Nightwing is heading to the FUTURE
Everyone's best friend from the DC universe, Dick Grayson, is getting a new comic based in the future! A about a decade or so from now, Night wing is tasked with taking down all superheroes and metahumans. He is establishing a "New Order".
Here's the full official synopsis:
NIGHTWING: THE NEW ORDER is the story of a future world without “weapons”—where superpowers have been eliminated and outlawed. The man responsible? None other than Dick Grayson, a.k.a. Nightwing, now leader of a government task force called the Crusaders who are charged with hunting the remaining Supers. But when events transpire which turn the Crusaders’ aim toward Grayson’s own family, the former Boy Wonder must turn against the very system he helped create, with help from the very people he’s been hunting for years—the last metahumans of the DC Universe.
So Nightwing vs the DC universe? Sounds interesting! It also sounds pretty controversial. As I stated at the beginning of this article, Nightwing is everybody's best friend. Not literally- but he is one of the most loveable, friendly and trusted DC characters. So this is a very different direction for the character.
This all seems like it may have been inspired by Marvel's current Captain America event "Secret Empire". From the previews it seems like they are making Nightwing a villain in the eyes of the rest of the heroes. This is very risky, however DC aren't always against twisting the politics of their character's either, as we have seen with Injustice: Gods Among Us. Which essentially turned Superman into a dictator. DC will need to be careful with the publicity of this event, Marvel are raising a lot of hell with Hydra Cap so DC should take notes and be careful to not make the same mistakes.
I'm very intrigued to see what writer Kyle Higgins does with this story. He's no stranger to the Batman Family, or even even the future for that matter! He has worked on Nightwing‘s New 52 reboot, the digital-first Batman Beyond 2.0, Batman Eternal, and Batman: Gates of Gotham with Scott Snyder. He had this to say about the book's concept:
“My all-time favorite DC books throw characters we know and love into future worlds that are equal parts familiar and terrifying, laced with moral issues that aren’t black and white or easily solved. Ultimately, these stories say something about our world. And that’s what we are aiming to do with this Nightwing series, through the lens of a future generation of heroes.”
Trevor McCarthy is on art, who is also no stranger to the Batfam. He has previously worked on Gates of Gotham with Higgins and he worked on Batwoman. He had the following to say about this project:
“As an artist, there’s nothing better than world building. Diving in and figuring out a visual identity for a book, a character, a city…this is why I love making comics. Add to that the fact that it’s NIGHTWING—the first book I ever drew as a pro—and a chance to work with Kyle again, and I was beyond thrilled for the opportunity.”
I have a lot of questions about this book, like "how did we get to this stage?", "how can Nightwing take down the likes of Superman?", "which target is it that makes him see the error of his ways?", "what does Batman think of all of this?" and perhaps the biggest question: "is he too late to redeem himself?"
However, I understand that the best way to have These questions answered is to pick up the series when it starts this summer!