With Nightwing seemingly killed off in the last issue of Forever Evil, and his own series coming to an end with issue #30 in May, fans wondered if the original Boy Wonder really was going to get killed off this time, as DC editor-in-chief Dan Didio once wanted to do in the Infinite Crisis mini-series a few years back.

But nope… Dick Grayson lives, even if everyone else in the DCU thinks he’s dead. In an announcement in USA Today, DC revealed an all-new ongoing series would premiere July 2nd, simply titled Grayson, by writers Tim Seeley (Revival) and Tom King (a former CIA counterterrorism operations officer) and art by Mikel Janin.

In Grayson, Batman allows the world at large, including Batgirl Barbara Gordon, Alfred Pennyworth, and presumably all the other Robins, to believe that Dick Grayson is dead.  According to Seeley, it’s a hard sell, but Batman convinces him to do it for what he thinks is the greater good. Dick Grayson’s new taskmasters are the international spy agency Spyral, an organization created by Grant Morrison for his Batman, Incorporated series. According to series writer Tom King, “They’re the people who stop bad guys from doing bad things, yet to do that, they employ questionable tactics such as mind erosion.”

As for his supporting cast, the writing duo is planning on bringing in some familiar faces, but also create new ones, and to finally give Dick Grayson his own archenemy – “He’s always been a character who hasn’t had a villain associated with him, we want to give him his Lex Luthor, his Joker,” said King.  Another selling point that Dick Grayson has always had is that he’s one of the superheroes that fangirls consider the sexiest (it’s that gymnast butt, I tell ya), and they also plan on playing up that angle, in an effort to get more female readers, which is probably a smart move. Although he won’t be wearing a traditional costume, some elements of his older looks will be incorporated into what he wears; Janin designed new clothes for him that reflect the blue-and-black color scheme of his classic Nightwing look, and he’ll have a “G” on his chest, reminiscent of the old “R” from when he was Robin.

And for those of you not happy about this current turn of events, I remind you that not long ago Peter Parker “died” and was replaced as Spider-Man, only to return to the role with much fanfare a year later. Don’t think the name and costume of Nightwing aren’t going to be Dick Grayson’s for much more than a couple years, if that.