Warning! Spoilers ahead for The Joker #1
Batman might be known for how he failed Jason Todd, but recent developments reveal that his failure to help Jim Gordon when he needed it most will most likely lead to the corruption of the Gotham City Police Department commissioner.
One of Gordon's most enduring qualities has been his vendetta against corruption within his precinct and his ability to resist the many temptations that try to dirty his reputation. However, he's now getting pretty tempted. Gordon wants to escape Gotham when he retires but he doesn't have enough financial security. Then, out of the blue, he is presented with his one-way ticket out of that hellhole, though obtaining it will require him to go against everything he believes in and will erase decades' worth of hard work. And it doesn't lessen the temptation knowing that accepting the offer will rid himself of his "boogeyman" that haunts his dreams, the Joker.
Written by James Tynion IV and Sam Johns with art by Mirka Andolfo and Guillem March, The Joker #1 depicts Gordon as a tormented man who's plagued by the sins Joker has committed against him, his family, and his city. Joker haunts his dreams and threatens to stay with him until the day he dies. One way he could heal would be for him to move away from Gotham when he retires, but Gordon doesn't have enough money saved up for when that time comes. So when some rich citizens offer him $25 million to murder the Joker, Gordon finds himself seriously considering their tantalizing offer.
The major catalyst here is money. But who does Gordon know with a ludicrous amount of cash and who has relied on Gordon's help throughout the majority of his career as commissioner? Bruce Wayne. Batman's continual success has been predicated on Gordon's , so why hasn't this billionaire at least set aside a couple of million dollars for him as a thank you? Bruce must have known that Gordon's retirement was on the horizon, so why didn't he provide his most stalwart ally any financial ? It's maddening, especially knowing he's spent billions on deg spaceships and battle armor and even mined the Moon's surface.
Making matters worse, Batman is renowned for his deduction skills and ability to plan ahead. So it's impossible that Bruce never thought about the future. The thought of his closest "friend" needing money to retire must have crossed his mind at least once. Based on Gordon's current financial predicament, Batman must have ignored this realization, which is worse than him not even thinking of it at all.
This disregard has, in turn, left Gordon open to the corruption that may force him to betray the very morals upon which he has built his entire career and existence. But might he be getting ahead of himself? Could Batman have already set aside some funding that he's waiting to present Gordon with on his last day on the force in some grand gesture? After all he's been through, that's the kind of send-off Jim Gordon deserves.
