Story: Retribution Part 2: Contested (22 pages)
(previous part in Gotham Knights #20)
Writer(s): Devin Grayson
Pencils: Roger Robinson
Inks: John Floyd
Characters:
Bruce Wayne / Batman, Dick Grayson / Nightwing, Yoska Graesinka
Minor Characters / Guest Appearances:
Barbara Gordon / Oracle, Ra's al Ghul, Enrico Inzerillo (it seems to switch somewhat whether the last name is 'Inzerillo' like in this issue or 'Inzerillos' like in the last), Jack (Giacomo) Inzerillo (Enrico's son), Ubu (Ra's al Ghul's minion)
Synopsis:
Yoska thinks Dick stayed with Bruce to steal from him, that this is Dick's "secret," and says that Dick doesn't need the adoption, that he has another plan. After hearing that, Dick breaks into laughter. Jack visits Enrico in prison, he wants him to get the word out to his men to meet him in Blüdhaven to help him raise bail. Meanwhile Oracle did a background check and research on Yoska, who seems to have no reason to lie about being Dick's grandfather. Batman realizes that Yoska thinks he is telling the truth and has been deceived himself. Yoska and Dick are in Dick's apartment, they talk about Dick's life and his past. An assassin shoots at Yoska, but Dick throws Yoska down, and Batman overpowers the shooter on the rooftop. Dick asks Yoska by whom he was told about Dick, and it turns out that "the nice man" was Ra's al Ghul. Batman learns from the assassin, Ubu, one of Ra's al Ghul's minions, that the instructions were to miss Yoska, and that he won't cause further trouble. Batman lets Ubu go and, alerted by shots, catches up with Jack Inzerillo, who has led his father's men into a trap orchestrated by another crime organization and watched them be shot. Jack had hoped to get into the other organization, and thought that the plan was just to scare his father's men, but the guy from the other organization has played and manipulated Jack, who now regrets his part in the execution of three of his father's men. Batman takes in Jack and the guys from the other crime organization. Changing to his Bruce identity he then checks on Dick and Yoska, and offers Yoska to help tracking down his real family, but Yoska prefers to leave. Ubu returns to Ra's al Ghul, who has set up the whole thing with the adoption to teach Batman a lesson, of how even the deepest loyalties are vulnerable to manipulation. Ra's al Ghul acted out of revenge, because blames Batman for the rift between himself and his daughter Talia. In the end Bruce and Dick file the papers, finalizing the adoption process.
Important Continuity Events:
- Dick Grayson's adoption by Bruce Wayne becomes legal. [p. 22]
Continuity References:
- Dick tells Yoska briefly about his father's death ("He was murdered. A man wanted money, and he cut the trapeze guy wire to prove he meant business."). That event has been retold in multiple versions, for example in a flashback in Batman #436, in ?? [p.7]
- Ra's al Ghul told Yoska that Dick is a police officer, the key issues of the arc concerned with Dick's decision to join the police force are: Nightwing #25 (we first learn that Dick decided to change Blüdhaven by joining the PD), Nightwing #41 (he graduates the academy), and Nightwing #48 (he gets a job at the Blüdhaven PD). [p. 7]
- Bruce mentions the fissure between Ra's al Ghul and his daughter Talia, that happened in ?? [p. 20]
- Bruce refers to Dick's past relationships with Huntress (in ??) and Koriand'r (in ??), and also sums up parts of Koriand'r's biography, which we learn about in ?? [p. 22]
Dick Grayson Character Details:
- Dick says he doesn't know what half the Rom terms Yoska uses mean [p. 2], still he can translate the saying Yoska uses before he leaves (or is familiar enough with it to know the meaning when he hears it). [p. 18]
- Dick doesn't want Yoska call him Ryeka. [p. 2]
- Dick has known Bruce since Dick was eight. [p. 8]
- Dick says to Yoska that he has a god life and owes most of it to Bruce. [p. 8]
- Dick has a photo album that has at least one picture of his father. [p. 13]
- Dick doesn't keep his gun locked up. [p. 17]
- Dick enjoyed hearing Romany again. [p. 20]
- Dick always wondered about his father's side of the family. [p. 20]
- Dick says even if Yoska really had been a relative, it wouldn't have made any difference in his relationship with Bruce. [p. 21]
- Dick mentions being left in an orphanage was the alternative to being taken in by Bruce. [p. 21]
Bruce Wayne Character Details:
- Thinking that Dick had a living relative was enough to make Bruce doubt his right to Dick's loyalty. [p. 21]
- Either Bruce doesn't remember Koriand'r's name or he just prefers to describe her ("That persecuted alien warrioress who was literally chased here by extraterrestrial slavers?") to emphasize his point, that Dick is attracted to people in trouble. [p. 22]
Gotham City Details:
- One of Gotham's prisons is called "The Schreck." [p.4]
Trivia:
- Romany saying Dick knows how to translate is:
"Si khohaimo may patshivalo sar o tshatshimo." -- "There are lies more believable than truth." [p. 18]
Story: Retribution Part 1: Sons and Lovers (21 pages)
(next part is in Gotham Knights #21)
Writer(s): Devin Grayson
Pencils: Roger Robinson
Inks: John Floyd
Characters:
Bruce Wayne / Batman, Dick Grayson / Nightwing, Barbara Gordon / Oracle, Yoska Graesinka
Minor Characters / Guest Appearances:
Clark Kent / Superman, Enrico Inzerillos, Jack Inzerillos (Enrico's son, aka 'Archipelago'), Rachel Green, Nicclai, Mitchell
Synopsis:
Batman intercepts a drug shipment that Jack Inzerillos organized without the approval of his father Enrico. Enrico thinks that the younger generation are criminals without respect, that they cannot be controlled, and he is both frightened by the scope of his son's ambition as well as scared for him. Enrico takes the fall for Jack and agrees to wait for the police, if Batman stops his son before he gets killed. The next day Bruce Wayne visits LexCorp in Metropolis. He had hoped to speak with Talia, but she sent a representative. He briefly talks with Clark, but gets a phone call from his lawyer Rachel Green, who tells him that Yoska Graesinska is contesting Dick's adoption, and claims to be Dick's paternal grandfather. Batman convinces Dick to meet with Yoska. Jack and Nicclai threaten the judge to make him rule in favor of bail (to set a sum of 16 million dollars), intending to use the bail for money laundering. Mitchell, the judge's son, barges in with a gun, threatening Jack and Nicclai. In true villain fashion Jack describes his crimes in detail in front of the judge during the stand-off, explaining that he smuggles immigrants and guns. Batman appears and stops both Mitchell and Jack, then lectures them that having fathers who worry about them is a luxury they shouldn't squander. A little late Bruce then comes back to the manor, where Dick and Yoska are already waiting for him. Yoska says he knows all about "the secret."
Continuity References:
- Bruce mentions that Lex Luthor became President, that happened in ?? [p. 7]
- Talia Head (Ra's al Ghul's daughter) took over as LexCorp's CEO in ?? [p. 7]
- Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson signed the paperwork for the -- now contested -- adoption in Gotham Knights #17. [p. 9]
- Yoska mentions Zitka, an elephant (?) in Haly's circus, it first appears in ??. However there must be at least two elephants that have a sort of connection to Dick, because in A Lonely Place For Dying, specifically in The New Titans #60, the name of the elephant who recognizes Dick is given as Elinore, though in The New Titans #60 we do see two elephants, so maybe Zitka is the other one. [p. 14]
- Jack refers to the quake, that happened in the Cataclysm storyline (most Batman titles from March to May 1998), to the forced cessation leading to Gotham's No Man's Land status that happened in the Road To No Man's Land storyline (Batman, Detective Comics and Shadow of the Bat in December 1998 and January/February 1999), and to a plague, probably meaning the Contagion storyline (March/April 1996 in most Batman titles). He says those disasters and the mess they caused in the official records made Gotham the best place to dump people unnoticed. [p. 18]
- Both Alfred and Robin are still absent, Alfred left in Nightwing #53, Robin has left in ?? [p. 20]
Dick Grayson Character Details:
- Barbara calls Dick "Hunk Wonder" through their comm link when she announces Batman's presence to him; Dick hopes she isn't using an open channel. [p. 10] But it turns out Batman has heard it, and teases Dick with this, by calling him "Hunk Wonder" as well. [p. 13]
- Dick recognizes "Yoska Graesinka" as a Rom name and says it is probably Kalderasha, associating the name with one of the larger subgroups/dialects of Romany, Kalderash (literally "Kalderash" comes from the Romany word for copper-smith). [p. 11]
- Dick is very sceptical about the possibility that Yoska Graesinka could really be his paternal grandfather, because aerialist traditions like the one in his family are almost always passed down through the generations and had his paternal grandfather been alive he would have traveled with the circus show. [p. 11]
- His mother's father died when he was six. [p. 11]
- Dick gets angry when Batman says "But your people are notoriously difficult to keep track of." Dick perceives the "your people" phrasing to imply a derogative "Vagrants. Itinerants. Gypsies.", though when Oracle breaks up their argument he apologizes and says he overreacted. [p. 12]
- When asked for change by a panhandler he gives him detailed information about shelters, i.e. addresses, services, and opening times. [p. 13]
- Dick doesn't understand Yoska when he's talking in Romany. [p. 13]
- He dislikes that Yoska calls him Ryeka, instead of the English variant Richard or Dick. [p. 14]
- Dick knows where to find Bruce's scotch, however we don't see him drink any himself, that is consistent with his attitude towards drinking established previously, for example in Nightwing #4. [p. 20]
Bruce Wayne Character Details:
- Bruce looked for any living relatives of Dick after the death of Dick's parents, and found none. [p. 10]
- Bruce is not happy when Clark tries to chat with him, and to find out what's bothering him. [p . 7]
- Bruce blocks Yoska's questions if he is all alone at the manor, diverting the conversation. [p. 20]
- When Yoska asks Bruce "How you train wild gypsy?" he answers "Loyalty." [p. 21]
Barbara Gordon Character Details:
- Barbara is visibly frustrated when both Dick and Batman want her to play referee in their argument about meeting Yoska Graesinka. [p. 12]
Romances:
- Dick and Barbara are a couple, though their relationship is not central to the story, it's visible .
Trivia:
- translation of the Romany words and dialogs (I don't speak Romany myself, but I hope that these translations I found for the phrases and words are correct, the sources I used for the phrases not translated in the comic itself are here, here, and here):
"Devlesa avilan!" -- "It is God who brought you!" [p. 13]
"Droboy tume Romale!" -- "It is good to see you, Rom!" (a traditional greeting) (the comic has a typo, there the dialog reads "Droby tume Romale!") [p. 13]
"Tshatshimo Romano" -- "The truth is told in Romany." (the comic has a typo, so there the dialog reads "Ishatshimo Romano") [p.13]
"raya" -- "landowners" (it seems to be the plural, though in the comic it's used as singular) [p. 14]
"Yekka buliasa nashti beshes pe done grastende..." -- "With one behind you can't sit on two horses..." [p. 14]
"Mandar tsera tai kater o Del mai but te aven tumenge..." -- "From me a little money, but may God give you plenty..." [p. 20]
- The scotch Bruce offers is called Laphroaig. [p. 20]
Story: Mutt (22 pages)
(continued in Nightwing #13)
Writer(s): Chuck Dixon
Pencils: Scott McDaniel
Inks: Karl Story
Characters:
Dick Grayson / Nightwing (as Robin in flashback)
Minor Characters / Guest Appearances:
Bruce Wayne / Batman, Alfred Pennyworth (in flashback), Dudley Soames, Dr. Stroud, Dr. Elizabeth Pavaar (first name not given yet), Bridget Clancy, Tad Ryerstad (last name not given yet), Mutt, Hank Hogan
Synopsis:
Important Continuity Events:
Continuity References:
Dick Grayson Character Details:
Romances:
Blüdhaven Details:
Trivia:
[Note: This entry is based on the TPB edition of the issue.]
[Note: This entry is still incomplete, more information will be added eventually.]
Story: Forever Hold Your Peace
Writer(s): Devin Grayson
Pencils: Greg Land
Inks: Bob McLeod
Characters:
Dick Grayson / Nightwing, Emily Claire Washburn
Minor Characters / Guest Appearances:
Bruce Wayne / Batman, Tim Drake / Robin III, Alfred Pennyworth, Barbara Gordon / Oracle, Wally West / Flash III, Linda Park, Donna Troy, Roy Harper, Lian Harper, Dennis (Emily's son from her first marriage), Annelise Schubert (childhood friend of Annelise), David Schubert (Annelise's father), James Stridham (Emily's deceased ex-husband three; son of a WayneCorp executive), Douglas (owner of Douglas Auto Salvage), Mr. Fulson (off-screen, business man who wants to dump chemical waste illegally), Harry (one of Fulson's two thugs )
Synopsis:
Dick marries Emily Washburn to find out whether she killed her prematurely deceased previous husbands. It turns out her childhood friend Annelise is framing Emily to avenge her father David Schubert, who is in Blackgate, because he took the fall for Emily's first husband in a counterfeiting operation and Emily's husband got away with the money.
Dick Grayson Character Details:
- Dick enjoys spending time with Emily's kid Dennis, they go to the zoo, the circus [p. 12, 31]
- when Dennis wants to play Superman and Batman ("Look! Look! I'm Superman! You be Batman, okay?") Dick declines ("Uh, no, thanks. But how about I help you fly?") [p. 12]
- Dick's mother was a dental assistant from the East Coast before she fell in love with Dick's father and married into the circus life. [p. 13]
- Dick's father was Romany. [p. 13]
- Dick is horsing around with Tim on a rooftop when Batman and Robin visit, acting a lot like a big brother [p. 41]
Bruce Wayne Character Details:
- Bruce says he wants Dick to inherit WayneCorp some day. [p. 11]
- Bruce uses Alfred's concern as an excuse to look after Dick ("Alfred asked me to see if--"), but Dick sees through that ("You can tell Alfred that I'm a big boy [...] ...and it's nice to see you too.") [p. 40]
Romances:
- although a minister marries Dick and Emily, Dick asks Donna to destroy marriage certificate, thus the marriage never became legal [p. 16]
- Dick actually sleeps on the couch during the "marriage" and skillfully arranges separate rooms for their honeymoon (with the help of "Oracle Travel"), so it's implied that he never actually sleeps with Emily. She proposes marriage counselling.
- Dick cares about Emily and offers to "start over" after he had cleared her name, but he's not in love with her, and Emily doesn't want to continue a relationship. [p. 53]
- There is some romantic tension between Dick and Barbara [p. 14ff]
Trivia:
- Dennis watches Superman cartoons on tv.
Story: Rough Justice (22 Pages)
(continued in Nightwing #8)
Writer(s): Chuck Dixon
Pencils: Scott McDaniel
Inks: Karl Story
Characters:
Dick Grayson / Nightwing
Minor Characters / Guest Appearances:
Barbara Gordon / Oracle, Wally West / Flash III, John Grayson (Dick's father, in a flashback), Mary Grayson (Dick's mother, in a flashback), Ricky Noone, Sulieman Thomas Ali, Timothy "Lunchmeat" Deever, Turk Fremunda, Dudley Soames, Roland Desmond / Blockbuster II, Chief Redhorn, Antonio "Angel" Marin (or his body anyway), Bridget Clancy, Hank Hogan (first name not known yet)
Synopsis:
Nightwing is fed up with being one step behind the criminals and mobs, playing catch-up. He recalls a lesson his father taught him about the importance of strategy, so now he systematically captures all the mob criminals he knows of. He starts with Ricky Noone and his enforcers, who work for Marin's loansharks, then Sulieman Thomas Ali, who runs the meth and crack labs and street trade, then Timmy "Lunchmeat" Deever and his "removal" experts, and finally Turk Fremunda and the unions. Nightwing brings them all to a refrigerated warehouse, and hangs them onto meat hooks. He starts to interrogate them, starting with Turk Fremunda. But Fremunda refuses to tell Nightwing both where Marin is as well as who's running Blüdhaven. Fremunda says nobody cares who the capo is, as long as everything runs smoothly. When Nightwing gets ready to leave (or at least pretends to do so), threatening to leave them to die of hypothermia, Fremunda tells Nightwing that the new boss has positioned guards at St. Antony's nursing home. Nightwing checks out the nursing home, and it turns out the lead is solid. He's now back to detective work again. Meanwhile the BPD bomb squad checks out a barrel that was addressed to Chief Redhorn. The barrel isn't a bomb, but contains Angel Marin's body, preserved in formaldehyde to obscure the true time of death. Marin's head is twisted backwards. Chief Redhorn is getting angrier with Soames, both because of the mob war and because of Nightwing. He wants the status quo back. Soames says he's working on it, but of course he's in truth working for Blockbuster. During Dick's shift at Hogan's Alley some cops talk about Marin's body. With Oracle's help he finds out that Blockbuster's mother, Joyce Elizabeth Desmond, is a resident of St. Anthony's. Dick recognizes the name and calls Wally, i.e. The Flash, for an update on Desmond. Wally hasn't run into him, but Impulse has, and he's more dangerous than he was before. Blockbuster and Soames look out over Blüdhaven from Blockbuster's villa. Soames thinks it wasn't a good idea to dump Marin's body, that now there'll be more heat from Chief Redhorn, because the deaths can't be explained anymore as Marin cleaning up his own organization. Blockbuster says that it is Soames job to keep police interests distracted. Soames might have higher ambitions, he refers to Blüdhaven as "ours" when talking to Blockbuster, and Blockbuster isn't happy about that "greed." Soames explains it as a slip of the tongue. Soames also worries about Nightwing, but Blockbuster thinks Nightwing is a mere shadow of his mentor Batman, a charlatan who can be occupied with lowlifes and streethoods. Nightwing takes that as his cue to make his presence known, and confronts Roland Desmond, aka Blockbuster. Nightwing says he almost decided Soames was Blüdhaven's new crimelord, had it not been for Desmond's mother and the gunmen assigned to guard her.
Important Continuity Events:
- Blockbuster is seen openly as the hidden power in Blüdhaven for the first time. [p. 22]
Continuity References:
- Nightwing thinks that he almost got Robin killed, that refers to events in Nightwing #6. [p. 2]
- Sulieman Thomas Ali was last seen in Nightwing #3, he was also mentioned by Marin in Nightwing #5. [p. 3]
- Turk Fremunda was mentioned by Marin in Nightwing #5, but he's seen here for the first time. [p. 5]
- The anxiety dream is the same as in Nightwing #4. [p. 14]
- Dick recognizes Desmond's name, their last encounter was in ??. [p. 16]
- Wally mentions that Impulse encountered Blockbuster, that was in ??. [p. 18]
- The "now" and "before" when Wally talks about Blockbuster might refer to the events (which were ??) that increased his intelligence in ??. [p. 18]
- Blockbuster met Batman before in ?? [p. 19]
Dick Grayson Character Details:
- Dick's father told him about the importance of strategy when he taught him to be a trapeze artist. [p. 2]
- Dick's mom called him "little Robin" [p. 6]
- Dick wonders if he might be responsible for Angel Marin getting killed, because he shakes things up in Blüdhaven. It might have happened anyway, but Dick thinks that kind of justification is a slippery slope. [p. 12, 13]
- Dick is still plagued by the recurring anxiety dream about the falling boy he can't reach, who's shouting something he can't hear. [p. 14]
- According to Oracle Dick snores, she says she can hear it through their computer connection. [p.14]
- Oracle calls Dick "Bucko" [p. 14]
- Dick sleeps in his boxers. [p. 14]
- Dick is reluctant to ask Batman for help, even for research and information gathering help. He's more comfortable asking Oracle, though the task wouldn't necessarily require her level of expertise. [p. 15]
- Dick recognizes Desmond's name. [p. 16]
- Dick hasn't met Impulse, he doesn't know his name. [p. 18]
- Dick agrees that he's no Batman, but he tells Blockbuster and Soames that he's close enough to shut them down. [p. 21]
Barbara Gordon Character Details:
- Oracle can hear sounds, like snoring, in Dick's bedroom. [p. 14]
- Oracle has access to Medicare, Medicaid, social security and private insurance files. [p. 16]
Bridget Clancy Character Details:
- Clancy was born in Hong Kong, but was adopted by an Irish family and left Hong Kong as a baby. She came to America to go to college and never went back. [p. 13]
Blockbuster Character Details:
- His mother's name is Joyce Elizabeth Desmond. She's in the St. Anthony's nursing home, guarded my three mob gunmen. [p. 16]
- He had a run in with Impulse. [p. 18]
- There are no mirrors in his house, he also keeps it dark. [p. 20]
- He once was a petty felon. [p. 21]
- Compared to Nightwing he's really huge. [p. 22]
Romances:
- Dick and Clancy are flirting. [p. 13]
Blüdhaven Details:
- The St. Anthony's nursing home is in the Caernarvon section. It's know as St. Ant's to the locals. [p. 8]
- Blüdhaven is an Archdiocese. [p. 15]
Trivia:
- There's a DC Logo on one of the letters in Dick's mail. [p. 13]
- According to Oracle Batman got half a dozen Crays in his basement. [p. 15]
- St. Anthony's records are still on paper. [p. 15]
- Dick has a coffee mug with the Bat-Logo. [p. 18]
[Note: This entry is based on the TPB edition of the issue.]