In the wake of the super-tense Joker storyline, one might expect Gotham Central to take a short breather, to let the characters examine their lives and their jobs in the wake of the death of one of their own and a terrifying rampage by the Joker through their precinct. But the fact that Brubaker instead launches right back into politics and police work as usual not only serves up a great story, but indicates the nature of this job, that there's always more crime waiting and that the cops don't get to rest. Someone who is taking a rest this issue, however (or more likely, just working ahead on future issues) is Michael Lark, which means we've got Greg (Sword of Dracula) Scott on art chores.
Scott's work is a little too inky and dark for me compared to Lark's, but it's pretty solid work, and with Loughridge's colors helping to bring the differences out, it works pretty well. His characters are recognizable (at least, the ones I would recognize anyway) despite being distinctively different from Lark's interpretations, and the silent funeral sequence that opens the story is very powerful. Loughridge deserves some credit for maintaining continuity and mood with his colors, muted browns, blues and oranges that really give the sense of a different world than the one that Batman and his brightly colored adversaries operate in.
Brubaker's story is about two things, a new mystery and police politics, and they're woven together pretty smoothly. Even though the notion of Sergeant Davies's promotion is wholly new in this issue, it's written so that it feels like an ongoing concern. It also makes for a nice backdrop, a little bit of tension and office politics in the midst of the job, because it doesn't impact directly on the case. Instead, the case is something that starts out looking like a fairly routine homicide, and we watch the cops run it down.
This sort of thing can be repetitive and formulaic, as it's such a part of cop shows, but I've watched hours of Law & Order and NYPD Blue and I was still very much engaged by Brubaker's tale of Crowe and Davies on a case. Part of this is down to great characters and dialogue, whether it's when Crowe and Davies capture their suspect or interrogate him, and part of it is because Brubaker maintains unpredictability in the story. Is this going to be a one-off case, solved quickly, where the main story is Davies's promotion? Or is it leading to something bigger? I'm a little nervous that the ending might be leading us to yet another member of Batman's rogues' gallery (given the method of death, one in particular jumps right to mind), and hoping that it will instead be a case set in Gotham not involving the supervillains, but at any rate, it's an interesting mystery even if it does go down that path.
Gotham Central is one of my favorite books, recognizable as part of the cop genre, using the familiar tropes of that genre to great effect while steering clear of cliche thanks to great writing and artwork. In fact, there's just one thing that could make it perfect, and if you're anyone except the editor of this book, you can stop reading now because you've heard it before: We really could use a regular roster with headshots and names at the beginning of every issue to keep track of this massive ensemble cast and what roles they all play. Fortunately, the stories always do a good job of developing whoever is front and center, but I can't help but think how much more involved I'd be in these characters if I was reminded of them when they're off-panel as well as on.
