Customer Reviews

Gotham Central Vol. 4: The Quick and the Dead (Batman)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

With Batman lurking on the fringes, Gotham Central is a darker Hill Street Blues, focusing on the rough-edged men and women of the Gotham City Police Department Major Crimes Unit who resent Batman's presence while often coming face to face with members of his gallery of rogues. This collection of the first 5 issues of the series features a brutal appearance by Mister Freeze (nothing like the abomination played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) and the resolution of two seemingly unconnected cases without Batman's help.

Michael Lark's gritty and atmospheric art are a perfect complement to Brubaker and Rucka's taut plots and precise characters, making Gotham Central one of the most compelling comics currently being published.

Gotham Central is a great series that is unfortunately under-read. This volume collects the first five issues for a very reasonable price -- and is a great way to get into this series. In fact the collected TPB is almost a better and easier read than the single issues. This is an intelligent book and appeals to a wider audience than just Batman fans. If you enjoy Law & Order or any crime drama, you will enjoy this book. Even if you haven't picked up a comic since you were a kid -- pick this one up.

Life isn't easy for Gotham City's finest; living is the shadow of the Dark Knight, and dealing with villains large and small. While investigating a kidnapping, Detective Marcus Driver sees his partner murdered right in front of him by Mister Freeze, and he is determined that these crimes won't be solved by Batman, but will be handled by good old-fashioned police work. But, there's more to this case than meets the eye. Tough times have a way of turning common people into heroes, and Detective Driver will need to be a hero before all of this is over.

I must say that I was quite pleasantly surprised by this graphic novel. Batman appears in the story, but he is a very minor character. Instead, this is the story of a group of regular police officers doing their duty, and fighting crime the way that they police must. The illustration work is done in a style that took me back to the Golden Age comics, giving the story something of a timelessness that I did not expect.

Overall, I found this to be a fascinating graphic novel, one with an interesting twist in the selection of heroes. I loved this book, and highly recommend it to you.

"Gotham Central", volume 5, spans issues #33-40 and (sadly) ends the series with a pair of fine stories... A tepid mystery involving the murder of two Robin lookalikes serves as the backdrop for the real drama -- inside the squadroom -- and in particular the descent of Detective Renee Montoya into a spiral of ragefulness and violence. The second story arc focusses entirely on Montoya and her partner, Crispus Allen, and closes out on a bleak, abrupt note. Fans of the series will be sad to see it end, but pleased to pick up this final volume, which is still one heckuva nice read. Several "Gotham Central" characters appear in later DC stories, but the original books are pretty special. Recommended! (ReadThatAgain!)

I have now read all five volumes of Gotham Central, and I can recommend this title with only a few reservations. First the good news...

Gotham Central is at its best when it focuses on the working stiffs of Gotham PD's major case unit. If you haven't picked up any issues of this book, try to imagine TV's "Law & Order" set in a world where a costumed vigilante routinely steals the PD's thunder. Now imagine a collection of diverse personalities trying to uphold law and order in this world. That's what you get when the book is at its best. Keep in mind that this is one of the most corrupt police organizations in the world. And because this book takes place (mostly) just after the "No Man's Land" episode in Gotham's history, most cops are ambivalent about Batman.

But that isn't always an issue. Some of the cops have faith (secret or otherwise) in Batman, and some wish he would just vanish, but the book tends to concentrate on what a normal detective unit would do in a world full of crazy supervillains. It also provides a much-needed reminder of the real-world, street-level consequences of supercrime. The sad fact is that most superhero titles focus on the knock-down-drag-out between the central protagonist and his super-nemesis; when bystanders enter into the picture at all, it's usually just long enough to be rescued by the guy in the cape. Gotham Central, however, is primarily about those bystanders. So when Mr. Freeze kills a random detective, we (as readers) feel the unfairness of it.

In other words, this book shines most brightly when it concentrates on the "little people" who occupy all the negative spaces of a superpowered world.

Now the bad news...

Renee Montoya is not a terribly convincing character, and she's our POV character more often than not. As a female detective who is also a lesbian prone to public violence, she seems more like a "message" character than a character drawn from real life. To the extent that she is the central protagonist in a story, the story suffers. It isn't that I don't sympathize with her; I do. It's that I didn't believe in her. Perhaps in a world where the cosmic axis has tilted wildly toward liberal wish-fulfillment, Det. Montoya might be a perfectly normal character. But Gotham Central's strength, usually, is that it makes the world of Batman more realistic -- more like our own world. And I'm sorry to say this, but in the real world, Det. Montoya would be directing traffic or working private security at a mall faster than she could say "violation of Miranda" or "Don't ask, don't tell."

The series is sequential, so if you're going to buy Gotham Central, just buy the whole thing, all five volumes. They're inexpensive, and they're a treat, even when they aren't firing on all cylinders. But some volumes are certainly stronger than others. Volume 1 set up expectations that Vol. 2 failed to live up to, but then Vol. 3 came back with a truly impressive strength. Volumes 4 and 5 make me wonder why the series was ever canceled -- not as strong as Vol. 3, but surely stronger than -- for example -- JSA or JLA or, well, much of DC's mainstream material.

If this title is ever revived by DC, it will be because fans buy the TPBs. And if it is ever revived, I have a suggestion: Swing the POV. Seriously, you'll find yourself caring about characters in this title who show up once or twice, only to vanish. I'd love to see that become a standard feature of this book, if it ever comes back. I found myself wanting to know more about some of the walk-ons; instead, I got more Renee Montoya. If this title is ever revived, I'd love to see each arc told from a different detective's POV.

If you like police procedural, and if you've wondered what goes on behind the scenes at Gotham PD, then you should certainly pick up these five slim volumes. Not everything works, but the writing and art are solid enough that you'll be glad you shelled out the shekels.

Another fine entry in this compelling series set in the gritty underbelly of Batman's Gotham City. The plot increasingly focusses on Det. Rene Montoya, which is fine by me (although I'm waiting for her partner, Crispus Allen, to come out of the box a bit more...) Author Greg Rucka's debt to HBO-TV's "The Wire" is increasingly obvious, but that's mighty fine source material.

In this volume, a booby trap set by one of the Flash's foes, Mr. Alchemy, sets Montoya and Allen on a trip to Keystone City, where Alchemy pulls a "Silence Of The Lambs" taunt-the-cops number... Although the story gets more wrapped up in super-doings than earlier story arcs, Montoya's eventual beat-down of the bad guy, though emotionally satisfying, sets the stage for her to begin questioning her own attraction to extreme violence. I predict an even stronger, richer storyline further down the road.

Great entry in a very strong series, compulsively readable from start to finish.

This entire series is excellent! Rucka & Brubaker are NOT my favorite people for Superhero books but they do EXCEL at crime stories. Gotham Central is an excellent "reality" approach at one of comic-dom's most famous cities. Not everything in a town like Gotham is about Mr Freeze or the Joker but even when they are, Batman isn't the only one working on it. Love this series and highly recommend it to ANYONE who likes Law & Order, Batman and maybe even The Untouchables.

This is a series that should have never been cancelled. Its like a Law & Order episode taking place in the DC Universe's Gotham City. The book, while definitely focusing on two detectives, still has a great team aspect and Batman isn't needed in the book but when he shows up its great. Here we get two different storylines and both are fantastic. Greg Rucka has such an amazing feel for these characters. You can tell he loves this book and that's why I love it. The art by Michael Lark and Stefano Gaudiano is so perfectly suited for the events transpiring within its remarkable. Any other type of art style would be terrible here. Overall, this is a fantastic book and I wish it would have lasted forever. Great reading!

Ever wonder how Batman and his cronies seem to the cops? Ever wonder how cops deal with super-villains, super heroes and the insane amount of crime that Gotham City generates?

Gotham Central is a great twist on the Super hero tale. Told from the perspective of Gotham's Major Crime Unit, this series puts a different point of view on the super hero story. Besides that, many of these cops are involved in super heroics of their own. Imagine NYPD Blue or Law & Order SVU with the ocassional super villain and super hero and you've got the idea. Gritty, tough, action-packed and good.

Not so much a mystery as a pure crime book, this was great! The ending took me by surprise, but this book is fantastic. It's Homocide: Life on the Streets, with Batman.