30 Days Of DC Meme: Day Five
Yay, got.... 20% of the way through without missing a day! Better than I had expected, okay.
Favourite Nonmasked Character
I am assuming here that "nonmasked" means characters who are not superheroes/supervillains/masked vigilantes/masked criminals, as opposed to just people who do not wear masks. And even then, I'm restricting myself to characters who have never been any of those things, because as much as I love Renee before she became the Question and Cissie after she retired as Arrowette, giving either of them as an answer here feels like cheating.
SO. JIM GORDON. JIM GORDON JIM GORDON JIM GORDON.
Christ, what is there to say about Jim Gordon? He was that cliche, the One Good Cop in a corrupt city. He's one of very very very few people Batman trusts. He is the greatest father ever. He's tried to retire but always finds himself coming back because the city needs him, the force needs him. I already talked a bit about Jim and Harvey and Batman in my Two-Face post, but everything I said there stands.
From a Doylist perspective, Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker are largely responsible for the wonderful diversity of detectives in the Gotham MCU, but from a Watsonian perspective that's all on Jim. Here is this old white dude whose job it is to hand-pick the best and he actually does. I always get the impression reading stories with him in that he's not just a good cop and a good leader, he's also a good person. I mean, I will never stop wanting to read the story where Jim Gordon and Sam Vimes and Gene Hunt somehow meet in a pub, but Jim is probably the only one there that I would actually trust to protect me.
I love that it's canon that Jim is sort of a joke to the rest of the country because of Batman, and I love that there is resentment there but he doesn't let that get in the way of the weird friendship they have going on. Except when it does-- No Man's Land comes to mind, here. My favourite, favourite Jim moments are all in No Man's Land (have I mentioned yet how much I love No Man's Land? ALL THE MUCH). The bit where Batman offers to unmask as a sign of trust and Jim looks away because seriously Batman, you think he doesn't know? Ever heard of "plausible deniability"?; working with Harvey even though he knows exactly how terrible a plan that is; staging a fucking gang war to make sure his daughter is safe; the ending, oh god the ending, when even Batman isn't going to stop Jim from shooting the Joker, and even then after all that he's done Jim shoots him in the leg. I have read that book at least three times, and the novelisation twice, and I cry buckets at that ending every. Single. Time.
Favourite Nonmasked Character
I am assuming here that "nonmasked" means characters who are not superheroes/supervillains/masked vigilantes/masked criminals, as opposed to just people who do not wear masks. And even then, I'm restricting myself to characters who have never been any of those things, because as much as I love Renee before she became the Question and Cissie after she retired as Arrowette, giving either of them as an answer here feels like cheating.
SO. JIM GORDON. JIM GORDON JIM GORDON JIM GORDON.
Christ, what is there to say about Jim Gordon? He was that cliche, the One Good Cop in a corrupt city. He's one of very very very few people Batman trusts. He is the greatest father ever. He's tried to retire but always finds himself coming back because the city needs him, the force needs him. I already talked a bit about Jim and Harvey and Batman in my Two-Face post, but everything I said there stands.
From a Doylist perspective, Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker are largely responsible for the wonderful diversity of detectives in the Gotham MCU, but from a Watsonian perspective that's all on Jim. Here is this old white dude whose job it is to hand-pick the best and he actually does. I always get the impression reading stories with him in that he's not just a good cop and a good leader, he's also a good person. I mean, I will never stop wanting to read the story where Jim Gordon and Sam Vimes and Gene Hunt somehow meet in a pub, but Jim is probably the only one there that I would actually trust to protect me.
I love that it's canon that Jim is sort of a joke to the rest of the country because of Batman, and I love that there is resentment there but he doesn't let that get in the way of the weird friendship they have going on. Except when it does-- No Man's Land comes to mind, here. My favourite, favourite Jim moments are all in No Man's Land (have I mentioned yet how much I love No Man's Land? ALL THE MUCH). The bit where Batman offers to unmask as a sign of trust and Jim looks away because seriously Batman, you think he doesn't know? Ever heard of "plausible deniability"?; working with Harvey even though he knows exactly how terrible a plan that is; staging a fucking gang war to make sure his daughter is safe; the ending, oh god the ending, when even Batman isn't going to stop Jim from shooting the Joker, and even then after all that he's done Jim shoots him in the leg. I have read that book at least three times, and the novelisation twice, and I cry buckets at that ending every. Single. Time.