Customer Reviews

Batman: Officer Down (New Gotham 2)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In general this is not a very exciting story. There is not a great deal of action and most of the story is given over to character examination. This is diffently not a book for the casual Batman reader, although anyone who feels they have a basic knowledge of the the Batverse will probably enjoy seeing the character developments. While this book is not a great story by itself, it does deal with a major change in Gotham, one that includes the loss of a major character, and something that is still effecting the comic line today.

I read this story years ago and its impact hasn't diminished one bit since the night I first experienced it. One of the highest in a large field of outstanding Batman and Batman-related arcs DC has published over the years, "Batman: Officer Down" is a razor-tight and simmering-with-suspense arc that brought about lasting changes into the Gotham corner of the DC Universe. If you're a regular DC reader, you probably long since know which changes were and which weren't wrought by this event, but if you're a new or returning reader, perhaps somebody who saw "Batman Begins", this collection is actually not a bad place to jump into the Batman line.

Written by some of comics's best writers (riveting dialogue!) and drawn by some of the best artists, in "Officer Down" the odds finally catch up with one of Gotham City's mainstay protectors as Commisioner Jim Gordon is gunned down in the streets. As Gordon clings to life in the hospital - with very little foreshadowing of whether he'll make it or not - the hunt is on for the assailant, by both the Gotham Police Department and the masked defenders of Gotham. Features one of the most brilliant police room interrogation scenes in any form of storytelling as just one of its deeply absorbing angles. Essential for DC fans.

As a sidenote, Batgirl # 12 is a tie-in to the crossover but not an 'official' part of it, hence its ommission from the book, and Detective Comics # 755 is the outstanding follow-up issue to the whole saga. Fans may want to pick those two issues up along with this Trade Paperback.

I first passed on this book because I did not like the art work. But I decided to give it another go last week and I was impressed. Jim Gordon gets shot and it is up to the Bat family to track down the killer. It sounds like a simple story but things are not as they seem and the story has a lot of political machinations. It is a well thought out and structured story. Unfortunetly the art work won't blow your mind. But if you are looking for a story about Batman & co. This is it.

I'm not one that enjoys multi-title crossover story arcs, but this one demanded the attention. This was the best story arc for the Batman universe I had run across in over a year. The writer did an excellent job portraying the sheer gravity of how close Batman was to Commish Gordon and even better job keeping the story cohesive over the various Batman titles. This is truly a great classic drama of GCPD relation with Batman (and his family) worthy of a read.

There's a boat-load of writers and artists on this! Too many cooks in the kitchen usually turn out garbage when it comes to comics, but not this time. This is a solid story thoughout. The standout writers on this project are Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker. The artwork is all fine, but the stylistic shifts can be pretty jarring. It seems like the artists were more concerned with keeping things consistent in their own titles (this is a blending of several ongoing "Bat-family" titles) and not too concerned about the flow of this collection. The team of writers manage to hold things together despite this small problem.

This book covers some important changes in the world of Batman, so if you're a true-blue Bat-fan, you should pick this up.

Greg Rucka's "Evolution: New Gotham 1" is excellent (better than this actually), but not required reading before "Officer Down: New Gotham 2". The two volumes don't really have anything to do with eachother.

For more great Bat-related books check out:
The Long Halloween
Dark Victory
Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood
Gotham Central
Catwoman (just the ones by Ed Brubaker)
Birds of Prey (just the ones by Gail Simone)

Happy Reading!

This is where I say: I'm sort of a sucker for the Cataclysm-No Man's Land storyline. Cataclysm is one of my favorite comic books I've read, and two books into No Man's Land and I'm digging that one, too. When I picked this up, though, I didn't realize it was tied into that story line, but I was glad to see that it was.

Anyway. It's Commissioner Gordon's birthday, and after his party, someone shoots him in the back. Catwoman is seen fleeing the scene of the crime, and becomes the prime suspect. First Batman doesn't want to answer the call, and then has a hard time being dragged away from Gordon's side, leaving the job of finding Gordon's attacker up to the Bat Family and Oracle - who is, understandably, devastated.

The strength of this book is that it brings so many characters together, giving them all their moments to shine. Gordon is, after all, family, and the Bat Family does not take well to attacks on family.

What I've noticed is: I don't really have anything to say on the art unless I don't like it, and the only thing that really stood out to me was that I was not a fan of the Babs illustration in at least two (and possibly more) of the issues that make up this book. I like the more traditional Babs: long red hair, a certain sophistication. I apparently do not like Babs looking punkish (early in the book) or insane with anger (later in the book).

Over all, I came away with a rather positive response to this book, probably because it played to the things I like best: team, team, and team. It seems like it's a fitting conclusion (as much as these things are ever concluded) to the Cataclysm/No Man's Land storyline.

Batman: Officer Down collects a crossover story from the early 2000s where Jim Gordon is shot and the Bat family must track down his assailant. The issues collected are Batman #587, Robin #86, Birds of Prey #27, Catwoman #90, Nightwing #53, Detective #754, and Gotham Knights #13. Writers include Greg Rucka, Ed Brubaker, Chuck Dixon and Devin Grayson.

The story falls into the standard crossover pattern of having every related Bat-title contribute a chapter, and while many of the problems associated with this method are present, the end result holds together relatively well. There is a definable beginning, middle and end to the arc, and the chapters flow into each other without having jarring changes in narration and tone. In other words, not knowing what the original publishing order was, I'd be hard-pressed to tell you which chapter was the 'Robin' issue, 'Nightwing' issue or 'Birds of Prey'. I'm sure a few of the creative teams had to dial back the usual focus of their books to achieve this, but the end product runs much smoother in collected form.

The story stumbles in two places: The first is a lackluster middle portion that involves the hunt for Catwoman - it's a pedestrian cat-and-mouse game (pun intended) that pads an otherwise character-driven story. The other baffling decision is to keep Batman at Gordon's bedside while his sidekicks do the actual sleuthing. I can understand wanting to convey Batman's sense of loss and despair, but it keeps him out of the story for far too long with minimal return. An angry Batman leading the charge in finding Gordon's gunman would've been much more effective. Art wise, Officer Down lacks consistency. My favorite is Rick Burchett who draws 3 of the chapters, but none of the others manage more than standard comic fare and The Pander Brothers' style in particular clashes against everything else.

So when all's said and done, what makes Officer Down worth reading? Rucka and Brubaker. Their creative direction for this story sets up changes in the status quo that become the basis of Gotham Central Book One: In the Line of Duty. It's not necessary to read this to enjoy the latter, but there are shades of what's to come including the police procedural feel of chapter six and the establishing of supporting players in the GCPD. These moments more than make up for the weaker aspects of the story.

Worth taking a look at, especially in conjunction with Gotham Central.

Unlike some people, I have no problem with crossovers per se. With the right talent, a work of epic length, scope, and quality can be produced and released in a relatively short period of time, which would not have been possible with the use of just one creative team. On the surface, the melding of a large group of writers and artists sounds like a recipe for failure, hence the saying "Too many cooks..." Certainly there are inherent problems that need to be overcome, but when this is accomplished, the final result can be quite impressive. One major obstacle that confronts the writers is the overall editorial direction of the project, which requires cohesion of thought and may not allow them the freedom to stretch their creative wings and produce their best potential work. In this particular case throw in a hodgepodge of different artists, whose output ranges from acceptable to downright awful, and we get a story that quickly collapses under the strain. The cast of characters, many with larger parts than warranted because of the strange and inexplicable reduction of Batman's role, are not shown in the best of light, and some, even unfortunately what little we see of the main man himself, are flat out unlikable. The whodunit aspect is also a letdown and poorly presented, with the big reveal of the culprit appearing much too early, eliminating any possible suspense and rendering the last third or so of the story into a disappointing anticlimax. It's at this point that you realize that this falls more under the heading of a Gotham Central banner than a Batman tale. Blame this one on poor execution, not the format.

I'll preface this by saying that I haven't been reading much Batman other than the newest series by Frank Miller and Jim Lee (which, regardless of what comic sales say, has been an utter disappointment). After hearing such buzz about Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker's work on Batman, I thought I would go ahead and try some of it out. Unfortunately, this outing was a major disappointment. Maybe I should have started with the No Man's Land story-arc, but after this, I doubt that I'm going to even try that out.

This story-arc starts with Commissioner Gordon's birthday, which ends with him lying in an alleyway with three bullets in his back and Catwoman standing over his body. In many ways, the story is a weak attempt at a mystery tale in the same vein as Identity Crisis. Batman and the rest of Gotham City's masked must now come together and figure out what happened.

What really irks me about this is the effort put in giving Batman a deeper emotional core, but everything ends up feeling rushed and underdeveloped. Batman standing over Commissioner Gordon's hospital bed and barking orders wasn't enough for me to see how deep a friendship the two men had. If it wasn't for my familiarity with the Batman mythos, I would likely have no understanding of what was happening, with the result being I would likely never had finished reading the story. I'm certainly glad I did not buy the issues individually and purchased the graphic novel with a heavy discount. In many ways, this looked like a way of starting a new era of Batman in that the writers really change some of the familiar character dynamics we have all come to love. There are many reasons why the newest Batman movies have turned to the older material rather than the new stuff - the new stuff is awful.

Skip this. I wish I had.

Officer Down collects a cross-over tale spanning the full line of Batman books in 2001, each penned by their respective creative teams. While crossovers of this sort often flop -- in part because of poor direction of the teams -- Officer Down works well to form a cohesive storyline.

Despite the different voices of the writers, the story maintains an even pace and flow. The art is good for most of the book, but again, there are disparities. Part two, drawn by Jacob and Arnold Pander, is ugly; the rest works well although no two artists seem able to reach a consensus about Harvey Bullock's appearance.

It's worth noting that this storyline marked a few significant changes in the makeup of the Batverse. It's also a good stand-alone story for any interested in checking in on the characters without fear of getting caught up in an ongoing plot.