Gotham Central, Book Two: Jokers and Madmen

Gotham Central, Book Two: Jokers and Madmen

2005 • 288 pages

Ratings12

Average rating4.1

15

Story
This volume is made up of issues 11-22 comprising four stories. It features notable Batman characters like the Mad Hatter, Harvey Bullock, the Penguin and The Joker. Batman once again makes a few cameos, but he's present even less than he was in the first volume.

Daydreams and Believers (1 issue) - 3 stars
Soft Targets (4 issues) - 3.5 stars
Life is Full of Disappointments (3 issues) - 3.5 stars
Unresolved (4 issues) - 3.5 stars

I thought all the stories were decent, but not exceptional. It's a toss up for me between Soft Targets and Unresolved as the best story of this volume. I guess because they are the ones involving Batman villains? Life is Full of Disappointments and Daydreams and Believers were just basic cop stories that could have just as easily been set somewhere else. That didn't make them bad however.

Overall another decent entry in a series that offers a pretty unique take on the super hero genre.

Artwork
The artwork once again is good, but not great. There are a lot of characters in this series and I sometimes struggle to tell them apart. It's not my favorite art style, but far from the worst.

This is a dense volume with lots of panels and text on each page making for a heavier read than many comic trades I read.

November 9, 2014Report this review