Nightwing Annual (2022) reveals Dick Grayson’s origin story additionally created the hero’s personal model of the Joker, a harmful villain named Heartless.
The next accommodates spoilers for Nightwing Annual (2022) #1, on sale now from DC Comics.
DC’s Nightwing Annual (2022) #1 reveals how Dick Grayson’s tragic origin story additionally created the character’s new arch-enemy, Heartless.
Nightwing Annual (2022) #1 includes a foremost story by author Tom Taylor, artist Eduardo Pansica, inker Júlio Ferreira, colorist Adriano Lucas and letterer Wes Abbott. The difficulty reveals how a younger boy named Shelton Lyle grew as much as grow to be Heartless, a serial killer stalking the streets of Bludhaven who first appeared in 2021’s Nightwing #78.
Shelton grew up in an abusive house and engaged in inhumane habits towards animals. He was usually expressionless and infrequently spoke; nevertheless, Shelton shortly befriends the Lyle household’s new butler, a person who calls himself Gerald Chamberlain however truly took that identify from a sufferer he killed. Gerald takes Shelton on plenty of “particular outings,” Gerald narrates, “He [Shelton] was, as at all times, expressionless as he sat via the banality of clowns and jugglers. However then one thing magical occurred.”
The difficulty then reveals the day Shelton and Gerald had been on the circus was the identical day Dick’s mother and father, Mary and John, had been tragically killed in the course of the acrobatic act. “We watched as two lives ended,” Gerald continues. “Noticed the ache of 1 left behind. And in the midst of the screams of the horrified viewers…My extraordinary boy’s face lit up. Lastly, one thing reached him.”
Heartless: A Horrifying New DC Villain Emerges
From that time on, Gerald says Shelton started coming “out of his shell,” as he began turning his violent ideas into actions. Years later, Gerald orchestrated the dying of Shelton’s mother and father, although Shelton was additionally injured within the incident. Gerald cast a signature and allowed Shelton to obtain an emergency transplant of his personal father’s coronary heart, which then impressed Shelton to tackle the supervillain identify of Heartless as an grownup. “He tore out hearts and tore households aside,” Gerald narrates. “And each time he took one other father or mother, I noticed that very same smile from the circus.”
In Nightwing #96, Shelton corners a not too long ago defeated Blockbuster and makes use of his weapon to take away the villains’ coronary heart. Nightwing Annual (2022) #1 sees Gerald surgically insert Blockbuster’s coronary heart into Heartless, which Gerald says will “be capable of sustain with [Shelton’s] enhancements.” As soon as the center is in place, Gerald moreover notes that they’re going to make Dick lose “every thing once more.”
Nightwing Annual (2022) #1 moreover comes from Jay Kristoff, C.S. Pacat and Inaki Miranda.The difficulty options cowl artwork by Pansica, Ferreira and Lucas and variant cowl artwork by Bruno Redondo. Nightwing Annual (2022) #1 is on sale now from DC.
Supply: DC
About The Creator
Brandon Schreur is a comics information editor for CBR, becoming a member of the workforce in February of 2022. Based mostly out of Michigan, the person has a ardour for just about all issues popular culture. Comics? Loves them. Motion pictures? Seen approach too many. TV exhibits? Can binge-watch absolutely anything in insane quantities of time. Getting to put in writing about all these pursuits for CBR? He is dwelling the dream. You may observe him on Twitter at @brandonschreur.