Gotham Central: Half a Life
Gotham Central: Unresolved Targets - Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka, Michael Lark
These are books 2 and 3 in the Gotham Central series about the Gotham City police. A few more Batman villains make appearances here: Two-Face, the Joker, and the Mad Hatter. Batman also figures a little more into the story, but he's still seen mostly only as he swoops in, a deus ex machina, and then vanishes into the shadows. It's interesting to see him in this light, the way that most citizens of Gotham must see him, because in most Batman comics we get to see him at work and know his motivations and methods. Here, all we know is that sometimes (but not always) he shows up when things get out of hand.
Half a Life includes two stories, "Two Down" and "Half a Life," both of which center on Renee Montoya and Two-Face, who has an odd relationship with her. "Two Down" is illustrated by Jason Pearson & Cam Smith and is much more typical comic-book fare, but Lark picks up again after that (and for all of Unresolved Targets) and I much prefer his style.
Unresolved Targets is two separate stories. "Soft Targets" features the Joker in a sniper shooting spree where he toys with the police for a while before they figure out what he's up to. "Unresolved" brings in Harvey Bullock, a less-than-upright ex-cop, and a cold case about the murder of a high school baseball team.
The stories have a touch of "Law & Order" and "CSI" in them, and the drama has the added tension that significant characters actually die. It's dangerous being a cop in Gotham City, and just because you got to know one of them in one story doesn't mean they might not get shot or blown up in the next.
Fed to jonathan's brain | February 10, 2007
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