James Gordon's Retirement Party

[espanolbot]

At the official retirement dinner for Commissioner Gordon, following his attempted murder and his wife's actual murder via the Joker, Sasha Bordeaux, Bruce Wayne's official bodyguard and the only famous Swiss person in the DCU, is getting frustrated.

Having put up with Bruce's playboy nonsense all night, she finds that he's once again disappeared while she's supposed to be guarding him. This was after she'd already yelled at him for repeatedly sneaking off, as she was hired by his company to keep him safe, and if she has no idea where he is half the time, how is she meant to be able to do her job.

Storming off to the men's loos, she attempts to track down her playboy client,







And as a bonus, here's a cute page from before the above scans, with Bruce and Stacy the GCPD temp, who shows up in a larger role in Gotham Central, having fun with the "wacky" billionaire,

Comments

[biod]

This is one of my favorite Two-Face moments, but what gets me is the "what if?" This could just as easily been a massacre instead of a touching moment if the fickle finger of fate hadn't intervened.

[mrstatham]

Dennis. Neal.

I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE GREG.

But really, the Batbooks could use some of this flavour again. I like Snyder, but why isn't Rucka headlining Detective Comics?

[espanolbot]

They dicked him about in regards to when his Batwoman series would start, until he just gave up and walked off to Marvel. Same in regards to the other great Bat Writer from this time, Ed Brubaker, whose long running storylines were hijacked by crossover events of the likes of War Games.

Having to play ball with other writers and your editorial is one thing, but it's annoying to get midway through a story only for things to just be abandoned, eg Chuck Dixon's Batman and the Outsiders run which just stopped midstory as a result of RIP happening.

[mrstatham]

I was being kinda rhetorical, since I know about Greg's issues with DC, but still. DC should've extended an olive branch to the guy. Imagine if we'd still have him at DC, he'd be writing Batwoman still and writing Detective Comics, I'd like to wager. Also, Rucka going to Marvel was actually something of a surprise, since I remember him saying he was done with mainstream superhero comics for a while.

[espanolbot]

Unlikely for the time being, as Marvel seems to have a habit of making their higher profile talent sign exclusive deals with them, like Brian Hitch who just got free from it to do that comic with Jonathan Ross.

Paul Cornell managed to escape due to the impression I got that Marvel didn't seem to know what to do with him, for some reason.

[halloweenjack]

I wonder if it was simply a matter of the other "architects" not wanting to share the spotlight with him.

[salinea]

Good question.

[mrstatham]

Mm. I just.. I don't think there's really any 'detective' flavour to Detective Comics at the moment. Whereas Rucka or Brubaker both do great crime stories involving superheroes. I mean, hell, if DC were desperate to keep Tony Daniel around, give him his own Bat-book. I'm sure it'd still sell.

[filthysize]

That's the thing... I have no idea why Daniel and Snyder switched titles. It's pretty obvious to everybody that his story is the more "detective" of the two.

[espanolbot]

Well, see, Snyder writes good stuff, so they gave him the main title, while the other guy isn't as good, so they moved him to a secondary one.

Personally I think that they should just bring Dini back, as I thoroughly enjoyed his stuff on Detective Comics and Streets of Gotham, though considering how most of the world building that he did in both of those series' has probably been wiped away by the reboot, it might not really have the same tone.

[filthysize]

I just wish they'd live up to the title and use Detective to tell noir/mystery stories in Gotham, starring civilian characters or cops, and Bats sporadically appearing. Something like Gotham Central, but not necessarily so proceduraly. Snyder made Gordon the main character for a chunk of his Detective run, and still have it be a Batman story. That was really nice, and really set his book apart from Morrison's and Daniel's.

Even Superman and Action Comics are at least utilizing the two titles to tell Superman stories from two different periods. Meanwhile, I can't even easily explain to newbies what's different between Batman, Detective and Batman: The Dark Knight. Saying Detective focuses on Batman's detective skills more isn't even true. Tomasi lucked out on that one.

[pyynk]

I'll admit it's been weird pulling Batman the last 8 months when I've been reading Detective only for years now.

[anothermoviegeek]

Loved the henchmen named Dennis and Neal. Nice tip to the best (imo) Bat-group editor/writer ever.

[anothermoviegeek]

This is after Sasha "discovers" the bat-suit and tools in the suitcase right?

[espanolbot]

Before, I think. She doesn't know that he's Batman at this point.

[halloweenjack]

Sweet! New icon.

[equinox216]

It's a nice moment for Harvey, and a good reminder of the fact that he HAS got two sides, but I couldn't take an iota of it seriously after I realized that the entire thing starts with him in the stall dropping, as they say in the parlance, 'a deuce'.

[espanolbot]

I think that he was just hiding in there prior to the party starting as there would be less security there.

[equinox216]

Isn't that him with the pants down in the mirror shot, though? That's a little more dedication to detail than I think he's going to pursue.

That, and if anyone checks under the stalls and sees an Evil Ankle, it's not going to do him much good to have hidden.

Anyway, still a nice moment, I just had a "REALLY WRITER/ARTIST/WHOEVER I CAN BLAME FOR THIS?" to lead it off.

[kusonaga]

It's extra funny when you consider Stacy is pining for Batman.

[jcbaggee]

"Wayne refused to even sip it. He asked for a ginger ale."

Oh God, he really has the perfect disguise/excuse for everything, doesn't he?

[eyz]

Sidenote from a scans_daily fan from Geneva: Wasn't LeHah and most Azrael related vilains/characters from Switzerland too? :P