THE BAT SIGNAL: Higgins Relocates "Nightwing" To Chicago in April

[CBR News]

"Nightwing" writer Kyle Higgins spoke to CBR News about the motivation for the character's relocation to the Windy City of Chicago and deals with the fallout of Damian Wayne's death.


Full article here.

[Eric Chang]

and Damian, who is 17

10

he was 10

rip

[EMeadow]

10

he was 10

rip

Glad I'm not the only one who saw that.

[Godlike13]

I wrote a good chunk of issue #17 and #18 before Grant [Morrison] actually wrote "Batman Incorporated" #8, but I left it loose enough that once Grant wrote the issue, I would be able to [go] in and really tailor it much more.

Thats actually explains a bit.

[RichSummers]

Yeah, a little egg on his face for the 17 thing.

But I like what I'm hearing. Making Sonia Zucco a bigger part of the book and bringing her to Chicago with Dick looks like he's finally going to get a supporting cast built around him. And I like the theme of control here. So much of Higgin's run thus far has been about external factors that Dick was supposed to have no control over (being a talon for example) but Dick keeps on moving forward and not focusing on what fate had in store for him, but what he decided he was going to do with his life. I just wish he was written as being less reactive to Bruce but that's a personal gripe.

[The Government Inspector]

It seems pretty obvious to me that it is meant to say 'he is [in] 17'. Pretty sure Higgins doesn't think Damian was 17.

[RichSummers]

Yeah, the thought crossed my mind as well that he was communicating that Damian was in #17 and either he misspoke or it was transcribed incorrectly.

[wu-tang warrior]

Well this title certainly can use a fresh start. Maybe with owls, DoTF, death of Damien out of the way, new change of scenery, new artist, this title can really get going. Sometimes it felt like everything was so set up around what was going on with Batman that Higgins has yet been able to really write just pure Nightwing stories. Hopefully he can do that now. And Booth's Nightwing looks good from what I've seen.

[CMBMOOL]

So we're getting a "Joe Chill" moment with this change in Nightwing's life ?

Why do i get the feeling of deja vu all over again ?

[R0NIN]

Why Chicago? DC characters in real cities seem a bit weird. Plus it's hard to imagine Nightwing's city being Chicago. Could have just as easily have been Bludhaven and bring things full circle.

[Icon_UK]

The Haly's thing being gone is somewhat irksome, we spent a year a half building it up as the only real plot that Dick Grayson (as opposed to Nightwing) had going on, then it gets destroyed in the most predictable manner possible (Seriously, a funfair? In Gotham? and the Joker blowing it up wasn't ALWAYS on the horizon?) and we end up with Dick Grayson having achieved absolutely nothing at a personal level in the whole year and a half of the new title.

We've got no idea how Nightwing, with no Titans leadership in his past and absurdly shortened tenure as Robin, is viewed by the rest of the DCU? We haven't seen him interact with anyone who wasn't already in the Batman family, not even Superman (Did he get his Nightwing name from Clark in this DCU?). Getting him out of Gotham should have been a chance to see if he's remotely as well connected as a hero as he was in the past, but I suspect we're not going to be seeing that.

[Aelle3]

Why Chicago? DC characters in real cities seem a bit weird. Plus it's hard to imagine Nightwing's city being Chicago. Could have just as easily have been Bludhaven and bring things full circle.

Going to agree with you. I love the fictional cities. In my mind it doesn't have to be bludhaven but it would have been cool if Higgins could have built a new city from the ground up. I always thought Opal City was one of Robison's triumphs.

I have the same gripe with Seattle.

[Godlike13]

Why Chicago? DC characters in real cities seem a bit weird. Plus it's hard to imagine Nightwing's city being Chicago. Could have just as easily have been Bludhaven and bring things full circle.

Higgins is from Chicago. And i think besides Gotham and Metropolis they want to push real cities. I mean isn't Green Arrow based in Seattle now, and Hawkman New York. I also don't think they have any interest in allowing Bludhaven to come back. They did blow it up already once before.

Im okay with Chicago. Its pretty much a black slate in the DCU, but at the same time its one of the biggest cities so everybody knows it.

[Kiryu]

Hoping for a new writer on this sooner rather then later. The circus, the zucco stuff. It's just boring. Everyone is so bland. This book doesn't have anything going on for it.

[FHIZ]

Why Chicago? DC characters in real cities seem a bit weird. Plus it's hard to imagine Nightwing's city being Chicago. Could have just as easily have been Bludhaven and bring things full circle.

Because Higgins is from Chicago and DC clearly doesn't want to do Bludhaven again.