About book Gotham Central Deluxe Edition, Book 2: Jokers And Madmen (2009)
This one is even better than Book 1! The way this series weaves in the iconic characters with the deep and rich characters in the M.C.U. is wonderful. This is not only a good comic book, it's a great crime series:1) The world is Gotham, anyone who has read enough Batman knows the world. However, here we get to see another side of it, in the trenches as it were. As in the Book 1 of this series, more layers of the world is shown...it's essential New York but a stylized one. However, it's not the world that is the most important thing in this series, it's the wonderful characters new and old. The art is amazing, it's gritty, dirty, full of character. The backdrop in which the characters play their stories in is deep with shadows and and amazing line work. Great art!2) The stories in this collection are fantastic. The first one being (not doing spoilers) funny and a great breather after the sad depressing air of the last book (it does not get any better...it's Gotham...) but this short one shot was fun. Then follows the two other arcs that involve iconic characters in the Bat universe. The first one is amazing, the stakes are high, the threat is real. This type of story has been done a lot of times in comic book format, but somehow it feels fresh because we don't see this story from Batman's POV. We see this story unfolding in the trenches of the M.C.U. we see the bullshit of the Mayor, we see the stretching and stress of the squad...it's great drama and an awesome read. The last arc is also amazing bringing another character more closely tied to this ground level world and exploring the psychological aspect of living and working in a city like Gotham, it's sad and depressing but in the most dramatic of ways. Good stuff.3) From Montoya, Sarge to Driver and MacDonald the cast is great, you feel for their pain, you share in their struggles. Add to that the art is amazing in making this world and especially the characters in this world read, the facial expressions, the body posture, the layout, the line work, the colour pallet it's all there to push realism, to draw us in. There are so many great characters in this book and I don't want to ruin any of them for you (I can't even tell you who is a standout cause that character would be a spoiler). Just believe me when I say that these characters, if you met them in real life, you'd give them a hug, it's that good.This is an awesome crime/procedural series, it's not about the Bat, it's not about the rogues, it's about the people who do the dirty work, and cleans up the messes that the above mentioned characters leave in their wake. It's about the struggles of being a good cop in a city all messed up. It's great drama and an amazing read. Highly recommended.Onward to the next book! The first Gotham Central collection is amazing, the writing is spot on. But here each of the stories had something that didn't quite fit. The story Life is Full of Disappointments has two accountants killed by poison in a big corporate building, yet the company carries on working as normal, and the secretary is just vaguely annoyed by the detectives turning up. Because in general the quality of the series is so high, these kind of inconsistencies are really jarring. Still an enjoyable read, though.
Do You like book Gotham Central Deluxe Edition, Book 2: Jokers And Madmen (2009)?
Law and Order with a dash of The Bat; well worth reading for fans of a good police procedural.
—Bea
G.C.P.D. series is such a great series... Highly recommended for Batman fans..
—Cassie
Really enjoying this series. Dark, complex and hard to put down.
—MariaLeeAnneScott
liked it, but somewhat less than the first book
—faithieee
