A great read... crime fiction meets the superhero set

books:

	• Gotham Central Vol. 4: The Quick and the Dead (Batman) Greg Rucka DC Comics, 2006 - 166 pages average customer review:based on 2 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

A great read... crime fiction meets the superhero set

Another fine entry in this compelling series set in the gritty underbelly of Batman's Gotham City. The plot increasingly focusses on Det. Rene Montoya, which is fine by me (although I'm waiting for her partner, Crispus Allen, to come out of the box a bit more...) Author Greg Rucka's debt to HBO-TV's "The Wire" is increasingly obvious, but that's mighty fine source material.

In this volume, a booby trap set by one of the Flash's foes, Mr. Alchemy, sets Montoya and Allen on a trip to Keystone City, where Alchemy pulls a "Silence Of The Lambs" taunt-the-cops number... Although the story gets more wrapped up in super-doings than earlier story arcs, Montoya's eventual beat-down of the bad guy, though emotionally satisfying, sets the stage for her to begin questioning her own attraction to extreme violence. I predict an even stronger, richer storyline further down the road.

Great entry in a very strong series, compulsively readable from start to finish.

for more information click here

Good Cops in a Bad Land

This entire series is excellent! Rucka & Brubaker are NOT my favorite people for Superhero books but they do EXCEL at crime stories. Gotham Central is an excellent "reality" approach at one of comic-dom's most famous cities. Not everything in a town like Gotham is about Mr Freeze or the Joker but even when they are, Batman isn't the only one working on it. Love this series and highly recommend it to ANYONE who likes Law & Order, Batman and maybe even The Untouchables.