WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Detective Comics #1030 by Peter J. Tomasi, Bilquis Evely, Matt Lopes, and Rob Leigh, on sale now
Since giving up his role as Robin, Damian Wayne has been making his way across Gotham City on a mysterious mission. He's even stolen from his father, Batman, all in an attempt to gain information on a long-unsolved case.
In Detective Comics #1030, it appears that Damian Wayne is specifically using the Black Casebook to hunt down a mysterious figure who tried to assassinate a teenage-Bruce Wayne, but it's not clear why he's doing this, or why he's doing this now.
Batman and his son Damian have been going through a major falling out recently, with the young hero even attacking his father in front of the Teen Titans and furiously giving up his role as Robin in dramatic fashion. But one of the first things Damian has done is sneak into the Bat-Cave and made off with the Black Casebook. The book is a collection of strange and unsolved cases from across Batman's career. Damian purposefully left clues to his arrival so that Batman is aware of what he's taken and who did it.
Now, Damian is actually moving around the city on his own, exploring the GCPD Cold File Room for more evidence on a number of unsolved crimes. It turns out Damian is specifically looking into a series of attacks that were carried out against Bruce Wayne when he was a teenager -- attacks that were never fully solved. The Black Casebook reveals how a car bomb almost killed him and Alfred, and that not long after the loyal butler saved Bruce's life during an attempted shooting at a carnival. Poisoned vegetables in the garden, a horse-driven to madness while Bruce was atop it, even assaults on Bruce while he was doing his initial training to become Batman almost cost the young man his life.
As suddenly as the attacks started, they ceased -- with Bruce surviving each attempt but seemingly never finding the culprit. Notably, Damian spots a connection between the crimes -- it turns out that Gotham City Police Department Detective Catherine Podolsky was part of the investigation into the attacks -- and was actually a connective element between all of them, investigating each assault. This gets Damian's attention, leading him to decide she's a suspect in these years old attempts to kill his father.
What still isn't completely clear is why Damian is investigating these attacks now. Perhaps it's to prove that Damian can solve crimes that have long befuddled Batman, showing up his father. Maybe it's to take revenge on someone who came close to murdering his father -- a darker kind of impulse that has been driving Damian to lately kill his enemies. Maybe it's even to discover a potential new ally, as Damian has been left with no specific direction in his life now that he's effectively given up being a superhero. He could even discover that Bruce already unlocked the keys to this case, but decided to leave it alone after a point. Whatever Damian has planned, it'll likely come into conflict with the rest of the Bat-Family -- who have now been informed of Damian's recent actions and have been asked by Batman to keep an eye out for the young man.