Nightwing #136 began " Blüdhaven Lore ".
Apr. 19th, 2026 11:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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scans_dailyThe previous arc " Cirque du Sin " was the transition from Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo's brighter run, smoothed by the fantastic parts of that threat.
What the Cirque did in Blüdhaven led to reconstruction, set-up for some of writer Dan Watters' thoughts:
" As someone who moved from the UK to the US, American infrastructure fascinates me. The shapes of cities here can be entirely different- there's just so much more damn space.
" The psychogeography of a sprawled city is so different to a more European-style city, which I'd generally pigeonhole Gotham as- walkable, easily accessible via public transit, with people living stacked on top of each other.
" Cities where each stop of the day is a 45 minute drive away makes for a different way of living, and invites a different kind of story.. "
" It is wild to me to build infrastructure that is ostensibly to facilitate and improve human living, and to have so much of it inaccessible to the pedestrian. Engaging with your own town primarily through windshield glass.
" These are the things swirling around in my head as I consider what makes Blüdhaven different to Gotham. And I decide it means Nightwing needs a cool new car. "
(The Cirque demolished multiple buildings in Blüdhaven - Bisogni quickly built this over that ground.)
Dick pulled up alongside her in his car: " Need a ride?
He started a conversation about what he'd heard listening in on police radio: " .. a trucker called 9-1-1, claiming he'd picked up a woman walking down the highway.
" You never know what people are thinking. "
" Okay.
" You don't need to do that. I'm trying to help you. "
" I think you might be disassociating. "
" I'm sorry. "
The woman who talked witches told Dick " It was men like you who.. accused us. "
" To be forgotten. "
Looking at her scars, Dick figured she'd been " institutionalized. "
She told him about having been unmoored.
" Dammit, you're bleeding.
" .. I've got to get you to the hospital. "
' It makes her panic. '
Dick's cool new car became part of a pile-up in ' under nine seconds.
' What could I have done differently? '
Dick punched himself out of his cool car to help others.
He went back for the woman who ' might still be -
Dick was alone at the head of the crash.
His turmoil had an audience.
' Or else..
(She caused the pileup, but he wasn't able to stop her.
Pagecount's a little more than 7 and 1/10th of 22 from March 2026's Nightwing #136.
Writing's Dan Watters.
Art's Denys Cowan, who previously helped define a fictional DC city's character in the late 80s with Denny O'Neil on The Question.
He was asked onto this book to do what he'd done for Hub City:
" When I heard [they wanted] that, I was frankly going, “What does the Question, in that world, have to do with Nightwing? I don’t get it.”
" From what I knew of Nightwing, which wasn't a lot, I just knew he used to be Robin. Well, how does that have anything to do with the Question? Then when I saw the material that they wanted me to do, when I got Dan's wonderful first script, for issue #136, I realized it was a totally different direction from what I had seen in the stuff they had sent me. It was a darker book with a different kind of tone, so it was easier to plug into that part.
" Having never drawn the character, having never really thought about him, I was able to do my version of his world.
" .. [Blüdhaven]’s not Gotham City. They haven't made video games about it. There are no movies that feature Blüdhaven. So, I have a chance to make it up and invent that world from scratch. "
Inks're Norm Rapmund, colors're Francesco Segala, and letters're Wes Abbott.
Publisher's DC.)
What the Cirque did in Blüdhaven led to reconstruction, set-up for some of writer Dan Watters' thoughts:
" As someone who moved from the UK to the US, American infrastructure fascinates me. The shapes of cities here can be entirely different- there's just so much more damn space.
" The psychogeography of a sprawled city is so different to a more European-style city, which I'd generally pigeonhole Gotham as- walkable, easily accessible via public transit, with people living stacked on top of each other.
" Cities where each stop of the day is a 45 minute drive away makes for a different way of living, and invites a different kind of story.. "
" It is wild to me to build infrastructure that is ostensibly to facilitate and improve human living, and to have so much of it inaccessible to the pedestrian. Engaging with your own town primarily through windshield glass.
" These are the things swirling around in my head as I consider what makes Blüdhaven different to Gotham. And I decide it means Nightwing needs a cool new car. "
(The Cirque demolished multiple buildings in Blüdhaven - Bisogni quickly built this over that ground.)
Dick pulled up alongside her in his car: " Need a ride?
He started a conversation about what he'd heard listening in on police radio: " .. a trucker called 9-1-1, claiming he'd picked up a woman walking down the highway.
" You never know what people are thinking. "
" Okay.
" You don't need to do that. I'm trying to help you. "
" I think you might be disassociating. "
" I'm sorry. "
The woman who talked witches told Dick " It was men like you who.. accused us. "
" To be forgotten. "
Looking at her scars, Dick figured she'd been " institutionalized. "
She told him about having been unmoored.
" Dammit, you're bleeding.
" .. I've got to get you to the hospital. "
' It makes her panic. '
Dick's cool new car became part of a pile-up in ' under nine seconds.
' What could I have done differently? '
Dick punched himself out of his cool car to help others.
He went back for the woman who ' might still be -
Dick was alone at the head of the crash.
His turmoil had an audience.
' Or else..
(She caused the pileup, but he wasn't able to stop her.
Pagecount's a little more than 7 and 1/10th of 22 from March 2026's Nightwing #136.
Writing's Dan Watters.
Art's Denys Cowan, who previously helped define a fictional DC city's character in the late 80s with Denny O'Neil on The Question.
He was asked onto this book to do what he'd done for Hub City:
" When I heard [they wanted] that, I was frankly going, “What does the Question, in that world, have to do with Nightwing? I don’t get it.”
" From what I knew of Nightwing, which wasn't a lot, I just knew he used to be Robin. Well, how does that have anything to do with the Question? Then when I saw the material that they wanted me to do, when I got Dan's wonderful first script, for issue #136, I realized it was a totally different direction from what I had seen in the stuff they had sent me. It was a darker book with a different kind of tone, so it was easier to plug into that part.
" Having never drawn the character, having never really thought about him, I was able to do my version of his world.
" .. [Blüdhaven]’s not Gotham City. They haven't made video games about it. There are no movies that feature Blüdhaven. So, I have a chance to make it up and invent that world from scratch. "
Inks're Norm Rapmund, colors're Francesco Segala, and letters're Wes Abbott.
Publisher's DC.)
