I love this series, it's like Law & Order meets Batman. In this volume, the night and day shifts of the GCPD work together to bring down Mister Freeze for killing one of their own before the sun sets and the Dark Knight clocks in for his shift. Then the night shift works overtime to solve a kidnapping ransom gone sour in the midst of a fire bug's reign of fiery terror. This volume wraps up with the day squad and Rene Montoya being outed as a lesbian. But things get even worse for the detective when the creep who is blackmailing her ends up with a bullet in the back and all evidence points to Montoya as the prime suspect.
I just recently completed my run on this groundbreaking series. It's been on my radar for quite some time after I read a couple of issues reprinted in a Batman 100-Page Spectacular a while back. Plus, I am such a huge fan of Brubaker's work on Captain America and his ICON crime series Criminal. I'm not so familiar with Rucka's body of work, but that's actually going to change as I recently bought the Han Solo tale he wrote for the 'Journey to the Force Awakens' series of novels published in time for next month's release of Episode VII.
One of the neat things about this series is that not only are the stories separated by night and day shifts at Gotham Central, but each shift is written by just one author. Brubaker writes the night shift tales while Rucka tackles the day shift adventures of Montoya and partner Crispus Allen. The writers did manage to join forces in the opening storyline that joined the two squads together and introduced all of the major players.
Though the two squads are as different as night and day, the title's transitions appear seamless thanks to the striking artwork of Michael Lark. His gritty style looks like a series of courtroom sketches were married with the timeless design appeal of Darwyn Cooke's 'New Frontier.' It was both classic and modern at the same time, much like how the sets and costumes on the TV series GOTHAM is designed.
If you like Gotham for its superhero-less approach, you'll love Gotham Central which has limited amounts of Batman Family sighting. On the flip side, if don't like that elements of classic and new Batman stories got melded together then you'll love this series which has Gordon as an old man instead of a rookie cop under the tutelage of Montoya and Bullock.
A great series that didn't get much love when it first came out in 2002. Find it now in bargain bins before the popularity of GOTHAM and next year's Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice sends this sleeper into the stratosphere.
Worth Consuming
Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.
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