This issue brings to a close the "Unresolved" story, and cements it in my mind as the best Gotham Central story done yet. Brubaker has taken disgraced cop Harvey Bullock and turned him into an even more fascinating character for me, and that was just a sideline to a great murder mystery with weird Bat-villain elements that comes to a really satisfying close in this issue. It's a bit of a left turn when you first hear it, but it makes absolute sense when you look at all the pieces, and really does give the sense of the kind of stupid, minor thing that can quickly escalate to a major crime in the real world. With Lark and Gaudiano continuing to present gritty and yet thoroughly readable artwork, Gotham Central continues to be one of the finest crime comics on the stands, the best Batman-related comic hands down and one of the best all-around comics to boot.
OK, I'll admit it, I've kind of come around on the "Previously in Gotham Central..." page. I still think a properly done roll call or intro to the characters would be a tremendous help, but that "Previously" page is well done, echoing the television shows that do it well by using previous panels. Actually, this issue is a tribute to the proper way to use flashbacks, as Lark, Gaudiano and Loughridge use a blue-tinged or green-tinged sequence of flashbacks twice to not just fill in information but to help establish mood. The flashbacks of Harvey's life since leaving the force are brutal, and show exactly what he sacrificed to "avenge" Jim Gordon.
I should be of two minds about the Bullock stuff, really. Because I love the character, and think his addition to the regular cast would provide the book with some spice, and Brubaker's story here pretty much makes it so that could never realistically happen. However, it's done so well, so believably and with such heart-wrenching emotion, that I found myself loving it despite where it leaves the character in terms of limited future use. I fully believed we were going to see the end of Bullock in this issue, and I was actually getting pissed with Josie Mac (a character I love!) for not cutting him some slack and for being so naive about policing in Gotham. Brubaker takes on the possibly dirty, breaking-the-rules cop here in a way that is comparable to the work done by the writers on The Shield, one of the best police dramas ever done on television.
You'll note the many comparisons to TV in this review, and while I'm a firm believer that the comics medium can stand on its own and doesn't need to be able to "make a great movie" or "make a great TV show," Gotham Central as written would make a friggin' awesome TV show. However, if it were on TV, we wouldn't get the artwork by Lark and Gaudiano, and that would be a damn shame, because as underrated as this series is in the market, these artists are even more underrated. The ability to capture mood, in the way of someone like an Alex Maleev or Bill Sienkiewicz, combined with realistic character expressions and storytelling of a more traditional artist like Neal Adams, is nothing to sneeze at, and that's what these guys here. Look at the crazy expression on the perp's face as he/she (trying to avoid spoilers here) is loaded into the squad car, or the desperation on Bullock's face near the end, as you can practically smell the booze and self-loathing coming off of him. Plus, as always, these guys make Gotham come to life so vividly that you could believe it's a real city.
This story is pretty much everything I've ever wanted out of Gotham Central. Tighter control over the cast, so that I didn't wonder "who was that?" in the middle of several scenes, a really gripping case that I could never predict, some really interesting personal subplots and some pretty nifty action sequences as well. If you haven't been reading Gotham Central, or if you picked up one of the early stories and it just didn't click for some reason, give the "Unresolved" story a try. It's really worth your time.
