Other rouges including Poison Ivy, Two-Face, and the Mad Hatter make appearances and are used effectively. The first big story arc involves Ras Al Ghaul as well as new creations such as Whisper A’Daire and Kyle Abbot. Harvey Bullock, Renee Montoya and Crispus Allen all get a lot of page time during the run and you can see the seeds being planted for Gotham Central.ĭespite this more down to earth approach many classic villains make an appearance. The detectives of the MCU had started to get more character development in the 90s and Rucka continued to build on this. These influences were also explored in the expanding role of the GCPD. Taking influences from hardboiled detective fiction and crime dramas it was a nice return to the character’s roots.

Though his work showed potential it was this run that he made his mark. Rucka had already had experience writing the character having come aboard the Bat-books during the No Man’s Land story arc.

Gone were the over the top, mega-event stories of the 90s and in came a more grounded approach with an emphasis on crime and mystery. Because of this Rucka was given an almost clean slate to tell the type of Batman stories he wanted. The mega-crossover No Man’s Land had just wrapped up and the editors on the bat books were looking to reset the status quo with the New Gotham era. Various artists were on the book during this time though the two main collaborators were Shawn Martinbrough and Rick Burchett who both played a huge part in making this run as great as it was.Ĭoming into the book Rucka was gifted a pretty big opportunity. There was one major crossover Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive that took place during the run which Rucka’s work on Detective was the driving force of. The stories were mostly self-contained mysteries with a few story arcs here and there. Rucka worked on the title from 2000 – 2004 and ended up producing many issues during that time.

Taking over the book in a time where DC was looking to revamp the character for the new millennium, Rucka along with various artists put together a solid stretch of stories that were not only great to read but would set the tone for the Caped Crusader going forward. It’s stories like these that have kept Batman relevant for so long and carrying on in that tradition was Greg Rucka’s work on Detective Comics in the early 2000s. Creative teams like O’Neil/Adams and Grant/Breyfogle brought the Dark Knight back to his roots while at the same time redefining him for a new generation. One of the defining features of a lot of great comic runs is the impact on the character.

Batman by Greg Rucka