James Gordon is the heart of the GCPD. His heart aches, but it will never quit. And like mine, his will remember. 
- — Batman
Detective Comics #742 is an issue of the series Detective Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of March, 2000.
Synopsis for "The Honored Dead"
James Gordon has been on leave for 10 weeks, mourning the death of his wife, but is now back on duty as Gotham City's police commissioner. He has much work ahead of him, still recruiting for the police force, which is still seriously under-staffed after the city's No Man's Land period. As part of the work of building the GCPD back up again, he assigns Hardback Bock to head up the Organised Crime division and promotes Harvey Bullock to Lieutenant, head of the Major Crimes Unit. Bullock's old partner, Renée Montoya, is now to work with Crispus Allen, newly arrived from Metropolis.
Soon, both the police department and Batman are attracted to the scene of a shooting, a mob hit where two police officers were caught in the crossfire, including Jerome Collins, a fine member of the police department for 17 years. Although he should leave it to Major Crimes, Gordon is determined to track down those responsible - Captain Bock suspects that the Odessa Mob are responsible, and Gordon heads out to confront their leader, Vasily Kosov. Under questioning, Kosov reveals the location of the 4 men responsible for the hit on the Cassamento Family. Both the police Commissioner and Batman head for the location, where Batman has to dissuade his old friend from making a near-suicidal assault on their territory. Working together, they are able to capture the killers, realising that their bond is closer than ever, united by a keen sense of loss.
Appearing in "The Honored Dead"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Gotham City Police Department
- James Gordon
- Harvey Bullock
- Hardback Bock
- Renée Montoya
- Crispus Allen (First appearance)
- Stacy (First appearance)
Antagonists:
- Odessa Mob (First appearance)
- Vasily Kosov (First appearance)
- Cassamento Family
Other Characters:
- Sarah Essen (In picture only)
- Jerry Hennelly (Mentioned only)
- Sergeant Jerome Collins (Single appearance) (Appears only as a corpse)
- Officer Tom Basso (Mentioned only)
Locations:
Items:
- Batarang
- Bat-Signal (Cover only)
Vehicles:
Notes
- This issue is collected in Batman: Evolution, Batman: New Gotham Vol. 1 and Detective Comics: 80 Years of Batman: The Deluxe Edition.
- Starting from this issue, the art style changes drastically from the previous issues. In the letter column, Detective Comments, editor Dennis O'Neil addresses this fact and explains that the change would also be seen in Batman and the new book Batman: Gotham Knights. However, this artistic direction would only last until the end of the Evolution storyline, in issue #750.
- Shawn Martinbrough's run as penciller and Steve Mitchell's run as inker on Detective Comics both begin with this issue.
See Also