Nicola Scott Talks DC Decades Art and Nightwing's Greatest Asset

Nicola Scott is a comic book artist behind some of DC’s most beloved titles over the past few years, including working on Birds of Prey and Secret Six with Gail Simone, Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons with Kelly Sue DeConnick, and most recently, Titans with Tom Taylor. Scott is also responsible for the DC Decades art, which quickly became extremely popular variant covers and prints.

I got the chance to speak with Scott, and here’s a selection of our conversation.

What is it like to see the reception of the DC Decades art? The pieces are extremely popular and are a great way to encompass a character's history in a single image.

Well, I think that's why DC wanted me to continue the line—I did the original set about five years ago and when editorial contacted me late last year to be a subject matter of an Artist Spotlight month, they specifically asked for me to continue the series. Because, in their words, they were saying that they still have them up around the office and still reference them all the time. They use them everywhere. You know, they've been turned into various kinds of merch. It's become a worthwhile sort of item for them to want to continue the series.

And so, for the opportunity to continue the series for me—I've been selling the prints for five years, and they still sell. You know, people always want them. They'll be evergreen for a good long time. Being able to continue the series is kind of really satisfying and a lot of fun.

I remember the one that seemed to open the floodgates was the Nightwing artwork. Obviously, for a specific reason, it seems…

Well, that one I did for myself. I did that one for fun.

When Robin/Dick Grayson was turning 80, I just did a pin-up in the book. I wasn't asked to do a variant cover. And I was like, “ah, bugger that. I'm going to do one for myself so I can sell it at conventions.” And when DC sort of commissioned me for the rest of the series, they were like, “We don't own the Nightwing one, do we? And I was like, nope. And they were like, yeah, we want it. And I was like, okay. And so they paid me for it.

Daily News for Curious Minds

“I stopped watching the news, so sick of the bias. Was searching for an alternative that would just tell me WHAT happened, with NO editorializing. I found it. It’s called 1440. It assumes you are smart enough to form your own opinions.”

Sign up now!

Nightwing is obviously a very important and beloved character for numerous reasons, but his ass seems to have taken on a life of its own among fans…

Well, that's kind of a joke that I started in the pages of Secret Six. That was kind of just a joke for Gail [Simone]. You know, I thought she'll find this funny.

If I was drawing Nightwing in any other context, I probably wouldn't have done it. But because it was in Secret Six and I only had him for like two and a half pages, I wanted a hero shot. And I just didn't mind it being a bit, you know, sorry for the pun, cheeky.

And, you know, this was early social media days. It was pre-meme days. And so it sort of came and went and a few people on her forums sort of had a bit of a laugh about it. And that was it. But a few years later, when meme culture started taking off, it was like one of the things that sort of started to pop up continuously, which was a great surprise. But what really sort of gave it life was other writers and artists picking up on the joke and sort of making a point of continuing the joke and finding new ways to sort of make fun of it.

And like, really, to me, just because I was doing a hero shot, the panel description said “Nightwing looks over his shoulder and says…” And for me to get in a full body shot where you could see his batons, his Escrima sticks, it kind of needed to show his ass.

And I was like, “well, if I'm going to show his ass, he's a gymnast. He's probably got a pretty decent ass. So make the subtext all the text.”

This conversation occurred on August 22nd, 2024, at Fan Expo Canada. Future articles will share more of it. The interview will be gated after 72 hours and available for subscribers only.