The Good
After the whirlwind of last month's issue, it's nice to see the pace of the story slow down a bit for some exposition and character discussion. There are few people who can make one car ride between two cops seem like such an integral event to comics. Greg Rucka is one of them, and this issue is his forte: gritty crime and gritty people at their finest.
Something I've noticed is that Rucka is also amazing at taking dialogless pages and turning them into something that's emotive, expressive and telling. Subtle changes from panel to panel (and not just facial expressions on a copy-pasted body!) highlight tonal shifts that set the mood of what is essentially an emotionally-charged, cat-and-mouse car ride.
By the end of the issue, we're given a lot of explanation for one of the cops' demeanor with a meaningful flashback and a piece of evidence that ties everything together. Heck, we even get a shout-out to another amazing Marvel title (Mark Waid's DAREDEVIL) in a way that's tasteful and well-done.
The Bad
Not much that I can see. The writing, art, composition, pacing and style blew me away with this book.
The Verdict
Basically, if you liked GOTHAM CENTRAL, you really need to read this issue. Every single page reads like it's straight out of the Marvel equivalent, and it does an amazing job of making two bit characters into something much more.
It's amazing to see one issue characterize two cops better than the entire runs of some series, and without bogging the issue down with text, text and more text. I cannot wait for more of this series, and look forward to next month.
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