GOTHAM CENTRAL SPECIAL CRIMES DETECTIVE
Created By: Ed Brubaker & Greg Rucka
First Appearance: Gotham Central #1 (2002)
Role: Background Cop To Major Character
Group Affiliations: The Gotham City Police Department
PL 6 (73)
STRENGTH 2
STAMINA 3
AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 4
DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 2
AWARENESS 4
PRESENCE 2
Skills:
Deception 2 (+4)
Expertise (Police Officer) 8 (+10)
Insight 5 (+9)
Intimidation 3 (+5)
Investigation 5 (+9)
Perception 3 (+7)
Persuasion 3 (+5)
Stealth 1 (+4)
Vehicles 2 (+4)
Advantages:
Equipment 3 (Police Pistol +5, Car), Ranged Attack 4
Equipment:
"Police Pistol" Blast 5 (10)
Offense:
Unarmed +4 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Pistol +6 (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 20)
Initiative +3
Defenses:
Dodge +5 (DC 15), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +3, Fortitude +4, Will +6
Complications:
Responsibility (Justice)- The Major Crimes division is made up almost entirely of extremely loyal police officers (all but the newest selected personally by Jim Gordon). None are corrupt.
Rivalry (The Bat)- Batman, a cold, aloof, private vigilante, frequently interferes with police cases, solves crimes without their assistance, and knows everything that's going on in the department. They are often resentful of this, as well as how much they clearly need him.
Total: Abilities: 44 / Skills: 32--16 / Advantages: 7 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 6 (73)
-The various detectives in the Major Crimes unit are all very capable, clever detectives. But all very human- they're merely above-average fighters and PL 5.5 with their guns- they can kill gangsters and even take out guys like the Black Spider (Allen gets the drop on him when he tries to kill Montoya), but the Freaks of Gotham are terrifying foes. When Allen is disarmed by the Fisherman, he thinks to himself "He's faster. Why are they always faster?", and tells McKenzie "Two-Face gives me nightmares, little rookie".
Major Gotham Central Characters:
MAJOR CRIMES CHARACTERS:
COMMISSIONER AKINS: Gordon's replacement- seen as a very perturbed man in a difficult situation. He's able to talk to Batman, and is an expert at dealing with the press, but often defaults to the advice of Maggie or others. Somewhat of a minor character, he is neither an obstructionist or OVERLY helpful- he's obviously a more major character in the main Bat-Books. After
Gotham Central ends, he is quietly replaced with Gordon and it's never really mentioned what happened to him- he was either corrupt himself or ineffective in controlling corruption in the force.
MAGGIE SAWYER: The Captain and first-shift commander. Frequently angry and annoyed at her detectives and the situations at hand, but always has their backs. She's taken seriously, even when they argue back- she tries to tell Montoya how you only get a chance to "come out" as an open lesbian once, and she's willing to give her detectives the benefit of the doubt, even when freaking out over stuff like Romy shooting Batman and having her service weapon taken.
CRISPUS ALLEN: Montoya's partner- a fairly aloof older black guy but VERY quick to get annoyed with the stupidity of others- he comes off as both aloof and a know-it-all, but very aggressive and easily-provoked. He nearly throws hands with an officer who pawns off a case he can't solve on Major Crimes, for example. He ends up frustrated with Renee's increasing brutality and tries to restrain her and get her to go back with her girlfriend- watching her tear her own life apart hurts him. He decides to personally investigate Officer Corrigan's corruption when Renee ruins the investigation to spring Allen from shooting a suspect (Corrigan had sold the bullet as a collector's item)- an act which costs him his life.
MARCUS DRIVER: Probably the most important recurring character next to Montoya & Allen- his partner was the one killed by Mr. Freeze in the first issue. This leads Driver to be embittered and have a very negative relationship with the Bat (once even commandeering the Signal just to tell him "We got him. Without your help"), but ultimately insisted they use his help when he realized Freeze was interested in mass murder. He & Romy work together on the murder of a young girl and slowly form a relationship that gets more open later. In one of the final issues, he confesses to Romy that he didn't so much as HATE the Bat as he resented the notion that the police and the city needed him so much. Overall, Driver is a pretty good detective, but often he's led by his partners making the breakthroughs- he's good at straight-up accusing people of crimes to get them to break or reveal aspects of the case (reading their body language to see how they react to the accusations), and has a cynical edge and blunt nature that makes him pretty fun.
ROMY CHANDLER: A cute redheaded detective with an angry streak- seen as confident and funny in the early going, but when her partner dies on the Bat's watch, she becomes obsessed with him and increasingly embittered, to the point of drawing and SHOOTING HIM when he's beating down the Penguin for information. Batman is down, but he lashes out in a flurry, breaking Romy's nose and taking her service weapon. Embittered and angry, she has to be talked out of it by Driver, who is empathetic and has gone through this before.
NATE PATTON: A big, kinda smug guy- Romy's partner, and nurses an obvious crush on her, according to the narration of Stacy the secretary. He grows increasingly aware of Romy dating Driver, and this upsets him greatly. He tries to blow it off and accept it, but is clearly hurting, and almost constantly says stupid things around her, earning him a punch in the arm and a "nice one, butthead" when he offends somebody- like when Romy works with Driver on a case, and he's all "Be careful with Romy- she's my partner, you know" when Driver's own partner was just killed on the same case. And then in the "Joker" arc, he is killed by a bomb, the Bat saving the hostage and not him- it's never quite clear exactly what went down, but he hands her off to Batman right before the explosion hits.
JOSIE MacDONALD: The "baby" of the detectives, being the first assigned AFTER Gordon retired. She's initially shown as a bit defensive over Allen's open disrespect of her as a rookie, but has good instincts. TOO good, as it turns out- her finding things like random paint on a car that leads to an internal affairs guy (who was being blackmailed into framing Montoya for a crime) turns out to be the result of an actual SUPER-POWER. She has the ability to find things "out of place"- a kind of Psychometry that enables a few major breakthroughs. Catwoman finds out about this and blackmails her into clearing her name from murder, and keeps her word not to reveal it (she respects secrets, it turns out). Josie reveals this to Driver in the end (after fearing he would reject her, as many past partners had figured things out and she'd gotten into trouble). Later, she finds the lost box of evidence that reveals the Mad Hatter's culpability in the Gotham Hawks high school bombing. When Allen is murdered by Corrigan, she holds the murder weapon in her hands, and rejects the notion that it's the wrong one- it's made clear (to the reader) that she can't explain WHY she knows she knew it was the weapon (someone switches out barrels and Corrigan walks)- there's some things that magical awareness just can't fix.
MINOR MAJOR CRIMES DETECTIVES:
SARGE (Sgt. Jackson Davies: Fun-loving and smart-assed older black guy- background character for the most part, getting only a few bits. Teases others. VERY defensive of Bullock (someone jokes that "Harvey's problem was that he knew too many guys who knew a guy" and Sarge immediately screams "SHUT YOUR MOUTH!"). Wanted a promotion that Cornow got and was upset over it (Cornow was a friend of the mayor, and putting him in let the cops keep their overtime).
CROWE: Sarge's partner. Always smokes a pipe. Very calm. Tends to argue stoically with Sarge.
DAGMAR PROCJNOW: Seemingly a fairly middle-aged woman, the only real hint we get of Dag's age is the white streak in her hair- despite having an adult son, she looks mostly like the other women. She's a very minor character, only getting a bit of focus in the "Side Detectives" story- she gets agitated, but stoically, at the financial officer of a company for making light of a million dollars being unaccounted for ("That's not as much money as it seems". "NOT AS MUCH AS IT SEEMS. I make $50,000 a year, jackass"). The side-story to the tale is her not being asked to her son's first concert at the Gotham Symphony. Burke tries to convince her to go, since he'd obviously want her there, but she's all "but he didn't ASK me to come". "God, you're such a mother" he replies, finally badgering her to go. Naturally, she and her son are delighted.
TOMMY BURKE: Dag's partner. Kind of a ne'er-do-well, shown to be gambling his ass off and flirting with women at the company they're investigating. Ultimately, he seems like a good guy, though.
VINCENT DEL ARRAZIO: Investigates the same company in the "Side Detectives" arc- shown to have Mafia connections but has left that aspect of his family completely. He keeps this from the other detectives but Montoya points out she's aware of it, "But I never doubted you didn't do the right thing when it came down to it".
JOELY BARTLETT: The least-important of the four "Side Detectives" characters, but figures out the source of two poisoning deaths (a candy dish left between two desks- one of the women was dating a scientist at the pharmaceutical firm, but dumped him).
LT. RON PROBSON: An unlikeable older Lieutenant and second-shift commander. He acted bitterly with Sawyer over many things, accusing her of doing things for publicity- it was pretty well known he was ambitious and envied her job. For example, when Sawyer suggested his problem might be related to her sexuality, he just burst out "Oh no- you're not getting me on a DISCRIMINATION bit!". Hard-assed, he was generally disliked and hard to deal with, but he got the job done. He was the arresting officer when the Joker turned himself in, and beat him in the interrogation room to try and get information (under Maggie's direction; he did it so she wouldn't get in trouble, as he was transferring out anyways). Ultimately, however, he was murdered by the Joker when he sprung himself. Maggie shoots him, but he survives.
LT. DAVID CORNOW: Probson's replacement. He seems like he's going to be an important character, but it's quickly glossed over and doesn't appear in the fourth trade at all- he just seems kind of impersonal and disinterested in things. "Cornhole" is disliked by others for this- it's made clear his assignment (which should have gone to Sarge) was a favor to the new mayor so the force could keep their OT. So basically, he was a "politics is a bitch" hire. However, I found him to to seem fair, just stern. When Driver tries to convince him to reopen the Gotham Hawks case ("this would be a real feather in your cap, don't you think?", Cornwell accepts, but adds "And don't PLAY ME, detective. I'd have said yes without the story".
OTHER CHARACTERS:
STACY: The young secretary who is the only person allowed to operate the Bat-Signal- cleverly, the writers give us a very "comics in the real world" aspect to it- a case was ruined because the Signal was lit, and the suspect's lawyer argued the police sicced the Bat on him. And so, Stacy- not an actual law officer but someone who works at the station- can operate it without this legal quandary. Stacy's shown as nice and well-liked by the other cops, but she's a bit flighty, imagining herself getting romantic with Batman. She writes a letter to a friend giving us a lot of the personal complexities of the Major Crimes Unit, including her take on various people (like how Patton is kind of nice and she's sad that he's hurting over the Romy/Driver stuff). She's the one who convinces Robin to get Romy's gun back, and jokes about with Robin over it.
JIM CORRIGAN: An officer in the CSI/evidence collection who is at first just rumored to be selling Freak-based gear as "collectibles" online (this is later confirmed to be true), but is eventually revealed to be in way darker shuff. More or less openly corrupt and smug about it, he is badly beaten down by Renee over selling a bullet Allen had fired that he says killed the Black Spider. This leaves him bitter and angry, and he vows revenge- later, when Allen investigates him, Corrigan murders him. Renee nearly kills him in return, but can't go through with the execution when he begs for his life. He walks, but is later murdered by Allen's own son- Allen, now The Spectre, has no choice by to kill his own son for this act of execution.
ESPERANZA: Every cop's worst nightmare- internal affairs. Comes off as goulish and unfriendly, but is very determined. First chases after Montoya, but feels legitimately guilty when it turns out she's innocent, and sides with her against Corrigan out of it, sacrificing his own investigation to spring her partner.
LT. MATT KENZIE: Narcotics detective on the take with Corrigan, usually selling him drugs. When Corrigan finds out Kenzie's ratting on him to Allen, he and his people torture Kenzie to death.
NORA FIELDS: City coroner and the wife of Driver's late partner. Seen as very strong and capable of handling things, despite falling apart at the sight of her "melting" husband. She remains close with Driver and later Romy, even after losing part of a hand to the Joker's sniper spree that targetted city officials.
SIMON LIPPMAN: A reporter for a major Gotham paper, he helps out Montoya & Allen on a case and earns himself some access to other cases. However, he's very old-school, and when he's later asked by Sawyer to give up his sources on who's publishing police crime scene photos in the paper, he's so offended he refuses to answer (even though he doesn't actually know- "She shouldn't have asked for my sources"). This nearly gets him arrested for the "Replacement Robins" murders, but it turns out it was a colleague.
