The Dark Knight’s oldest ally goes on a dangerous search for truth when evidence comes to light that a violent unsolved robbery costing dozens of lives was the work of cops!
Greetings!
Welcome back to another exciting week here at DC Universe Book Club! DC Universe’s very own community run book club. I’m so happy to see you!
I’ve always considered Commissioner Godan Batman’s original sidekick. I love how he’s able to hold his own with the Bat. He’s always been a favorite of mine. With that said I’m very pleased to say that this week is all about our favorite Commissioner!
Batman: Gordon’s Law sees Batman taking a back seat to real Police work. I can’t wait to hear what you think!
I’m hard pressed to think of a version of him that I don’t like. From the Nolan flicks to Gotham to Dark Knight Returns, Gordon is just simply a great character. I think if you forced me to choose my favorite Gordon story, I would go with Year One.
Oh, I’m down. Some artists just got perfectly in the darker edge that Gotham tales must have.
In the last issue where Shotgun just plows into the dude, knocking him through the window, was awesome. Like, screw it, here I go!!!
The GCPD had plenty of potential for good stories in the post-Year One era, and this one was…passable. I must admit that I’m not the biggest fan of Chuck Dixon, and I found the corrupt cop story a bit boring. (The idea had been done to death even by 1996.) The art worked fine for the more dramatic scenes, but it was a bit of a hindrance in the action scenes.
I have to agree with @ralphsix on this one that there is no version of Gordon that I don’t like that I have seen or read. Since that isn’t a real answer than I gotta go with Gordon form Batman The Animated Series.
I didn’t really like the art that much but thought that with the darker atmosphere and darker tone of the cops and an FBI agent pulling the strings of the heist and the money laundering that it fits well with the overall story.
My favorite page was this one because you can see how distraught Harvey was that he left Gordon to go off by himself with out him.
Loved that moment. Loved the contrast of colors there as well. It was so striking and brought a lot to the scene. One of the reasons I liked the art as much as I did.
Yeah, that one is pretty good. I didn’t much care for Batgirl: Year One, though. It was far too obsessed with giving nods to The Killing Joke and Birds of Prey, and Barbara was missing the “smirking Clark Kent” quality that she had back in the 60s and 70s.
Yeah, there’s some good moments in it, and Marcos Martin is an incredible artist (not only would I love to see him come back to DC, I’d love to see him do more with Batgirl), but I couldn’t help but think while reading Barbara talk about the Oracles of Greece for the fifteenth time “WE GET IT, SHE BECOMES ORACLE IN THE FUTURE, PLEASE STOP.”
Is this your first time reading Batman: Gordon’s Law?
Yep, and overall I find myself agreeing with @AlexanderKnox in saying it’s okay. Like, the plot is decent enough, paced well so that it didn’t feel too decompressed or missing key details. The problem is that, like a lot of Dixon’s work I’ve read, there’s just really not a lot about the plot or characters that are really interesting other than they’re in Gotham. It’s just about adequate for the four issue commitment.
What is your favorite version of Commissioner Gordon?
Like @ralphsix said, there’s very few takes on the character I’ve found myself to hate (except maybe the Burton/Schumacher films, but that’s more not liking the lack of usage of him more than anything). I’ll probably go into this more in the Batman Book Club choices next month (hint hint), but Year One I think is definitely the strongest take on the character and the one that other writers strive to match.
What did you think of the art in this book?
I think it definitely fits the world of the book. Janson doesn’t really do the big action pop moments that are typically part of superhero comics, but he’s really good at storytelling, at tone and mood and characterization, which I think works very well for this more grounded crime story.
What was your favorite page or panel?
This is a little hard for me, because like I said, the plot of the book is kind of forgettable. I will say the first issue of #4, where it has Gordon under the water trying not to get burned by the kerosene burning on top of it was very effective in both showcasing the peril we last saw our hero in in the previous issue.
I really like this one. The only one I didn’t like was in the Gotham by Gaslight movie, I won’t spoil the movie, but it was a different take on his character.
The art matched the tone of the book.
This moment with getting steak from the freezer stood out to me. She thought she was going to get a steak, but instead found a dead body, and then everyone laughed while she was terrified.
On Gotham By Gaslight, while I agree that I certainly don’t like seeing Gordon turned into such a thing, I do like how they approached it as a mystery. The original comic is great, but the killer in the book is just blindingly obvious.
That was a good scene with the girl – I did think she was one of the more interesting characters in that crime part of things, and I think her twist at the end was pretty good.
Read all three issues between 2019-12-16T06:00:00Z → 2019-12-22T06:00:00Z
Tackle the below discussion questions at your leisure
Let us know what you thought of the book as a whole!
Spoiler discussion begins right now!
Discussion Questions
