When Batman won't be alone when he debuts in August in DC Comics' digital-first Smallville Season 11 -- that much was clear from the cover art released earlier this week. But it turns out that's not Robin but Nightwing warning the Caped Crusader of Superman's The Blur's arrival. What's more, that's not a young Dick Grayson under the mask, but rather Stephanie Brown.

"Bruce can be somewhat of an angry man," writer Bryan Q. Miller explains to TV Guide. "Stephanie's personality is so can-do and unsinkable and bright, so it's very much on purpose on Bruce's part that he has a good cop going out on patrol with him every night."

The storyline, called appropriately enough "Detective," will also explain why Stephanie is Nightwing and not Batgirl, the identity she assumed in the DC Universe from 2009 to 2011. Miller, a former staff writer and executive story editor on The CW's Smallville, also wrote DC's Batgirl during Stephanie's time in the costume.

Batman and Nightwing will arrive online in Smallville Season 11 in August, and then in print in September. Miller is joined on the four-part arc by ChrisCross and Marc Deering.