Summary
One of the most important aspects ofNightwing’spast losing his parents to violent crime. While Mary and John Grayson were performing for the crowd of Haly’s circus, their rope was cut, and they fell to their deaths. While Tony Zucco has long been blamed for this, something more might have happened that night — including the involvement of a key Nightwing villain.
Theplot synopsis forNightwing#117promises a shocking revelation that Dick will learn about his parent’s death. This is an interesting premise because the deaths of the Graysons were pretty cut and dry for years. Haly’s circus owed money to Tony Zucco, a local mobster. When the circus refused to pay up, Tony killed their star attraction and left Dick Grayson an orphan.
NIGHTWING #117 (2024)
August 21st, 2024
Bruno Redondo
Variant Covers:
Bruno Redondo, Stevan Subic, Jason Geyer and Alex Saviuk, and Belén Ortega
While Dick connects with the ghost of his past, “Nightwing” takes to the streets to defend his honor. But how can he be in two places at once? And what shocking revelation does Dick learn when confronted with the truth behind his parents’ deaths? The “Heartless” saga continues in the penultimate chapter of this celebrated run!
With Heartless being the overarching antagonist of Taylor and Redondo’s run onNightwing, it’s likely that some hidden connection betweenHeartless and the death of the Graysonswill likely be revealed. While this might sound absurd at first, Heartless had the means and opportunity to do it, as he was there the day they died.
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A Young Shelton Witnessed the Grayson Deaths inNightwing 2022 Annual#1 by Tom Taylor, Eduardo Pansica, Júlio Ferreira, Adriano Lucas, and Wes Abbott
When the Grayson family fell to their deaths, a number of key players werein attendance, including Batman, Raptor, Alfred Pennyworth, and Shelton Lyle. Witnessing the Grayson deaths was the first time Shelton saw another human die, and it’s what awoke his killer urges. From that point on, Shelton became increasingly more violent, until he eventually transformed into the supervillain Heartless. While it all seems like a coincidence thatShelton’s dark urges were awoken by the Grayson murders, that might not actually be the case.
Nightwing#117 is part of the “Fallen Grayson” arc, which will conclude the award-winning run by Taylor and Redondo.
Gerald Chamberlain was Shelton’s butler, and he watched over the young child for the majority of his life.Gerald recognized the darkness in Sheltonand kept trying to coax it out. To do this, Gerald would do things like take Shelton to the zoo to watch the lions eat meat or to the butcher to watch the pigs be killed — which is why it’s so strange that Gerald decided to take Shelton to the circus. The first two involved animals feeding or being killed, but the circus was just clowns and acrobats. That Gerald, a killer himself, took Shelton here implies that he knew what was coming.
Nightwing#115 by Bruno Redondo
There are always twists and changes to a hero’s origins over the years, and Dick isn’t immune to this phenomenon. Previous runs have already played with changing the context of Dick’s time in the circus, such as introducing the character of Raptor. Now it seems that Taylor and Redondo might be doing the same by tying Heartless and Nightwing closer than ever. Given that Gerald was a criminal, it’s not unlikely that he helped cut the ropes for Tony Zucco, which would meanNightwing’sparents were killed just so Shelton could grow up into the villain Heartless.
Nightwing#117is available August 21st from DC Comics.
Nightwing
Nightwing is the superhero moniker taken up by Dick Grayson, upon his aging out of the Robin role and becoming a superhero of his own. Inspired by the original Kryptonian hero of the same name, Grayson has risen to comic book immortality with the identity, earning respect as one of the greatest leaders in the DC Universe.
