Hello everyone and welcome back to the World of Bats, the Batman Book Club! Caping off this week of crime stories, we’re going to delve into the first five issues of the critically acclaimed Gotham Central, written by Ed Brubaker & Greg Rucka, and drawn by Michael Lark!
The detectives of Gotham’s police force star in their own ongoing series! A tense, driven story begins in rapid fashion with the all too familiar cry of ‘officer down’—and the race is on to stop a major Batman villain while solving the crime before the Dark Knight intervenes. But between the emotion of losing one of their own and the labyrinth of clues left behind, the chances of success for Montoya, Allen and co. don’t look good…
Are you trying to force me to read World of Bats selections, because that’s what this looks like. Love Gotham Central, definitely fighting this into the rotation.
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So everyone keeps going quiet when Bullock is mentioned. I’m assuming that’s because of his resignation in 'Tec #762, which resolved matters tracing back to the Officer Down storyline (which itself explains why Gordon isn’t the commissioner at this time). Both Gordon and Bullock are back in their old positions by the time of the One Year Later story Face the Face.
For additional context, these issues were running concurrently with Hush.
He was just dropped from the books unceremoniously. One Year Later gave the writers an excuse to restore the status quo without spending a lot of time explaining things. He did pop back up during Rebirth as the mayor in the Fall of the Batmen story arc.
So, they’ve decided to make a Gotham PD show for HBO Max connected to the upcoming Batman movie. I can save them a lot of money on story development and scripts. It’s all right here. This series is magnificent. Largely character driven, you get to feel what it’s like stuck between the Bat and the bad guys. That opening action sequence is a great way to start a series. Normal cop banter running down a lead and just thinking about getting home. Then you open a door and your world changes, or ends. This is a magnified version of the reality that cops face every time they make a traffic stop or open a door.
The art does its job, so for a series like this you don’t get a lot of splashy moments, and much of what happens is depicted from a low angle or on level with the characters, making everything more intimate.
Whenever, a comic attempts to depict a sub-culture you’re always searching for whether you think they get it right. Moments like this, feel right to me.
Agreed, I hope they take a lot of inspiration from this series for Reeves’ Gotham PD series.
I’ll agree that there aren’t a lot of big splashy superhero-y moments, the art for this is still great, with a great sense of character, acting, and storytelling through each panel.
I’m definitely not against it! If you’re looking for a little more conversation about the book right now, the DC Pride Book Club did the next arc, “Half a Life” last year.
I think this serious was one of the most underrated series out there at the time. There are so many great story beats throughout the whole series. I loved the introductions of the precinct and the division between the groups. I really loved the character moments the first arc created. I felt it with them about not wanting to get Batman involved with the case. Everyone works so well together. I couldn’t recommend this series more to others!!
I haven’t finished reading the selection yet, but I’m really digging it so far. Something about street level crime fighting in Gotham is just fascinating. Especially contrasted with some of Batman’s rogues. The art design also creates the perfect vibe.
Definitely – I think we as the readers get so used to seeing Batman, this near-impossible specimen fighting these guys, that when we see more ordinary people going up against them, the stakes feel even higher.
Also agreed on the art – Michael Lark is just fantastic, a perfect fit for this kind of story.
