Devin Grayson was the first woman to ever write the Batman comic series (yeah yeah, big deal right?). She is now deeply entrenched in Gotham’s mythology as she also wrote for Nightwing and Catwoman. But that’s not all, she’s also done X-Men: Evolution (based on the animated series), The Titans, Relative Heroes, Matador, Arsenal, Switch, Black Widow, Ghost Rider, and USER, a Vertigo miniseries about identity issues and online role-playing. She has recently been announced as the writer behind Perfect World’s Kung Foo so we thought it was time we caught up with her on the rooftops of Gotham.

[GDN] So, Ms. Grayson...you’re really Nightwing they say. We’re skeptical, but humor us with how you got hooked up to do work on the Nightwing series please.

[DG] Who says that!? Man, the security in Gotham these days just isn’t what it used to be...

Nightwing was the fifth monthly series I worked on for DC, after Catwoman, The Titans, Relative Heroes, and Batman: Gotham Knights. I was pretty well established in the industry by then, but I still went through about fourteen rounds of "seriously!? You’d let me do that!?" with the editor. I don’t think there was a single soul in the DC offices who didn’t know how much I loved that character.

[GDN] What other titles have you worked on in the comics industry?

[DG] In addition to the ones named above, I’m most proud of USER, discussed below, Matador, which I created with Brian Setlfreeze for Wildstorm, both the Arsenal and Nightwing/Huntress miniseries, Switch with John Bolton, and Black Widow, Ghost Rider, and X-Men: Evolution for Marvel. 

[GDN] How does it feel to have worked for both ’sides’ (DC, Marvel)? Were there any deaths or strange disappearances due to your shifting allegiances?

[DG] Actually, most comic book writers, myself included, are freelancers. All of us go back and forth all the time, as do the artists and even editors. Just last month I sent an X-Men pitch to an editor at her DC email address (I blame auto fill, but still…).

My personal belief is that DC characters read Marvel comics, and vice versa.