GCPD The Blue Wall, from DC, continues its mission with issue three.
Gotham City Police Department (GCPD) commissioner Renee Montoya is unsettled. She senses that Harvey “Two-Face” Dent is active and acting in a criminal way. But she can’t find proof, and it’s making her of two minds: it’s recommended that she move on, leave it alone. But of course on the other hand…
This title reads like the ‘police blotter’, that is, makes us feel as if we are reading the internal police chatter: the reports, the meetings, the scuttlebutt. Alive and unedited for the press, for the lookie-loos. And indeed, it’s a fine read. Low on bling, ultralow on glossy shine and wax, The Blue Wall is a procedural with moxy. John Ridley writes clear and present danger with a ciggie dangling from the lip. There is a matter-of-factness here, a flatness that befits the facts.
Stefano Raffaele (with colours by Brad Anderson) likewise gets the memo: keep the story centred around the characters, and don’t wax your surfboard on the streets of Gotham. The figures are real and unvarnished. The poses fit the mold; bold and close-up gorgeous. It’s painted dark and cramped, the squad rooms made claustrophobic by design, or by hook or by crook. It’s all nicely encapsulated in GCPD, with the police politics running afoul, the rampant underbelly of hazing, and passive-aggressive taunting. Colourful in language, narrow in focus, and intense.
Solid letters by Ariana Maher contribute to the book being a firm “A” in my book! Each issue gets better and better!
DC Comics, GCPD, The Blue Wall #1. $3.99 for 23 pages of content. Teen
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