The top cops of Gotham City, led by Commissioner Renee Montoya, will soon become the central stars of GCPD: The Blue Wall, a Batman-related limited series written by Academy Award-winner John Ridley and illustrated by Stefano Raffaele.
DC released a preview for the first issue of the series at San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC0. The preview features a cover by Reiko Murakami showing Montoya and her officers standing proud as the silhouette of Batman looms over them. Interiors for the issue show Montoya giving a speech to Gotham City Police Department officers and reveal down-to-earth interactions between several cops on the force.
Montoya assumed the role of commissioner in the "Fear State" event that ran in the Batman books of 2020. In I Am Batman, the other major DC title currently written by Ridley, she was last seen being courted by Mayor Rafael Villanueva of New York City, who had heard of her tough-on-crime policies and hoped to bring her to the Big Apple. Montoya neither accepted nor declined his offer, and instead began investigating New York in her guise as the Question to discern the true identity of a murderer. This brought her into contact with Jace Fox, the Batman of New York City.
While the plot of GCPD: The Blue Wall is still under wraps, the book is reminiscent of Gotham Central, the most prominent police procedural series that DC previously published. Written by Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka, Gotham Central ran for 40 issues from 2002 to 2006 and focused on GCPD officers and detectives like Montoya, Crispus Allen and Maggie Sawyer. James Gordon, who was not serving as commissioner at the time, also made appearances in the book, as did Batman and the other vigilantes of Gotham City. Instead of constantly featuring costumed characters, however, Gotham Central focused more on the day-to-day work of cops trying to serve and protect one of the most dangerous urban centers in the DC Universe. The book won critical praise, though its sales were never high.
Other Gotham cop procedurals published by DC over the years include Batman: GCPD, a four-issue mini-series written in 1996 by Chuck Dixon and drawn by Jim Aparo and Bill Sienkiewicz. Batman: Gordon's Law and Batman: Gordon of Gotham, two other mini-series respectively published in 1996 and 1998, focused on James Gordon's early cases, including his tenure as a young police officer fighting against corruption in Chicago.
GCPD: The Blue Wall goes on sale Oct. 18 from DC Comics.
Source: DC Comics