THE LEGACY OF BILL FINGER....COMMISSIONER GORDON

Commissioner James “Jim” Worthington Gordon first appeared in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939) and was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane.

Detective Comics #27

Born on January 5, 1900, James Gordon was selected as Police Commissioner of Gotham City because of his honest intent and good service record as a line police officer. He graduated from law school at the age of 24 and married his wife on October 11, 1926. The two soon had a child named Tony.

Commissioner Gordon

However he was completely ineffective against the open crime lords and gangsters who controlled the political and governmental basis of the city and government. It was because of that he allowed the justice seeking vigilante Batman to do what he could not,openly fight crime in an effective and at times brutal way in order to slow the crime activities of Gotham’s underground.

DC #27 p.3

In 1941, after Batman is threatened with arrest during the trial of Bruce Wayne, Gordon rises to his defense and declares:

I speak for the Batman, the friend of the people! Yes, he works ‘outside the law,’ as you call it, but the legal devices that hamper us are hurdled by this crimefighter so he may bring these men of evil to justice. The eminent District Attorney calls him a meddler with a theory…Washington, the Wright Brothers, Lincoln, Edison and others, they were ‘meddlers,’ too who proved their theories. They made sacrifices so that we might enjoy the security and comfort we do. The Batman has done that too! This man who has saved a nation’s gold reserve, fought fifth columnists and saboteurs, beaten the Joker, the Puppet Master, and other crime geniuses…This man who daily risks his life to save others, who never carries a gun, who is aided by his young friend, Robin, fights crime with the courage and zeal born of love for his fellow man. This is the Batman!” With a handshake, Gordon then officially appoints Batman “an honorary member of the police department”.

Batman #7

Commissioner James Gordon got his name from a character in “The Whisperer” pulp magazine. The Whisperer created by Henry William Ralston and John Nanovic.

History: Having been appointed New York Police Commissioner over the objections of Mayor Van Royston, James “Wildcat” Gordon found himself constantly undermined by both the Mayor and Deputy Commissioner Henry Bolton, who had been Royston’s choice for the job.

Tired of seeing criminals evade justice and with his rival Henry Bolton seeking to sabotage his cases and thus discredit him, New York Police Commissioner James “Wildcat” Gordon decided to become a vigilante. His friend Richard Trager, an aging policeman, designed special dental plates to wear on his face and inside his mouth to distort Gordon’s face, disguising him but also making him unable to speak in anything louder than a whisper delivered with a chilling undertone. Dressed in grey to move unseen through the darkness, and armed with specially silenced automatics, Gordon became The Whisperer.