Gotham Central: Half a Life - Volume 2 - Softcover

Rucka, Greg

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1401204384 ISBN 13: 9781401204389

Publisher: DC Comics, 2005

Synopsis

Living in the shadow of the Dark Knight makes the detectives of Gotham's police force determined to prove they have what it takes to enforce the law in a city rife with criminals--with or without Batman's help.

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Reviews

Grade 10 Up–This series is very much like such programs as L.A. Law, NYPD Blue, and Law and Order. Although it takes place in the Batman universe, the Dark Knight is a peripheral character (when he appears at all). Instead, the focus is on a member of Gotham's police force–Detective Renee Montoya. She is young, urban-dwelling, and a lesbian. Half a Life features her public outing. Surrounding this plot point is a story involving Two-Face, one of Batman's enemies. His part in the story, while serving to tie up loose ends, is subservient to Montoya's more compelling drama. Lark's dark, moody drawings are a perfect complement to the story. Their bold lines and fluid compositions have a cinematic quality while still being gritty and slightly abstract; the art brings to mind the cell-shading techniques used in Richard Linklater's film Waking Life. This is a great example of the literary and artistic maturity of the graphic-novel format.–Steev Baker, Kewaskum Public Library, WI
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Of DC Comics' dozen or so monthly Batman-related titles, Gotham Central is outstanding. It focuses on the police detectives who tackle Gotham City's street-level criminals while the Caped Crusader confronts the costumed crooks. The premise grounds the series in recognizable reality, even though the plainclothes protagonists can't avoid crossing paths with the superpowered felons associated with Batman. The stories collected here feature Renee Montoya, scorned by fellow detectives when her homosexuality is revealed and subsequently framed for a murder. The tense atmosphere of the squad room and the morally ambiguous world of cops and crooks evoke contemporary crime stories in other media; Gotham Central is like The Shield more than like Hill Street Blues. Prolific comics scripter and successful mystery author Rucka devises a deft mash-up of the superhero saga and the police procedural, but Lark's shadowy, understated artwork is equally crucial to the success of the series' realistic stories, as two inferior pieces set more firmly in conventional Batman continuity and illustrated in standard superhero style make quite clear by contrast. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: DC Comics
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1401204384
• ISBN 13: 9781401204389
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 168