Writer & Layouts: David Lapham / Penciller: Ramon Bachs / Inker: Nathan Massengill / Colour Artist: Jason Wright / Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher / Collects: Detective Comics #800 (back-up only), #801-#808, #811-814 / HC / DC Comics
Review by Paul Dunne
18th March 2020 (Released: 11th March 2020)
The Pitch: As the Dark Knight tries to shut down a drug ring turned deadly, Bruce Wayne must contend with a wayward 14-year-old who is dangerously close to Gotham City's underworld!
This is one of the great unsung works of the Batman canon. Arriving just after War Games, but taking place before it, City of Crime seemed to be forever overshadowed by mammoth crossovers. But it's among the best twelve issues I've read in comics. Certainly one of the most disturbing. Starting with a series of horrific crimes involving The Penguin, an illegal baby adoption ring, and a liberal showering of arson, the story begins to take it's horrible shape as Batman delves into the things inside and underneath Gotham. At its heart is a sinister cabal of people made from dirt, who number in their thousands and who only have one agenda. But what is it? How does it connect to a missing teenage girl? And to another, found murdered after crossing paths with Bruce Wayne at a party?
This book will eat away at your sense of Gotham.
City of Crime weaves this mystery right across the twelve issues, skillfully keeping its secrets across the entire run. I'm not going to spoil them here, except to say it will make you uneasy. Something about this book will eat away at your well-ordered sense of the world of Gotham. Think you know the city? You don't. Think you know all about its criminals? You don't. Think you know what's waiting for you in the shadows? You. Have. No. Idea.
David Lapham's writing creates a tense, hypnotic vibe, more akin to a good novel than a comic, meaning you get a lot of God's-eye monologue. That is if God wanted to terrify you and make sure you didn't sleep for a night or two. Ramon Bach's art is sturdy, making a shadowy giant of Batman, hiding him beneath more than one mask throughout. The inks (by Nathan Massengill) and colours (by Jason Wright) keep the mystery alive, hiding the truth from your eye. Jared K. Fletcher's letters add urgency and contribute to the mounting horror in the book. The entire run is built to create dread and a creeping sense that something is wrong. The beauty of it is its refusal, even at the end, to give up its secrets. This book offers you a glimpse into a Gotham we've never seen, one that lurks behind the public view, whispering to you about what a city really does to its inhabitants. It's a dark and unforgiving place. The City of Crime.
