today's vital question

[mustinvestigate]

How, exactly, does vigilante crimefighting work

Comments

[spiffystuff]

I always sort-of presumed they left the criminals near a) evidence of the crime (say if it was breaking-and-entering/stealing, there'd be prints everywhere, etc), or b) there'd be a victim handy to say "those jerks did ___" or c) in the case of the organized crime busts like Big Figure and TL, probably compiled evidence and delivered it to the police with the perp...

Cuz yeah, otherwise it just wouldn't work!!!

[mustinvestigate]

The witnesses thing is an excellent handwave, that and the nearby existence of proper evidence. Maybe the fear of being caught out on the street again and beaten even worse makes criminals more likely to confess in any case?

I would pay good money to see Rorschach's compiled evidence on organised crime. I can just imagine some poor bottom-rung cop getting lumbered with trudging through his handwriting, highlighting anything that doesn't involve the perp's alleged perversions and communist affiliations... Whereas Batman's would be things of beauty in themselves, such as would make defense attorneys weep with shame.

[spiffystuff]

Lol, I bet Dan handled the notes after taking a look at Rorschach's "evidence folder"

[tuff_ghost]

The bounty hunter theory and handy victim/evidence theory are the only ways to explain it I think!

[mustinvestigate]

The husband has been singing the "Dog the Bounty Hunter" theme changed to Batman-related lyrics since he read over my shoulder.

...I should not have started this.

[theonlytwin]

I have had this problem since the Bruce timm batman days. An element not already mentioned in comments us that now the alleged peeps are so scared of the vigilante, they'll admit to the crime and retreat to the safeness of prison. Or something. Yup.

Makes way more sense with batman, who has the commissioner on side (and the d.a., before he flips out (I swear that was unintentional what I there)) to help confirm a conviction.

Man, and here was me thinking rorschach is the logical, reality based version of batman.

[theonlytwin]

"peeps" I meant "perps" I'm typing on a fucking iPhone

Now I want to see rorschach and batman team up against seasonal marshmallow ducks

I would pay at least ten dollars to see that

[mustinvestigate]

Oh yes...I'll add my ten dollars to that pile. Especially if it involves Rorschach deciding they're just like fluffy sugar cubes...and Batman compains the whole time about it ruining his precisely planned carbohydrate intake...

A lot of what makes Batman awesome is Commissioner Gordon. I wonder if the next Nolan movie will have Batman flirting with Rorschach territory, now that he doesn't have his partial legitimacy of working with the law?

Sheesh, I've corrected almost as many typos in this comment as I've typed words. Your iphone typing has me beat :)

[theonlytwin]

I'm sorry, I just read Batman flirting with Rorschach and my brain imploded. Then I scrolled down. (That hasn't been done, right? No one would do that, not even on the kink meme. Not even on 4chan.)

Yeah, I'm curious about the next movie. There's only so many ways Nolan can RAMP IT UP.

[scarlet_carsons]

Maybe vigilantes are more like bounty hunters, only going after those the police already have a warrant for, but passing on the reward due to anonymity?

I always thought that was the case - it still makes the legal process look pretty sketchy, but it's a level of sketchiness that I can buy.

Also, from the fallout kinkmeme’s twitter feed, this is horribly cathartic.

omg it's like Christmas has come early for me!

[mustinvestigate]

omg it's like Christmas has come early for me!

For a good ten minutes after I found that link, it was, "Ha ha ha, boom! Boom! Woo hoo! Awwwww...the asteroid took out Sweden, too. Sorry, Sweden!"

Now that I think about the bounty hunting aspect - I've really been focusing hard on this question :D - it makes sense that the big busts like TL and Big Figure would have a lot of the police work already sorted, with finding the bad guys the only part that hinged on vigilante action. I doubt the cops would have been able to effectively raid a sewer hide-out. That would make their bust-ups of muggings and such more...recreational? Establishing their areas as "protected"?

[scarlet_carsons]

Now that I think about the bounty hunting aspect - I've really been focusing hard on this question :D - it makes sense that the big busts like TL and Big Figure would have a lot of the police work already sorted, with finding the bad guys the only part that hinged on vigilante action. Yeah, that's what I thought. I think I read in the sourcebook that Night Owl's computer could access police databases due to his l33t 70's AU hacking skills, so I assumed he got most of his info from snooping on the police using his technical know-how. Rorschach would get most of his info from Dan, at least until they split up (and then he'd have to stick to following up crimes reported by the media and interrogating known criminals for information). I assume Ozy would gather info by being a conniving spymaster type who has informants everywhere. Silk Spectre II is hampered by the fact that she has a famous mother and lacks a secret identity; I'd imagine Sally would probably make discreet arrangements with the police so Laurie can beat up the occasional