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.]