Years ago, DC Comics Co-Publisher Dan DiDio got himself into hot water after reports that he wanted to kill off Nightwing (and Superboy... and John Stewart... there may be a pattern here).

But earlier this summer, while speaking with CBR at Comic-Con International in San Diego, the longtime DC executive and writer demurred, assuring fans that he's turned a new leaf from those days. "That was a different Dan," he told us with a laugh.

Still, DC recently announced that Nightwing writer Ben Percy is leaving the title earlier than planned, to be replaced by veteran writer Scott Lobdell just as the title is set to tee up some major reveals in the DC Universe. While all parties have remained mum on what exactly led to the change, CBR's talk with DiDio may shed some light on the publisher's general approach to delivering earth-shattering stories, and whether killing off major characters is in the cards or not.

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And to hear DiDio tell it, the plans the publisher has for Nightwing play right into the realignment coming from this week's Heroes In Crisis event from Tom King and Clay Mann. "We did an interview and a panel, and God bless Tom King for reminding me of my own statements," the Co-Publisher said. "He said, 'I take the word Crisis very seriously. I remember when Dan did an interview in 2007 and said you can't have the word Crisis and have a live Flash. You've got to kill a Flash every Crisis. I take those things to heart.' I didn't give him that thought.

"I do believe you need that visceral impact in a story," DiDio continued. "Heroes In Crisis is really going to be a book that I think will really reclassify and redefine what it takes to be a hero again in the DC Universe. This story is coming from an intensely personal place for Tom King, and I love that so much. You hear him talking about it, and you can feel the emotion inside him that's driving this storytelling and how personal it is. It's going to be fascinating to see fan reaction to this because it will be a very visceral book."

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Nightwing is playing a similar role in the DC line, as DiDio linked the title's fate (under Percy or another writer) to the publisher's overall plans. "What's going on behind the scenes that you don't see is a level of conversation about creating the infrastructure of the DC Universe – reexamining the villain bases, reexamining the hero bases and their interactions.

"We're reexamining things that could be really not exploited in a single book but across the line," he continued. "There's a lot of things happening in our series, and Ben is going to be introducing some concepts that will ultimately play out throughout the DCU and interact, I believe, with some storylines in Heroes In Crisis down the road. There's a lot of fun stuff going on.

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"And what we're doing is examining 'What don't we have? What are we missing?' That was the thought behind the New Age of Heroes books. 'What types of stories aren't we telling? What's happening in the world that we aren't addressing?' [Nightwing] is a book that is at the heart of that."


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When controversy rears its head, whether from story moves or creative changes, DiDio doesn't seem to get phased by the response. He pointed to the recent outcry over what some called a bait and switch in the pages of King's Batman run as evidence of DC running properly. "I think [Batman #50] was a wonderful every level of the way," he said. "The passionate debate and argument about whether Batman should or should not get married is exactly what that book should be generating. It's exactly the talk we should be having. It's excitement because that's what fandom is built on is those arguments over how stories and characters should act and behave and what should happen next. If we get that back, I feel we'll have a strong base where we can build our sense of community again.

"But I think that's what comics needs right now. One of the biggest problems in the industry is apathy right now. It's more about the variant cover than it is about the 22 pages inside of story. And we've got to get people excited and talking about stories again."

Whether Nightwing and Heroes In Crisis will get fans talking about what's inside the pages more so than what's going on behind the scenes has yet to be seen, but both titles will take their shot soon.