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Doing a reread of GOTHAM CENTRAL. Honestly we don't deserve a book this good. Besides the amazing stories, the gorgeous art, the rich characters, the clever structure, one thing about it really blew me away again.
The sparing use of Batman and the villains is so brilliant. They are barely characters. They are mysterious and dangerous forces that occupy the space the GCPD try to control. They are an obstacle to normalcy.
For Batman, seeing him as a character who shows up when least expected, knows more than he should, disappears when he feels like it, and is just generally defiant in nature, all creates my ideal for the character.
Batman isn't a friend to the GCPD. He's a 3rd party. He isn't someone to be trusted or relied on. He should be resented. And most importantly he is intimidating to the point of being downright scary.
The book does a great job of elevating villains. Freeze is horrifying. Two-Face is so upsetting. But the police have no choice but to go up against them, as a whole police force. Then we see Batman do it alone, by choice, and it's a whole different thing.
Like soldiers arriving in a warzone to fight an opposing army and finding out that there are some other guys already there that aren't really on anybody's side.
It makes Batman alien. It makes him unlikable because he is just another example of the thing that scares the GCPD. And while their interests align often, he is still not one to be trusted because what he is will always make him closer to a villain in their eyes.
All of that is so wonderful and I wish could be explored more in superhero comics. The regular person's perspective on these costumed power struggles that dominate cities, planets, even whole universes. I love that stuff so much.
Also the idea of following "the last honest cops" and seeing that they are mostly pretty broken, screwed up, and maybe not even that honest is great.
