WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Nightwing #84, on sale now from DC Comics.
As one of the friendliest, most eligible bachelors in the DC Universe -- and a newly minted billionaire philanthropist, to boot -- Dick Grayson has quite the prolific love life across his lengthy superhero career. From dating his fellow Teen Titans to a brief, battlefield marriage to Barbara Gordon during the crossover event Dark Nights: Death Metal, Dick has always had quite a robust romantic history. And as Gotham City and the Bat Family finds itself at the mercy of the Scarecrow in the new crossover event "Fear State," one old flame from Dick's first stint in Bludhaven has resurfaced in his life with some drastic changes to her status quo of her own as Dick reunites with Bridget Clancy.
When Dick moved to Bludhaven after stumbling across a multiple homicide that was linked to the extensive corruption running through every level of the city, including its police force, his first apartment building was overseen by property manager Bridget Clancy. Created by Chuck Dixon and Scott McDaniel in 1996's Nightwing #2, Clancy was a girl from Hong Kong adopted by an Irish family who traveled to the United States for college, eventually ending up in Bludhaven. Dick and Clancy formed a quick friendship that nearly blossomed into a full-fledged romance on several occasions, with both harboring an attraction with one another, but the two could never quite get the timing just right. Ultimately, Clancy would leave to attend medical school, which spared her life when Bludhaven was destroyed by Chemo during the 2005 crossover event Infinite Crisis. And in Nightwing #84 -- by Tom Taylor, Robbi Rodriguez, Adriano Lucas and Wes Abbott -- Clancy and Dick are finally reunited.
After receiving an apparent distress signal from Oracle bidding Nightwing to return to Gotham City as the Bat-Family needs his support, Dick decides to leave his dog Haley with his old friend. Dick leaves Haley with Clancy, who has since evidently become the mother to two young children following her return to Bludhaven; with no mention of a father, it is unclear if Clancy is raising the two children as a single mother. While Dick is uncomfortable having to unexpectedly burden Clancy with looking after his dog, especially so soon after announcing his philanthropic plans for Bludhaven, he knows that Haley is in good, reliable hands as he departs for Gotham.
Taylor's entire run on Nightwing has been something of a love letter to the character's entire history, revisiting everything from Dick Grayson's brief tenure as a Bludhaven police officer to reviving Nightwing's longstanding feud against the supervillain crime lord Blockbuster. Clancy's return is another understated nod to Dick's past and Clancy is just as exasperated as ever with Dick's antics, this time more focused on raising two children by herself than singlehandedly tackling the repair work for an aging apartment complex while trying to find time to advance her relationship with the former Boy Wonder.
With Dick and Barbara Gordon finally poised to rekindle their longstanding romance, Dick and Clancy are unlikely to ever progress from just being friends and that's okay; the amorous potential between Dick and his landlady was perhaps best left never fully realized. Even without Clancy back in his life, Dick's love life is more than complicated and messy enough and having Clancy as a strictly platonic presence is good for both young adults as Dick returns to Gotham just in time to face the horrors Scarecrow has prepared for the Bat Family in "Fear State."