I'll be honest, I wasn't crazy about Montoya taking center stage so early in the Gotham Central series. It's not that I don't like the character, or that I don't think Rucka has the best handle on her of any writer save perhaps her creator, but it just seemed that she had seen plenty of screen time in the pages of Batman and Detective, and we already knew plenty about her. As it turns out, I was wrong on that count, as Rucka serves up a doozy about Montoya's private life that I wouldn't have imagined but which made perfect sense, and which ought to give room for some interesting material given her job. There's also a mystery lurking in the background about the guy who stirred up the trouble for Montoya, and of course the usual terrific artwork by Michael Lark.
What I really enjoyed about this issue was seeing some of what goes on both in and out of the squad room during downtime. One event is big an important to the story, but the little things are just as interesting. Seeing cops sitting around talking about a perp who got himself killed trying to escape, seeing Montoya make her morning jog or take dinner with her parents or seeing more of the inter-departmental rivalries all made for great scenes. I particularly liked the jealousy and laziness implied in one of the other divisions and how Detective Allen and Captain Sawyer reacted.
Unlike the last two story arcs, this one isn't really driven by a case, but that doesn't mean we don't get some police procedural stuff. Rucka tells us a lot by showing us how easily Montoya and Allen crack the case that robbery couldn't, as well as providing some dark humor about stupid criminals and smart cops. And the story of Selker and Lipari has me curious what exactly Lipari is up to. I expect his use of the photo for Montoya to be just the start of his planned revenge.
I'm a big fan of The Shield, FX's cop drama, and Montoya's story here reminds me of one of the more fascinating subplots that has been going on in that show. Especially the implied self-loathing, fear and reactions from others that seem to make that fear justified. I especially liked that Crowley, one of the other leads of the series, doesn't have to live up to the enlightened cop that we'd all prefer in our heroes, as Rucka gives him a believable flaw that is all too common among cops and military personnel thanks to the culture there.
It's hard for me to believe that I was having trouble with Lark's work earlier in the series, that I was a little disappointed in comparing his Gotham Central work to Scene of the Crime, because now I'm loving it again. His rougher, almost dirty style is perfect for conveying the atmosphere of a street level, realistic Gotham that we don't often see in the pages of the Bat-books, and the reason all this interpersonal drama works is because the people are so believable on the page. Hollingsworth also deserves some praise, as his ability to color the book in a grim and even somewhat drab fashion maintains that feeling of realism without losing the color of a sunrise jog or the moody light of the Gotham streets at night.
