Gotham Central: that one time when they shot Batman (whoops)

[wordswordswords.insanejournal.com]

If I recall correctly: when the Joker was sniping people in an earlier arc, he also kidnapped a female news anchor, tied her up, and hung her upside down with a camera pointing at her with a bomb nearby. Detective Nate Patton tried to disarm the bomb. Meanwhile, Batman showed up and managed to rescue the woman, but not the detective. The ensuing explosion put Patton in a coma, and eventually his family chose to pull the plug. Nate's partner was Romy. The police department took down the signal and then instructed the officers to treat him as a hostile.













Aaaaaand if it matters, Romy does get her gun back before she gets in trouble, thanks to some diplomatic work from Robin and Stacy the receptionist.

Comments

[darkblade.insanejournal.com]

Thats a long time on the ground for such a seemingly ineffective gun shot.

[sherkahn.insanejournal.com]

Bat's was playing possum. Waiting to see what Romy's partner would do.

[lonewolf23k.insanejournal.com]

That's actually pretty realistic. Kevlar doesn't stop bullets entirely. It just keeps them from penetrating the skin. It still hurts like the devil and -can- knock a man down. When Bats got hit, the impact must've knocked the air out of him and made him hit the ground until he recovered enough.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Damn, I hope Gordan balled Batman the fuck out for that. Striking a detective and taking her gun?

Given how many breaks the cops give him, Batman leaped over the freakin' line. I don't give a damn if she shot him. He's a law breaker, he defied a direct order, he was threatening an innocent person and she is a duly appointed law enforcement officer.

That she might have an additional grudge doesn't matter. Given Batman's known skill, a shoot to kill order isn't unreasonable.

[bluefall.insanejournal.com]

Yeah, this is one of Bruce's more stellar fucking unacceptable douchebag moves.

[wordswordswords.insanejournal.com]

Gordon wasn't Commissioner at the time, but the whole thing was kept on the down low because Romy would've gotten in deep shit. I'm sure that a lot of cops felt the way you do, though.

[aaron_bourque.insanejournal.com]

1) Gordon isn't in charge during Gotham Central. It came about because of Gordon's retirement.

2) Romy has serious issues with Batman because her previous partner who she had unrequited love for died possibly due to Batman's actions.

3) She shot him.

4) Batman's opinions of Gotham's cops has deteriorated a bunch since Gordon's retirement. Out of nowhere, they were no longer giving Batman as much leeway and pushing the boundaries of their relationship.

5) She shot him. He's supposed to be completely calm about that?

[oddpuppets.insanejournal.com]

This is utterly silly.

I'll just point this out. Batman is a vigilante. He has never really worked within the boundaries of the law. Whether the GCPD gives him any leeway is their own damn initiative - you know that Bruce would continue his mission without support without even shaking his head. There is NOTHING here that is in anyway contrary to his modus operandi. Striking a detective and taking her gun? To protect his own life, I don't see why the hell not.

Could he have diffused the situation? Sure. But ask yourself this: is it in any way correct judgment to SHOOT when someone does not obey your order? I think that except for extreme cases we would all find such judgment poor. Especially Batman, who has a record of NOT killing people or police officers.

Sorry, but your glorification of the police lacks the analysis that should be applied any time to a lawfully appointed, government controlled, and taxpayer funded organization.

[fungo_squiggly.insanejournal.com]

"Heck of a job, Romy!"

You just don't shoot at Batman. Everyone knows he gets pissy about that kind of thing! Punching her in the nose might have been a bit much, though.

[wordswordswords.insanejournal.com]

He broke it, too. Haha, uh. The relationship between Batman and the GCPD has been... better, let's just say.

[unknownscribler.insanejournal.com]

Jeez Romy, you're pissed because Batman rescued the civilian. You know, the one's you're meant to protect and serve? Frankly with that bad attitude and the shooting him, she had a broken nose coming her way.

[pyrotwilight.insanejournal.com]

And thus Batman began his war on police officers and other symbols of authority. From that day on he was not only Batman as the dense and retarded believed he was now the GODDAMN Batman.

[autumn_lily.insanejournal.com]

And then Frank Miller woke up smiling...

[sistermagpie.insanejournal.com]

WTF, Bruce?

[pyynk.insanejournal.com]

Who did the art on this? It kinda looks like Batman: Year One.

[wordswordswords.insanejournal.com]

Wiki says the "Dead Robin" TPB is drawn by Kano & Stefano Gaudiano. Not sure if that's for the entire book or not.

[sailorlibra.insanejournal.com]

Bruce just seems really out of character here to me. I mean, respecting the non-corrupt police has always been a major point of the whole Batman franchise.

Also, I'm really turned off by how much he appears to have beaten that guy up. Fear is a better motivator than loss of blood, Bruce, remember?

[wordswordswords.insanejournal.com]

In fairness, I think at this point he believes Tim may be dead. I may be wrong about this, though, I'm hazy on the timeline.

[jeyl.insanejournal.com]

He hits a good cop, he loses my respect.
He hits a woman, he is not a man.
He hits a good female cop who's only doing her job AND takes her firearm? Well, I'm not gona be rooting for you when fight the bad guys. In fact, I'm gona be rooting for them.

[wordswordswords.insanejournal.com]

I think shooting him is not quite "doing her job" — imagine if it had been someone other than Batman beating up the Penguin. She could justify it by saying she thought he was about to kill the Penguin, though. But that's not quite the case.

[brianwilly.insanejournal.com]

I think this was right after "War Games/Crimes/whichever," when batdickery was at utter critical mass. Batman had made a complete enemy of the police force; an issue or two earlier, Commissioner Akins took down the signal to show that the police didn't trust The Bat anymore. To which Batman responded by being a whiny baby and all "DIS IS MY CITAY" in his face, which went about as well as every other time he ever pulled that shite. Throw in all the stuff going on with the League, OMACs, Stephanie, and...well, wacky fun times for all, you get the point.

So it's still incredible dickdouchery on his part here, but it's not like this was just another average week on the job for the GCPD and Batman. None of them are like this, usually.

[aaron_bourque.insanejournal.com]

Dead Robins.

Best. Gotham Central arc. Ever.

There's no off note on in this story. It's soo fuckin' . . . God.

Aaron "The Mad Whitaker" Bourque; and I like it, too.

[killermoth1.insanejournal.com]

The only thing I disliked about it is that the payoff to the mystery wasn't as satisfying as I'd hoped. That's really my only complaint about GC in general, a large point of the series was that the cops were sick of Bats doing their job for them, but too many of the stories had this resolution.

[afewboltsloose.insanejournal.com]

As dickish as Batman seems here, Romy was in the wrong. Bats never drew a weapon, advanced on her or tried to hurt the Penguin further. If he doesn't do one of those things, she's not allowed to discharge her weapon. That would be why her partner leads off by asking her if she saw a weapon or if Batman made a hostile move.

[aaron_bourque.insanejournal.com]

THANK YOU!!!!

[kusonaga.insanejournal.com]

Ah, Gotham Central. Nothing but love for that title.

[runespoor7.insanejournal.com]

Er, it's a killing shot. She gives an order, he says no, he's not threatening her, and she shoots to kill. She's lucky it's Batman she lost her temper with, otherwise she'd be looking at charges. Penguin's reaction is helpful to understand that: "I'd tell them you had no other choice".

You bet he'd be taking the gun of someone who was out of control. Especially a cop who should really know better.

Gotham Central ♥

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

He's not threatening her, but he refused a direct order and his hands are consealed. Given the arsenal on his utility belt, she had cause.

[damar148.insanejournal.com]

This is part of the 'Gotham thinks Batman is a myth' era, cause shooting one of the world's most famous superheroes for beating up a known crook would make Romy deserve getting punched in the face and her gun taken away.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

So fame makes it alright to break the law?

[dustbunny105.insanejournal.com]

Huh... Y'know, on the one hand, I can see how Romy might have a fair case for firing on Batman in an objective sense. On the other hand, her behavior after the fact does not suggest to me "I was just doing my job" so much as "wtf did I just do?" I don't get the sense that Romy acted to neutralize a threat, I get the sense that her feelings about Batman momentarily overtook her.

Also, while hitting her and taking her gun is a big dick move, I can't honestly say I wouldn't be feeling petty if I'd just been fired on, especially if I had even a little reason to think that the cop who fired may have done so for personal rather than professional reasons.

[autumn_lily.insanejournal.com]

I agree. In this case, both parties are really in the wrong.

[golden_orange.insanejournal.com]

I'm sure from a legal stand-point, she'd be able to argue a valid case for shooting Batman in self-defense; he's an armed vigilante, he's just been beating up a man innocent of this particular crime (let's face it; describing PENGUIN of all people as an 'innocent man' is slightly questionable) and he's probably armed up the wazoo with all sorts of stuff that could theoretically dismember her. If it came to court, I expect that Romy would be able to argue her way out of the charge with some reasonable arguments.

But that doesn't change the fact that she allowed her emotions to get away with her, and fired a kill-shot at a man based largely on the fact that she extremely disliked him, without really giving him adequate opportunity to comply with her requests. A man who, let's remember, even with his then-current difficult relationship with the Gotham PD had never picked up a rep for violence against police officers. I mean hell, she even pretty much ADMITS it in later panels that she fired on him because she hated him. It's frankly a bit disingenuous to talk solely about her legal justifications for doing so without acknowledging this point.

Batman may be a bit of a dick here, but let's face it; in this situation Romy's hardly the pure-as-driven-snow angel making a righteous shot that some seem to be making her out to be either. Which, incidentally, is one of the reasons I loved loved LOVED this series.