GCPD: The Blue Wall #1 Review: A Different Take on Gotham's Finest

GCPD: The Blue Wall continues writer John Ridley's examination of law enforcement in the DC Universe. The new mini-series by Ridley and artist Stefano Raffaele follows three rookie cops during their first weeks on the job, patrolling what has traditionally been one of DC's most dangerous and crime-ridden series. While I Am Batman focuses on the complex relationship between vigilante superheroes and law enforcement, The Blue Wall focuses solely on the cops themselves. In fact, the comic is almost entirely free from any mention of superheroes or supervillains at all save for a handful of panels. 

The Batman line has a proud tradition of cop-focused books, dating back to the Gotham Central, one of the best Batman books of the past 25 years. However, many people are less enamored with law enforcement stories nowadays in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests and other systemic failings in the criminal justice system growing more apparent. To be blunt, many people no longer look at police as the "good guys" in American society today due to continuous failures on both the micro and macro level. However, John Ridley is perhaps the most qualified person in comics writing who could tackle the complex issues of law enforcement in today's society. Indeed, the comic features police brutality, racism, the inequity faced by convicts who have served their time, and the wider perception of police in a changing cultural landscape. 

While it could be argued that as the protagonists of the story, the cops of The Blue Wall are portrayed in a positive light, I felt that Ridley does a good job presenting them as people doing a difficult job with difficult ethical and moral choices. Indeed, the first issue focuses on a cop hailed as a hero for choosing not to shoot a potential suspect on the run, when in fact she simply froze and failed to fire when in a life and death situation. She's praised as making the "right decision," when the readers (and the character herself) knows that the only thing preventing her from being a murderer was her own indecision. 

Stefano Raffaele's artwork is grounded in the manner you'd expect a cop series to project. The colors are mostly muted and Raffaele's art sometimes hearkens back to Michael Lark's iconic aesthetics in Gotham Central. At times, I felt the pencils were let down by the inking (by Raffaele himself) and coloring by Brad Anderson. There's some weird shading choices at times and some of the rougher and less detailed figures in the backgrounds appear more like blobs than actual people and it feels less like an artistic choice than a dissonance between the pencils and finished artwork. 

My main problem with The Blue Wall is similar to the issue that I have with Ridley's I Am Batman series, in that both series seem very content with filing down the interesting parts of the DC Universe to conform to a more generic state. This is a series set in Gotham with nary a mention of supervillains, superheroes, or any of the other weirdness of the city. It's just... a cop story. 

Just like I Am Batman is set in a New York City that's presented as a generic metropolis devoid of any flavor, Ridley's Gotham is portrayed as similarly bland and lifeless. Gotham Central was a compelling story because it took a look at how "normal cops" would function in a hopelessly corrupt city where a billionaire would feel compelled to take on a crusade against crime because it was the only option to keep people safe. The Blue Wall chose to bypass any sort of intersection with superheroics, at least in the first issue, and it left me wondering why this series was set in Gotham City (or the DC Universe) at all? If a series is going to mostly exist outside the framework of its shared universe, why not have Ridley make this comic as a DC Black Label series? Why feature a GCPD that simply exists as a normal police department?

Ultimately, if you enjoy cop stories in the vein of Chicago PD or even more nuanced takes like Ridley's own American Crime Story, you'll likely enjoy this comic book. If you want to see a Gotham-focused comic about an entity that has long had its own (corrupt and irredeemable) character, give The Blue Wall a pass because Gotham has been all but scrubbed of any of its defining characteristics.  

Published by DC Comics

On October 18, 2022

Written by John Ridley

Art by Stefano Raffaele

Colors by Brad Anderson

Letters by Ariana Maher

Cover by Reiko Murakami