of Benedict Arnold. What? It’s true! Read Batman Family #1 if you don’t believe me.
 

Circus Owner

In New Titans #60, Dick bought Haly’s Circus, the circus that he grew up in before Batman took him in. Dick managed the circus from afar, operating as Nightwing while the big top traveled the country. Memorably, Blockbuster would destroy the circus in 2003’s Nightwing #88, but it was restored after the reality altering events of Flashpoint. This means that anytime you read a Nightwing story between 1989 and 2003, Dick is doing circus management stuff between the panels.
 

Bartender

Dick became a bartender at Hogan’s Alley in 1996’s Nightwing #4. Hogan’s Alley was a cop bar, and Dick reasoned that the job was a good way to overhear details of criminal investigations. But the really remarkable thing was that somehow he was able to do all this while operating as Nightwing and running his own traveling circus.
 

Cop

In 1999’s Nightwing #31, Dick Grayson decided to become a police officer. After years of working outside the system, he wanted to try his hand at being a legitimate agent of the law.

It didn’t work.

In 2003’s Nightwing #83, Dick was forced to resign when one of his supervisors learned about his double life as Nightwing. It turns out that it’s a HUGE conflict of interest to be a lawless vigilante and a police officer at the same time. His supervisor was cool with the circus owner thing, though.
 

Male Model

Everyone is always admiring Nightwing’s body anyway, so he might as well make some money off it.

In 2006’s Nightwing #119, Dick went to visit his love interest Cheyenne Freemont at her office. Cheyenne worked as a fashion designer, and all her coworkers immediately assumed that Dick was a model. Can you blame them? Naturally, they immediately put Dick to work, throwing him in a photoshoot. 

For a time, Dick decided to just go with it. This led to an uncomfortable, but kinda hilarious, situation in Nightwing #120 when Dick was forced to walk the runway in a Nightwing-inspired outfit. Jason Todd was in the audience for that one, and he couldn’t have been more amused.
 

Museum Curator

Dick Grayson worked as a museum curator in Nightwing #140-153. At the time, he was looking for a new direction and the museum job kind of fell into his lap. This despite that he had no background in curation and none of his prior jobs and side hustles provided much relevant experience. Ironically, Catwoman probably would have a been a better choice, seeing how much time she spends researching the valuable artifacts she steals. I wonder how many times Dick had to dial her up?
 

Cab Driver

Dick Grayson became a cab driver in 2018’s Nightwing #50. This was during a period where he had been shot in the skull, shaved his head, forgot everything about his previous life and decided to call himself “Ric.” Honestly, the cab driver thing was probably the least odd thing about this phase in Nightwing’s life. In fact, until Dick recovered his memory, I’d argue it was his occasional vigilantism that felt more like the side hustle than his time spent picking up fares.
 

With all these extra jobs, it’s amazing that Dick found the time to reach 300 issues! Let’s toast our favorite Boy Wonder, Newsboy, DJ, Comic Book Writer…well…you get the idea! Happy 300^th, Nightwing!
 

Nightwing #113, which is his 300^th legacy issue, is now available in print and digital.

Joshua Lapin-Bertone writes about TV, movies and comics for DC.com, is a regular contributor to the Couch Club and writes our monthly Batman column, "Gotham Gazette." Follow him on Twitter at @TBUJosh.

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Joshua Lapin-Bertone and do not necessarily reflect those of DC or Warner Bros. Discovery, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.