Talk:Harvey Bullock (character)

Needed info
Could someone please furnish the following: CyberSkull 07:59, 2005 Jun 3 (UTC)
 * Was he fired or did he quit the GCPD?
 * A picture
 * Something about him from the batman animated series

Danny DeVito?
I watched "The Laughing Fish" on YouTube. Bullock sounded a lot like Danny DeVito. Did he voice him? 71.217.236.119 03:03, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

John Wells
http://obscure.dcuguide.com/Board/BatmanChars3.htm Cutler was cornered in an alley on that cold March night, one arm wrapped tightly around his hostage's neck, the other aiming a gun at a squad of Gotham City police officers. The cop killer wasn't budging but neither was the GCPD, whose commanding officer vowed to start firing in two minutes whether the hostage was released or not. In a flash, the situation was resolved, thanks to a dark stranger in a cape, who single-handedly disarmed Cutler and freed his victim. "Sorry, Lt. Bullock," The Batman called as he exited the alley. "Better cancel the invasion."

"Listen, Batman," snapped the rumpled detective in the well-worn hat, "Maybe a weak sister like Commissioner Gordon puts up with some costumed freak mixin' into police business ... I don't! I'd have nailed Cutler my own way."

"Charging up that alley ... ? 'General Custer' tactics may have their place, Bullock ... but they're hard on the troops ... and hostages. Goodnight, lieutenant."

"Crack wise will you can, fancy britches!" Bullock shouted after him. "Time's comin' when this town'll be rid of your kind!"

As seen in 1974's DETECTIVE COMICS # 441's "Judgment Day" (by Archie Goodwin and Howard Chaykin), the cop named Bullock functioned as a device to set the mood for the story and as a red herring in regard to identity of the anti-vigilante character known as the Judge. Nearly a decade would pass before we'd see Bullock again ... and it's unclear whether the man who waltzed into Commissioner Gordon's office in March of 1983's BATMAN # 361 was even intended to be the same character. Regardless, from that point through the summer of 1986, Harvey Bullock would be Doug Moench's baby!

Moench had been preceded by writer Gerry Conway, who'd set up a lengthy subplot that put a man named Hamilton Hill in the mayor's office and revealed him as a crony of gangster Rupert Thorne. After removing Commissioner Gordon from office and declaring Batman an outlaw, Hill found himself at the center of a violent gun battle in his office that left Gordon's successor dead, Thorne wounded and a crooked cop in custody. Nothing, however, tied Hill directly to any of them and the Dark Knight was reluctantly forced to acknowledge they were at a stalemate (1982's BATMAN # 354, by Conway, Don Newton and Alfredo Alcala).

Although forced to reinstate Gordon and restore Batman's quasi-legal standing in Gotham, Hill was determined to keep a close watch on the Commissioner's office. UsingJim Gordon's recent fatigue and chest pains as an excuse, Hill decided to appoint an assistant (DETECTIVE # 527). And that's where Bullock came in.

Bullock had joined the GCPD nearly twenty years earlier and, for all his gruffness and bumbling habits, he'd been a good detective. His fascination with law enforcement seems to have stemmed in part from a lifelong love of the film noir movies of the 1940s and 1950s. More than once, in fact, it had been insinuated that he was, perhaps subsconsciously, playing a part, the disheveled, colorful detective who got his man in spite of himself (DETECTIVE # 549). Jason Todd, the second-generation Robin, couldn't help but laugh when Bullock later suggested "that my clumsy routine is all act." Asked "why is it when the chips are down I ain't a bit clumsy," Robin responded, "Because you've already knocked all the chips down (# 554)."

Sergeant Harvey Bullock's first impression on then-Captain James Gordon had, in fact, been a good one. With the Joker on a crime spree in Gotham and The Batman out of the country on another case, Bullock openly expressed his dislike of the "Bat-freak," opining, "he's only been around what -- a year an' a half, two years ? But -- BOOM -- it's like he's the big hero and we're nuthin'. An' why ? 'Cause he don't have to follow the rules. Us -- we so much as sneeze on a perp, we end up violatin' his civil rights. The slime walks and we lose our jobs. We take all the heat, do all the slop dirty work ... ahhhh ... what's the point ? Maybe I'd just like for us to be the big heroes."

Impressed by Bullock's candor, the Captain invited the officer to serve as his coordinator on the case, replacing the policeman whom the Joker had murdered earlier in the evening. Indeed, Gordon even encouraged his new partner's dark side as they a deadline approached for the villain to detonate a nuclear warhead in the city. If there was one thing Harvey hated, it was a cop-killer and it didn't take much prodding to whip Bullock into a frenzy. "Lemme tear this creep a new torpedo tube, Captain," he snarled, first clenched, in the direction of a suspect. We know he's the one that built the bombs. We know it! How many good men did he kill ? How many ?"

"Help -- he's crazy!" shrieked the captive.

"Yeah, crazy! Crazy enough to kill ya -- one bone at a time!"

The good cop/bad cop routine worked and the nuclear catastrophe was averted. Though Bullock missed out on the final confrontation between Gordon and the Joker, he took great satisfaction in the Captain's victory. Gordon insisted he wasn't a hero, prompting Harvey to respond, "Maybe not, sir ... but they do save millions of lives, and get commendations from the mayor, and get interviewed on TV ... just like you" (1998's LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT # 105-106, by C.J. Henderson, Trevor von Eeden and Joe Rubinstein).

During Batman's early years in Gotham, Bullock also found himself investigating such felons as Hellhound (1995's CATWOMAN ANNUAL # 2), Jeremy Samuels (2000's BATMAN # 582) and druglord Vincent "The Shark" Starkey. The latter of the three "threatened me in open court," Bullock recalled in 1992's DETECTIVE # 651. "He had a sweet racket going. He'd love to see me taking a dirt nap. He was taking in a million a week and looking to expand. I cost Vinnie an empire. He got ten to twenty at Blackgate."

Along with his pal and fellow cop Jack Crane, Harvey spent a good deal of time at the Police Youth League Building. There, in Bullock's words, "we was gettin' underpriveleged ghetto kids off the streets, teachin 'em how to box an' so forth"(DETECTIVE # 528). The two men also shared an unfortunate tendency towards overzealousness in their police procedures. Actions like Bullock's threat to open fire on the kidnapper and his hostage eventually forced Commissioner Gordon into suspending Bullock, citing "a dozen different infractions" ('TEC # 528) and declaring him "a disgrace to the force" (BATMAN # 361).

A few years later, Crane was kicked off the force, as well, after gunning down an alleged teenage arsonist whom evidence indicated had simply been fleeing a tenement fire. Crane suffered severe burns to his face and scalp and resurfaced a year later, now calling himself the Savage Skull and initiating a string of murders against the city's police officers. The Skull was presumed dead after his unconscious body fell into the Gotham River (BATMAN # 360) but the GCPD's failure to recover his body gave Mayor Hill ammunition to rail against Gordon and inspired him to put Harvey Bullock in the Commissioner's office.

The overweight, unshaven, greasy-haired Sergeant Bullock barged in, vowing to "get this sissified excuse for a bullpen back in order" even as the horrified Commissioner insisted that the situation was intolerable. "'Zat so, old-timer ?" Harvey replied, putting his face right in front of Gordon. "Well, I'll tell ya what ya can do about it ... tell it to the Mayor!" (BATMAN # 361, by Moench, Newton and Pablo Marcos)

It didn't help matters that the reports of Jack Crane's death had proven premature. Recalling the now-abandoned Youth Center, Bullock realized that it would be a logical hideout for the Savage Skull. Harvey's deduction had proven correct but his hesitation in arresting an old friend, even a cop-killer, never proved fatal when Crane knocked the gun from his hand and threatened to stab him to death. Jim Gordon, who'd trailed Bullock, leaped forward to save him from the Skull and The Batman, in turn, rescued the Commissioner. Far from being grateful, Bullock called a press conference the following morning to accuse Gordon of "reckless interference" in the bust and demanded a hearing to determine his competency to remain of the force ('TEC # 528, by Moench, Gene Colan and Klaus Janson).

Soon after, Gordon got a bit of satisfaction when Batman ordered Bullock out of the office while he and Jim had a conference ("and see if you can do it without breaking something on your way out") but it was the Commissioner himself who got to deliver the coup de grace. Before testifying against Gordon, Bullock had opened a small "gift" from the Commissioner and, behind closed doors, he coughed that "maybe I was, uh, wrong about the whole thing ... and, uh, I guess I got nothin' further to say." The box in question had contained an egg which, when broken, revealed "a piece of swiss cheese -- riddled with holes. To a dull rat like Bullock," Jim laughed. "It could have meant anything."

The outcome of the hearing notwithstanding, Harvey's harrassment of Gordon continued unabated, including "rearranging" (read: trashing) the Commissioner's files (BATMAN # 363) and phoning in a false alarm about a critically wounded Batman, complete with compressed springs in the drawer where Jim kept his car keys. Entering the office, Bullock sneered that "yer precious Batman's fine. ... The whole thing was only a ..." The word "joke" caught in his throat as he looked across the room at Jim Gordon's body slumped across his desk. The collective jolt of the phone call and the springs leaping out at him had triggered a heart attack (# 364).

Wracked with guilt, Harvey agonized beside the comatose Gordon's hospital bed. "I know I made life miserable for ya down at headquarters ... but I'm really a good cop, Gordon -- I really am, y'know ... an' I never knew my stupid tricks could get this serious"(BATMAN # 365). Having overheard one of Bullock's bedside confessions, Barbara Gordon offered a bit of consolation, explaining that her father hadn't sought medical treatment for his heart condition. "Like many strong men, Sgt. Bullock, he refused to accept any possibility of weakness -- which may have been his only real weakness. Let's hope it wasn't a fatal one" ('TEC # 532).

Hamilton Hill, by contrast, saw the heart attack as an opportunity to install Bullock in Gordon's place, a suggestion that left Harvey appalled. "Party politics is one thing, Hill ... but weasels like you make me sick!" (BATMAN # 366) On the roof of the GCPD building, Harvey Bullock found himself praying. "I know I don't deserve forgiveness," he said. "Not for what I done to a good man, strong an' true ... God help me, but I feel like I hid dynamite in my gloves an' knocked down a mountain ... an' if you can hear me ... then you know it ain't a good feelin' ..." The news that armed gunmen had invaded Gotham General Hospital put Bullock's convictions to the test. Setting aside his feelings about the Dark Knight, he lit the Bat-Signal. Not long after Batman and Barbara Gordon brought the thugs to justice, Jim Gordon regained consciousness ('TEC # 533).

A repentant Harvey Bullock was nearly as great a menace as the malicious one, knocking over objects at every turn and practically stepping on the Commissioner in an effort to "help" him (BATMAN # 367). Jim was privately relieved when the Sergeant left to ferret out the identity of a new Gotham crime boss ('TEC # 535), effortlessly playing a crooked cop (BATMAN # 369) in order to gain an audience with the sinister (if theatrical) Doctor Fang (# 370). He couldn't help but feel some twinges of resentment when Batman ended up hauling Fang in. "Gettin' so's I hate that costumed gink all over again," he muttered ('TEC # 539).

Jim belatedly expressed his gratitude for Harvey's actions during his hospital stay, particularly his use of the Bat-Signal. "It took a lot of courage to go against a man like Mayor Hill -- and anyone who risks danger like that can't be a bad cop" (BATMAN # 373). Gordon's words proved prescient when a bullet was fired into Bullock's office, narrowly missing his head. Hamilton Hill had ordered Harvey's death ('TEC # 540), using Doctor Fang's men as his assassins. If they succeeded, Fang would go free. After the second shot struck him in the left arm, a panicked Harvey insisted that Gordon call in Batman (# 542). The captured triggerman, however, refused to name his employers (# 543) and it wasn't until his release on that bail that a nocturnal conversation with The Batman shook Hamilton Hill's name out of him (# 544).

The mayor responded by accusing Batman of attacking him and issued a warrant for his arrest. Furious, Harvey determined that it was time for "a showdown," his anger made all the more intense when another sniper took a shot at him. He returned fire and, astonishingly, struck and killed his target. "For once and very sickly," Moench's caption related. "Harvey Bullock has made all the right moves with perfect timing and lethal precision. It can only be attributed to adrenaline, and thus to his hate for Hill."

Storming into His Honor's mansion, Bullock roared, "I may be a bungler, Hammie, but I ain't stupid. When you first 'appointed' me to be Gordon's new 'assistant,' I knew the game's score -- but I played along for my own reasons, not yours. Bein' from the old school and a guy who likes to think he's tough, I was of the mind that Gordon had gotten too soft -- and that me bein' the new commish would improve the force. I was wrong. In his sleep, Gordon's a better cop than I'll ever be. And you, Hill ... you're lower than the slime from a cancerous lung."

Hill's response ? He pulled out a gun, shooting Harvey in the chest at point blank range. It was, he insisted "self-defense" ('TEC # 546). Fortunately, the mayor was no better a marksman than he was a politician. The bullet missed Harvey's heart by an inch and Jim Gordon took up a round-the-clock watch at the Sergeant's bedside. "Commish," Bullock sighed. "You're a brick. And a well-armed brick, at that"(BATMAN # 380). And while Harvey recovered, Batman orchestrated events and witnesses so that Hamilton Hill's guilt would finally be exposed, live on television. In a state of shock, the disgraced mayor surrendered to Jim Gordon without a struggle (BATMAN # 381).

Having proven his worth during the political firestorm of recent months, Harvey got the star treatment in early 1985's DETECTIVE # 549 (by Moench, Pat Broderick and Bob Smith), sharing the cover and logo of the issue with Batman in a movie poster-style image. "Dr. Harvey and Mr. Bullock" opened with the Bullock that readers were already quite familiar with, the guy who dribbled food down the front of his shirt, knocked over everything from cups of coffee to expensive electronic equipment and tolerated a car door that was attached by one hinge.

At home, though, it was a different story. After ejecting a member of the Skull Smashers gang from the street in front of his home, Harvey entered his apartment and absorbed the sweet atmosphere of another time. It was the era of his youth, when he found escape in movies, films like "The Thief of Baghdad," "Public Enemy" and "Casablanca" that were represented on his walls by a parade of framed movie art. "Somehow," he thought, "the old ones always seem better, perfect little worlds of black and white with none of the muddled grays painting the messy real world -- no need to mollycoddle or 'understand' that which is repugnant; the bad guys simply get stomped and the good guys get a smile."

Bullock later described his home as "a studio apartment in Uptown. Pretty ritzy for a cop's salary but I been here ten years and it's rent controlled" ('TEC # 651). Lured away from the apartment by a false alarm, Harvey returned to find his safe haven had been vandalized by the same Skull Smasher he'd kicked off the block earlier. Staring at his broken furniture and shattered, spray-painted movie posters, Bullock snapped and hunted down the punk, beating him until his face was bloody. The Skull Smasher named Frankie was far from alone, though, and Bullock suddenly himself facing an entire gang in a dead-end alley.

That was when a guardian angel in a blue cape and cowl dropped in. Grinning, Harvey said, "Maybe there ain't no fog -- but somethin' tells me this is gonna be the beginnin' of a beautiful friendship, Batman ... You wanna play Butch or Sundance ?"

In no time at all, the thugs were piled in a heap and Bullock prepared to head back to his desecrated home. Staring in the bloodied Frankie's direction, he stopped. "'Scuse me, Batman, but I almost forgot what was real ... like the fact that no one's all good or all bad." Offering a handerchief and a shoulder to lean on, Bullock told Frankie, "Come on son. Let's go talk about our good sides."

On the political front, George P. Skowcroft had been appointed as Gotham's interim mayor. He'd expected the veteran Commissioner to unequivocally support him but was left speechless when Gordon and his assistant double-teamed him in his office. While Bullock (cautioned against being "careful") knocked over vases and stepped in wastebaskets, Jim Gordon informed Skowcroft that "you'll have to hold your office the same way I do mine -- by doing the job, not cutting deals." Harvey and Jim started giggling the moment they left the office ('TEC # 553).

No longer distracted by Hamilton Hill's shenanigans, Harvey finally found himself focussing on the "weird feelin'" he had every time he saw Batman's partner. "I always though Robin was bigger and older" (# 554). When he finally discussed his suspicions with the Commissioner, Gordon leaned back in his chair and admitted he'd "known of this new Robin for months now ... but The Batman, for his own reasons, has chosen not to mention it, so neither have I. ... I simply assumed the original Robin grew up and moved on. Batman was alone more and more often for a time there, and frankly, it worried me. I was relieved when he recruited this new lad. Having Robin at his side makes him somehow more ... human" (# 556).

After witnessing Robin's affection for Nocturna, Bullock developed a radical theory -- the Boy Wonder was her son and she'd turned to crime after he left her for Batman!" Commissioner Gordon admitted that it was an "interesting hypothesis" (BATMAN #389; 'TEC # 556).

Whether he knew Jason Todd had replaced Dick Grayson or not, Bullock couldn't help but like the kid and they began sharing cases together, including a smuggling operation ('TEC # 554) and a clash with the Mirror Master (BATMAN # 388). Robin was one of the few people around whom Bullock let down his guard sufficiently to suggest that -- maybe -- he wasn't as much a bumbler as he seemed.

"So," asked the Boy Wonder in his first visit to Harvey's immaculate apartment, "the whole bull-in-a-china-shop routine is nothing but your idea of a silver screen cop ?"

"Maybe ... or maybe that's the way I really am -- and I'm just more careful at home where it's quiet -- until jokers like you bang on my door. But even if it is an act, kid, it's one I can't control -- and it does come in handy at times" (BATMAN # 390).

Robin and Harvey's finest hour may have come when a lunatic called the Film Freak stalked Gotham. The Boy Wonder realized immediately that Bullock's film expertise would be crucial to the case (1986's BATMAN # 395). Sure enough, it was Harvey, recalling "Rear Window," who deduced that the villain was staying a step ahead of the police by keeping their conversations under surveillance from an adjacent building ('TEC # 562). And it was also Harv who realized that villain's interest in Hitchcock's "Man Who Knew Too Much" translated to a plan to bomb a theatrical premiere at the exact moment that a massive explosion took place in the movie (BATMAN # 396).

Harvey had also struck up a relationship with a woman named Jillian Marsh. She was the wife of a security guard who was ensorcelled by Nocturna (BATMAN # 389) and it was Bullock's sad task to inform her that he'd committed suicide ('TEC # 558). Weeks later, Harvey hesitantly approached the recently-widowed woman about the possibility of an evening out at the movies and, though she wasn't quite ready for that step, she promised that they'd go out "sometime soon" (BATMAN # 395). Eventually, Harvey and Jillian did begin dating (# 397) but the relationship seems to have ended quickly.

Change was in the air for the Batman titles in the summer of 1986 as Denny O'Neil arrived at DC to inaugurate a new era for the Dark Knight, perhaps best exemplified by Frank Miller's mini-series of the same name. Just as Julius Schwartz had swept away extraneous characters like Batwoman, Bat-Mite and Vicki Vale when he assumed editorship of BAMAN and DETECTIVE in 1964, O'Neil deemed it prudent to excise some of the recent additions to the supporting cast and make a fresh start. As a consequence, Harvey Bullock made his final bow in Doug Moench's last issue, BATMAN # 400, wherein the plump sergeant began the story by being kidnapped by Poison Ivy and ended it by removing a blindfold in Batman's lair ("Holy cripes! We really are in the Batcave!").

Harv actually managed to hold out a couple more months, thanks to (mostly) cameos in Alan Moore's SWAMP THING # 51-55, wherein the elemental being's wife was arrested as a fugitive in Gotham. "I'm taken before a man with egg on his lapel and breath that hits you from right across the desk," Abby observed in # 51. "His name's Bullock."

In 1987, Harvey got a second shot at the big-time. It began quietly enough in the pages of the Paul Kupperberg-scripted VIGILANTE # 44, where Commissioner Gordon took the invitation to "a three-week seminar on terrorism in Washington" as a welcome opportunity to get his living occupational hazard out of his hair for a little while.

Gordon, evidentally, didn't miss a chance to send Harvey out of town. In 1985's CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS # 11, Bullock also got to attend a Detective Convention in Las Vegas alongside such luminaries as Jonny Double, Christopher Chance, Jonni Thunder and Angel O'Day.

VIGILANTE had its own version of the overweight, sloppy cop in the form of Harry Stein, who in recent months had become a government agent involved with former Doom Patrol member Valentina Vostok. It was Stein who was placed in charge of the seminar and he couldn't help but notice Bullock in the audience, both because of his loud running commentary on the lecture, his equally noisy snoring and his general clumsiness. "I don't owe nobody no explanations," Harvey snapped to Stein, "especially some bozo waltzin' around with last month's lunch decoratin' his tie!"

Months earlier, Harvey had met a spy named Katia (BATMAN # 394) and, by chance, he spotted her picture among files on spies that Stein's agency was looking for. Furthermore, could place her in Gotham only a few days earlier. "I'm excusin' you from th' seminar, Bullock," Stein announced. "We're going t' Gotham City. Right now!"(VIGILANTE # 45)

Once in Gotham, Stein set to work on recruiting another operative for the mission, fugitive judge Adrian (Vigilante) Chase (VIG # 46) while Bullock ran interference with the local police and offered the insights of a Gotham vet. Slapping a jelly-covered hand in Chase's palm, Harv slobbered, "How ya doin', yer honor ? Y'know, I been thinkin' ... you don't look like a psycho, y'know ?" The Vigilante was less than impressed but he did his job, helping to end Katia's threat to sell state secrets (# 47).

To Chase's astonishment, Harvey was still functioning as his government contact in the wake of the adventure. As he shovelled a hamburger into his mouth, Bullock explained that "my old boss, Commissioner Gordon, said I wuz better off as one'a the feds than one'a his -- so he got th' paperwork rollin' t' transfer me over ... chomp ... permanent-like. ... The commish never could get used t' my style, y'know ? But I don't mind. I mean ... in Gotham I was a lousy sergeant on straight salary, but now I'm a secret agent wid an expense account! Just like James Bond an' them other movie spies" (# 48).

Privately, the put-upon Bullock was far from certain that the government job was going to pan out. Rather than risk losing the seniority that his twenty-one years with the GCPD had given him (according to CHECKMATE! # 22), Bullock opted for a leave of absence from the force and retained his rent controlled apartment for his return visits to Gotham.

In addition to watchdogging Chase, Bullock also found himself keeping a wary eye on the woman in the Vigilante's life, an emotionally unhinged costumed character who called herself Black Thorn (# 48). Thorn was fiercely protective of her personal history, offering accounts of her origins that Bullock determined were false but which he kept to himself, given Chase's own mental state (# 49). In the end, the Vigilante succumbed to his demons and committed suicide (# 50), leaving Harvey Bullock as one of the few men alive with an interest in channelling Black Thorn's volatile energy in a positive direction.

It's worth noting at this point that there was a real-life namesake for Harvey Bullock in the entertainment industry. He was a producer and writer of TV series throughout the 1960s and 1970s, with script credits on such programs as "The Andy Griffith Show", "Hogan's Heroes", "The Flintstones" and a now-obscure 1960-1962 CBS show about a San Francisco-based detective agency called "Checkmate." In what seems almost too good to be coincidental, the next series on the fictional Harvey's dance card was named ... CHECKMATE!

Within weeks of the Vigilante's death, the spy agency had been reorganized as Checkmate and Harvey, in its parlance, was a Bishop, second-in-command to Harry Stein, who'd recommended him (ACTION COMICS # 598; CHECKMATE! # 1). Against the advice of the Suicide Squad's Amanda Waller, Stein and Bullock made an effort to recruit Black Thorn, going so far as to take her to their Virginia headquarters by force to make the sales pitch. The moment Bullock entered a briefing room, Thorn made her escape (CHECKMATE! # 1).

Amanda Waller demanded that the situation be resolved once and for all, to which an indignant Bullock demanded, "so we're just supposed t' murder her ?"

"In case you've forgotten," she snapped, "murder is a big part of what we do here. Learn to take the heat, you slob -- or get the hell out of my kitchen!"

Aware that Harry Stein was searching for a way to save Thorn, Harvey arranged a secret meeting with the fugitive at a theatrical showing of "Casablanca." Thanks to details provided by Bullock, Black Thorn infiltrated Checkmate headquarters and, when she was finally captured New York's Chinatown, she handed over what she referred to as "life insurance" to Amanda Waller --hard evidence that exposed the Suicide Squad's recent illegal action in Nicaraugua. "And everyone will be reading it if anything happens to me. My contact will see to it, unless he hears from me at a pre-arranged time every week. ... I'm not interested in working for or against you. I just want to be left alone. Is it a deal ?"

Waller had no choice but to agree, albeit through clenched teeth. "Lucky break for Thorny," a "surprised" Bullock responded after Stein told him that the news at the end of CHECKMATE! # 8.

"That's what I thought," Stein replied. "Well, that's all, Harvey. Enjoy your dinner. Oh, and if you ever compromise security like that again, I'll kick your ..."

Amidst victories like that, Bullock was also forced to deal with crushing blows like the one the forced him to make a hasty return to Gotham. The Gordon family had been targeted for a personal attack by the Joker, resulting in the kidnapping of Jim and the crippling of Barbara. It was Harvey who'd take a distraught Barbara's initial statement at the hospital and play liaison between Batman and the GCPD until Commissioner Gordon was rescued (1988's BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE, by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland, a story that had been in preparation since the Doug Moench era of 1985; hence, Bullock's presence).

Back at Checkmate, Harvey wasn't lacking for excitement. He took the latest bullet wound of his career (this one to his left leg) when the agency's headquarters suffered a direct hit from a terrorist. Bullock was personally taken hostage by the killer but he had the satisfaction of punching him in the jaw after one of Checkmate's Knights softened him up (CHECKMATE! # 10). And with Stein on vacation, Harvey found himself virtually running the show, complicated by the repercussions of the just-resolved invasion of the Alien Armada (CHECKMATE! # 13). He even got his own brief biography in WHO'S WHO '88 # 4.

In the wake of "The Janus Directive,"Checkmate relocated to Colorado and it was in Denver that Harvey caught a glimpse of the latest woman in his life -- as she exited a theatre devoted to old movies (1989's CHECKMATE! # 19, 21). Her name was Monica and, with his characteristic grace, he poured wine down the front of his shirt on their first date. Adding to his stress, Harvey was approached outside the washroom by Black Thorn, who announced that "I want to join Checkmate" (# 22).

Neither woman seemed to have Harvey's best interests at heart. He went to bat for Thorn (# 23) but was forced to tell her that that she couldn't be an operative without full disclosure about her past (# 26). Unable to make any headway, Black Thorn broke into Checkmate's computer database for reasons still unrevealed (# 28) and wasn't seen again until the recent Olympic Games in Australia (YOUNG JUSTICE # 23-24). And Monica ? Her romance with Harvey had been initiated by someone with sinister designs of their own (CHECKMATE! # 25). Like Thorn, Monica's situation was left unresolved.

Even without the machinations of Thorn and Monica, Harvey was headed for a fall from grace. In his efforts to recruit Thorn, he'd sneered at Valentina Vostok's objections. "You used t' be boss over Harry an' me but remember yer now workin' for us -- and that means you follow our orders and there ain't no vice versa about it! ... That's the beauty 'a bein' in charge, honey ... ya can be anythin' ya want. An' what I wanna be now's alone -- so don't let the door hit yer butt on the way out" (CHECKMATE! # 23).

The final straw came when Stein's children were abducted and he was blackmailed into freeing a prisoner from Checkmate's headquarters (1990's CHECKMATE! # 26-27). While matters with Stein were cleared up in Washington, Harvey was forced to take the reigns of the agency. It was during that period that he made the disastrous decision not to take a more aggressive role in the sinister movements of major government contractor Victor Cypher (# 29). When Vostok objected, Harvey suspended her (# 30). Although a number of key Checkmate operatives resolved to pursue Cypher anyway (# 31) and Stein took control of the agency back from Bullock, it was too late. Cypher succeeded in overthrowing the country of Austanburg, creating a sinister new nation virtually overnight (# 32-33).

"I knew he was up t' somethin'," Harvey admitted to Harry, "but I figured I just had'a watch him for now, didn't wanna scare him off, y'know ? I ... I dunno, man. I lost control 'a the situation. Maybe I shouldn't've played it so cautious. Maybe ... maybe ya shouldn't've left me in charge, Harry ..."

"You're my number two man, Harvey. Maybe all you needed was to trust yourself as much as I do."

Whether it was his own decision, the government's or a mutual agreement, Harvey left the ranks of Checkmate soon after. Weary of the headaches of management, Bullock was happy to return to the ranks of the Gotham City Police Department, still holding the rank of sergeant and still in possession of his old apartment. His first case back home was an investigation of the Garbage Man murders (2000's BATMAN: TURNING POINTS # 3). Thanks to Paul Kupperberg's guardianship of Bullock in VIGILANTE and CHECKMATE from 1987 to 1990, he'd only be in comics limbo for two years despite his absent from the Batman franchise itself since 1986.

Bullock's return to Gotham was a direct result of Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and company's "Batman: The Animated Series." In the course of establishing a supporting cast for the cartoon, characters from a number of different eras were selected, everyone from O'Neil's Leslie Thompkins to Conway's Hamilton Hill to ... Moench's Harvey Bullock (vocalized by Bobby Costanzo). Not unlike the characterization in the 1974 Goodwin story, the Animated Series' Bullock represented the anti-vigilante camp, though his abrasive disposition and general hygiene tended to diminish the effectiveness of his arguments. Bullock's trademark cigar was jettisoned here, replaced by ubiquitous toothpicks that the detective was constantly fingering or chewing.

With the cartoon's introduction of policewoman Renee Montoya and reintroduction of Harvey Bullock on the horizon, editor Denny O'Neil decided to bring them both into the mainstream Batman continuity. Both characters came aboard in Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle's BATMAN # 475, the first of the three-part "Return of Scarface" arc that also served to write Vicki Vale out of the series (in # 476). As in the case of Bullock and Montoya, other media played a crucial role. Vicki wasn't going to be in the forthcoming "Batman Returns" movie so, in Grant's words, "why have her in the comic ?" (AMAZING HEROES # 204).

Bullock and Montoya were paired up almost immediately in Chuck Dixon, Tom Lyle and Scott Hanna's first arc in DETECTIVE # 644-645 but the partnership wasn't initially a perfect fit. Referring to the oppressive heat in Moench and Aparo's BATMAN # 482, Bullock noted that "it's hotter'n a Saturday night tamale in Tijuana -- if ya catch my drift." Making a face, Montoya said, "No. I'd rather not."

Before long, though, she was giving it right back to him. After just missing Harvey's conversation with The Batman in DETECTIVE # 651, Montoya asked who'd he'd been talking to.

"Huh ? This skel, who else ? I was reading him his rights."

"They're supposed to be conscious when you do that," she said, smirking.

"Mind your own business, Montoya."

1992's 'TEC # 651 (the first issue bythe dream-team of Chuck Dixon, GrahamNolan and Scott Hanna) was a classic piece entitled "A Bullet For Bullock," a story that was eventually adapted as an episode of the animated series (first airing on September 14, 1995).

A series of threatening notes had escalated into shots being fired at Harvey and the detective reluctantly called The Batman in for assistance. "I think you're a freak and a menace," he admitted. "But Gordon thinks you serve a purpose so I go along." Bullock preferred not to approach the police department about the threats. "If they start looking into my past they may find something I don't want found."

"Are you saying you're on the take ?"

"I never took a dime from anybody. I just sometimes bend the rules a little. Stuff that's better buried. Stuff you'd understand."

"We're on the same side but we're not the same," Batman clarified. "I'll help you find out who's threatening you. But you've got to collar him clean. I'm not setting anyone up so you can gun them down."

Eventually, the Dark Knight discovered that Vince Starkey had been paroled after only eight years in Blackgate and was back in the drug business. Bullock and Batman busted him anew but the Shark was genuinely clueless when Harv questioned him about the death threats.

The answer finally came when Bullock reached his apartment that night and was approached by a masked man, a gunman soon disarmed by an up-till-then concealed Batman. The culprit was, incredibly, Harvey's landlord, who snapped, "Why wouldn't you move ? Leave town ? You and your late hours and those smelly cigars! Do you know what your apartment is worth at today's rates ?"

Dumbfounded, Batman asked, "He wanted your apartment ?"

"My building is rent controlled. The only way he could raise the rent was to get me out. One way or the other. It's funny," Bullock thought. "I was thinking of moving anyway."

Bullock had made his opinion of Batman clear but what of the newest Robin (a.k.a. Tim Drake), whose late predecessor had gotten along so well with Harvey ? Initially, the answer was, "not well." Bullock was furious when the latest Robin interfered in the GCPD's stand-off with a bomb-toting Riddler. "You punk kid, he could have blown this whole building into next year! ...And if I know the Bat-freak like I think I do, he'll have a few words on the subject himself. We had this psycho covered." The fact that the explosive in question proved to be a fake was irrelevant in Harvey's eyes. "That was still a bonehead play" (1993's 'TEC # 662, by Dixon, Nolan and Hanna).

Over time, Tim Drake would more than earn Bullock's respect, most notably when the Boy Wonder singlehandedly fought and beat Killer Croc during Gotham's period as a "No Man's Land" (1999's ROBIN # 72). Asked by Montoya if he'd been "as tough as that," Bullock responded, "You mean when I was his age ? Naw."

The discovery of a group of gangsters who'd been beaten to death heralded the beginning of another dark chapter in Gotham's history. When one survivor accused Batman, Bullock snapped, "That mutt's lying through his crooked teeth." When Montoya expressed astonishment that her partner was "defending Batman," the sergeant replied, "Take my word for it, Montoya. This ain't his style." Bane had come to Gotham (1992's VENGEANCE OF BANE # 1, by Dixon, Nolan and Eduardo Barreto).

True to form, Bullock often didn't have time for legal niceties in the wake of the Bane-orchestrated release of Gotham's prisoners. After watching Lieutenant Kitch's attempts to restrain a prisoner shrieking "What time is it ?," Harvey finally got fed up and bashed him across the head, answering. "NAPtime!"

"That was uncalled for Bullock."

"Well, you weren't helpin' much reading him his Mirandas, Kitch."

"Pistol-whipping is not standard procedure."

"Like we got time for your precious procedures with these animals running all over town" ('TEC # 661, by Dixon, Nolan and Hanna).

Indeed, after Jean Paul Valley had assumed the mantle of the Bat, Bullock found himself almost approving of the new Batman's more violent approach. Harvey even served as an information resource for the once and future Azrael in his battles with Cardinal Sin (LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT ANNUAL # 3) and Gunhawk ('TEC # 674). After the GCPD restrained Batman from inflicting potentially-fatal injuries to the Joker, Bullock even suggested that "we shoulda waited outside until the Bat-freak was finished" ('TEC # 673). Once Harvey discovered the body of a kidnapping victim who'd died because the new Batman killed his abductor (1994's SHADOW OF THE BAT # 28), even he couldn't defend the vigilante.

Regrettably, the return of the true Batman coincided with a grim moment in Bullock's life. He and new transfer MacKenzie Bock (nicknamed "Hardback" by Harv because he "read a lot") were searching for the arsonist responsible for a raging fire at Wayne Chemical. In the midst of the flames, Bullock came face-to-face with the KGBeast and, when Harv refused to back down, the Russian killer sent a metal drum hurtling towards the cop's head and chest ('TEC # 682). Robin and Bock succeeded in dragging the unconscious Harvey away from the worst of the fire and, after he stopped breathing, the Boy Wonder performed CPR to save the dying man's life (ROBIN # 14).

Standing at Harvey's bedside, Renee Montoya found herself crying in spite of herself when Bock entered the room with the news that "the first forty-eight hours are the most important in a coma."

"And it been three days and Harvey's still comatose. And he lives on a steady diet of Cuban cigars and cream donuts. He hasn't got a prayer."

"You're wrong, detective," Bock stressed. "That's all he's got."

Thanking Bock, Renee asked for a few moments alone and tuned the radio to an Harvey's beloved oldies station, the voice of Tommy Edwards filling the room: "Many a tear has to fall ... but it's all in the game ..." ('TEC # 683, by Dixon, Nolan and Hanna).

In due time, Harvey did regain consciousness, placing an immediate order for donuts and cigars ('TEC # 684). His head still swathed in bandages, Bullock returned to the GCPD on light duty -- to an empty desk. "I needed that stuff!" he shrieked. "All my records ... mug shots ... snitch sheets ..."

"Not to mention," the officer on duty continued. "empty pizza boxes ... moldy coffee cups ... smelly cigar butts ... all gone, Bullock -- forever."

And then the net above him was released, raining down the entire contents of Harvey's desk. "Now this," sighed Harvey, cigar in mouth and literally up to neck in paperwork, "is more like it!" (BATMAN # 518, by Moench, Kelley Jones and John Beatty)

And there was more good news waiting at the hospital. As Harvey's beloved nurse, Charlotte, removed the last of his bandages, she also agreed to join him on a date. Amused at her partner's enthusiasm, Montoya asked, "What did she do, Harv -- mother you ?"

"Naw, but once she almost chucked a bedpan at me. Tough woman -- always ready to step in and take any bull by the horn. Admired Nurse Charlotte even when she was snappin' my morning stogies in half."

The night got off to a good start as the couple discussed music, Harvey recalled that "snot in R.E.M. called the Beatles 'elevator music,' but one thing the Beatles always had -- aside from better chops than R.E.M. -- was love for what came before."

"You mean respect for their elders ? Like Chuck Berry, Elvis, and Little Richard ?"

"Awright, so maybe it's a goofy analogy, Charlotte ... but I still wanna hold your hand."

If only the night had ended as harmoniously as it had begun. In the parking lot after the movie, the couple was approached by a gun-wielding carjacker who panicked when Harvey reached for his car keys. The gunman mortally wounded Charlotte and a hysterical Bullock beat her killer senseless with his own weapon. As his new love died in his arms, Harvey silently wept (BATMAN # 520, by Moench and Eduardo Barreto).

Consequently, Harvey wasn't in a particularly good frame of mind when he saw a relatively benign costumed crook called the Polka Dot Man swinging a baseball bat at another officer. Bullock gave the crook -- one Abner Krill -- a beating far in excess of what he deserved and the fallout was immediate. An appalled Montoya requested a transfer and a smug Gillen with Internal Affairs went right to work on Krill's brutality complaint. The end result: Harvey got a new partner, Kevin Soong (BATMAN: GCPD # 1, by Dixon, Jim Aparo and Bill Sienkiewicz) and the recommendation of "a psychiatric evaluation ... You'll remain on active duty so long as the departmental psychiatrist gives you high marks" (# 2).

Though Bullock and Soong formed a bond, their partnership proved short-lived when Soong suffered a grave bullet wound and wound up with an early retirement from the force. Meanwhile, Montoya had been hospitalized herself after a harrowing kidnapping case and apologized for having been "high-minded" with Bullock earlier, insisting that "you're the kind of cop Gotham needs."

Harvey, in his way, apologized in turn, uncharacteristically using her first name as he said, "I don't want you to become my kind of cop, Renee. I mean, maybe together we make the kind of cop Gotham needs."

Bullock did get one gratifying bit of news that week. Thanks to the efforts of the GCPD's Officer Hendricks, the person who'd been stealing office supplies had been exposed. It was Gillen. Harvey chortled, "you just became my favorite cop, Hendricks"(GCPD # 4).

As if Harvey didn't have enough problems, his beloved Verda Mae, whose diner kept him supplied with donuts (BATMAN # 520, 530, 536), stopped serving them fresh. Nonetheless, Bullock left the police station that night with a satisfied feeling in his belly. He'd kept a suicidal would-be killer on the phone until the desperate man agreed to surrender and get help (BATMAN # 547, by Moench, Jones and Beatty).

And then there were the solo stories. In one, verbal sparring partners Bullock and Gotham county sheriff Steve "Shotgun" Smith joined forces for a case and developed a mutual respect for one another (1998's BATMAN CHRONICLES # 13, by Eric Fein, Sal Buscema and Dick Giordano). Another found Harvey in a panic over his weight, prompting the latest in a string of diets and an explanation to Montoya that "I can't keep finessin' the departmental physicals." Harv soon found himself so fixated on food that he went off the wagon. "The leaner, healthier me was gonna be one miserable s.o.b. to live with. I wouldn't want you partnered with a creep like that, Montoya" (1998's BATMAN 80-PAGE GIANT # 1 by Dixon and Flint Henry).

Dixon and Henry (with inker Tom Palmer) reunited in 1999 for a comic book starring Gotham's favorite rumpled cop. BATMAN: BULLOCK'S LAW # 1 was a 54-pager in which Harvey's worst fears were realized. The departmental physician informed him that "you have the cholesterol count of a butterchurn. Your blood pressure is in orbit. You're forty pounds overweight. You wouldn't pass the fitness test in a leper colony. ... I should fail you. Make you take retirement. But I'm going to give you one month to shed some pounds and get those stats back in line."

Adding a further complication to Bullock's life was a private offer from gangster Black Mask and his False Face Society. They would give him a diskette "filled with data about Gotham's underworld. Enough potential for ten successful police careers." In essence, Harvey would be jailing the Society's local opposition. "And one more thing," Black Mask added. "Johnny Poodles. I need you to help get his case dismissed. He can't do jailtime."

Initially noncommittal, Harvey found the offer irresistible once he'd scanned the contents of the disk. Within the week, he'd become, in Montoya's words, "a one-man justice machine." His extraordinary string of arrests had also raised suspicions, most notably with a certain Dark Knight, who assured Bullock that "if I thought you were playing your own game I'd bring you down. And all the years betwen us wouldn't stop me."

Stung, Harvey shouted, "I ain't crooked! Nobody calls Harvey Bullock crooked!" Looking around at the now-vacant GCPD roof, he muttered, "Overgrown roofrat ... can't even say it to my face."

What followed was an elaborate scheme in which Harvey, impersonating a False Facer, played the Society against another vicious gang, the Bandidos. Meanwhile, the Society dangled the identity of the Widow-Whacker serial killer in front of Bullock in exchange for his testimony in the Poodles trial the following day. He was forced to call in Batman, providing him with the news of the killer's apparent False Face connection and insisting that he make the arrest that night. By the next afternoon, the Widow-Whacker was in custody and Harvey's testimony had sent Johnny Poodles up the river.

Taken for a ride by the False Facers, Harvey maneuvered them into the Bandidos' territory and let the shooting begin. His face half covered in bandages, his right arm broken and suffering from multiple other injuries, Harvey still couldn't help smiling when the department physician entered his hospital room. That grin might have been because of a discovery that Hendricks had made. It seems the doctor had accumulated a few parking tickets. "A hundred and two citations. Over a grand in fines outstanding."

"You haven't told anyone about this --"

"I been busy. But if I was ... retired, I'd have time to make trouble for you."

" 'Retired ?' No need for you to retire, Detective Bullock. A man like you could serve the force for years."

As fate would have it, Bullock would soon have no choice about giving up smoking and fatty foods. It all began with the Gotham earthquake, which had caught Harvey in the midst of arresting a fugitive killer (BATMAN: SHADOW OF THE BAT # 73). His battered right arm sustained another injury when he wound up with a pipe impaled in it. Patching up the wound on his own, he headed back to the streets to help survivors of the quake (BATMAN # 553).

Ever since he'd left Checkmate, Bullock had nursed a grudge for the "lousy feds," an opinion he never failed to express, whether dealing with decent agents like Cameron Chase (1998's CHASE # 7-8) or corrupt operatives such as David Atlee Redmun (2000's BATMAN: OUTLAWS # 1-3). After agents hauled away a suspect that he'd arrested on one occasion ('TEC # 658), he muttered, "I shoulda stayed a fed, Montoya."

"Not with your taste in neckties, Harv."

Suffice it to say, Harvey was displeased when the government decided to close down Gotham in the aftermath of the quake. Along with a number of other cops, he agreed to stay behind in the veritable "No Man's Land." It didn't hurt the inveterate movie buff's feelings when Gordon invoked the memory of "Fort Apache" in his sales pitch ('TEC # 729).

Bullock later defended his decision to stay. "To be a cop in a place with no laws and no Internal Affairs department ? Dispense rough justice ? Make up the rules ? I like that. You know the old saying,that cops and criminals are basically the same because they both figure they're above the law ? Maybe it's true."

"Feds run us out, then they say it ain't part of the USA anymore," he continued. "Maybe we own it because we're here." Reminded of the fact that Native Americans had the same idea, he replied, "Maybe that's why they got wiped out. If it wasn't theirs, why fight to protect it ? Gotham's my town. I intend to fight for it" (1999's BATMAN: NO MAN'S LAND # 1, by Bob Gale, Alex Maleev and Wayne Faucher).

In many respects, the NML was good for Harv, forcing him to lose weight because of the scarcity of food. Likewise, his cigar habit went by the wayside and he found himself chewing on his animated counterparts pacifier of choice -- the toothpick (BATMAN # 565). But the NML also had shattering tragedy as in the Joker's murder of Jim Gordon's wife. On the eve of Gotham transition back to the United States, Harvey's made a toast in her memory: "To Lieutenant Sarah Essen. We'll never forget her. Or her sacrifice. She was the best of us" (BATMAN: SHADOW OF THE BAT # 94, by Greg Rucka, Pablo Raimondi and Sean Parsons).

His failures in leading Checkmate still vivid in his memory, Harvey balked when Commissioner Gordon informed him that "effective immediately, you're a lieutenant. ... If you refuse the promotion, I'll honor that. But I'm asking you not to. The department is weak right now." Reluctantly, Bullock agreed. He was now head of the Major Crimes Unit (2000's 'TEC # 742, by Rucka, Shawn Martinbrough and Steve Mitchell).

From Bullock's perspective, there would be no more major crimes than the shooting of Jim Gordon on his birthday (BATMAN # 587) and the fact that his assailant, Jordan Rich, would go free. Montoya, in particular, was sick over the situation, blaming herself for not getting a confession in the allotted time. She went so far as to smash in the shooter's door when Harvey stepped in to stop her.

Pointing to the handcuff key that Gordon had given each of them on his birthday, Harvey reminded Renee of what the Commissioner had said it represented. It was a symbol of their power and a reminder not to abuse it. "You take freedom from those who break the law. You're not a killer. And this rat ain't worth your career." He escorted Montoya from the room, then turned towards Reynolds with a sinister leer. "See you around, Jordan."

The next time anyone saw Jordan Reynolds' apartment, it had been stripped of all its contents, a trail of blood leading out its shattered door frame. And in a tavern elsewhere in Gotham, Bullock and Montoya shared a drink as Renee asked Harvey what had become of his own symbolic handcuff key.

"Huh ... dunno ... musta lost it someplace. I wasn't gonna use it, anyway"(BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS # 13, by Rucka, Rick Burchett and Rodney Ramos).

Snatches of dialogue come back to us now, the words of the man who played bad cop ("Yeah, crazy! Crazy enough to kill ya -- one bone at a time!"), the assertion of Amanda Waller that appalled him ("In case you've forgotten, murder is a big part of what we do here.") and the opinion of the man who'd like to see the menace of the Joker extinguished ("We shoulda waited outside until the Bat-freak was finished").

But did Harvey Bullock kill Jordan Rich ? We may never know.



HARVEY BULLOCK (Earth-One): Batman # 361-367, 369-370, 373-376, 380-381, 383-390, 392, 394-400 Batman Annual # 10 Crisis On Infinite Earths # 11 Detective Comics # 441 (?), 528, 532-535, 537-540, 542-544, 546-549, 553-558, 560, 562, 565

HARVEY BULLOCK (current): Action Comics # 598 Azrael # 28, 36 Batman # 475-476, 482, 485, 490 (behind the scenes), 491-493, 495-496, 498, 500, 503-504, 510, 513, 516, 518-520, 523, 525, 529-530, 533, 535-536, 542 (behind the scenes), 544-550, 552-554, 558-559, 561, 563, 565, 575-577, 582-584, 587 Batman & Superman: World's Finest # 10 Batman Annual # 17, 21-22 Batman: Bane Batman: Blackgate # 1 Batman: Bullock's Law # 1 The Batman Chronicles # 2, 9, 13, 16, 23 Batman 80-Page Giant # 1-3 Batman: GCPD # 1-4 Batman: Gordon's Law # 1-2, 4 Batman: Gotham City Secret Files # 1(text) Batman: Gotham Knights # 1, 5-6, 13 Batman: Joker's Apprentice # 1 Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight # 105-106, 116-117, 119, 124, 126, 142 Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Annual # 3 Batman: Mr. Freeze Batman: No Man's Land # 1 Batman: No Man's Land Secret Files # 1(text) Batman: Outlaws # 1-3 Batman/Predator III # 1-3 Batman Secret Files # 1 (text) Batman: Seduction of the Gun # 1 Batman: Shadow of the Bat # 17, 18(voice), 20, 28, 30, 32, 33 (behind the scenes), 37, 39, 45, 49, 52, 55, 57, 61, 73, M, 83, 85, 88, 94 Batman: Shadow of The Bat Annual # 5 Batman: The Chalice Batman: The Killing Joke Batman: The Vengeance of Bane II Batman: Toyman # 1 Batman: Turning Points # 3-5 Batman: Vengeance of Bane Special # 1 Birds of Prey # 27 Catwoman (second series) # 2, 7, 31, 42, 45, 53-54, 57, 63 Catwoman Annual # 2 Catwoman Plus # 1 Chase # 7-8 Checkmate! # 1-3, 5-6, 8-10, 13, 15-17, 19, 21-23, 25-27, 29, 32-33 Detective Comics # 642, 644-645, 648, 651, 654, 656-658, 660-664, 666, 670, 672-675, 677, 0, 680-687, 691-694, 696-699, 702, 705-706, 708-710, 712, 714-716, 721-722, 727-729, 732, 738-739, 741-749, 752, 754-755, 758-759 Detective Comics Annual # 6 The Joker: Devil's Advocate Legends of the Dark Knight Annual # 2 Man-Bat (third series) # 1-2 Nightwing # 20, 23, 53 Nightwing and Huntress # 1-4 Resurrection Man # 7 Robin (current) # 2-4, 8-11, 13-14, 27-28, 33, 39, 45, 53, 71-72, 86 Showcase '93 # 4, 6, 10 Sins of Youth: Batboy and Robin # 1 Sovereign Seven # 12 Suicide Squad # 25, 27-29 Superboy/Robin: World's Finest Three # 1 Swamp Thing # 51-55 Vigilante # 44-50 Who's Who '88 # 4

HARVEY BULLOCK (Earth-992): The Batgirl Adventures # 1 The Batman Adventures # 3, 6, 11, 22, 26 (behind the scenes),33 The Batman Adventures Holiday Special # 1 The Batman Adventures: Mad Love The Batman and Robin Adventures # 4-6, 13, 16, 20-21 The Batman and Robin Adventures Annual # 1 The Batman and Robin Adventures: Sub-Zero Batman and Superman Adventures: World's Finest Batman: Ego Batman: Gotham Adventures # 1-2, 5, 11, 14, 16, 22 (voice), 25, 29, 34, 35 (behind the scenes) Batman: Mask of the Phantasm -- The Official Adaptation Joker/Mask # 1-4 Superman Adventures # M

HARVEY BULLOCK (Earth-271): Catwoman/Vampirella: The Furies Punisher/Batman: Deadly Knights

HARVEY BULLOCK (variants): The Batman Chronicles # 11 Batman: Knightfall (text) Batman: Two Faces # 1 Bat-Thing # 1 Detective Comics # 678 JLA: The Nail # 1-2 Superman/Wonder Woman: Whom Gods Destroy # 4 Thrillkiller # 3

Enda80 15:33, 29 July 2006 (UTC)Enda80


 * What's going on in this bit above? Lots42 14:33, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Something Is Not Right
I only have vague memories of the original Checkmate series but I know it happened Post-Crisis. I remember the issue where a Checkmate Knight went with a space shuttle crew to investigate debris from the multi-crossover Invasion! epic and that happens Post-Crisis.

Normally I'd be bold and re-arrange things but like I said, vague memories and I don't want to just slap up a sub-section that says 'Bullock was in Checkmate and got beat up once or twice'.

Lots42 14:12, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:HarveyAnimated.png
Image:HarveyAnimated.png is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

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If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot 21:13, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

Introduction
The box says he was introduced in 1974, but the text says in 1983. This ought to be rectified. john k (talk) 05:00, 13 December 2014 (UTC)

Off the wagon?
During the 'Death of the Family' storyline the Joker claims that Harvey has fallen 'off the wagon' i.e. is now back to drinking again. Of course, this IS the Joker, who would gladly lie just to mess with people. Lots42 (talk) 11:07, 16 April 2015 (UTC)

Image deletion nomination
One of the images currently used in this article have been nominated for deletion as violations of the non-free content criteria (NFCC).

You can read more about what this means and why these files are being nominated for deletion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Comics.

You can participate at the deletion discussion(s) at Files for discussion/2020 May 1. If you are not familiar with NFCC-related deletion discussions, I recommend reading the post linked above first.

Sincerely, The Squirrel Conspiracy (talk) 05:51, 1 May 2020 (UTC)

Corrupt Cop Source
What is the page number for the source listed, I have the 2008 Batman encyclopedia and I can’t find the mention of bribes or organized crime. 2605:59C8:40B5:F210:493C:3B9B:2892:C8F9 (talk) 17:53, 14 May 2024 (UTC)