Gotham Central, Book One: In the Line of Duty
2011 • 240 pages
Ratings13
Average rating3.8
15
Ratings13
Average rating3.8
Follows the careers and personal lives of the Gotham City police department, profiling detectives and how they handle corruption, supervillains, and the vigilante work of the Batman.
Series
4 primary booksGotham Central (Hardcover Reprints) is a 4-book series with 4 primary works first released in 2005 with contributions by Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka.
Reviews with the most likes.
Story
This first volume is 3 stories comprised of 10 issues. The first story is 2 issues, the second is 3, and the final one is 5.
The second story was kind of a continuation of the first, while the final story felt more stand alone.
Each story features a different Batman villain, and cameos of the Dark Knight himself.
Unlike the new Fox show, this is set much later in the timeline. Commissioner Gordon is retired rather than being new to the force. He only made a cameo in one issue rather than being a main character.
I thought the third story was a lot more interesting/had a better story than the first two. If it had been the only story, I would have rated this volume 4 stars, but the other two bring the rating down to a 3.5 (rounded down to 3 since GR hates half stars).
I like the concept of focusing on Gotham police in a city where Batman handles the worst criminals. They hit on a bunch of different reactions to Batman's presence.
I'm interested enough in the characters and stories that I'll probably pick up the next volume from the library at some point.
Artwork
The Artwork was good, but not great. There were some panels that didn't look very good, but others that were better. It really felt uneven. I'm not sure if it was intentional if certain panels were given more time than others.
