Story originally published on June 12, 2012.

After over a decade, fans of Smallville are finally going to experience a moment they've long been waiting for. In September's new arc of DC Comics' Smallville: Season 11, writer Bryan Q. Miller and artist Chriscross will introduce Batman into the Smallville universe.

With the story dubbed "Detective", the solicitation for the new arc read, "The hunt for his parents’ killer puts a vigilante known only as “the BATMAN” on a collision course with The Man of Steel..." Miller debuted an early look at the cover for Smallville: Season 11 #5, where the story will debut in print on September 5 after running digitally first on the DC Comics app some weeks before hand.The premise of "Detective" certainly sounds as though it fits the Smallville mold, and with Hank Henshaw also having been introduced recently, it seems the jump to comic books has made the use of DCU guest stars a bit easier to manage.Also, is that a Robin I see?Why, yes, it was a Robin I saw. Kind of. In a new interview with TV Guide , Bryan Q. Miller revealed Batman's sidekick to be Nightwing. And not Dick Grayson, mind you, but Stephanie Brown, former Robin and Batgirl in the old DCU. Miller wrote one of my favorite books of the last decade , Batgirl, from 2009-2011 starring Stephanie Brown in the titular role."Bruce can be somewhat of an angry man. 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," Miller told TV Guide. The article also confirmed that Miller would explain why she is Nightwing and not Robin. As for how long Bruce has been in action, Miller said, "Batman's been operating in a vigilante/urban legend capacity for probably a little bit longer than when Clark started being The Blur."Exciting news for Smallville fans, but probably even more so for Stephanie fans (myself included) that have sorely missed the character in DC's New 52.

Joey is IGN's Comics Editor and a comic book creator himself. Follow Joey on Twitter , or find him on IGN . He will love Star Wars until the end of his days.