In practically every Batman adaptation, Police Commissioner James “Jim” Gordon is Bruce Wayne’s friend on the force. He’s the one who installed the famous Bat Signal on top of the Gotham City Police Department and will turn to Bats to help investigate crimes that are out of the GCPD’s depth. He and Batman don’t see eye-to-eye at times, Gordon is still one of the vigilante’s most trusted allies. While most authority figures in Gotham are corrupt in some capacity, Jim is an honest cop who serves as a symbol of integrity.
Even though the Absolute version of Jim Gordon meets an untimely end in Absolute Batman #19, the aftermath of his death is helping push the story forward.
Jim Gordon’s Life Before Absolute Batman
Not much is known about Jim Gordon’s life before he put on a GCPD badge or stepped into City Hall. He became a father to his daughter, Barbara Gordon, though details about her mother or whether Jim was ever married are currently unknown.
Back when he was just a beat cop, he wound up arresting Martha Wayne at a political protest. She gave him an earful all the way to central booking, but instead of throwing the book at her, Jim let her go. He even paid out of pocket for the placard he broke during the arrest.
That simple act of decency earned Martha’s lifelong respect, and through his friendship with Martha and her husband Thomas Wayne, Jim adopted a more compassionate, liberal worldview. Years later, Jim was one of the responding officers at the Gotham Zoo after Thomas was killed in a shooting, where he found Thomas’ young son Bruce Wayne hiding in the bat enclosure, terrified and swarmed by bats.
Eventually, Jim rose to Police Commissioner while keeping a watchful eye on Bruce as the boy grew into a troubled young man. Bruce would take part in residential burglaries with Selina Kyle, which led to him falling into a trap set by mob boss Carmine Falcone. Falcone bought off judges to lock Bruce up at Blackgate Penitentiary for six months, then forced him into working as an enforcer.
Jim visited Bruce while he was working for the mob to ask why he didn’t let his friends pay off his debt. Bruce explained he was taking the hit so his friends wouldn’t ruin their own lives. Jim warned Bruce not to let the cynicism of the world swallow him whole, reminding him that both he and Martha still believed in him. Bruce appreciated the talk even though he had to yell at Jim to get out so the other mobsters wouldn’t suspect anything.
Jim’s Role in the Zoo, Absolute Zero, and Seventh Kingdom Arcs
After retiring from the police force, Jim ran for mayor and narrowly defeated the corrupt Hamilton Hill. During his term, a nihilistic gang called the Party Animals spread terror across Gotham. When a giant vigilante known as Batman emerged to fight them, Jim put two and two together fast. Between the zoo incident years ago and Batman’s distinct build, Jim knew it was Bruce under the cowl.
During an attack on a town hall meeting, Jim was shot, which led to his deputy mayor resigning. Martha accepted the job despite the constant danger she was putting herself in. It wasn’t long until the villain Black Mask put a massive one-million-dollar bounty on both Jim and Martha with armed thugs cornered them in the street. Jim told Martha to run, but she stood her ground and called out the thugs. She punched the lead gunman right as Black Mask’s communication network crashed, causing the rest of the gang to scatter in shame.
Jim eventually lost the next election back to Hamilton Hill, largely due to the chaos happening under his watch. Realizing his political brand was shot, Jim backed Martha to take the lead in standing up against Hill’s authoritarian martial law. During this period, Jim and Martha grew closer and started dating…something Bruce accidentally discovered when he walked into Martha’s apartment unannounced.
Jim caught up to Bruce on the street right as Bruce was about to wreck a stall selling Batman merchandise. Jim revealed he knew Bruce’s secret identity and reminded him of the scared kid he pulled out of the bat cage years ago. Bruce admitted that Batman was spiraling out of control and shared his fear he was becoming too dark. Jim shared some advice his daughter Barbara had given him about how a tree grows tallest when you care for its roots. He reminded Bruce that he came from good roots and would make the right call when the time came.
Jim’s Death in the Straw Man Arc and Its Aftermath
Everything fell apart during the Straw Man arc. After Martha suddenly left for New Mexico, Jim dug into her past to figure out what was going on and uncovered terrifying files linked to something called “Project: Batman.” Unsure of what to do, he wrote a letter to Martha mentioning that her son was Batman, then called Bruce to meet him on a rooftop to pass over the files.
On the roof, Scarecrow induced a paranoid episode causing Jim to panic. He tried to burn the documents with his lighter but accidentally set his coat sleeve on fire. He dropped the partially burned pages and begged Bruce to destroy them. Overwhelmed by hallucinations and a swarm of crows blocking his path, Jim apologized to Bruce for what he was about to discover and stepped off the edge. Bruce caught Jim’s coat with his bat-thumb, but Jim slipped out of the garment and fell to his death.
The fallout from Jim’s death was immediate. Onlookers saw Batman holding the empty coat and assumed he pushed Jim. Mayor Hill was quick to exploit the tragedy by giving a fake eulogy. He also used Jim’s death as an excuse to launch the Robin Program, a specialized task force led by Slade Wilson to hunt Batman down.
Watching Jim’s funeral from afar, Bruce spiraled into deep paranoia. He became convinced every tragedy was part of a grand plot orchestrated by Joker. He somewhat calmed down thanks to Martha, who was alive and was in New Mexico gathering intel on Scarecrow. She was able to pull her son back from the edge so he could refocus on taking down Scarecrow.
Meanwhile, Barbara Gordon grew frustrated with how the city was responding to her father’s death. She made it clear to the Robins that her father would have supported Batman over them. Realizing the police are not going to launch a real investigation into Jim’s death, Barbara turned to Batman for answers. He led her to his Batcave where she crafted a tactical suit using her father’s burnt coat, Batman’s helmet, and Alfred’s non-lethal shotgun. Now Barbara was officially The Bat, the first member of the Absolute Bat-Family.
Absolute Jim Gordon’s life may have ended on that rooftop, but his death triggered the birth of a new hero in Barbara and pushed Bruce toward his ultimate breaking point.
