For years I was told I had to check out Gotham Central. Especially as a huge fan of shows like The Wire, The Shield, Law and Order and so on. SO I decided to finally dive into my 4 part collection and...For the most part I really enjoyed it.

This is cop procedural 100%. If you like that, it is what they give you. I feel the weakest story is actually the first. Which involves two cops stumbling into an apartment with Mr. Freeze and facing the consequences. It is nice to see how villains Batman usually wipes the floor with can really hurt people but it was a paint by numbers okay story. The second story is a lot stronger, involving a poor teenager who was murdered and trying to find out why and who did it. The last revolves around Renee, and is also pretty story. The cop part of it is decent, but it's the drama of her dealing with coming out of the closet to both friends and family that works the best.

Overall, a dark and gritty look into Gotham police affairs. Not everything is solved so quickly with a quick punch from Batman. We get to see these poor people going through hell trying to protect such a fucked up city.

While not reinventing the wheel it gives a really great look into the life of the police force in Gotham and how they deal with villains. I overall enjoyed it a lot and while I wasn't completely blown away I will be reading more. A 4 out of 5.