Throughout his long history, Batman has fought a variety of foes, street-level criminals and supervillains alike. However, one foe he faced in the mid-1980s could be argued as one of his...strangest. She once was an astronomer, but an accident transformed her into a pale criminal obsessed with the nights of Gotham. Her name was Natalia Knight, aka Nocturna.
The Nocturna Saga was a big part of Batman's life in the Me Decade, and the last major villain he'd fight before the Crisis on Infinite Earths hit. Her saga would end right when the red skies of the Crisis covered Gotham. Rather appropriate, if you ask me. However, like a lot of things post-Crisis, she would return, but not quite the same she once was. Much like many other pre-Crisis elements of the DCU reintroduced after the event. So, with that out of the way, let's look at Batman #377!
The cover is pretty awesome! It's an Ed Hannigan, Dick Giordano, and Anthony Tollin piece. It's like a warped dream, what with Jason Todd riding on a bed with wild legs. Batman is flying towards him with actual wings for arms. How does he eat? And then there's the main woman herself: Nocturna. Her pose and the shadows covering her face give her a monstrous look. It's like she's a vampire or a dark sorceress that is cursing our Dynamic Duo. It's such a unique cover, I love it so much!
"The Slayer of Night"
Writer: Doug Moench
Penciler: Don Newton
Inker: Alfredo Alcala
Colorist: Adrienne Roy
Letterers: Ben Oda, Alfredo Alcala
Editor: Len Wein
Executive Editor: Dick Giordano
The real story begins in a courtroom. There's a bit of a legal battle going on. In one corner, in the pink suit, is one Bruce Wayne. In the other corner, in a black dress, is one Natalia Knight. The judge is getting ready to make his decision. He's rather impressed by Knight, but Bruce angrily objects to this.
Yeah, she looks like a porcelain doll, and she lives in Gotham City. No wonder Bruce thinks she's a supervillain. Well, she is, but that's beside the point. You see, the two are battling it out for custody of Jason Todd, aka the second Robin. Despite the billionaire's objections, the judge is willing to grant Knight's petition to adopt Todd. He's further convinced by Todd himself saying that he wants to be adopted by the pale ex-astronomer.
Wayne is convinced that the judge is being bought off. Knight tells him that there is a way that he can still be a part of Jason's life. Since the judge is clearly going to let Natalia adopt the young Robin, he can become his father by marrying her. Bruce decides that he needs to pay Jason a visit at the Gotham Bureau of Child Welfare, which he does...that night.
Batman is utterly confused by Jason's decision. Why would he want to be adopted by the pale criminal? Well, to collect evidence. Jason was hoping that as Natalia's new son, he could find some hard evidence proving she's Nocturna, get it to Batman, and then they can bust her. Batman thinks the idea is really ill-advised. After all, so much could go wrong. He thinks Jason is doing this to try and prove his worth to him. But Jason doesn't need to do that. Batman is already convinced f his worth. Jason just needs to understand that.
Amanda Groscz, Jason's guardian, hears them and checks it out, only to find Jason alone, reading a book. He's got homework to do, after all. He then breaks down into tears. He hates it here. He wants to go home. To Bruce and Alfred. Groscz never thought highly of Wayne as a guardian, but if Jason really wants to go home to them that badly...maybe she underestimated him. She asks him why he said he wanted to be adopted by Natalia Knight, then. Well, Natalia was nice to Jason, and Groscz hates Bruce Wayne, so she'd never let him adopt Jason. If letting Natalia adopt Jason meant getting out of the Bureau, he'll take it. This saddens Amanda, making her question if she is really any good at her job.
We then look in at the Gotham Penitentiary upstate. Batman is there investigating a breakout. Last Tuesday, a sudden storm rolled in over the prison. The clouds made it very dark, and the prison did a headcount for their prisoners. After all, in a superhero universe like the DCU, it's very feasible that this storm was not a natural one. Their inventory revealed that one of the inmates escaped: One Anton Knight.
Knight was the son of a gangster named Charles Knight. He travelled the world, dedicating his life to being a skilled fighter and master of stealth. He also is Natalia's adopted brother. He became a thief to help support his adopted sister. He had murdered a man named Sturges Hellstrom, aka Nightshade.
No, there's no relation. This murder got Anton the name of Night-Slayer. And there's only one place that he'd go...to his sister Nocturna. We join Nocturna herself enjoying her favorite hobby, gazing at the night skies of Gotham.
She laments the absence of someone to love while staring up at the skies and full moon over the city. Anton returns to her, telling her he's dealt with Hellstrom. Natalia is horrified by this. She had no issue with thievery, yes. But murder? It ruined the romance of the night to her. I can imagine that from a practical perspective, Natalia being linked to a murder would also hurt her petition to adopt Jason Todd. A heartbroken Anton leaves. Yeah, he has a bit of a thing for Natalia. They're not biological siblings, but it is creepy.
Back in Wayne Manor, Bruce and Alfred are playing a nice game of chess, and they're discussing Bruce's personal life. The whole Jason situation and his romantic issues with reporter Vicki Vale. Yeah, Vicki Vale was from the comics. If you ever saw the 1989 Batman movie, she was portrayed by Kim Basinger. Basically, Alfred is worried that Bruce isn't dedicating enough time to being Bruce Wayne, building a life outside of Batman. After all, even Bruce can't wear the cowl forever, and if it consumes him...what's left?
Speaking of Vicki, what's she doing?
As if fate is proving Alfred right, Vicki's been seeing another guy, but she's still attached to Bruce. Over at Picture News (where Vicki was working as a photographer), Julia Remarque Pennyworth spies some photos of Bruce on Vicki's desk...and starts to develop a crush on the crime-fighting billionaire. Seriously, what is it about Bruce that makes all these women go nuts for him? It's the Batmobile, isn't it?
You may be wondering who Julia Pennyworth is. Well, basically, she was Alfred's daughter. Her mother was Mademoiselle Marie, a French resistance fighter during WWII. Marie first appeared in Star-Spangled War Stories #84 (August 1959), by Robert Kanigher and Jerry Grandenetti. Julia would be erased from DC canon after Crisis on Infinite Earths, but Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV would reintroduce her in the New 52 universe in Batman #28 (April 2014). Anyway, Julia makes off with the photos.
Bruce Wayne dons his Batman togs and heads out into the night, despite his knowing he's growing more obsessed with Nocturna. The Dark Knight pays Nocturna a visit, and he discovers that she is wearing a perfume that acts like a drug. It clouds the Caped Crusader's mind, whereas she admits to having committed theft in the past, but harmed no one. She tries to play on their mutual obsession with the night, the two closing in for a kiss...
Way to ruin the mood, Anton. He is furious that Batman seems to have the hots for her. This was why he killed Hellstrom. He had a thing for her, too. The Night-Slayer and the Batman brawl into Nocturna's apartment, but the Bat's reflexes are clouded by Nocturna's perfume. The two tumble out of the apartment and land on a lower roof. Anton recovers first. The crazed killer is about to introduce Batman's head to his knife, but...BLAM!
He takes a shot to the back. The gunman was a gunwoman. Natalia Knight herself fired the shot that brought down the Night-Slayer. Batman notices the brightness of the moon, seeing it in the pale face of Nocturna. The story ends with the two sharing a kiss, and further falls being promised.
This comic was pretty fun. There's plenty of drama with Bruce's struggles to formally adopt Jason Todd. It does lead me to wonder if he ever did the same for Dick Grayson back in the day, though. It's also interesting to see Jason be portrayed as a likeable kid, eager to prove himself as a new Robin. His origin was similar to Dick's, as well. After Crisis on Infinite Earths, Jason was revamped to be an orphaned street delinquent, and have a much angrier and more brutal personality. I think this was one of the factors that led to fans calling for him to be killed off in the notorious Death in the Family storyline. So it's kind of neat to see pre-Crisis Jason being shown to be a decent kid.
One interesting thing I noticed in this comic is that Nocturna and Night-Slayer's dialogue is rather...melodramatic, for a lack of a better term. It give the vibe that they stepped right out one of those old gothic romance novels. It's rather amusing.
Don Newton's name does not pop up often when mentioning comic artists, and I think that's a real shame. He does some fantastic work here. Quite a few of the poses Newton does for Nocturna are pretty melodramatic, and it's kind of hilarious. It does fit her melodramatic character, so kudos to him for that.
This comic has not been reprinted in trade as far as I know, so you'll have to search the back issue bins for it. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often, and wear a mask! See you next time, when we join Wonder Woman in the second part of a two-part labor...
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