I still recall the story arc of Harvey Bullock as my favorite part of "Officer Down," because while it cost the Batman line one of their stronger supporting characters, it was an intriguing portrayal of a cop who was pushed into a tough situation and who made a call that you won't usually see in comics. "Half A Life" seems to be the logical extension of that story, as Rucka reveals something new about Montoya that puts more pressure on her and her partner, and while this story is about her dealing with a personal life complication that has intruded on work, it is also very much about how it affects her colleagues (friends, foes or otherwise) and her role in the job.
Rucka and Lark do an amazing job this issue of developing an atmosphere of paranoia and mistrust. Montoya is surrounded by people who care about her, from her partner to her captain to her brother to her lover, but they all want something from her as well, and it's easy to see why Montoya might be feeling a little more alone and a little more stressed. It's never outright said, but it comes through loud and clear in the story, that Montoya is on the edge as a result of what's gone on in this issue and the one previous, and this issue is all about increasing the pressure on her.
There are a lot of really great character interaction scenes in this issue. Montoya dealing with the blowhard Detective Lowe. Sawyer's attempt to reach out to Montoya, only to be rebuffed, and neither character comes off as particularly wrong. Montoya's interaction with her brother and by extension her family, as we see some of the reason for her closeted behavior and, while recognizing that her family is wrong to treat her that way, getting it in a way that it can be understood. And of course there's the closing part of the issue, which shows us Montoya's relationship from a less prurient angle as well as giving us a pretty impressive showdown with Lipari, the scummy ex-con who started the whole thing in the first place. There's also a nice quiet background element as Crispus Allen, Montoya's partner, does a slow burn that I expect will have a big impact on the story when all is said and done.
Lark and Hollingsworth are two of a very small roster of artists who could have made this story work so well. A lot of the storytelling is in small, furtive glances or reaction shots, rather than in big, splashy action, and Lark captures those subtle storytelling clues perfectly. In addition, the work he and Hollingsworth have done on making Gotham feel like a real city shines through in this issue, whether it's in the cramped squad rooms at GCPD, the lived-in appearance of Montoya's apartment, the coffee shop or the street outside Daria's apartment. This has the feeling of a TV show, real people against real backdrops, and a lot of that is down to the artwork.
While this story is a character study for Montoya, it is also a murder mystery, and Rucka provides some interesting clues and red herrings in this issue. The closing sequence, in particular, is reminiscent of one of the stronger sequences in "Officer Down," but I think the staging on that is deliberate, to draw the readers to the obvious conclusions about either Montoya or Allen, while forgetting that there's already another murder out there. At any rate, the question of who has committed two murders and how they're connected to all this remains the driving plot, even as the ramifications of all of this on Montoya drive the character elements of the arc.
