thedeadairchannel013

Bless my cotton socks, this book seems to be coming out fast. Nightwing #122 week.

This issue features an extended flashback to Dick Grayson's days as Robin, which I enjoyed writing. It also gives us the first clear look at the overarching villainy we've been pitting against Nightwing since the beginning of the series- the Cirque du Sin.

We have big plans for the Cirque, and how it may have morphed into something like the weapons manufacturer Spheric Solutions, which has made Bludhaven its home. When people asked me in various AMAs back before the book began releasing what I'd been reading in preparation to write it, I mentioned Jean Baudrillard's The Gulf War Did Not Take Place once or twice.

That collection of essays lives in my head an awful lot. The idea that asymmetrical warfare is waged via spectacle. That the awe and impressiveness is the point, and a tool to create a hyperreality which serves the purpose of the aggressor. For its own purposes, a circus of evil.

Perhaps I'm giving away a bit much, but there are plenty of surprises to come. It's a twisty, layered plotline which has taken on a life of its own as themes and ideas have pushed themselves to the forefront of my original outline. A joy of longform storytelling is trusting and allowing that to happen.

We have a guest artist joining us for issues 125 and 126. Having a guest artist jump in on a book is a way of giving a series' main artist the breathing room to do their best work without working them to death, and still releasing the book monthly.
To my mind there are two equally valid ways to approach it: either you find a guest artist who fits as seamlessly as possible with your main artist's style, or you bank hard into a different style, and tell a chunk of story tonally different to the main plot of the book.

Here we've opted for the latter, and are using the opportunity to tell an enclaved story focussed on the BPD, a pure-ish detective story throwing back to the roots of the masked vigilante genre. We've done this as we've just ended a six-issue arc, and it felt like a chance to tell a smaller, tighter story and let the overarching plot breathe a little; but also because we've managed to pull in a superstar guest artist I really wanted to write this kind of story for, as it relates to work they're known for and excel at, both in comics at large and specifically with Dick Grayson.

Once I started thinking in this direction, it threw up some interesting thoughts about Nightwing. Grayson is part of a direct lineage from the original pulp characters- Zorro through to the Shadow to Batman to Robin. But he's also the breach point where this lineage perforates through to the other side of the capes-and-tights. Where the bright colours and sunny disposition of Superman enter the murky crime-riddled world of Batman, which led to their merging and evolution over the next decade. Robin was an evolution; a guiding star to where superhero comics were headed next. He was a merging; and now he's the protégé of Batman, under a name he took from Superman. (The first meeting of Superman and Batman I'm aware of happened in 1952's Superman 76, which involves the two characters squabbling over the affections of Lois Lane only to see her head off for dinner with Robin, proving the more Dick Grayson changes the more he stays the same.)

I finished writing the end of that two parter yesterday, and today I'm starting the last 3 issue arc of Batman: Dark Patterns. I turned 34 yesterday, and am working the best job in the world. Nightwing #122 is out tomorrow. Thanks for coming along for the ride.

Batman: Dark Patterns #2 came out last week. The issue reveals more about the Wound Man- who appears to have captured hearts and turned stomachs of those who're reading the book, which is everything we hoped for as a creative team, really. The rallying cry on the book's email chain quickly became "no lips, all teeth," referring to a design note Hayden sent through on a design sheet of the character.

I was going to write some commentary for the issue, but I'll save that for next week as the above stream of consciousness about Dick Grayson got a little out of hand. Welcome to the inside of my head, I guess.

Since the start of the year I've been been in the lab writing manically, which has detracted from allowing me to read too much; but what I have had the chance to read is some advance looks at comics coming out in the very near future which have been sent to me by friends.

Out tomorrow is Ultimate Wolverine #1, which is just cool as hell. I'm a sucker for spy and crime fiction, and this is very much that applied to the Ultimate Universe. It has an abundance of characters people will be surprised and excited to see, and a gritty boots-on-the-ground tone that will appeal to anyone who enjoyed the original era of Ultimate comics. In th line, this feels the closest to what Deniz is doing on The Ultimates, though far more of a worm's eye view on affairs. Down in the dirt and the blood and the guts. Chris excels at this kind of writing, and it's why he's one of the most exciting writers in comics today. And that Alessandro Cappuccio art is just utterly luscious.

I also had the opportunity to read We're Taking Everyone Down With Us by Matt Rosenberg and co which- apart from having one of my favourite book titles of all time- has a delicious conceit. A mad-scientist's 13 year old daughter is left in the care of his robot bodyguard after his death, and vows revenge on those who took him down. If you've read much of my work you might gather I love a villain book, and this is a wonderful form of that- told with a charm, with and pathos you might not expect from the high concept, but will from Matt if you've read much of his work.
It lives in the vein of his We Can Never Go Home or 4 Kids Walk Into A Bank, in that its about youth running up against the adult world, the hopelessness and rage that can inspire... and the workarounds the young find to make their way. It's all of that, but this time with killer robots and laser guns.

Out March 26th from Image.

That's all from me this week. I return to the script mines from whence I came. Until next week: No Lips, All Teeth.

This has been thedeadairchannel. An excavation from the desk of Dan Watters. Please do subscribe.