James Gordon (Earth-43)

James Gordon of Earth-43 was, as in most continuities, the Police Commissioner of Gotham City and a close ally of Batman.

Batman & Dracula: Red Rain
While investigating mysterious 'throat-slash' murders- the victims' throats having been slashed and their bodies almost completely drained of blood-, hampered by the mayor's reluctance to publically admit that there was anything wrong dur to the concerns about the bad impression it would create, Gordon suspected that there was something more strange than usual about the murders, but even he could never have predicted the truth. When Batman revealed his new ally, Tanya, to Gordon, Gordon was shocked to learn that, not only were Tanya and her allies vampires, but Gotham's current threat was none other than Dracula himself. Unfortunately, before Gordon could respond to this new development, he was abducted by Dracula's minions and taken to face the vampire lord himself, Dracula noting that the tainted blood of Gotham had driven him so mad that he no longer cared about the possibility of getting caught, the city having turned him into a total monster. As he bled Gordon from a wound in the neck- thus insuring that he wouldn't turn into a vampire and threaten Dracula-, Batman tracked down Dracula after destroying his family by sacrificing Wayne Manor and Tanya's cult to expose them to sunlight. Using the vampiric powers that Tanya had given him, Batman defeated Dracula, but was transformed into a vampire himself in the process.

Batman: Bloodstorm
Although he preferred not to recall his dark encounter with the vampire lord, Gordon was nevertheless grateful for Batman's continued presence- apparently now aware of Batman's true identity as he was shown to be in contact with Alfred Pennyworth about various developments-, even after Batman discovered evidence of a few remaining vampires in Gotham. Although Batman was eliminating most of their victims, staking them in the heart and removing their heads to prevent them returning as new vampires, he requested that Gordon assemble a team of his own to eliminate the vampires in daylight if things became too serious. Although the situation took a more serious turn when Batman ordered Alfred to leave him as he found himself increasingly unable to tame his thirst, Batman was still able to discover that the vampires were now focusing on Gotham's crime families after the Joker assumed leadership of the remaining bloodsuckers. While Gordon's team eliminated most of the vampire families- under strict instructions not to discuss their actions after that night-, Batman's subsequent attack on the Joker's remaining forces resulted in him killing the Joker in a fit of rage. Returning to the brownstone where he and Alfred had relocated after the destruction of Wayne Manor, Batman left a note instructing Gordon and Alfred to stake him in the heart to ensure that he could not threaten innocents.

Batman: Crimson Mist
Unfortunately, with Batman gone, his former rogue's gallery- including foes that Gordon was already familiar with, such as Penguin and Poison Ivy, and newer criminals like Scarecrow- began to run riot, Gordon grimly noting that it was like Hell thought it had been issued a license with Batman's disappearance. After he confessed his frustration to the already-guilty Alfred, Alfred removed the stake in the hope that his master's goodness would prevail, only for the enraged Batman to depart and slaughter the Penguin and his gang. Activating the Bat-Signal to consult Batman, Gordon and Alfred were shaken to hear their former friend proclaim that he would eliminate the plague of criminals facing Gotham by draining them dry, with the best that his former allies could hope for being that he would prevent them from returning as monsters at his side.

Although Batman proceeded to eliminate the city's demons, killing the Riddler, Scarecrow, and Ivy with relative ease, Gordon knew that, even if he only focused on criminals, he was no longer the good man he had once been; no matter who his victims were, the man Batman was would never have killed in the first place. Although they were able to track Batman to the remains of the now-destroyed Batcave, subsequent events as Batman slaughtered the Black Mask Gang and the homicidal inmates of Arkham Asylum proved to Gordon that their only hope to defeat their old friend was an alliance with the last criminal gang in Gotham, led by Two-Face with Killer Croc as his muscle.

Having planted explosives in the cave roof with the intention of luring Batman into the open and destroying the ceiling to let in the sun, the two groups lured Batman into the open, with Gordon managing to shoot Batman in the back with a wooden arrow before Croc threw him into a nearby chasm. Unfortunately, with Batman defeated, Two-Face turned on his temporary allies, Croc pursuing Alfred while Gordon was forced to use his crossbow bolts to kill the rest of Two-Face's thugs. With the last of the gang dead but his arsenal exhausted, Gordon was cornered by Two-Face before Batman returned, restored by Alfred giving his master his blood to give him the strength to complete his duty.

With Two-Face dead, Gordon briefly expressed hesitation at destroying Batman after he had just saved Gordon despite his betrayal, but when Batman proceeded to rant about the threat that the two of them could pose to Earth as vampires, potentially driving both races to extinction as the vampires ran out of humans to feed on, Gordon resigned himself to the inevitable and detonated the explosives. Unfortunately, Gordon miscalculated the explosive force necessary, with the resulting rockslide being so strong that Gordon was left trapped in the cave, crushed by rock before he could find a way out, his last words being a plea for God to have mercy on both their souls, Batman solemnly assuring Gordon that God would at least spare his soul even if Batman's own was damned.