GOTHAM CENTRAL #37 REVIEW

[Ovid]

Reviewer: T. Martin, khpa3665@yahoo.co.uk
Story Title: Sunday Bloody Sunday

“Extinction happens on some scale every moment. Murder or evolution or divine act, pick your poison.”

Writer: Greg Rucka
Artist: Steve Lieber
Letters: Clem Robbins
Colourist: Lee Loughridge
Associate Editor: Nachie Castro
Editor: Matt Idelson
Published by: DC Comics

If I’d been asked before this whole crossover started which Countdown to Infinite Crisis mini I thought Gotham Central would tie into, I’d probably have said OMAC Project or Villains United. Day of Vengeance would not have occurred to me. The inter-dimensional ‘magickal’ epic would not, I’d have guessed, have sat easily with the street-level feel of the police drama. Although Rucka does his best to integrate the two, I would, unfortunately, still have been right.

The great success of this one-shot is the characterisation of Det. Crispus Allen. Numerous issues have been devoted to his partner Renee Montoya, so it’s good to see the other half of the equation. Allen is a family man, who loves his God-fearing wife and their two sons but has lost his own faith within a thousand memories of death and horror. As the Crisis breaks, quite literally, over Gotham, Allen must take care of his partner while trying to make it home to his family.

I can see what Rucka is trying to do here: grounding the cosmic Crisis by showing its impact on families and loved-ones. Certainly Allen’s fear as he is in mortal danger and his ambivalence about leaving his post are both very well done. A number of things prevent the issue quite coming off, though. Rucka spends some of the time advancing a plotline regarding Montoya’s showdown with the corrupt policeman Corrigan and also on Allen’s observations regarding Montoya’s increasing aggression. In other words, where we need Allen’s personal voice to guide us through the mayhem, instead we spend to long on Montoya (again), albeit seen through Allen’s eyes. More seriously, the encounter with Captain Marvel and the reason for Montoya’s rage are too outlandish for the noir tone set by Allen’s voiceover or by the title as a whole.

Essentially, Rucka seems to be trying to do too many different things at once. He starts with Allen’s monologue on faith then moves on to Montoya’s violence. This is in turn interrupted by the arrival of Captain Marvel and the Seven Deadly Sins. The two cops then encounter costumed villains, divided loyalties and racist street thugs, before the original themes of family and faith are picked up again at the end. While some scenes work very well (Allen’s opening monologue, for example), others don’t and the issue as a whole has little structure. The denouement is far too quick.

Steve Lieber takes over this time from semi-regular penciller Kano and inker Stefano Gaudiano and although Lieber is certainly very good indeed, the difference is notable. Lieber’s Allen is expressive and sympathetic, but his Montoya is unusually unattractive (even when there’s no reason for her to be) and his figures sometimes awkward in movement. One sequence, where Allen and Montoya fight third-rate villain The Fisherman, is however edge-of-the-seat stuff.

This is by no means the best Gotham Central issue. Its appeal to those following the title is in its characterisation of Allen and some advancement in his relationship with Montoya. Fans of Day of Vengeance should be interested in a new perspective on that event, but this issue is not a good or typical representative of the title for those just looking in.

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