Summary

• Nightwing's new creative team will focus on street-level crime, moving away from the previous systemic issues storyline.
• The shift back to fighting gangsters in Blüdhaven reflects Nightwing's original character, where he thrived.
• Early Nightwing stories showed his independence from Batman by fighting corrupt police and gangsters directly.

Nightwing has done just about everything a hero can do: led the biggest team of heroes on Earth, been a sidekick, been a street-level hero. There's almost nothing Nightwing hasn't experienced, and with a new creative team on his book starting this October, it's time he finally returns to where I feel he's best: fighting street-level crime.

A brilliant new creative team is moving onto Nightwing at issue #119 after the previous team of Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo departs. This new team includes heavyweights like Dan Watters, who has Batman-related titles like Sword of Azrael, Arkham City: The Order of the World, and more. He's ed by the amazing artist Dexter Soy, who had a beautiful run on Red Hood and the Outlaws during DC's Rebirth era.

This new creative team will be moving away from where Taylor and Redondo took Nightwing, instead moving Nightwing back to the streets to deal with a massive gang war that has broken out. As someone who has read Nightwing's entire early run, from Chuck Dixon to Devin Grayson, I think it's the exact place Nightwing needs to be right now.

Nightwing Belongs on the Streets of Blüdhaven

Variant Cover by Ethan Young

Taylor and Redondo took Nightwing in a new direction that fans hadn't really seen from him before. Instead of being a street-level hero who stops muggers and fights gangsters, Nightwing instead became a billionaire who invested in the city directly, addressing the systemic issues of crime. This new direction was a fun change of pace for Nightwing, but it ultimately had the problem of making Nightwing's issues much bigger. If Nightwing is constantly using his new wealth to fix the systemic issues of Blüdhaven, then he doesn't really have to fight street crime anymore, which moves him away from where his character originally thrived.

I believe Nightwing truly thrived when he was helping people directly.

Status quo changes for superheroes are fine — great, even. Batman is currently going through something similar after losing his fortune and no longer having Alfred to rely on. But I believe Nightwing truly thrived when he was helping people directly. Using his wealth to save the city is a great idea, but it makes things a bit too indirect and moves him away from seeing the people he saves. Nightwing's times on the streets always had him fighting gangsters, with Nightwing fighting Blockbuster as a major part of Dixon's initial run on Nightwing. Nightwing even became a cop so he could spend his entire day and night protecting the people of Blüdhaven.

Nightwing Has Always Done His Best Work as a Street-Level Hero

Variant Cover by Gleb Melnikov

A big theme of Nightwing's early adventures was his trying to stand out from Batman. He stood on his own, not even accepting Bruce's money, and he was in a city far more corrupt and dangerous than Gotham — because, unlike Gotham, Blüdhaven didn't have a Batman to protect it. I truly believe that this worked best when Nightwing was fighting gangsters and exposing corrupt police with his own two hands, on the streets of Blüdhaven. Using his inherited wealth to save the city is a great change from the status quo, but ultimately, it's not where Nightwing belongs.

Nightwing #119 is available October 16th, 2024 from DC Comics!