Gotham City Police Department has a new imaginary addition for Halloween

When I decided to be a Gotham City cop for Halloween this year, I was originally thinking about putting together a costume that reflected the 1960s live-action show.  I figured out pretty quickly, though, that that would be a rather expensive costume, and anyway, female police officers in that version of the world are scarily incompetent.  I turned around and put together a 1990s cartoon Batman cop uniform for $6… so I suppose all’s well that ends well!  The women on the more recent versions of that particular force are a heck of a lot cooler, anyway.  As you can see in the collage below, I doctored a picture of Detective Renee Montoya (of 1990s comic book and cartoon fame) to make her blonde and stuck her right on my ID.  Also, I decided to go with my Japanese family’s family name because the only other female Gotham City cop that came to mind was Detective Ellen Yin.  It seemed somehow more DC-ish to give the character a family name that makes the character sound specifically multicultural.  Anyhow, this character isn’t supposed to be me.  Those of you who know me well can see that this Gotham City police officer is older than I am, unless her story is set several years ago (which could well be the case, seeing as the uniform is inspired by 1990s Batman cartoons).

As I mentioned earlier, I spent $6 on this costume.  That is because I already owned the shoes, socks, pants, shirt, and tie, and a friend was kind enough to loan me the hat.  I hit the 99 Cents Only Store and the Dollar Tree and got a simple black belt for a buck, two cell phone belt-case thingies each for a buck, a pair of plastic handcuffs for a buck, and a police-toy play set that included a bright orange gun, a little plastic radio, a badge, and a tiny plastic watch… all of which together cost me a buck.  The last buck went toward a silver sharpie to help me make the toy badge look decent after I hit it with a bunch of epoxy clay.  I actually made the gun holster out of old Renaissance Fest scraps and paint, and I painted over about ¾ of the gun’s orange with the same black paint I used on the holster so that it would be a little less loud, but still broadcast that it wasn’t real.  I think I wound up looking reasonably authentic!

This character sprouted a crazy-interesting story while I was building the costume, by the way.  She’s originally from Keystone City (yes, from the old Flash comics), though she transferred to Gotham City very shortly after graduating from the Keystone City Police Academy.  Her first partner in Gotham was a really upstanding man who never took bribes or made deals with the crime lords and gang leaders, but after he was very nearly killed in a hit most likely paid for by those crime lords and/or gang leaders (though he and Arakawa could never prove it), he grew angry and jaded with the corruption in the system and he packed up his family and moved out of town.  Officer Arakawa’s second partner is a pretty normal Gotham City police officer, in that he isn’t above taking the occasional “gift” and enjoying the “perks” of the job.  It didn’t take Elisa Arakawa long to realize that her first partner had been actively sheltering her from the worst of the department’s (and the city’s) corruption, and said corruption was much worse and ran much deeper than she could ever have imagined.  It is not safe to be a good cop and keep your nose clean in Gotham City.  Of course, when in Gotham City, do as the Gotham City dwellers do.

Officer Arakawa is now leading a dual life, spending her days going through the motions as a seemingly middling-dirty cop, flying under the radar and rooting out deeper corruption from the inside.  After hours, she fights that corruption as Bat Mask, yet another in a long line of Gotham bat vigilantes!

I know, I know, you’re all probably going “Bat Mask?  Seriously, Elisa?  Bat Mask?”  But in fairness, Bat Girl, Bat Woman, Black Bat, Bat Wing, and Nightwing were all already taken (not to mention Huntress, Bluebird, Spoiler, Robin, Red Robin, Red Hood, Gotham and Gotham Girl.  Man oh man that city has a lot of vigilantes running around).

Here’s the really fun part: this is now officially a two part costume.  Both of this woman’s alter-egos are going to look amazing.  Bwahahaha!  Halloween is going to be so darn much fun this year- E.G.D.

P.S. – Further Halloween costume work and this year’s Renaissance Festival costume set are coming soon.