Batman Chronicles #1

[gargoylekitty.insanejournal.com]

As per kingrockwell's request for interactions between Jim Gordon and non-Batman/Robin Batfamily members.

It all starts with Gordon minding his own business on the way home when suddenly armed gunmen barge in and take over the train. At this point he's not a cop, and even if he was there's little he can do on his own, so he just waits to see what happens. Suddenly...


So while Batman's still on his way, lagging a bit, Gordon and Huntress determine they're on the same side and start making their way through the train, taking out any hijackers in thier path.

Until, finally, they reach the last car. They split up, taking different ways in.


Then start their take-down of the last gunmen when, suddenly...



And that's it. They part ways.

It was alright and almost sweet in a way, though I'm not the biggest fan of it. Especially so since later Batman, arriving too late to matter, talks to Jim and we're told that the reason Bats disapproves of Huntress is because she reminds him, and Gordon, of Bat!Babs. In fact, the exact line he responds with is 'You're not the only one she reminds of Barbara.' which strikes me as off.

Comments

[sistermagpie.insanejournal.com]

Wow. It's really insulting to think of Batman and Gordon being reminded of Barbara. Just because she's a woman? They're not alike at all. (And it also begs the question of Robins who ought to remind Bruce of Jason.)

You'd think the "good thing I had Kevlar covering my stomach" would lead her to see the logic of covering up more. ::sigh::

Apart from that, though, I do like Gordon getting to work in the subway there. When he's on his own you don't really feel the need for a superhero. He could star in his own movie.

[punishermax.insanejournal.com]

To be fair, if you saw your daughter shot in front of your own eyes and a woman is shot in very much the same way (positioning wise and reaction wise) you'd make connections too.

[gargoylekitty.insanejournal.com]

But he was making the connection before she actually got shot.

[punishermax.insanejournal.com]

It still ties into Gordon's emotions for the incident. It's basically a version of the incident that he has a chance of stopping, he's scared of seeing the same thing happen again to another innocent.

[gargoylekitty.insanejournal.com]

True, though it still seems just a bit off to me.

[sistermagpie.insanejournal.com]

That's true--it was the mention of Bruce agreeing with him that did it. I'd believe that Gordon would react to anyone facing a gun by thinking of Barbara. But when Bruce agrees it seems more like it's making an objective point.

[runespoor7.insanejournal.com]

With Bruce, there's the idea that she's an adult female crime-fighter in Gotham. It's not the best connection, but it still makes sense, particularly given Bruce's tendency to jump to the worst. Obviously I can't prove it, but I'm pretty sure that if Barbara hadn't got shot, Bruce would've been much less quick to make a connection.

[gargoylekitty.insanejournal.com]

Yeah, that's my issue with it. Even moreso with Jim than Bruce since it's her father. Woman in a costume vaguely similar though not much like the costume she wore doesn't seem enough of a similarity to call for this.

Agreed so much on the kevlar, especially given the Jim Lee costume. Ugh.

Babs/Helena

[(Anonymous)]

Well, i think it goes beyond just beign female crime fighters. They were both tough headstrong women who more often than not took great chances, they both have a lust for life. Babs has said more than once she never felt more alive than when she was flying through the air. They both were intelligent, and even though they knew better, they tended to dive into situations without thinking first (not often, but enough to draw a resemblance.)

Re: Babs/Helena

[(Anonymous)]

While I'm not so sure any of them dress up in spandex to fight crime at night I know a couple women like that and I'd never mistake them for one another. Character traits aside their personalities and the way they handled situations were generally different. Helena as Huntress was greatly different from Babs as Batgirl and I just don't see the people who knew them best ever mistaking the two.

[kingrockwell]

I know Helena did end up covering more sometime after this (her purple & black costume was my favorite), but I'm not sure how long. At least by the time of Batman Chronicles #15, but that's a four-year gap given it was a quarterly.

[kenn_el.insanejournal.com]

At the time this was published, DC was attempting to both establish Huntress as a combined-Earth Gothamite (on Earth 2 she came by this organically as Bruce and Selina's daughter)and as the perceived 'winner' in the 'which character is more worthwhile?' stakes between she and Barbara-as-Batgirl. The story reflected comparisons that were being made already elsewhere. Timing-wise, IIRC, Helena's next appearance was in the glaringly-inappropriate (some might say suicidal) Jim Lee belly-exposing costume.

[freddylloyd.insanejournal.com]

Considering that only about 30% of Huntress could be covered by Kevlar, even comic-book Kevlar, that was a very lucky shot.

[thebigapricot.insanejournal.com]

I don't think I've ever seen this version of the Huntress costume until now. This one is seems very close to the Pre-crisis Huntress costume. But yeah I agree this is up there with the Benes version as being extremely non-practical crime fighting gear.

[blackdocs.insanejournal.com]

who drew this? the acrobatics/angles on Huntress are awesome!

[gargoylekitty.insanejournal.com]

I didn't include that, did I? Lee Weeks.

[thehefner.insanejournal.com]

A woefully underappreciated artist!

[blackdocs.insanejournal.com]

thx! Ooh, he did a fill-in issue of DD. Brubaker run. Awesome style.

[kingrockwell]

That's cute, thanks for posting! Batman Chronicles is up there with Gotham Knights as a series I always pick up back-issues of when I see them!

[sherkahn.insanejournal.com]

I'll just mention how much I appreciate how awesome Commissioner James Gordon is. The guy can out die hard bruce willis.

[ficticons.livejournal.com (from insanejournal.com)]

Motto. He is fabulous.

[jedd_the_jedi.insanejournal.com]

"She's a natural. Sure and fast" I can imagine Dick would agree :P

[greenmask.insanejournal.com]

The colouring goes really nicely with the lineart.