#dan watters

There's a bitter irony to Nightwing becoming more popular in the last few years - it's mostly a result of Taylor's abysmally saccharine and bland characterisation. A fondant version of DG - all sugar, no complexity of flavour, no nutritional depth. Like many other long time readers and DG fans, I have been starved for a truly stellar representation of Dick since Flashpoint.

Enter Dan Watters.

First there's this interview, which made me weep with joy.

I had forgotten it was possible for people to praise Dick without putting down Bruce. And while it may seem that Watters is painting Bruce as unempathetic, all you need to do is read one single issue of Dark Patterns to know that he most certainly does NOT think that. What he is talking about is the way Bruce and Dick approach detective work differently - which is absolutely correct.

More importantly - "He grew up knowing he was loved. That's what Batman gave him that Batman didn't have."

Utterly perfect assessment, and borne out in full in Nightwing #137 (2026) this week.

Nightwing is accused of causing a pileup on the Bludhaven bridge which led to nine deaths. So of course, in true Bat fashion he is beating himself up in guilt and trying to figure out what happened - but he's not the only Bat on scene.

There's immediate defensiveness in typical Dick fashion.

There's Dick being reckless with his life and Bruce panicking out of his skin.

(Hey Dickie, remember THE LAST TIME YOU GOT SHOT IN THE HEAD IN FRONT OF HIM?????)

There's Dick actually being COMPETENT and SMART again, not just some performative cheerleader cutout who gives a speech and is then inexplicably hailed as a great leader and hero without actually proving it on panel.

There's Bruce's usual concern (this scene is so clearly Bruce in a Batsuit and not simply Batman).

(On a related note I'd tell Bruce to practice what he preaches but that's never going to happen with ANY Bat, let alone the prime Bat.)

Then there's Dick crashing out at him - the usual way he processes his guilt and stress.

And this is where Watters' understanding of the Bruce and Dick relationship is so clearly outlined - Dick is able to rage and crash out at Bruce BECAUSE he knows he's loved. And Bruce lets him crash out and weathers it - acknowledges Dick's feelings without once taking it personally. An outlet Bruce himself never had, no matter how much lore-deficient writers like Taylor and Williamson try to retrofit Alfred into a role and pedestal that never existed.

THIS is what the Bruce and Dick relationship has been for the longest part of post Crisis DC history ever since Prodigal cemented the reconciliation. This is what Batman and Nightwing were under the best Bat editorial tenure.

And of course there's the pot-kettle panel, where Bruce pulls a Dick and Dick pulls a Bruce. Also a cornerstone of their relationship.

Imagine you’re an average Metropolis criminal, and you’re passing through Gotham. You need money, so you try to rob someone. As you’re doing this, a vigilante appears in front of you. It’s not Batman. It's a fucking child. For a moment you're baffled, trying to figure out how to navigate beating up a child without being a total dispshit. But you don't have time to figure that out cause the child hits you in the face so hard you see god. He's got this demonic smile on his face and he flips and twirls around you, toying with his food before he eats it, telling corny jokes and performing to an imaginary audience. Are there people watching? Where? Why is this kid talking to himself? Eventually you wake up handcuffed outside Gotham PD with no memory of how you got there.

- Dan Watters

And this piece about bridging these two genres, these two worlds is something that not only the carnival does, but something Bahkin calls its essential function in literature itself!

When Batkhin talks about the carnival breaking down genre barriers he also highlights how everything in consumed in the carnivalistic worldview, into he fantastical. Watters uses the fantastical as an example of what Robin brought into the world of comics to become this bridge

And Watters demonstrates how comics destroy boundaries between genres right in the arc! Balancing between a fantastical fourth dimension tale and a crime story about corruption. This serves not only to comment about authoritarian policing structures but to demonstrate the barriers between genres that do not exist in comics

From the world of Batman a crime story. From the world of superman a fourth dimensional crossover, the mythical figure of Nightwing. 80 years later Dick is still bringing the carnival in to break thematic barriers.

- Dan Watters explaining why he created Zanni

By claiming Dick was the bridge between these characters, Watters is claiming Dick Grayson as a character brought the circus into comics and is a big reason why we have the universe we have today! With the carnival to break down barriers, characters and comics now transcend boundaries. Superman and Batman do belong in the same universe.

- Watters again

I’m also rlly enjoying drawing them in crisis… should I make these superhero therapy doodles into a series? Let me know what heroes you’d like me to draw! ^^

Universal Monsters: Creature from the Black Lagoon Lives! Black & White Special #2 (2026)