Cover: Eddy Barrows

Nightwing #2

Dec 2011 · DC · 2.99 USD

📊 ~93,131 copies sold its debut month

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“Haly's Wish”

About this Issue

Nightwing (Vol. 3) #2 is a key chapter in DC's New 52 relaunch, delivering the first formal, named appearance of Saiko (Raymond McCreary) — the inaugural villain built specifically for Kyle Higgins's run and the first antagonist in Nightwing's freshly minted New 52 rogue's gallery who was not recycled from the broader Bat-family canon. The issue also marks the death of C.C. Haly and Dick Grayson's unexpected inheritance of Haly's Circus, a plot development that would ripple through the entire 'Traps and Trapezes' arc and tie directly into Scott Snyder's concurrent Court of Owls mythology. In giving Dick a villain and a backstory wholly his own, Higgins and Barrows used this issue to argue that Nightwing could carry a mystery-driven solo series independent of Batman's shadow — a creative bet the collected 'Traps and Trapezes' trade would later validate by landing on the New York Times Best Sellers list.

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writer Kyle Higgins · artist Eddy Barrows · inker JP Mayer · inker Paulo Siqueira · colorist Rod Reis · letterer Carlos M. Mangual · cover Eddy Barrows

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History

The issue was part of the simultaneous September 2011 New 52 wave that reset DC's line after Flashpoint, with Kyle Higgins — fresh off co-writing Batman: Gates of Gotham with Scott Snyder — launching Nightwing alongside Deathstroke as his two concurrent debut titles. Higgins has cited Chuck Dixon and Scott McDaniel's 1996–2000 Nightwing run as his primary creative touchstone, and the decision to ground the new series in Haly's Circus was, in his own words, a way of 'referencing and paying respect to the old … while still breaking new ground.' Interior art duties were shared by series regular Eddy Barrows and Paulo Siqueira, with inks by J.P. Mayer and colors by Rod Reis.

Trivia · 8 facts

Published October 19, 2011 (cover date December 2011); written by Kyle Higgins; pencils by Eddy Barrows and Paulo Siqueira; inks by J.P. Mayer; colors by Rod Reis.
First formally named appearance of Saiko (Raymond McCreary), Dick Grayson's childhood circus friend turned Court of Owls-trained assassin — the character debuted unnamed in issue #1 but receives his name and expanded role here.
Death of C.C. Haly (Mr. Haly), the longtime owner of Haly's Circus, who dies in Dick Grayson's arms after being tortured by Saiko into revealing Dick's secret identity as Nightwing.
Saiko's torture of Mr. Haly also results in him learning that Dick Grayson and Nightwing are one and the same, raising the personal stakes of the arc above a standard superhero mystery.
Part of the 'Traps and Trapezes' opening arc (Nightwing Vol. 3 #1–7), which established the New 52 continuity for Dick Grayson and seeded the connection between Haly's Circus and the Court of Owls mythology running concurrently in Scott Snyder's Batman.
The New 52 series reintroduced Dick Grayson in a redesigned costume featuring a red emblem in place of the traditional blue, marking a visual break from his pre-Flashpoint look.
Reprinted in the trade paperback Nightwing: Traps and Trapezes (collecting issues #1–7) and in Batman Giant #2.
The collected 'Traps and Trapezes' volume, anchored by this arc, became a New York Times Best Seller, reflecting the strong readership the Higgins/Barrows launch generated.