Higgins discusses Dick Grayson's return as Nightwing

New Nightwing writer Kyle Higgins spoke to Newsarama about his work on the new book, launched in September. I've picked out the most interesting parts, but the full article can be read here.

Interesting that he mentions he collected the Nightwing series, but he didn't mention that Dick Grayson is co-owner of Haley's Circus. Must have slipped his mind.

Nrama: What interested you about Nightwing?

Nightwing as he will look in September

Higgins: He's my all-time favorite character. I'm not saying that as lip service. Literally, he was my way into DC comics when I was younger and in grade school. I remember stumbling across issue #15 or #16 of the Chuck Dixon/Scott McDaniel book where it's Nightwing on the cover fighting Man-Bat and his clothes are shredded. From there, I went back and started finding the earlier issues. It's really the first book I started collecting every month. From that point on, I read every issue that was ever published. So Nightwing is what kept me in comics and reading comics.
The chance to take him forward after, in my opinion, what Scott did in Detective Comics redefined him, I'm very excited about.

Nrama: As you take over Nightwing, Dick Grayson is a little different than he's ever been before, isn't he? Simply because he's been Batman?
Higgins: That's a big part of what we're doing in the series. I don't think you could do a Nightwing book at this point without dealing with the fact that he was just Batman. I'm not sure I should say much more than that, except that one of the reasons he's Nightwing now is because of him just being Batman. You'll have to keep reading to find that out.
But in terms of his skills and confidence level, Nightwing has an even greater experience behind him now. So in our comic, he's become the best version of Nightwing that he's ever been. It's what has made him better.

Reflections show Dick as Robin and his 1st Nightwing outfit

Nrama: He's working out of Gotham in this title, right?
Higgins: Yeah. Gotham City was always the one place he'd always avoided, but now he's been successful there. So he's staying in Gotham because the city has changed around him, and he feels like the city genuinely needs him.

Nrama: Since he's in Gotham, does he bump into other people in the Bat-universe?
Higgins: Yeah. The thing about Dick Grayson, and it's something we're playing a lot with in Gates of Gotham, is that in his nature, he's a very social person. That's one of the big things that separates him from Bruce.
He works well with people. He works well with other members of the Bat-family. So yeah, there will be people popping up in the comic. And Dick's direction in Gotham City is tied to him continuing his mission, because he feels the city needs him and he's done avoiding this place as he has over the last few years, which Scott has explored wonderfully in Detective Comics. So it's not just him isolated in the city.

Nrama: Will we see familiar villains from his rogues’ gallery? Or will you try to add to that?
Higgins: There will be some of both. With the direction he's going, as well as the fact that this city has changed around him and is still changing, there are a lot of new threats. That's not to say we're getting rid of, or jettisoning, the old villains. But because this is a new #1 and we're making this really accessible, this is a jumping-on point and there will be new characters and villains.

Nrama: The information that DC released indicated that he'll see his old circus come through town, right?

Dick as Batman

Higgins: Yeah. The circus coming back is something we're exploring in terms of what his earlier life was like. It's about seeing what his life would have been like if he'd stayed in the circus. I don't want to say too much more about it, but it'll be less about his origin story and more about the themes we're exploring in the book.

Nrama: You talked about him being more social. But is this a dark book? Or is it more adventure? I know Scott was doing a detective-oriented book. What is Nightwing's tone?
Higgins: It's a combination of things. Some of the stuff I'm plotting right now gets pretty dark, but it's also a character story about Dick Grayson as a superhero. But this is Nightwing in Gotham City, so everything that goes with that in terms of Gotham City as this violent, deadly, almost sentient thing is very much a part of the book.

Nrama: Then to finish up, is there anything else you want to tell fans about your upcoming run on Nightwing?
Higgins: I just want to stress that I know this character, and I'm writing a book that I would want to read because I feel like I know what people are looking for and I know what works best. This is definitely a dream project for me, but at the same time, I'm not letting that dictate the story. I'm looking forward to people seeing what we're doing.