Crispus Allen
52 years ago - Crispus Allen is born in Metropolis.
34 years ago - 18-year-old Crispus Allen attends college to study criminal justice.
32 years ago - 20-year-old Crispus Allen is married.
30 years ago - 22-year-old Crispus Allen attends the police academy & becomes an officer in the Metropolis PD
28 years ago - 24-year-old Crispus Allen's daughter is born.
27 years ago - 25-year-old Crispus Allen is promoted to sergeant. He is transferred from the Metropolis PD to the GCPD.
26 years ago - 26-year-old Crispus Allen's son is born.
23 years ago - 29-year-old Crispus Allen, believing that to fix a corrupt system you have to be able to work inside it, accepts bribes from within the GCPD. He is promoted to detective, working under Commissioner Loeb.
19 years ago - 33-year-old Crispus Allen & James Gordon have a heated argument about the right way to fight a corrupt system. They are not friends but understand each other.
18 years ago - 34-year-old Crispus Allen assists James Gordon & Harvey Bullock in destroying Commissioner Loeb's blackmail evidence.
13 years ago - 39-year-old Crispus Allen is placed on administrative leave when James Gordon becomes the new Commissioner pending review, but avoids charges and is allowed to return to duty. Gordon specifically asks him to continue to keep them honest.
11 years ago - 41-year-old Crispus Allen is placed on the GCPD Major Crimes Division by Mayor Rupert Thorne specifically to hunt the Batman in response to the kidnapping of the Mayor's daughter. It is ultimately revealed that the kidnapping was perpetrated by Hugo Strange, who Allen shoots and apparently kills while Strange is wearing a replica Batsuit.
9 years ago - 43-year-old Crispus Allen singles out rookie officer Renee Montoya as his new partner, taking her under his wing.
6 years ago - 46-year-old Crispus Allen is killed by corrupt crime scene tech Jim Corrigan in mid-investigation.
We actually had a little bit of a debate as to whether or not Crispus Allen was ALWAYS intended to eventually be shot and killed, and become the new host for the Spectre. The fact that the man who shot him was named Jim Corrigan, the same name as the original host of The Spectre, is quite a damning piece of evidence, but if you actually go back and READ these comics, I just don't know if the argument really holds up?
What I can say is that whether that was the case or not, on the way there he played a significant role in the pages of one of the best crime noir comics to be published as part of a major superhero mythology, and that makes him a very cool character, regardless of what he went on to do after his death.
What I can say is that whether that was the case or not, on the way there he played a significant role in the pages of one of the best crime noir comics to be published as part of a major superhero mythology, and that makes him a very cool character, regardless of what he went on to do after his death.
|
Crispus Allen's Comic HistoryCrispus Allen appeared for the first time in Detective Comics #742, the issue following the conclusion of the No Man's Land crossover, where writer Greg Rucka was deliberately pulling back on the comic bookiness of the series and steering it to focus more on detective stories. He's namedropped as the new partner for Renee Montoya when Gordon promotes Bullock... who refers to him as "That Metropolis Peacock?". This era of Detective Comics built up the world of the GCPD that would be featured in Rucka and Ed Brubacker's Gotham Central series.
Allen was a near-constant presence through this era, effecting the sort of effortlessly cool and hard-won toughness you'd see from the best detective characters in crime fiction. He counterbalanced series star Montoya perfectly. Of course, the series really came to a climax as Montoya had to deal with the shooting death of Allen. Then he was chosen as the new host for the embodiment of the Wrath of God. You know how it goes. |
Our Crispus Allen StoryA really interesting phenomenon happened as we built Allen's timeline. Because we have to be much more specific about everyone's ages and how old they are at each point of their personal history than comics do, we wound up tying him into the developing history of the GCPD much more than he's been otherwise. He's actually very close to Gordon in age and their stories wound up running largely in parallel, and we wanted to find a way to make them not exactly allies, even though they are on the same side.
We of course also made several changes to the order of events so that Renee Montoya doesn't wind up leaving the GCPD after Allen's death. He's now her FIRST partner, the man who basically mentored her, so that when he is killed, Montoya and Bullock can become partners and knock heads to get justice for him. Also... Our version of the Spectre doesn't actually need a new host, so Allen is not going to become the new Spirit of Vengeance. He's just a great cop who helps Montoya become a REALLY great cop. |
|