gotham central

On Saturday December 3, 2016, an Indiana-based comics retail worker named Mary tweeted a story about an an encounter with a young Supergirl fan that made waves across the comics internet, reaching thousands of fans, as well as comic creators and the cast of the Supergirl TV show. ComicsAlliance caught up with Mary to talk about the state of LGBTQ representation in superhero comics, and to find out which books she would recommend to young readers.

Greg Rucka was born on this day in 1969, and over the course of his career in comics and novels he's made his name as one of the go-to authors for gripping and tense thriller stories, as well as bold statements on the nature of superheroes, and careful and nuanced examinations of iconic characters.

At this point, it's difficult to imagine that you, the discerning ComicsAlliance reader, do not already own Gotham Central in at least one format, but I imagine there are some folks out there who have just been waiting to get the whole series in one go. If that sounds like you --- or if you're just looking to pick up one of the greatest DC Comics ever printed in a third or fourth format --- then we have good news: The solicitations for DC's upcoming paperback and hardcover releases have revealed that it's planning a massive Gotham Central Omnibus for release next May.

Many of comics’ most popular characters have been around for decades, and in the case of the big names from the publisher now known as DC Comics, some have been around for a sizable chunk of a century. As these characters passed through the different historical eras known in comics as the Golden Age (the late 1930s through the early 1950s), the Silver Age (the mid 1950s through the late 1960s), the Bronze Age (the early 1970s through the mid 1980s) and on into modern times, they have experienced considerable changes in tone and portrayal that reflect the zeitgeist of the time. With this feature we’ll help you navigate the very best stories of DC Comics’ most significant characters decade by decade. This week, we’re taking a look at the best Joker comics.

If there's one great thing we've gotten out of DC's Convergence event, it's that it has provided a unique and welcome opportunity for creators to return to characters from a very specific time, giving them one more opportunity to set a few things right and give readers a little bit of fanservice along the way. For me, the most anticipated part of that was being able to see Greg Rucka return to Renee Montoya alongside artist Cully Hamner in Convergence: The Question. To mark the occasion, I spoke to Rucka about his return to the Question, following up on our in-depth interview about Batman and Gotham Central. In the second part of our two-part interview we talked about Renee Montoya's unraveling life, her transformation into The Question, and her search for inner peace, as well as her disappearance in the New 52 and her return in Convergence. This interview contains spoilers for Convergence: The Question.

If there's one great thing we've gotten out of DC's Convergence event, it's that it has provided a unique and welcome opportunity for creators to return to characters from a very specific time, giving them one more opportunity to set a few things right and give readers a little bit of fanservice along the way. For me, the most anticipated part of that was being able to see Greg Rucka return to Renee Montoya alongside artist Cully Hamner in Convergence: The Question. To mark the occasion, I spoke to Rucka about his return to the Question,following up on our in-depth interview about Batman and Gotham Central. We discussed his history with the character, and how Renee Montoya transitioned from the role of cop to superhero, in part one of our two-part interview.

With long runs on hit titles like Captain America, Daredevil, Sleeper, Fatale, Criminal and more, writer Ed Brubaker has cemented his position as one of the most prominent writers in American comics, and he got his start with superheroes with Batman. After being brought in from the world of crime comics to write the Batman comics in 2000, Brubaker rose to prominence with his work on Gotham City's heroes, including cowriting the seminal Gotham Central, relaunching Catwoman with a critically acclaimed and influential new direction, and retelling the first encounter between Batman and the Joker. This week, ComicsAlliance is taking a look back at Brubaker's tenure on the Dark Knight with an in-depth interview, and today, we continue our discussion of his work on Detective Comics and focus on two of his most well-known projects: Batman: The Man Who Laughs and Gotham Central.

This week marks the premiere of Gotham, the new Fox television show focusing on Jim Gordon's first year as a cop in Batman's hometown, and the origins of young Bruce Wayne and the people who will one day become the greatest enemies of his war on crime. That the show exists at all is a testament to how strong Jim Gordon and the rest of the Gotham city Police Department are as heroes in their own rights. So if Gotham has you in the mood to read about Gordon, Harvey Bullock and the rest of the GCPD -- or if you just want to dive into some solid Batman comics where the spotlight isn't entirely on the Dark Knight -- then I've got some suggestions for great comics about Gotham's top cops!

To say that Greg Rucka had a profound impact on DC Comics in the 21st Century is underselling things quite a bit. After arriving on the scene in the late '90s, he became one of the few writers to have written all three of DC's biggest characters, with critically acclaimed runs on Action Comics and Wonder Woman. It was on Batman, however, where he made his biggest impact, as one of the writers for the year-long No Man's Land crossover, the relaunched "New Gotham" era of Detective Comics, and cowriter of the enduringly influential Gotham Central. In part one of our in-depth interview, Rucka discussed his arrival in Gotham with the popular "No Man's Land" megaseries. In part two, the writer detailed his involvement in the "New Gotham" revamp of 2000, including the Bruce Wayne: Fugitive saga, the introduction of Sasha Bordeaux, and the difficult transition from longtime Batman group editor Dennis O'Neil to Bob Schreck. Today we finish our three-part interview series with a look at Gotham Central, the book that focused on the non-superhero police detectives of Gotham City. Rucka speaks at length about how looking at Batman from the outside changes how the character works, the nature of collaboration with series co-writer Ed Brubaker and artist Michael Lark, and how the book produced one of the greatest Joker stories of all time.

If you were paying attention to the Internet while you were watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on Tuesday night, then you saw the latest volley in the ongoing war between DC and Marvel for control of mass media. This time, it was an announcement, perfectly timed to coincide with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s debut, of a new television series focusing on the origin story of Gotham City's Commissioner Gordon. And as