Continuing in Gotham Central's fine tradition of combining traditional police work with Batman's supervillains, this trade collects two story arcs, one with Joker and the other with the Mad Hatter. In the Joker arc, he has a holiday sniping spree with additional mayhem to keep the police running. As always, Batman is practically nonexistent. The Mad Hatter story is actually a bit more subtle, longer, and a much more traditional investigation. It also features the return of Bullock. Which, honestly, I never missed him, so I didn't get too thrilled about it.I would take the stories seperately, but there's no real need to. They both show the very solid storytelling and attention to character that the Gotham Central title has shown from issue one. No, they're not quite as strong of a storyline as in Half a Life. But seriously, what is? It's also a very good use of very familiar villains, and I like that they don't overwhelm the book with their presence. Not even Joker is allowed to take over the book entirely.
The art is either improving or it's growing on me, because I like it a lot more now than I did back in issue one. Which I already liked quite a bit. It's one of the best matches of art and writing styles I've seen in awhile.
I'm getting increasingly sad that the title has ended, but at least it did so because Rucka was ready to move on.