The alliance between the Bat-Man and the Gotham police was an uneasy one at first.
Mayor Tolliver had little patience for supposed masked heroes in his city.
In spite of this, Inspector James Gordon continued his unofficial working relationship with the Bat.
This alliance was one that Gordon told his wife about. Gordon’s daughter, Barbara,
was fascinated with the vigilante. She determined through careful questioning and deduction that
her father had a partnership with the Bat. She was an avid reader of Sherlock Holmes mystery novels.
The twists and turns contained within their pages captured her attention and her imagination. She
envisioned herself within the stories, finding clues and helping to solve the mysteries.
Barbara would share the intricacies of these stories with her brother, James Jr.
This fascination with mysteries and stopping criminals led to James Jr. joining the police
force alongside his father. Barbara was not allowed to do this; women on the police
force was not something Mayor Tolliver would allow. But Barbara had something else in mind.
Taking inspiration from the Bat-Man - and also from a fashion trend in a magazine she liked to
read - she crafted an outfit. It utilized the fashion of the time, as well as some
adjustments to make it more functional. Barbara made a mask that resembled the head of a bat,
and a cloak that—when outstretched—would mimic the wings of a bat.
The result was something fashionable, functional, and fantastical. She kept this project a secret
from her mother and father; she knew they wouldn’t approve. Barbara then set out to find the Bat-Man.
She knew that her father met with him regularly and—upon doing some sleuthing—discovered that
Gordon used a searchlight shined from the roof of the Gotham police station in order to signal the
Bat. Upon doing so, her first time meeting the vigilante did not go as she expected. Barbara
introduced herself as the Bat-Girl, and she offered to help the Bat maintain order in Gotham.
She wanted to be a crime fighter. The Bat-Man shot her down, telling her that it was too dangerous.
The horrors he’d seen so far in Gotham kept him from agreeing to it;
he wanted to keep anyone he could from experiencing them.
Barbara went home, dejected. Everything changed with the murder of one woman.
Laurel Marlowe, a wealthy member of Gotham’s high society, was found murdered with her forefingers
severed. There was no evidence to point the police or the Bat-Man to a suspect. The crime scene
showed no sign of forced entry. Both Inspector Gordon and his son, James Jr., were on the case,
and told Barbara about it. Not much was resolved, and soon a second murder occurred. This time
it was a doctor and his wife. The two were found at the Gotham Train Station, also with their
forefingers severed. The Bat-Man and police were again unable to identify a suspect. Upon hearing
of this second set of murders from her brother and father, Barbara reached a sudden realization.
Donning her uniform as the Bat-Girl, she raced to the police station to signal the Bat-Man again.
The Bat, angered at being contacted this way again, was cut short by the Bat-Girl’s
explanation. She informed him that these murders mirrored ones committed by the fictional villain,
James Moriarty in the Sherlock Holmes novels she loved.
This shed a whole new light on the investigation. The wealthy woman who had been murdered mirrored
a number of murders orchestrated in the fictional works of Arthur Conan Doyle.
The doctor and his wife who had been murdered mirrored Moriarty’s attempt on Dr. John Watson’s
and Mary Watson’s lives. The Bat-Man begrudgingly agreed to bring the Bat-Girl onto the case.
While the evidence was lacking, what they did know helped tremendously:
this new killer was apparently an avid reader of Sherlock Holmes stories.
The Bat-Man and Bat-Girl determined that the killer also had a knowledge of law enforcement.
The lack of evidence at the crime scenes showed he knew what to dispose of to avoid detection.
The Bat-Man suspected that the killer may even be on the police force. Utilizing this knowledge,
they laid a trap. The killer’s fixation on Moriarty - and suspected arrogance and
hubris - led the Bat-Man and Bat-Girl to put a notice in the paper via the police.
It was addressed to one J. Moriarty, and read: “Reichenbach begins at sundown. Meet me in
Cobblepot Park. Yours truly, S. Holmes.” This was a ploy to appeal to the killer’s theatrical nature
by referencing Reichenbach Falls, the fictional final confrontation between Holmes and Moriarty.
The Bat-Man and Bat-Girl staked out the park and waited for their prey. Sure enough, a man arrived
and lurked near a park bench but the nearby street lamps cast shadows on his face. They could
not identify him. The two vigilantes approached the man, who—upon seeing them—broke into a run.
A quickly thrown batarang and rope tangled the fleeing man’s legs, causing him to tumble to the
ground. Quickly securing him, the Bat-Girl was shocked to see the face of her brother,
James Gordon Jr. Shortly after, the police arrived, taking James Jr. into custody.
The young policeman revealed he had secretly resented his father and looked up to the recently
deceased Jack the Ripper. He’d seen the Ripper’s presence in Gotham as a “baptism by blood”
that James Jr. had wanted to continue. Inspector Gordon, greatly saddened by his son’s betrayal,
sent him off to be locked up until he could stand trial.
The Bat-Girl, greatly shaken by the news as well, was approached by the Bat-Man. He apologized for
his previous harshness, and extended a hand, offering to train the Bat-Girl. She agreed,
and became the first member of the team that would one day become known as the Gotham Knights. In
the meantime, Barbara Gordon—and subsequently the Bat-Girl—while shaken, would continue her training
and become a defender of the city she loved. The Bat-Girl would make her mark on Gotham City.