Detective Comics #556 (November 1985)

Love can be a funny thing in the DC Universe. Love can make a person into a hero, it can put them through trials, and it can also make a person go completely mad. And no one is immune to love. Not even the Caped Crusader. 

The mid-1980s was quite a time for Batman when it came to romance. While his Earth-Two counterpart managed to settle down with his world's Catwoman and have a daughter with her before his retirement and death, the Earth-One Batman was unattached. But a new wrinkle would come into the Bat's love life: a pale astronomer named Natalia Knight, better known as Nocturna.

First appearing in Detective Comics #529 (August 1983), created by Doug Moench, Don Newton, and Gene Colan, Natalia Knight was the adopted daughter of rich gangster Charles Knight. Despite this, she originally had no intention of following in his criminal footsteps. Instead, she followed her passion for astronomy, going on to work at the Gotham City Observatory. It was there that she was hit by a radioactive laser beam, causing her skin to lose all its pigment and making it difficult for her to live in sunlight. Combined with a taste for living in luxury, she would go on to become a criminal.

Her relationship with Batman would become rather complicated thanks to not only a mutual attraction between the two, but because she got involved in the life of the current Robin at the time: Jason Todd. She got involved in Bruce Wayne's legal battle to adopt him as part of an attempt to make him marry her so she could stay in the black finance-wise. It left Todd rather mistrustful of her. She would then leave Gotham, allowing Jason to stay with Bruce and continuing to fight crime as Robin.

But one day, the DC multiverse faced its last crisis. The skies had turned blood red, and it brought Natalia to return to the city, seeing her beloved night under assault. The pale criminal still harbored feelings towards Batman, and the Dark Knight still had a thing for her. In the midst of the end of the DC multiverse, the Caped Crusader still has to deal with matters of the heart...and a new threat to Gotham. Appropriate that for Valentine's Day that I look at a comic dealing with love troubles, huh? This is Detective Comics #556!

The cover is a Gene Colan, Dick Giordano, and Anthony Tollin piece. It's pretty good, depicting Batman and Nocturna making out. The blank red sky and rain helps put them front and center, their blue (supposedly black) outfits and Natalia's pale skin allowing them to stand out. One thing I find interesting about this cover is that it's missing the "special Crisis crossover" ribbon that decorated DC books coming out at this time. You see, in this comic, the skies are red from the Crisis on Infinite Earths, and Nocturna does notice it in-story, but it's not really a tie-in? Is that why it lacks the ribbon? I'm assuming that's the reason.

"The Bleeding Night"
Writer: Doug Moench
Penciler: Gene Colan
Inker: Bob Smith
Letterer: John Workman
Colorist: Adrienne Roy
Editor: Len Wein
Executive Editor: Dick Giordano

The story begins in Gotham City, on a night of foul weather. While bad weather is not unusual for this place, it's especially bad tonight as the crimson skies of the Crisis on Infinite Earths bathe the metropolis in red. But even though the superheroes of several Earths fight to save the remains of the Multiverse, life still goes on in Gotham. Crime never sleeps, after all. Although it really should, as it's a bear when it doesn't get its eight hours.

A man in a Hopi mask breaks into a jewelry store, hoping to score some free bling, as the kids say. A man clad in black Zip-A-Tone from head-to-toe attacks the Hopi-masked man. However, he's not here to play vigilante, he wants some information. 

"Your ugly mask makes me angry. I hate ugly masks!"

Anton Knight, the Night-Slayer, wants to know where the Hopi-masked man's new boss, Nocturna, is hiding at. Hopi Mask screams he doesn't know, but Zip-A-Tone man doesn't believe him.

He stabs Hopi Mask Man, claiming that she has bewitched him, like she does to every man she meets. So, where is Nocturna herself? Well, she's at an abandoned observatory in Gotham, looking up at the sky with her adopted son Jason Todd, who was active as Robin at the time. 

Natalia Knight laments that her beloved sky has turned red thanks to the Crisis. Jason talks about how Natalia has been like a second mother to him after losing his own parents. Yeah, pre-Crisis, Jason's origin was a carbon copy of Dick Grayson's: orphaned circus kid taken in by Batman. Nocturna wants to know how Jason found her. It wasn't hard, considering she's seen as an urban legend in Gotham. The mysterious pale lady that scared off a street gang from the observatory. 

It's here that Harvey Bullock shows up. He's none too happy with Jason, as it turns out that he had claimed Nocturna wasn't here. Yeah, Jason and Harvey had formed a bit of a bond at this time thanks to a mutual love of old movies. Nocturna is not intimidated by Bullock or his gun. She's leaving to take care of some...business. 

She tells Jason if Bullock wants to shoot her in the back, he's welcome to do so. A shot is fired...

...and it hits its target: a bullseye on paper. Yup, Bullock is now at a shooting range, presumably at a police station. Turns out he let Nocturna go, thinking of himself as Capt. Louis Renault in Casablanca, portrayed by the late British-American actor Claude Rains. He goes to talk about this with Gordon. Gordon's not worried about Nocturna, as Batman claims she's reformed. 

Elsewhere, the former members of the False Face Society have decided to hang up the masks, as it were.

"I think one of the problems we had was these cheap masks."

It's understandable. The Night-Slayer has been stalking their members and killing them as part of his crusade against Nocturna. It's become too risky, not to mention that with Black Mask still rotting in Arkham Asylum, they've becoming nothing more than a bunch of mooks in masks. Nocturna is all like "You're not retiring yet, boys. I'm taking over this gang." 

Over at the police station, Bullock and Gordon continue debating Nocturna and Batman. Gordon points out that Batman is technically breaking the law himself, being a vigilante. However, he has been effective, so Gordon is willing to give him some latitude and trust. Bullock also notices something...Robin isn't Robin.

It's not an impersonation job or anything. It's little things Bullock noticed. His height, and presumably other things like the way he talks. It does make sense. More on that later. He also believes he's Nocturna's son, considering how protective he got over the pale astrophysicist. 

It's revealed that Jason jumped in front of Nocturna, telling him that he's going to have to shoot him to get to her. Bullock has his flaws, but he is still not going to shoot a kid. Nocturna leaves, and Bullock heads to the firing range to take out his tension. 

"I need a beer. A BARREL of beer."

Bullock's theory goes like this: Nocturna's kid joins Batman as the new Robin. This infuriates her, so she returns to crime to get back at the Dark Knight, and kidnapped Jason Todd to replace Robin. If you're laughing at this, don't worry, I am too. Gordon makes a revelation.

"We were hoping to reveal this for your birthday, Bullock!"

Gordon's reasoning as to why there's a new Robin is a bit saner, and less complex. He theorized that the old Robin grew up and moved on. Batman not having a partner in crimefighting worried the commissioner for a while. Seeing a new Robin was very relieving to Gordon, as he felt a partner helped make Batman more human and approachable while still being intimidating to the criminal element. 

Also, even if this new Robin is Nocturna's kid, Gordon sees it as unfair to blame him for Nocturna's supposed sins. And even if it does turn out she's a criminal, Batman can take her in. 

Elsewhere in Gotham, another masked man is stalked by Anton.

"I know you're working with the Shadow Demons to steal my toejam!"

The Night-Slayer demands to know where Nocturna is. Mask Man has no clue. She just appears and tells them who to steal from. The mad killer doesn't believe him, intending to use him as a cushion for his stiletto. But thankfully, the Batman arrives. The Gotham Guardian and the Night-Slayer scuffle.

Night-Slayer is able to get to his knife and make another attempt at Mask Man, but that is foiled by Bats. The Slayer leaps away and vanishes. The Caped Crusader thinks it's time to pay Nocturna a visit. Naturally, she's at her observatory, studying the red skies.

"Uh, Bruce? Shouldn't you be out there taking care of this Crisis?"

She tells Bats that he should be proud of Jason. He's doing well. She's here because this was her birthplace in a way. It was where she became Nocturna. He realizes she has relapsed back into crime, but she's only wanting funds to reopen the observatory. He warns her the Night-Slayer is after her. Natalia is accepting of this, as if this is the time the night dies, then she should as well. And better she die at the hands of Night-Slayer than to the multiverse-wrecking Crisis.

She confesses that she loves Batman as much as the night itself. She's only ever kissed him once, when he was wounded by the Night-Slayer, and he was too delirious to realize it...

Yeah, time and place, Nattie. She approaches him, Batman saying he's fine now. The story ends with the two of them sharing a kiss as the red rains pour down on them. 

I enjoyed this comic. In fact, having read some of Doug Moench's 80s Batman stuff, I have begun to find it criminally underrated. Yeah, the late 1980s was a good time for the Dark Knight, what with Year One, the Dark Knight Returns, and the cap being the juggernaut that was the 1989 Batman film. However, Moench was doing some pretty darn good work on the mainline Batman comics during that time. 

One touch I liked in this issue is that Bullock determining that Jason is not the original Robin. It does make sense. At this point, Dick Grayson had given up the Robin mantle and become Nightwing. Jason isn't Dick, despite his having the same origin at the time. He's younger, presumably slightly different in attitude, and also presumably shorter than Dick. It's a good way of showing that Bullock isn't some stereotypical brainless donut-muncher. He's quite a bit sharper than he looks. 

Gene Colan has been heavily praised for his moody artwork, and I can certainly see why. His style certainly fits the Dark Knight. I do think there's something a bit "uncanny valley" about faces in close up, but it's not overly distracting. 

The original version of Nocturna would disappear with the Crisis, but over the years, the character would be revamped to be more villainous and even made more outright vampiric. Of course, it's likely her connection to Jason Todd is no longer canon, but of course, as with any character's history in the DCU, it's nowadays all up in the air. If you want to read this comic for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2025 trade paperback DC Finest: Batman - Red Skies. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! See you next time!