Gotham Central #1
Review by Everest
Story:
Art:

Written by Greg Rucka & Ed Brubaker
Pencils & Inks by Michael Lark
Colors by Noelle Giddings
Lettering by Willie Schubert

Published by DC.
Price: $2.50
My verdict: Worth all 250 pennies required to purchase it…

The premise: A couple of off-duty cops, detectives Fields and Driver, stop off at a cheap hotel in a bad part of town to follow up on a lead on their way home. Expecting to discover a kidnapper in the room, they are completely surprised when the nefarious Mr. Freeze answers the door. With his sub-arctic gun, he freezes Fields instantly, and freezes Driver’s hands and feet, then interrogates him, forcing him to talk by breaking off chunks of his friend with a casual nonchalance that will make you shudder. For reasons no one is quite sure about, Freeze leaves him alive when he discovers that the cops found him by mistake. After the surviving officer is treated for his injuries, thaws out and makes it back to the station to give his statement, he makes a special request of the new police commissioner, one that the entire book is based on: Please don’t call in The Bat on this one; let us handle it ourselves.

This book is NYPD Blue, beginning to end, with all the elements that make the TV show work. It’s stark and realistic feeling, full of human characters you can immediately identify with...and while Batman will occasionally be seen in this book, it will always be in the shadows. He is portrayed as a character that the cops don’t like to have to work with, one whose presence in the city they all, at least on some level, resent.

Once again, Greg Rucka (with Brubaker’s help) turns in a fantastic script. The characters are believable; their emotions are palpable, and fans of Queen & Country or Whiteout will enjoy the same ‘real’ tone this book has. The artwork on this book smacks of Alex Maleev and Sienkiewicz: grainy and ‘dirty;’ it’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but it suits the nightmarish city of Gotham and the regular men and women who fight to keep it safe.

What’s my recommendation? Buy it. Batman fans should like this book if they’re even remotely interested in the police officers with whom he has frequent contact, and casual readers with at least a passing interest in good detective stories should enjoy it as well, as long as the creators don’t slip into using Batman as deus ex machina. If the following issues are as good as this opener, you’ll be glad you were on board at the beginning.