In this story arc, Greg Rucka builds on the events of the award-winning "Half a life" story arc to explore the other side of the Montoya/Allen partnership. Rucka incorporates other subplots that had been hinted at before, and he does so in a manner that's quite accessible. If this was your first issue of Gotham Central, you'd still be able to follow along and immerse yourself in the deliciously realistic cop drama. As always, Lark and Gaudiano reinforce that realism perfectly while fostering a dark and gritty atmosphere of palpable tension.
Detectives Renee Montoya and Crispus Allen of the Gotham City Police Department's major crimes unit emerge from their favorite pizza place to witness a crime in progress. A contingent of armed gangsters head into a nearby building, and with no backup available, the two cops find themselves alone against a building full of drug-dealing scum. What's worse is that one of their number is a Gotham "freak," the costumed criminal known as the Black Spider. Bullets fly and a cop goes down, and another has to justify his actions to the internal afairs division. Meanwhile, a crime scene investigator makes matters worse with his sideline business of unusual collectibles.
Lark's redesign of the Black Spider is an incredibly strong one. He loses the purple and orange costume motif and replaces it with a black one that's far more intimidating. Furthermore, there's a realistic look to the costume. It looks like he's actually wearing fabric rather than a second skin like most super-heroes and villains. Loughridge's colors reinforce the action perfectly. When there's an explosion of gunfire, the color shifts from cool blues and deep blacks to a red and brown motif that adds to the tension.
Little touches add to the realism and strong characterization of this script. Renee's girlfriend's frustrations at the hospital and the surprising source of help that gets her in made for a brief but strong scene. I also loved Rucka's descriptions for Corrigan's online auction. It sounded like something one would find on eBay if there were costumed criminals in our world.
The emerging theme of this story arc seems clear to me: temptation. There's the obvious temptation that Corrigan gives in to as he sells evidence from "freak" crime scenes to collectors. His thought is that no one will miss a small piece of evidence, and the reader knows it will prove to be a big deal. There's also the question of whether or not Allen has given into a different kind of temptation. Seeing his partner shot, would he step over a line and retaliate against defenseless men? Getting even in such a manner is something we'd all be tempted to do, and I look forward to learning just what happened in that run-down tenement and in the mind of a good cop in a bad situation.
