Story: Decoys (10 pages)
Writer(s): Howard Chaykin, Tommy Lee Edwards
Pencils: Tommy Lee Edwards
Inks: John Paul Leon
Characters:
Lieutenant James Gordon
Minor Characters / Guest Appearances:
Paul Pendergast, Sergio D'Gioa, Officer Neiland, Officer Rice, Officer Kling
Synopsis:
James Gordon has been in Gotham for a few weeks. He recently has been promoted to lieutenant and assigned to homicide. He is partnered with Lieutenant Paul Pendergast, who's the D.A.'s nephew and got his promotion because of that, even though he's incompetent. Together with several other officers they are assigned to transfer a mob witness, Sergio D'Gioa, from a safe house to the courthouse across town. They use three separate vans with escorts to make following the witness harder, but despite that Gordon and Pendergast, who are with D'Gioa, are shot at and trapped in crossfire from several sources. During the firefight Gordon drags a woman, who seems to be an innocent bystander, with them to the safety of a tobacco store, but it turns out that she is really a professional and also acquainted to D'Gioa, and they planned the escape with a helicopter all along. D'Gioa and the woman both get away, while a dozen cops die in that firefight and yet more a wounded. Gordon also got shot in his right shoulder.
Continuity References:
- Gordon refers to a "snafu in Chicago", details of that are revealed in ??. [p. 1]
- The whole story premise is contradictory to the version of Gordon's early time in Gotham as it is told in Year One, Batman #404 - #407 (e.g. there Gordon already is a lieutenant when he arrives in Gotham, and he's partnered with Detective Flass). [p. 1]
James Gordon Character Details:
- Gordon recently got transfered to Gotham from Chicago because of a not closer described "snafu" [p. 1], but he thinks Gotham is more forgiving than Chicago. [p. 10]
- Gordon gets his promotion to lieutenant soon after arriving in Gotham, that promotion helped him to put the Chicago incident out of his mind. [p. 1]
- Gordon's Chicago background seems to be well known, Pendergast makes cracks about it, and Gordon had to develop a thick skin. [p. 1]
Gotham City Details:
- Arcadian Grove, aka "The Grove", is Gotham's little bohemia. A neighborhood with crowded, narrow streets and lots of nonconformists living there. [p. 3] The intersection of Gilbert and Shelton is there. [p. 4]
Trivia:
- The GCPD then had still a budget for a real motor pool. [p. 5]
- The tobacco store is "L. I. Peretti. Tobacconist. Since 1870." [p. 7]