MARV WOLFMAN ON NIGHTWING

[MattBrady]

We first brought you word of Marv Wolfman returning to Nightwing as the writer of the character’s ongoing series last summer when DC Executive Editor Dan Didio made the announcement at Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC.

Fans took the news…well to put it mildly. Very well.

Now, two issues into his run, Wolfman is able to speak a little more freely about his views on the character, what he came on to do, and what he plans to do, given that his initial four-issue arc has been extended to a run of indefinite length.

We caught up with the writer to talk about ‘Wing, his life and his times.

Newsarama: The last time we spoke about Nightwing, you'd just gotten the job, so we didn't go into too many specifics. Now, with two issues out, and a handful more in planning, plotted, and written stages, let's dig into it a little. First - was there any difficultly in finding Nightwing's voice again after a few years of not writing him?

Marv Wolfman: There honestly wasn't a problem finding his voice, but there was in finding mine. I was asked by Dan Didio and Peter Tomasi to work with them to help get Nightwing back on track so I put together a story that would highlight some aspect of his character each issue. By the fourth issue, the character would essentially be back-to-basics for whoever was going to take over after my story was done. That meant his character would be redefined and his purpose and position in the DCU made clear, etc. In short, we wanted the readers to know who Dick Grayson was again and why so many people like him so much.

Issue one brought Dick back to earth and began with his asking the question, now that I've grown up, what now? Issue two reminds people of several things: 1: He was an acrobat in the circus. 2: He is a detective. 3: That there is still a strong connection between him and Batman. Issue 3 deals with Dick facing death and demonstrates his will as Dick Grayson and not just as Nightwing. To me they are one and the same. We see what he's like under extreme pressure plus we play up even more of his skills in analyzing situations under the worst circumstances possible. And finally issue 4 puts all the aspects together plus we his compassion for the innocent. Because I tend to add lots of foreshadowing future stories, I did that here, too, but I didn't think I'd be the one to pick up on them.

Anyway, because my first story was essentially a fill-in, my changes were directed to Dick's personality and abilities, and I didn't try to make a major change in the book's style as I have with some other material I've written that hasn't yet come out. With #129, my first new story since I was given the book, there is a very definite, if not subtle, change in how I approach writing the book. I'm definitely finding my way on this.

But to answer your question, it wasn't hard for me to find his voice as I had given lots of thought to who the character was when George and I 'aged' Dick in New Teen Titans and then later on introduced Nightwing into the book. I felt I knew the character well, and the only question now was, what were the differences between him at age 18-20 when I last wrote him and his approximate age 25 now? His basic personality is the same although his needs and life dictate different desires today.

NRAMA: That said, obviously, there's a large amount of non-changing elements in a shared universe populated by characters that DC hopes will be as viable in 20 years as they are today, so how has Nightwing changed?

MW: As I say, his personality isn't much different, as least as far as I see him. Dick is a self-starter. He is propelled by a sense of justice and morality, not by a need for revenge. He is fair-minded. Where he's different is the difference between anyone when they are 18 to when they are 25 or 30 or 50 or whatever. Our view of life changes with time and it should for a fictional character, too. Otherwise they don't become real. Friends you had at 18 may not be friends later on. Sometimes they come back, other times they don't. Your needs change as well. Dick has money, but he still needs to feel needed, not as Nightwing but as Dick Grayson. So he has been looking for a job. He finally gets it in #129.

Dick also understands that unlike Batman he needs to be with other people, so he's going to start getting friends who have no relationship to his costumed self. He's been in costume fighting crime since he was nine, and now he realizes he needs more than that. He's now trying to have a life outside of being a hero 24/7. When I was younger I devoted most of my thought to my work and maybe a little less to my personal life. Later I realized that needed to be reversed. As someone said, none of us goes to the grave saying they wished they spent more time at the office. So Dick, who is smarter than me, is realizing earlier that he needs that other part of his life to be enriched more. That won't alter the hero aspects of the story, but will color them differently.

NRAMA: Well let’s get into him a little more - for you - at his core - what's Dick Grayson/Nightwing about?

MW: Well, I know that many of the writers love the character, but I'm not sure why. Since I pretty much 'created' his current persona in the Titans and wrote him exclusively for 16 years, I have a different view than many of the others. To me, Dick is the one hero who simply decided being a fighter for justice was the right thing to do. The murder of Dick's parents was solved almost immediately so there was never a feeling he needed revenge. Even back when he was created he was someone who made bad jokes and seemed to have fun doing what he did. He wasn't the sole survivor of a doomed planet. He didn't feel responsible for the death of his parents. He wasn't appointed an intergalactic cop. When Batman put his parent's killers behind bars he saw that stopping crime was something worth believing in. Dick is the only one I know who is like that. And he does it without having been given any special powers. To me Dick is the best kind of character there can be; he's dedicated to his cause for all the right reasons. Plus he's human, so Dick has to work hard to be good. Unlike Superman he has no natural powers. Shoot him and he will be hurt. That makes his stories more interesting.

NRAMA: In your view, how’s he seen by other characters in the DCU?

MW: I'd assume they'd see him as a straight-forward person who is trying to do the right thing even when he lets his temper or his stubbornness misdirect him at times.

NRAMA: You touched upon this a little - while his relationship to the "trinity" of the top echelon heroes is a given, Nightwing seems to be much more of a "working class" hero, that is, putting on the costume is almost more like a job for him than another identity or a "mission." Is that an accurate way of looking at his relationship to being a hero, compared to say, Batman for whom fighting crime is more of a mission, a calling or something that fate had a hand in?

MW: I don't think being Nightwing is a “job” for him. He sees his Nightwing life as something that needs to be done. As I said, I think seeing Batman dealing his parents killers opened up his world. He could have become a cop but, in comics at least, the rules would have prevented him from doing what has to be done. Also, cops don't deal with super-villain metas or costumed nut-cases, but super-heroes can.

NRAMA: Speaking of what super-heroes do deal with, what kind of story does Nightwing work best in?

MW: I love to play around and not be tied down, so I would tend to say he can go from straight out detective stories to some pretty big super-hero action stuff. On his own I wouldn't send him to other planets, but he could fight some pretty big villains as well as take on some very small, personal stories. He's not limited to one kind of story only, but I wouldn't have him try to take on Trigon by himself either. It doesn't use him to his best.

NRAMA: Back to the more immediate elements of the series, when you first got the book and were doing an initial assessment, was there anything that you felt it needed - things to tweak and fix early on, for example adding supporting cast? Stabilizing his life as Dick Grayson?

MW: Actually, I was brought on specifically to do that, so it was my mandate, not my own assessment. I think Dan Didio was surprised when he saw how rabid the Nightwing fans were when there was some news he might die in Crisis. His view was, well, if the character is that good, prove it to me. That's what my mandate is. I hadn't read the Nightwing book for reasons I've stated a thousand times before; I don't read characters I created after I leave the project. I'd glance through my copies to see if he was still alive, but didn't bother reading them. I'm starting to go over the collected editions now. So yes, Peter and Dan wanted Dick's life stabilized, his attitude sharpened and the character brought back to what had made him popular in the first place. Hopefully I can do that.

NRAMA: Okay - you set yourself up for this one by the introduction of not one, but two new female supporting cast members - you created him as Nightwing, and probably know him as well or better than anyone. Why is Nightwing so popular with women - both in the comics themselves, and with his readers?

MW: Well, the two girls I introduced, Ryan and Zen, are not full time supporting cast members although they will appear in more stories. #127 should clarify where they stand. They were never intended to be girlfriend characters, at least not immediately if ever. Ultimately, they will become part of Dick's extended friendships. Someone like him should have friends.

As for why girls like him, both characters in the stories and in real life, well, in the books he is good looking, athletic, smart and can be funny. He also exudes a basic honesty. In real life, I think the fact that he likes girls and deals with them honestly, makes him different than many other male characters. There is also a bit of the little boy inside the man that comes through, too. He's got his act together, but not too together. There're some other more subtle reasons, too, perhaps, but you should ask women about that. Speaking of friends, I definitely want to enrich his private life. He's going to have lots of "real world" friends, not just super ones. A new character who I hope will work out to be a friend will also be introduced in #129. We'll see how their byplay works and go from there.

NRAMA: Over to the mystery of your first storyline - someone is killing former LexCorp Weapons researchers? And now Nightwing has a price on his head...are there any clue s as to who's behind this?

MW: As for the price on his head, I have to be real honest here, I was trying not to have to deal with too much of the previous storyline. I wanted to get past that fast. But I will have to write some passing line that ends all that Jason Todd stuff. About my first storyline will be explained in #128. You will know exactly who is behind the Raptor story. My goal with the stories is that Dick's life is continuous, so characters he meets in the Raptor story will continue on for awhile, or go away depending on how he would deal with them in real life. So the young boy Phillip, Raptor's middle kid, is essential to the second story even though it has nothing to do with Raptor at all. Dick will get involved with people's lives and will continue to even after the case is over.

NRAMA: And for you, as Dan has said, Nightwing is an ongoing concern for you, correct? You're on the title for the foreseeable future? How did you learn about that?

MW: It's funny because Peter called me after I was alerted by a friend to an article here on Newsarama about that. Peter was waiting for Monday to call me about it when Dan announced it at a con over the weekend. So I learned about it here. Good website. Good website.

NRAMA: And Jamal is joining up - does the change in artists affect how you write at all?

MW: Absolutely. I've been in touch with Jamal and we seem to have many similar views on the character. He made a suggestion on my idea for the new villains for his first arc which I really liked and incorporated. I've seen his layouts for the first issue and they are wonderful, so I'm delighted. Jamal has said Nightwing is his favorite character so I'm hoping we will work closer with each issue. Right now we're just starting the relationship but everything we've said to each other seems right on target for this.

NRAMA: And just to send us off - any teases about things you want to play with in the series now that you've got an open field in front of you?

MW: Our first arc, beginning with #129 features two new villains, Bride and Groom. They are metas, but their powers are not large ones. The story is a little creepy and more mysterious than the first arc which was fairly straight super-hero/super-villain. Bride and Groom have known each other for a long, long time and they've kept up a competition for all that time that, should Groom win, will end with them getting married. I won't say too much else about them except that Bride is actually a real historical person and that her story is well known, although her participation in it is not. Historically, her first name is Violet, but that's all I'll say. We'll see if anyone can figure it out from that. Also, it will explain a real historical event in slightly different terms than we're used to seeing them in.

Beyond Bride and Groom the unnamed and unseen assassin from my first arc will be back. He went off on another assignment thinking he had killed Nightwing and has discovered Wing is still alive…did I give away the ending of #127? Oops. He has to finish the job. We'll also learn more about him and his Chauffeur Mr. Anthony.

Also, as mentioned, Dick finally does get his job in #129. I will be introducing new characters. And I'll also be talking to Gail Simone the writer of Birds of Prey about his relationship with Barbara Gordon. Right now all I want to do is clearly redefine the character and continue to develop a unique style for me to tell his stories for as long as I'm on the title. Hopefully people will like what we're doing and give the book some buzz.

[Johnny Triangles]

Issue one brought Dick back to earth and began with his asking the question, now that I've grown up, what now? Issue two reminds people of several things: 1: He was an acrobat in the circus. 2: He is a detective. 3: That there is still a strong connection between him and Batman. Issue 3 deals with Dick facing death and demonstrates his will as Dick Grayson and not just as Nightwing. To me they are one and the same. We see what he's like under extreme pressure plus we play up even more of his skills in analyzing situations under the worst circumstances possible. And finally issue 4 puts all the aspects together plus we his compassion for the innocent. Because I tend to add lots of foreshadowing future stories, I did that here, too, but I didn't think I'd be the one to pick up on them.

Of course conspicuously absent from the list is the need to remind people of Dick's fighting skills, and as we can see Wolfman has Dick doing what he does best...losing another fight. Geez...

[theodoros2]

I was ready to add "Nightwing" to my list.

I really like Wolfman. I read most of his Tomb of Dracula and New Teen Titans.
And Dan Jurgens is really great.

Then the artist changed.

I am sure people will complain aboyt me complaining about it.

And how wrong it is to write negative things here.

Where do I compain about people who complain about me compaining all the time?

Marv Wolfman, you are great. Thank you for the stories you told me all the time.

[Clem]

If i could recommend one thing to Marv - follow up on Bludhaven's destruction. I dont care how its done, but Deathstroke blew up Dick's town and nothings come of it. Have Dick hunt Slade down, help some refugees, try to rebuild, ANYTHING!

Chuck Dixon setup the best status quo Nightwing ever had in issues 1-70, and Devin pissed all over it.....very very slowly. I need some kind of closure for Bludhaven cos nothing has felt the same since.

[chap22]

Originally Posted by Johnny Triangles

Of course conspicuously absent from the list is the need to remind people of Dick's fighting skills, and as we can see Wolfman has Dick doing what he does best...losing another fight. Geez...

dude, calm. it's called set-up and dramatic tension. i have faith Marv will have him win one fairly soon. (at least i hope so; c'mon Marv, Dick is a fighter too; let him cut loose just a little )


by the way, i love you Marv. i mean that. stay on this book forever.

[Ye Olde Iowa]

Originally Posted by theodoros2

I was ready to add "Nightwing" to my list.

I really like Wolfman. I read most of his Tomb of Dracula and New Teen Titans.
And Dan Jurgens is really great.

Then the artist changed.

I am sure people will complain aboyt me complaining about it.

And how wrong it is to write negative things here.

Where do I compain about people who complain about me compaining all the time?

Marv Wolfman, you are great. Thank you for the stories you told me all the time.

I'm not complaining, but I say give Jamal Igle a shot. He is a great artist and will prove that very quickly. Besides, if you were going to buy the book anyway, why not give it a shot? More of a suggestion than anything else (though, my complain would be that too many readers will drop a book because of a creative change without giving the new team a shot...I've never understood that).

I really like Wolfman's take on Nightwing and I'm glad to see he is on the book for the long haul. What makes me very happy, though, is that he has been speaking with Gail Simone about the Dick-Babs relationship. The fantastic and surprising ending to Grayson's run on the book has been ignored for too long, and I hope that between the two they can come up with a good way of resolving it. Jones did a disservice to the character by having him jump into a stranger's bed within a few pages of his run after the emotional climax of his predecessor's.

[Mundungus]

I'll pick up his current arc in trade and then start with Jamal Igle.

This should be good, I like Dick. He's always clicked with me more so than Batman.

[Jamal Y. Igle]

Originally Posted by theodoros2

I was ready to add "Nightwing" to my list.

I really like Wolfman. I read most of his Tomb of Dracula and New Teen Titans.
And Dan Jurgens is really great.

Then the artist changed.

I am sure people will complain aboyt me complaining about it.

And how wrong it is to write negative things here.

Where do I compain about people who complain about me compaining all the time?

Marv Wolfman, you are great. Thank you for the stories you told me all the time.

I don't begrudge you wanting to see Dan continue on the book. You have every right to voice your opinion about it. I would hope that you would wait to see my work on the book before you passed judgement on it completely.

[DeTroyes]

Wolfman's Nightwing has just been a breath of fresh air, after all that Grayson and Jones did to the title. Here's hoping that he stays on it for a good, long while.

But I would like to know some information about Wolfman's other big DC project. When is the Raven mini series going to finally come out?

[theodoros2]

Originally Posted by Ye Olde Iowa

I'm not complaining, but I say give Jamal Igle a shot. He is a great artist and will prove that very quickly. Besides, if you were going to buy the book anyway, why not give it a shot? More of a suggestion than anything else (though, my complain would be that too many readers will drop a book because of a creative change without giving the new team a shot...I've never understood that).

I really like Wolfman's take on Nightwing and I'm glad to see he is on the book for the long haul. What makes me very happy, though, is that he has been speaking with Gail Simone about the Dick-Babs relationship. The fantastic and surprising ending to Grayson's run on the book has been ignored for too long, and I hope that between the two they can come up with a good way of resolving it. Jones did a disservice to the character by having him jump into a stranger's bed within a few pages of his run after the emotional climax of his predecessor's.

I liked Devin Grayson's stories a lot. Didn't like Chuck Dixon's stories. Then, I haven't read a lot of Chuck Dixon's Nightwings stories. (Don't tell this to anyone, but I don't like his style at all. Don't let anyone know about it).

It pisses me off that Jamal Igle will leave propably the title in a couple of issues. For me is important to have a regular artist. Look at Daredevil. The result is better.

[Jamal Y. Igle]

Originally Posted by theodoros2

I liked Devin Grayson's stories a lot. Didn't like Chuck Dixon's stories. Then, I haven't read a lot of Chuck Dixon's Nightwings stories. (Don't tell this to anyone, but I don't like his style at all. Don't let anyone know about it).

It pisses me off that Jamal Igle will leave propably the title in a couple of issues. For me is important to have a regular artist. Look at Daredevil. The result is better.

I am the regular artist on the book for at least a year.

[Bearpod91]

I dropped the title a while ago but I might check it out now.

[Ye Olde Iowa]

Originally Posted by theodoros2

I liked Devin Grayson's stories a lot. Didn't like Chuck Dixon's stories. Then, I haven't read a lot of Chuck Dixon's Nightwings stories. (Don't tell this to anyone, but I don't like his style at all. Don't let anyone know about it).

It pisses me off that Jamal Igle will leave propably the title in a couple of issues. For me is important to have a regular artist. Look at Daredevil. The result is better.

Finally, someone else who liked Devin's run! I thought her stories, aside from a few weird choices here and there, were really great. Hell, she even made the best of having some insane editorial changes forced upon her (from what I heard, her entire last year on the book was changed drastically to accomodate the Infinite Crisis).

Jamal says he is on the book for a year, so I'd highly recommend staying with the book for a few issues. I don't blame you for being peeved that an artist you really dig is leaving the book, but at least 12 issues of a great team like Jamal and Wolfman is worth sticking around for.

[theodoros2]

Originally Posted by Jamal Y. Igle

I am the regular artist on the book for at least a year.

You got me. This is good news. So.........

Ok sir. I'll give it a try.

Promise me you'll treat my Robin good! He is a friend of mine.
We used to play when we were young.

[Jamal Y. Igle]

Originally Posted by theodoros2

You got me. This is good news. So.........

Ok sir. I'll give it a try.

Promise me you'll treat my Robin good! He is a friend of mine.
We used to play when we were young.

Hey, he's a friend of mine as well

[Gail Simone]

Originally Posted by Jamal Y. Igle

I am the regular artist on the book for at least a year.

In my opinion, you're a perfect choice, Jamal. Mark my words, everybody, Nightwing is gonna be on fire this year.

Gail

[MattBrady]

Originally Posted by Gail Simone

Mark my words, everybody, Nightwing is gonna be on fire this year.

Gail

shot, stabbed, beated, buried, and now...Nightwing on fire!

beats "on ice."

MattB

[transmetro]

I dont think it matters who they put on to write Nightwing. I hate the Nightwing title. More then enough Nightwing in the Outsiders.

[Stéphane G]

Great interview, and great preview pages

I loved the two issue of Marv's run that we got so far.

Marv Wolfman is an awesome writer, one of the best in the biz and it was more than time that we see him as regular writer on an on-going book again.

I'm very happy to have him as Nightwing scribe.

Jamal Ygle is a great artist and he will be perfect for the book. He did great work on Firestorm, welcome to Nightwing Jamal.

Dan Jurgens does a great job on the current arc, but Jamal is a worthy replacement.

Looks like Nightwing is on my pull-list for years to come.

Never bought the book before, often thought to do so, but it took Marv Wolfman to make me actualy buy it. His name was enough to make the book an immediate add to my pull list.

[STL]

I'm a long time Marvel reader and I've been trying DC stuff in the past half year. I finally jumped on when Marv got onboard with those interiors. I've enjoyed the 1st issue so far and hopefully the rest continue to be good. I've always liked the concept of Dick but just never got around to jumping aboard, whether it was b/c of the creative team or story arc at the time.

Also, I've seen Jamal's stuff on Firestorm I think it is. Looks solid. Will be different though as Nightwing is a lot more physical combat orientated as opposed to Firestorm's more energy based attacks.

Looking forward to this.

[sxmidwest]

Good to see Marv back on a monthly Titans-related (ever so tangentially) book.

Hopefully, he and Gail can get this proposal thing resolved before the next Infinite Crisis. Hard to believe fighting a pair called "Bride & Groom" won't bring that whole thing up?

[ElijahSnowFan]

I've cursed Dan Didio over the years for the shoddy treatment some long-time characters have received on his watch -- and I'm sure I will again after The Question and Captain Atom get screwed -- but I have to be honest here:

I greatly appreciate him taking another look at Nightwing and mandating that this character gets fixed. It was flat-out ridiculous how far Dick Grayson had fallen -- it was beyond laughable.

Now, the character has a writer and artist who respect the character, respect the history, respect his skills.

The stories will be better because they have to be -- when a creative team is invested in the character, things are as they should be.

Soooo...the truce is in effect until Vic Sage or Nathaniel Adam get screwed. No negative talk about Dan Didio from me until then.

I do appreciate TPTB for changing their minds about killing my favorite character EVER.

[alec&abby]

Wow ! I thought Chuck Dixon gave Dick the worst status quo the character had ever had. Suddenly a city with a really stupid name pops up that had supposedly been right near Gotham all along ? Right off the bat, I hated that. And instantly, under Dixon, Dick seemed to completely regress. What happened to the guy I watched grow up under Wolfman and Perez ? The guy who gained his confidence and came out from under the shadow of the bat ? Suddenly he was right back in that shadow. The character totally backslid under Dixon.

And nothing else has been any good since then either. If this book didn't star Nightwing, I would've stopped reading it in it's first year. What a disappointing mess it's all been. I am so happy that Marv is on the book because we finally have someone who actually gets this character. And, of course he should----no one ever wrote Dick better than Marv ! Looking forward to the future !

[Captain Cook]

Wolfman's run on Nightwing is spectacular. I love Jurgens (he & Mike Carlin are responsible for me reading comics), but dammit, Jamal Igle is the man (Wooooo!), and just like Dan, he can draw anyone in the DCU damn good. This is sweet.

The last few issues have been great, the best since Chuck's now classic run. With Jamal on pencils it can only get better.

[endrin12]

Originally Posted by Jamal Y. Igle

I am the regular artist on the book for at least a year.

Congratulation Mr. Jamal,
I follow all your work in Firestorm, in my opinion your style is a perfect match to Nightwing dynamic movement. I'm sure Nightwing in a good hand in this long run.

I stopped Nightwing just before the One Year Later. And then Mr. Wolfman came, got me interested and then Newsrama announced that you will be regular artist. That's when I thought 'perfect'.

Regards,
Endrin