The Return of A Minor Frank Miller Batman Character After Decades…

Posted in: Batman, Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: Arnold Flass, barbara gordon, frank miller

The Return of A Minor Frank Miller Batman Character After Decades…

The Return of a minor Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli Batman: Year One character decades after his death…

Article Summary

• Arnold Flass, the corrupt Gotham cop from Batman: Year One, returns to main DC continuity decades after his death.
• Created by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli, Arnold Flass was a brutal GCPD enforcer tied to Loeb and Falcone.
• After falling from power and being killed in Batman: Dark Victory, Arnold Flass resurfaced only in alternate DC timelines.
• Barbara Gordon: Breakout #5 reveals Arnold Flass alive in Gotham again, now working under Commissioner Vandal Savage.

Arnold Flass was a corrupt detective in the Gotham City Police Department, created by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli for their Batman: Year One storyline. Arnold Flass first appeared in Batman #404 in 1987 as a former Green Beret, depicted as a burly, blond figure who embodied the deep corruption of the GCPD in Batman’s early years. He specialises in shakedowns, accepting bribes, and using violence when needed, often with the tacit approval of Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb.

Batman #404 by Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli
Batman #404 by Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli

In Batman: Year One, Arnold Flass becomes the partner of newly arrived Lieutenant James Gordon, who quickly sees Flass’s corruption. On their first patrol, Arnold Flass beats a teenager for amusement, and when Gordon refuses to join the department’s dirty practices, Commissioner Loeb greenlights Arnold Flass and other masked officers to ambush and beat Gordon with baseball bats in a parking garage. Jim Gordon later tracks Arnold Flass down after a night of drinking, beats him severely, handcuffs him naked by the roadside, and humiliates him so thoroughly that Flass stays silent. Arnold Flass continues his criminal side activities, including protection for narcotics dealers, gets tackled by Batman, and Jim Gordon arrests Arnold Flass. Assistant District Attorney Harvey Dent offers a plea deal as Arnold Flass provides extensive notes on his dealings with Carmine Falcone and testifies against Commissioner Loeb and other corrupt officers. Later, Arnold Flass reappears working as a bouncer at a seedy strip club in Batman: Dark Victory byJeph Loeb and Tim Sale, where he is murdered by the Hangman Killer, Sofia Falcone.

He was played by Mark Boone Junior in 2005’s Batman Begins as Gordon’s corrupt partner, played by Dash Mihok in Gotham, and Gary Anthony Williams in Batman: The Animated Series. He returned to comics in other-universe versions, such as the Dark Multiverse…

The future of Batman Beyond…

And the past of Absolute Batman.

But now, it looks like he is back from the dead in the main DC Comics Batcontinuity, in this week’s Barbara Gordon: Breakout#5, published on Wednesday.

And naturally, he is happy to be working with Commissioner Vandal Savage in charge. But might such a timely revival suggest he may also be a character in the upcoming Batman Part II movie?

Barbara Gordon: Breakout #5 by Mariko Tamaki, Amancay Nahuelpan

Another attack makes Barbara question everything she thought she knew about the murders inside Supermax, and a new political prisoner finds herself trapped in the center of the mystery. $3.99 9/9/26

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