Marv Wolfman’s Appearance at WonderCon Reflected on the Decision to Change Dick Grayson Forever
Nightwing #113 (Legacy #300) variant cover by Dan Mora (Image Credit: DC Comics)
The Boy Wonder has come a long way.
This week DC Comics will publish Nightwing #300, an impressive milestone for Batman’s former partner. True, this number was achieved with some relaunches and creative math, but it’s still an impressive feat.
As we celebrate Nightwing’s 300th issue, it’s hard not to reflect on the character’s legacy. Just ask Marv Wolfman. Forty years ago, Wolfman (along with his collaborator George Perez) did the unthinkable and permanently transformed one of DC’s most iconic characters. Since his debut in 1940’s Detective Comics #38, Robin had been one of the most iconic characters in DC’s landscape.
Then everything changed.
Speaking to a panel at WonderCon, Wolfman reflected on Dick Grayson’s tenure as Nightwing, giving the audience an interesting statistic. “Let me start by saying something that will blow your mind. In four years…just four years…Dick Grayson will be Nightwing longer than he was Robin,” Wolfman said.
The transformation happened in the pages of New Teen Titans, DC’s best-selling re-imagining of the superhero team. From its inception, Wolfman and Perez saw New Teen Titans as a more mature title. “Teen Titans was not a book about 12-year-olds, 13-year-olds, or 14-year-olds, like the previous versions of Titans were. In my mind they were 18, 19, and even 20. That’s why we eventually took off the word ‘Teen.’ It was important that all the characters be older because I wanted to write about real emotions and real character stuff. We had Robin, and Robin was no longer in the Batman book at that particular point. I really hated the whole concept of a 19-year-old wearing those silly green shorts. It just looked all wrong to me.”
Marv Wolfman (Image Credit: Comic-Con International)
“At the same time, the Batman editor wanted Robin back. They wanted to make him young again. Of course, I had some power there because Titans was selling so well. And I said, ‘I don’t really want that, but here’s an idea. Why don’t you take Robin? I don’t care about Robin in the slightest. I want Dick Grayson, I want that character. I want the adult character. I want the character one year shy of being 20 or 21. And that leaves you to come up with a new Robin, and to advertise to the fans, and let them be part of something that’s never happened before, which is the kid partner becomes the adult hero.’ They saw that it was a positive for both of us,” Wolfman continued.
“I would get Dick Grayson, who was already the leader of the Titans, but now I can really make him the age he should be. George (Perez) just loved the idea and designed the Nightwing costume.”
Of course, this would also lead to the creation of Jason Todd. In some ways, you can think Marv Wolfman for that.
According to Wolfman, Nightwing almost wasn’t his name. “We went through a million names on the character. I wasn’t going to do Nightwing originally. It was one of the first thoughts that we had, but because Nightwing was the name of a character in the Superman book, he was a Kryptonian character, Nightwing and Flamebird. And finally, when there’s no Batman, he actually fits it perfectly on all ways, and I had to come up with a declaration saying I’ve been influenced by Batman and Superman, and this is an honor to both of them.”
Did Marv Wolfman and DC editorial know the history they were making in that meeting 40 years ago? Did they know that discussion would lead to the creation of Jason Todd, and Nightwing’s iconic legacy? It’s hard to imagine how different the DC Universe would be if that meeting hadn’t happened.
