There’s one scene in issue 7 of Gotham Central that really stood out to me, and it happens immediately after the events of the previous issue — when a photo of GCPD Major Crimes Unit Detective Renee Montoya kissing her girlfriend is anonymously sent to GCPD HQ and pinned on a wall by some of her homophobic creep colleagues. Montoya is being sued by a bad guy named Lipari who got off on some technicality and says Montoya assaulted him, and the photo was taken by a private investigator trying to dig up dirt on Montoya for him. Before that, though, some guys from Internal Affairs told Montoya that the P.I. was found murdered, and they wanted to tell her that this Lipari guy might be bad news and that she should be careful (or at least that’s what they said).

The scene in question: Montoya gets called into the office of her superior officer, Major Crimes boss Maggie Sawyer, who just heard that the Internal Affairs guys talked to Montoya and thought something didn’t feel right about it. Montoya agrees, and they figure that IA was actually questioning Montoya as a suspect in the murder, especially after the photo was released.

During the talk, the two of them are kind of dancing around the thing that Maggie actually wants to address, because, as someone who also happens to be a lesbian, Maggie suggests that she has some idea of what Montoya is going through. Then Montoya unloads some thoughts that she’s been unable to escape for her whole life, but especially that morning: Unlike Maggie, who is white, Montoya’s parents are immigrants from the Dominican Republic, and they’re religious. And so Montoya has been taught her whole life that people like her are just going to go to Hell when they die. And she has to think about that every time she talks to her parents and every time they ask why she hasn’t given them grandchildren and every time she’s with her girlfriend.

It feels very real and grounded and honest for a character that didn’t really have any backstory before this issue of this comic, and it’s really interesting how much of this book about cops who live in Batman’s hometown has suddenly become about the internal struggles of — and I know I keep bringing this up, but it’s important! — a side character from a cartoon for kids.

Maggie lets her say what she needs to say and gives her a moment, knowing that it’s more about Montoya letting it out than her actually being upset. Then she explains that you only get one chance to come out and you just have to live with it after that, so she wants Montoya to keep that in mind. Of course, that’s easier said than done, when nearly everyone in the GCPD is a homophobic creep (imagine publishing a Batman-adjacent comic today that is pointedly set within main Batman continuity and features characters using homophobic slurs) and even Montoya’s brother is uncomfortable with the truth about his sister.

She meets up with him later and finds out that whoever sent the photo to the GCPD also sent a copy to her parents, and they’ve been freaking out about it, but he convinced them it was fake. Montoya then meets up with her girlfriend and they have a nice time, with Montoya feeling less of a need to sneak around, but then Lipari shows up and starts harassing her until she snaps and beats him up.

Unsurprisingly, he was the one trying to throw her life into disarray, and, as he returns home, he starts muttering about new ways he’s going to try and destroy her… until he is also murdered by an known assailant!

I know who it is, and you might know who it is, but it’s very interesting that — as far as I’ve been able to tell — there haven’t been any clues about it so far. That is the real advantage of setting this in the Batman continuity: There’s always a chance someone interesting is going to show up!

The Untitled Comic Book Newsletter Book Society continues next week with the eighth issue of Gotham Central. Read along at home! Email me your questions or comments if you can find my email!