The Members of Haly's Circus - Part 2
Part 2 will include retcons to existing characters and new characters introduced after Flashpoint. This is essentially the continuity of comics published from 2011 to present day (though it should be pointed out that after the events of Dark Knights: Death Metal, all events from the mainline comics pre and post-Flashpoint are now canon).
In the New 52 and Rebirth, much of Haly's Circus' history changed. To start, John Grayson was no longer Romani, Mary Grayson (or Marie Lloyd) was. She had been a member of the Cirque Romanes de Paris before meeting John Grayson, joining Haly's, and changing her name.
In the New 52, Dick's paternal great grandfather, William Cobb, was a member of Haly's Circus as a knife thrower. He was eventually selected for training in the Court of Owls as a Talon. In this continuity, the Court had a deal with the Haly family to select special children from the circus to be trained as Talons. C.C. Haly was aware of this, and Dick was also supposed to be trained as a Talon, but his parents died and Bruce Wayne took him in before he could be taken.
Growing up, Dick had 3 childhood friends: Zane, Raya, and Raymond. He would reencounter each of them as Nightwing. After Bruce took him in, the court selected Raymond to be their next assassin, and he became Saiko. Zane became a hitman called Feedback, using an implant in his brain to induce fear in his victims, and Raya became Raymond's lover and accomplice.
The last key member of Haly's was the man who grew up with Mary Grayson, named Richard. He had been with her in Paris before following her to Haly's. She had been the only person brave and kind enough to show him compassion when he had leprosy, and even stole medicine for him. As a result, he felt indebted to her and fell in love with her. Due to his medical condition and lack of treatment, he lost the sense of touch, and had an act under the name "Mr. Numb." Eventually, he became the international thief and villain, Raptor. He is also heavily implied to be the man Mary named Dick after.
Aside from the frankly shocking number of villains Haly's Circus produced in the New 52 and Rebirth, there were other, regular circus folk. Bryan Haly was C.C. Haly's son, though he was aware of Saiko's identity. Jimmy the Clown was, thankfully, unaware of any villains, and seems to be a similar character to Harry the Clown from the Pre/Post Crisis timelines.
Similar to the previous versions of Haly's, after the Graysons died, new acrobats were needed. One was Marc, a catcher brought on shortly before Dick visited the circus after becoming Nightwing. Another was Christina (as well as her parents) who were hired after Dick became the owner of Haly's Circus.
There were other, minor members who appeared only once, or were mentioned in passing only. These include Tombo, a Bearded Lady, and a fortune teller, Madame Mystique (Missy to her friends).
Another former member of the circus was a mute girl named Mary, who was an aerialist in 1946. She was taken by the Court of Owls and trained to be a Talon. She eventually fought in the Night of the Owls against Batgirl.
For a brief period before John and Mary were a couple, a young woman named Meili Lin joined the circus and was romantically involved with John. They were together long enough for Meili to become pregnant with Dick's half-sister, Melinda. Meili had been forcefully married to Tony Zucco, but ran away to the circus. Eventually Zucco recaptured her. Melinda would grow up believing Tony Zucco was her father for a period of time, but as an adult she changed her last name to Grayson-Lin.
Finally, for a brief period during Dick's childhood, Boston Brand (aka Deadman) was employed as the circus' trapeze act. Dick had tried to go up on the trapeze alone and fallen, leading to a fear of heights and a fear of his parents falling. John and Mary took a break from their act for Dick's sake, and Boston came in and helped Dick get over his fear.
And there you have it folks, every named or speaking member of Haly's Circus I could find, including animals, from 1940 to 2024. I didn't list every member of the circus on panel, but I tried to find all the named and unique ones. There are countless workers, clowns, and "scene dressing" characters, as well as unnamed animals, such as horses, tigers, and more elephants. The circus changed drastically between the warm, happy time before Robin in the Pre/Post Crisis timelines, to the dark, sinister place of the New 52/Rebirth, which spawned some of Nightwing's greatest villains. In the past few years, the circus has returned to a place of warm nostalgia for Dick, though still with many lore connections to his later life as Nightwing. No matter how it changes, Haly's will always be important to Dick Grayson's history, and will always color his character going forward.
