Gotham Central, Case by Case: HALF A LIFE
Editor’s Note: This is the first of a weekly series examining each story arc in the classic DC Comics series, Gotham Central.
By Bruno Savill De Jong — During her morning jog, Renee Montoya is approached by a stranger. Moving from her familiar neighborhood where she lives into an isolated park, Renee is asked to identify herself. Identity and recognition are core concepts of Gotham Central, a series about what it means to ‘be a cop’ in Gotham, especially when your efforts are overshadowed by symbolically masked vigilantes. Detective Driver, our de facto protagonist for the preceding issues, is so desperate for the efforts of the GCPD to simply be ‘seen’. Now whether she likes it or not, Montoya is dragged into the spotlight, as Gotham Central strays from procedural casework into an interpersonal storyline, where Renee herself is at the centre of the investigation.
Half a Life is probably the most famous Gotham Central storyline, winning multiple awards and being a crucial development for Renee. Renee originated on Batman: The Animated Series and existed in the comics for a while, but she was primarily developed by writer Greg Rucka (who has solo credit for Half a Life, as series co-writer Ed Brubaker did with the previous arc, Motive) during his work on Batman and Detective Comics. Indeed, her issue with Two-Face during No Man’s Land, Two Down (Batman Chronicles #16) was Rucka’s first comic for DC. Half a Life is a significant chapter for Renee, whose character arc largely defines Gotham Central from this point forward, which like its opening scene moves her away from her usual comforting supporting role, to isolate and interrogate just who she is.
The first issue of Half a Life shows a fairly typical day-in-the-life from Renee’s perspective. We see her morning exercise, the stranger serving her court papers from Martin Lipari, an accused rapist suing Renee for ‘damages’ sustained when he tried to knife her. We see her banter at GCPD headquarters with Driver and Crispus Allen, before being assigned a robbery case she and Allen quickly solve. We see her “dinner date” with her parents, who pester her about settling down with a husband, while giving her brother Benny a pass. After she spends the night with a mysterious friend, Renee finds Internal Affairs waiting at her apartment the next morning, supposedly to warn her about Lipari and his (recently killed) private investigator. Little does Renee know that as she was going about her usual business, her world has been upended overnight. At work she finds a photo of her kissing her girlfriend Daria (her unseen companion from the earlier scene) has been pinned up in the GCPD squadroom. Essentially, Renee has been outed as a lesbian.
Although now common knowledge, this was the shocking ‘twist’ of Half a Life within the context of the book’s publication. Assumptions around Renee’s love-life tended to be heteronormative. When Renee leaves for her dinner date, Crispus assumes it’s a “lucky guy”. Her parents badger Renee about grandchildren and settling down. When Benny later tells Renee that he convinced them the picture (which they also got a copy of) was a hoax, she remarks it was easy given, “they didn’t want to believe it in the first place”. Similarly, certain readers somehow felt annoyed Rucka ‘made’ Renee gay, but even if that mattered, this is not the case. Rucka has said how he “identified her as queer almost immediately”, and it was only because she never explicitly showed it before, that readers and her friends and her family all assumed she was straight.
Half a Life clearly shows why Renee remained closeted. Up until now, Gotham Central’s depiction of the GCPD has been fairly sympathetic and positive. Here, the GCPD’s infamously corrupt and toxic environment begins to seep in. Lipari evaded his rape conviction because “someone in evidence control lost the knife”. Renee and Crispus’ robbery case was dumped on them by Detective Lowe, a typical “bought-and-paid-for” Gotham policeman who tie “freaks” to their case so that the Major Crimes Unit will do their job for them. Even after Renee solves the case for Lowe, he still harasses her after the photo goes public. Regardless of Renee’s skills or comebacks, Lowe can simply call her a “dyke” (an expletive and slur that editorially remained in the comic since it was deemed integral to the story), a slur which rings out in the silent panels which follow.
Such silence hangs over the Major Crimes squadroom after Renee is outed. Half a Life mostly does not show Renee facing homophobic comments or threats, the snide jokes and humiliating atmosphere a more realistic and equally harsh depiction of this incident. Silent panels show Renee glancing at her supposed colleagues, knowing that now, for better or worse, they all regard her differently, that she is no longer just herself. When Renee is summoned to Captain Sawyer’s office, Renee almost demands some cathartic confrontation; “it’s not like we’re in the army of anything. Why don’t you just go ahead and ask, Captain?”
These comments also highlight how radical this storyline was at the time of publication. While nowadays queer representation in comics is far from perfect, back in 2003 Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was the official policy of the US Military, essentially permitting discrimination against ‘outed’ service people (something Rucka would use for Renee’s future love-interest Batwoman). Gay marriage was still considered a highly contentious topic, with the first ever official same-sex marriage occurring in America in 2004.
Mainstream comics have a long and complicated history with LGBTQ+ representation (Gay League and other websites have more detailed information). Fredric Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent stated that comics “encouraged homosexuality”, using it as cudgel to try to turn public sentiment against the entire medium. Wertham’s questionable behaviors ultimately resulted in the industry forming the Comics Code Authority, which essentially banned same-sex relationships until 1989. So mainstream queer characters, if they existed at all, could only be hinted at, like Mystique and Destiny’s relationship in Uncanny X-Men, clearly a romantic relationship even if Claremont could not clearly state it (their ‘first kiss’ was only shown last year). Even when Maggie Sawyer was herself first ‘outed’ in 1988’s “Wings” (Superman vol. 2, #15), it was limited to strong hints about “indecent thoughts”.
Sawyer functions as a counterpoint to Renee. By Gotham Central she is fully out, beginning Half a Life ecstatic that her girlfriend Toby is “up from Metropolis for the week”. A panel lingers on Renee’s face when this is mentioned, suggesting her considering a world in which her own sexuality was known, and if she could also be so happy and secure. But when Renee talks to Sawyer, any optimistic hope has crashed against her cruel circumstances. Renee reminds Sawyer that despite their shared orientation, Sawyer has not “been where” she has, and they are not the same. In a scene of informed perspective, Renee informs Sawyer of her white privilege, that she is neither Latina nor does she have devoutly Catholic immigrant parents who will believe she is going to hell. She tells Sawyer, “this isn’t Metropolis, Captain, and not just because our guy works at night. This isn’t the City of Tomorrow, it’s not San Francisco, it’s not New York. It’s Gotham.”
Earlier, when Internal Affairs asked Renee about Lipari getting off his rape conviction, she replied, “It happens. It’s Gotham”. “It’s Gotham” seems to be Renee’s resignation to the ignorant and unjust society she lives in, one that she just has to deal with. Yet these mounting events make her begin to rail against it. When Benny visits, Renee refuses to persuade her parents she is straight, refusing to perpetuate a self-destructive façade. Instead she meets Daria out in the open, finding tender comfort in having someone to talk to. When Lipari appears and makes disparaging threats against this solace, Renee strikes back, her pent-up anger finding a release.
Unfortunately, this is exactly what those harassing Renee were hoping for. The next morning Detectives Sarge and Crowe, while arguing about counterfeit money (another example of false identity), are called in to find Lipari shot dead with Renee’s registered weapon. As she readies for work, Renee finds this is missing and a bag of heroin in her safe, but before she can call it in, Internal Affairs arrive with a warrant to arrest her. While she and Crispus are certain it’s a set-up by Lipari, they are only operating with half the information, both being stunned when they find he was murdered. When Daria is questioned and coerced into revealing Lipari’s threats, Renee can only powerlessly watch through the interrogation room window, her work-life literally dividing her from her romantic one. Internal Affairs officially charge Renee, under the not unreasonable theory that she temporarily snapped from “the strain of the job, of [her] double-life”. It is only after she pleads “not guilty” in court, and is being transferred back to a holding cell, that her prison bus is ambushed and Renee is confronted by the force who is actually orchestrating the destruction of her life — Two-Face.
Like most Batman villains, Two-Face has had the minutiae of his backstory constantly tweaked. But an interpretation I like is that Harvey Dent always struggled with a malignant secondary personality. That he was constantly battling with this malevolent inner-force, which his facial scarring did not create so much as physically manifest. In this sense, Dent was not broken but made strangely whole, his criminal side no longer suppressed but externally shown, even if his two sides are radically bisected. Gotham Central’s version of Two-Face is terrifyingly schizophrenic, switching between calmly outlining Renee’s dinner options and threatening his guards between panels, his sharp jagged word-balloons emphasizing the change. When Renee rejects his delusional love for her (which persists despite him being the one who outed Renee as a lesbian, Two-Face simply responds “I don’t see what that has to do with us”), Two-Face shouts that “Harvey’s not here right now!” as the panels become noticeably unhinged. When one half cannot solve an issue, the other takes over, reasoning that if Renee is rid of all attachments to her former life, including Daria, she has no choice but to accept this alternative.
Two-Face believes that Renee’s closeted homosexuality parallels his own split-personality. Rucka had developed their relationship throughout No Man’s Land, from Rucka’s first story for DC Comics, with Two-Face’s two sides for once agreeing upon their desire for Renee, his binary thinking misinterpreting her kindness toward him for love. Two-Face claims he has scarred and exposed Renee the same way he was, breaking down the walls between her two lives, making her “whole”. Of course, this is untrue, with Two-Face destroying her life and forcing her underground (his hideout literally in an underground hotel buried during No Man’s Land’s earthquake) so that she will be with him. She is given no option to reject him and select her former life, Two-Face calling it the “wrong answer” that he will forcibly amend by killing Daria, or even by having Renee kill him.
Batman arrives before this can take place. Despite Renee’s justified exasperation, Batman says “either he would have killed you, or you would have killed him. Neither option was acceptable”. His intervention prevents the seemingly binary choice (kill or be killed), as he knows either action would have ended Renee’s life. Batman’s cameo in Half a Life is characteristically brief, but one of his best appearances. Earlier Bruce Wayne is mentioned as hiring Renee’s new attorney, and briefly spotted on the courthouse steps, entering a limousine as Crispus walks outside. It is possible this is where Batman intercepts Internal Affairs officer Conway, who Crispus and new Major Crimes recruit ‘Josie Mac’ MacDonald (who Crispus keeps calling “MacKenzie”, another joke about confused identity) discover was being blackmailed by Two-Face. As Crispus discloses this to a shadowed Crowe, he finds the figure has disappeared leaving only a footprint on the windowsill. Batman is not directly shown in this whole scene, but it emphasizes his constant presence around the GCPD, and his capacity for disguise and espionage, the ability to pretend to be who he isn’t.
This is a luxury Renee no longer has. Batman may have ‘saved’ her, but her life is still wrecked by Two-Face’s actions. Of course, Renee is no different than who she was before. Crispus may have been offended that Renee did not tell him, but that was about her keeping secrets than the secret itself. Daria optimistically reasons, as Renee opens up to her parents in the conclusion of Half a Life, “you’re their daughter, Renee. That hasn’t changed”. Tragically, Renee’s parents do not see it that way. Half a Life ends with Renee telling Daria her parents have disowned her, and the usually resilient and invulnerable detective breaking down in tears. It’s an incredibly humane and achingly realistic moment, aided by Michael Lark’s incredibly intimate artwork. As Matt Santori testifies from his own experiences, this heart-breaking ending emphasizes how “the story of Renee Montoya’s coming out stands as one of the most brutally honest, and deeply realized, reflections of the reality of LGBT life in America, even today”.
Despite this devastating conclusion, Santori does find some hope in Half a Life. Gotham Central at its core is a series about living in a world that is not your own, working in a society you often cannot control. Two-Face’s entire gimmick revolves around ‘choice’, only he refuses to take responsibility, leaving it up to the ‘fate’ of a coin toss. As Mr Freeze said back in In the Line of Duty, “bad luck” seems to be endemic to Gotham, and Two-Face tells Renee he didn’t choose to ruin her life, “it’s how the coin came down”. Coming out is momentous event for any queer person, and Two-Face ripped that decision away from Renee. Renee tells her brother, her sexuality was not a ‘choice’ but something she never had any control over, and now maybe she is glad to stop pretending otherwise. Despite these cruel circumstances, Renee can still control how she handles it. Sawyer is able to tell Renee, “it’s a one-way door… what you do next, you get to live with it for the rest of your life”. Regardless of everything that is thrown at her, despite living in Gotham, Renee does not snap under the strain of her double-life or surrender to chance like Two-Face does, but decides how she will continue living in this city as herself, however painful the cost.
Editor’s Note: While we love Gotham Central, we also appreciate how its representation of police does not directly address the critical real-world injustices prevalent in U.S. police departments. If you would like to help support the correction of these systemic injustices, we recommend doing so via donations to Black Lives Matter.
Gotham Central: Half a Life
GOTHAM CENTRAL #6 - 10: Half a Life
Writers: Greg Rucka
Arist: Michael Lark
Colorist: Noelle Giddings
Letterer: Willie Schubert
Editors: Matt Idelson and Nachie Castro
The start of the Eisner Award-winning arc by Greg Rucka by Michael Lark that outs Detective Renee Montoya as a lesbian and turns her whole world upside down! "Half a Life" Part 1 begins here!
Buy It Digitally: Gotham Central
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Bruno Savill De Jong is a recent undergraduate of English and freelance writer on films and comics, living in London. His infrequent comics-blog is Panels are Windows and semi-frequent Twitter is BrunoSavillDeJo.
