Cover: Brian Stelfreeze

Detective Comics #742

Mar 2000 · DC · 2.50 USD; 3.95 CAD

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“The Honored Dead”

★ 1st appearance — Crispus Allen

About this Issue

Detective Comics #742 is the opening chapter of the 'New Gotham' era — a deliberate course-correction after the year-long 'No Man's Land' crossover that left the Bat-titles exhausted and over-connected. Writer Greg Rucka and artist Shawn Martinbrough brought a hardboiled, procedural sensibility to the title, foregrounding the GCPD as equal players alongside Batman and planting the seeds of what would eventually bloom into the critically acclaimed Gotham Central series. The issue also marks the in-continuity return of Batman's all-black, ellipse-free chest emblem — a costume detail that had been absent from mainstream DC storytelling since Detective Comics #326 in 1964, previously appearing only in canonical prequels and Elseworlds material. Most significantly, the issue introduces Detective Crispus Allen, a character who would go on to become the third human host of The Spectre and one of the defining figures of Rucka's entire DC career.

In "The Honored Dead," James Gordon grapples with the profound grief of losing his wife, Sarah, as Gotham’s shadows grow deeper and the city’s underbelly stirs with new threats. Written by Greg Rucka and illustrated with stark precision by Shawn Martinbrough, this issue weaves personal sorrow into the larger fabric of Gotham’s crime-ridden streets, where the past refuses to stay buried. The cover by Brian Stelfreeze captures the weight of that loss in quiet, haunting detail.

writer Greg Rucka · artist Shawn Martinbrough · inker Steve Mitchell · colorist Wildstorm FX · letterer Todd Klein · cover Brian Stelfreeze

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (NM) $3

CGC 9.8 · 26 in census $36

CGC 9.6 · 7 in census $20

CGC 9.4 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 9.2 · 4 in census $20*

CGC 9.0 · 2 in census $20*

CGC 8.5 · 1 in census $20*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

More listings for this title

VF $3 FN $3.2 VF $3.6 VERY FINE $3.99 NM $3.99 VF $4.2 NM $4.25 NM $6.35

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History

Coming off his work on the 'No Man's Land' crossover, Greg Rucka was handed the reins of Detective Comics by Batman group editor Denny O'Neil (with associate editor Joseph Illidge), given a relatively clean creative slate and paired with penciller Shawn Martinbrough and inker Steve Mitchell — both beginning their runs on the title with this very issue. The editorial mandate was a tonal reset: longer lead stories (30 pages for the first four months of 2000), a new logo, and a dichromatic color palette by Wildstorm FX that echoed the muted, film noir atmosphere of Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's Batman: Year One and the visual language of The New Batman Adventures animated series. The cover was provided by Brian Stelfreeze, a choice that underscored the noir rebranding of the title.

Trivia · 10 facts

First appearance of Crispus Allen, an African-American GCPD detective transferred from Metropolis who becomes Renée Montoya's new partner; created by Greg Rucka and Shawn Martinbrough.
Allen would later become the third mainstream host of The Spectre (DC's Spirit of Vengeance) beginning in 2006, a trajectory seeded entirely by his introduction here.
Marks the in-continuity return of Batman's all-black chest emblem without the yellow oval — last seen in mainstream DC continuity in Detective Comics #326 (1964), with prior modern uses confined to prequels like Year One and Legends of the Dark Knight.
First issue of Greg Rucka's 'New Gotham' run on Detective Comics; also the debut issue for penciller Shawn Martinbrough and inker Steve Mitchell on the title.
Story titled 'The Honored Dead'; published January 12, 2000, with a cover date of March 2000; 30-page lead story, part of an editorial initiative giving the book extra pages for its first four months.
Harvey Bullock is promoted to Lieutenant and placed in charge of the GCPD's Major Crimes Unit within this issue; James Gordon returns to active duty as Commissioner after a ten-week bereavement leave following the death of his wife Sarah Essen.
Also features the first appearances of the Odessa Mob and its leader Vasily Kosov as new antagonists in the post-No Man's Land Gotham crime landscape.
The issue has been collected in Batman: New Gotham Vol. 1 (DC, 2017), DC Comics – The Legend of Batman: Bruce Wayne Murderer? (Eaglemoss, 2018), and Detective Comics: 80 Years of Batman (DC, 2019); a newsstand variant edition also exists.
Crispus Allen has appeared in live-action media, portrayed by Andrew Stewart-Jones in the TV series Gotham, and in animation via Batman: Gotham Knight (voiced by Gary Dourdan).
The issue contains a meta in-story Easter egg: Batman discovers a license plate reading 'TEC 742' written on a dying officer's palm — a direct reference to the issue's own number.