Gotham Central (2002)
Chosen by me from my shelves.
One of the things that was happening as I really got into comics is an influx of crime writers into super-hero books. Bendis, Azzarello and Brubaker and Rucka. All massively important with shaping my tastes in comics.
And this is one of the best.
Like the previously reviewed Top Ten, this is greatly influenced by Hill Street Blues and it's ilk.
A cop procedural that just happens to be set in the super-hero ridden Gotham.
How do police do normal detective work in a city filled with people like Mr. Freeze (Michael Lark's art is so good at conveying the more moribund cops and how terrifying a goofy guy with a freeze gun could be) and Batman (not seen in the first issue, and indeed most of the run, but whose presence is felt keenly)?
The dialogue has that crisp directness of a pulp but is filled with character and those little details that fill in a world.
Tense, funny, beautiful. DC has not had it's equal since it finished.
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