Today in Comics History, December 31, 6:36 PM, New Year's Eve: Batman is here

from Batman: The Adventures Continue (2020 series) #8 (DC, March 2021), script by Alan Burnett and Paul Dini, pencils by Ty Templeton, inks by Sean Parsons, colors by Monica Kubina, letters by Josh Reed

Today in Comics History, November 29: Commissioner Gordon is born again

This is an expanded, updated, and combined version of posts originally published November 29, 2012.


from Batman #587 (DC, March 2001), script by Greg Rucka, pencils by Rick Burchett, inks by Rodney Ramos, colors by Noelle Giddings, color separations by Wildstorm FX, letters by Willie Schubert

Today in Comics History, Thanksgiving Day: Commissioner Gordon plots his next complicated chess move

from Batman: The Long Halloween #2 (DC, January 1997), script by Jeph Loeb, pencils and inks by Tim Sale, colors by Gregory Wright, letters by Richard Starkings

Today in Comics History, June 6, 1924: Commissioner Gordon gets sheepskin; sheep is furious

from Super DC Calendar 1976 (DC, 1975), letters by Ben Oda
Well, accordin' to the ol' clock on the wall Super DC Calendar '76, today's the day James Gordon (that's Commissioner Gordon to those of you on this side of the blinking red hotline phone) got his law degree, and excuse me if I'm a little bit skeptical. I mean, you assign those dates at random, SupeCal, but do they really have a basis in canon? Has this date even ever appeared previously in a comic book?


from "The Private Life of Commissioner Gordon" in World's Finest Comics #53 (DC, August 1951), script by David Vern, pencils by Dick Sprang, inks by Charles Paris
Oh! Huh! Well, whaddaya know.

Happy law school graduation anniversary to you, Commissioner Gordon, the finest 122-year-old detective on the force!

Comics Do Shakespeare: Hamlet, Act 12: Brush up your Shakespeare, Commissioner Gordon

from "A Monster Walks Wayne Manor!" in Detective Comics #438 (DC, December 1973); script by Archie Goodwin; pencils, inks, and letters by Jim Aparo

Comics Do Shakespeare: Hamlet, Act 8: How nice is Batman? So nice he set up Jim Gordon's punchline.

from The Brave and the Bold (1955 series) #106 (DC, March 1973); script by Bob Haney; pencils, inks, and letters by Jim Aparo

Today in Lucky St. Patrick's Comics Day History, March 17: That was actually industrial waste, Commissioner Gordon

from Batman: The Long Halloween #6 (DC, May 1997), script by Jeph Loeb, pencils and inks by Tim Sale, colors by Gregory Wright, letters by Richard Starkings

Today in Comics History, April 24, 1983: A Good Day to Just Stay at Home

from The Brave and the Bold #200 (DC, July 1983), script by Mike W. Barr; pencils, inks, and letters by Dave Gibbons; colors by Adrienne Roy

Today in Comics History, February 14: Perpetual bachelor Alfred shames married men

from Batman: The Long Halloween #5 (DC, April 1997), script by Jeph Loeb, pencils and inks by Tim Sale, colors by Gregory Wright, color separation by Heroic Age, letters by Richard Starkings

There Is No Hope in Crime Alley, Night 18: Imagine Bruce is bulletproof / It's easy if you try

What If...? The Waynes' son was Clark Kent? Well, first, they'd need more durable Grey Ghost toys. Then maybe, the Elseworlds story Speeding Bullets. But before all that, Superman #353! Not a hoax! Not a What If?! Not an Imaginary Story! Not an Elseworlds! Not a dream!



Panels from "Just Imagine: The Secret Origin of Bruce (Superman) Wayne" in Superman #353 (November 1980), script by Bob Rozakis, pencils by Curt Swan, inks by Frank Chiaramonte, colors by Gene D'Angelo
...oh, it was a "Just Imagine" story.

Well...

Aren't they all?

A Month of... Batman's Got a Gun, Day 21: Bruce Wayne's Got a Gun!

Well hello, "W.T.F." (Wayne Trusts Firearms) Month at DC Comics, where all the cover gatefolds provided a shocking surprise once you opened them! What will the Joker poison Gotham City with? Who is the secret master of the Green Lanterns? Where did Oliver Queen go for lunch? The answer, of course, is Colonel Sanders. For all three.

Here, is the surprise that Bruce Wayne's mortal enemy is not a guy who dresses up like an Antarctic waterfowl or a giant punctuation mark, but his long-time hetero lifemate, Jim Gordon? Or is the shocking twist that Bruce draws a gun so quickly that Jim's jumps out of his hand in suicidal surrender as if it were springloaded? No, it is none of these things. It is that Jim Gordon is a middle-aged man, who, twenty issues later, will be young and buff enough to become Batman himself. Big mistake, guys! Now you have to reboot the entire universe to cover up that mistake. Boy, I sre hope whoever made that blunder got fired for it.


Cover of Batman (2011 series) #19 (June 2013), pencils and inks by Greg Capullo, colors by FCO Plascencia

A Month of... Batman's Got a Gun, Day 11: Match wits with Batman, and see if you can figure out...why he didn't shoot a floor!

Last night, I promised that I'd reveal how Batman escaped from a deadly deathtrap that he would not survive unless he shot a floor.


Panels from "The Deadly Web of the Crime Exchange!" in Detective Comics #453 (November 1975), script by David Vern, pencils by Ernie Chan, inks and letters by Mike Royer
But The Batman has swore...sworn?...sweared?...swearengended?...to never use a gun! Especially not against an innocent civilian floor. So, he dedices to use the gun to throw it at the Crime Exchange's kick-ass Samsung JS9500 Series 88"-Class 4K SUHD Smart 3D Curved LED-TV! (I'm just throwing that in there so Samsung will send me one for mentioning them). Fact!: shattering a viewscreen shorts out all the electricity in a room and plunges the place into total darkness! Well, that works well!


Na na na na na na na na BLACKOUT! The Batman whips out his glown-in-the-dark sound effect cards and beats the stuffing outta those crooks! Then, he escapes! But how?!? How did the Batman escape, the story pauses to ask us?


Well, I'm guessing, story, that because he's the Gosh-Darn Batman, he's strong and fast and clever enough to slip out of the room and actually already be sitting in the Batmobile logging his mileage on MileIQ and sipping his Sonic Creamery Milkshake because that's what Batman does, right? Except, just as the story lept...leaped?...leporidaed?...to a huge conclusion in deciding Batman couldn't actually harmlessly shoot a floor, here's how Batman escaped. The clues are all there if you know where to look (specifically, in the panels I've posted above). Explain it to Gordon just like he was Dr,. Watson, Batman!


Oooookay. That was a clever trick but kind of complicated, and, as I would like to remind you, one Batman could have avoided simply by firing a gun into the floor. But, shooting the floor would make him no better than the criminals themselves or possibly some drunk guys at a Texas Home Depot. I think we've all learned the lesson this story can teach us:

DON'T SHOOT FLOORS!

A Month of... Batman's Got a Gun, Day 4: Commissioner Gordon Walks, Is Beat

Panels from "Commissioner Gordon Walks a Beat!" in Detective Comics #121 (March 1947), pencils and inks by Howard Sherman

There Is No Hope in Crime Alley, Night 16

Panels from Batman Confidential #40 (March 2010); script, pencils, and inks by Sam Kieth; colors by José Villarrubia and Sam Kieth, letters by Sal Cipriano

Batman's Greatest Practical Jokes

Batman enjoyed sending random strangers into Commissioner Gordon's office to make Gordon think they were him.

Panel from Detective Comics #432 (February 1973), script by Frank Robbins, pencils by Bob Brown, inks by Murphy Anderson

The Zen of Batman: Justice

from Batman '66: "The Thirteenth Hat" (February 23, 1966), written by Charles Hoffman, directed by Norman Foster

Batman's Great Escapes Month, Day 31: Batman says goodbye

Panels from Batman: The Dark Knight (November 2011 New 52 series) #17 (April 2013), script by Gregg Hurwitz, pencils and inks by Ethan Van Sciver, colors by Hi-Fi, letters by Dezi Sienty
Special End-of-the-Month Bonus Links!: Check out these riffs on Batman's Great Escapes by the titanic Ty Templeton and the devilish David "Dumbing of Age" Willis!

But sadly, this feature now has to disappear into the dark (k)night. What's in store for September, you ask? Could it be a month full of...Professor X's Shiny Bald Head?!?*

*No.

Batman's Great Escapes Month, Day 30: Nobody expects Batman not being a jerk

Panels from Detective Comics #871 (January 2011), script by Scott Snyder, pencils and inks by Jock, colors by David Baron, letters by Jared K. Fletcher

Batman's Great Escapes Month, Day 29: Next panel: Batman disappears

Panels from Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #125 (January 2000), script by Greg Rucka, pencils by Rick Burchett, inks by James Hodgkins, colors by Klaus Janson, color separations by Wildstorm FX, letters by Willie Schubert

Batman's Great Escapes Month, Day 28: Gordon jumped off the roof just to get one up on Batman

Panels from Batman: The Dark Knight (November 2011 New 52 series) #10 (August 2012), script by Gregg Hurwitz, pencils by David Finch, inks by Richard Friend, colors by Sonia Oback, letters by Dezi Sienty