Gotham Central Omnibus

March 23, 2017 9:03 AM - by Ed Brubaker

Gotham's Finest work around the clock to not only keep the world's most psychotic criminals off the street, but also cleaning up the mess left behind by Batman's one-man war on crime.
posted by KMH (3 comments total)

Not just my favorite comic of all time, one of my favorite books of all time! I recommend this series to literally everyone who will listen whether they like comics, or Batman, or not. I'll admit up front that I'm a huge sucker for police and detective stories, so this series hits all of the right notes. Soft Targets and Unresolved are the special standouts from this collection. Absolutely iconic work from Mike Lark. His illustration of Bullock from Gotham Central #22 might be my favorite cover ever.

The lives and personalities of the characters are exceptionally well written and consistent. Montoya's arc specifically stays with you for a day or two after you're done reading. Batman himself is used very sparingly, and it makes it really easy to see how disruptive and dangerous his presence can be in the city.

This has turned into a fanboy word-salad, so I'll stop here, but know this: If you like well written, noir-ish cop stories with excellent characters, read this. If you can suspend your disbelief to allow a world where there are super-powered criminals, you will love it.
posted by Krazor at 10:57 AM on March 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

I think you nailed it.

I'm not a single bit of a DC fan but I read this tome on a recommendation from a friend.

Couldn't believe the art; it seems like what old photos want to be. They captured something special here.

As to stories, I wanted more, but mainly because the characters are so beautifully deep and moody...
posted by KMH at 12:04 PM on March 23, 2017

I stopped buying physical comics (physical books of any kind, really) a few years ago but this omnibus keeps tempting me. I need to look and see if this batch of CBZs were among the victims of a hard drive crash a while back. If so I may just knuckle under; I love the art on this series but it doesn't age well on cheap newsprint.
posted by phearlez at 1:49 PM on March 26, 2017 [1 favorite]