Batman: City of Crime

City of Crime is a Batman comic book story arc written by David Lapham, with art by Ramon Bachs and Nathan Massengill. It was originally published in 13 parts by DC Comics from January 2005 through February 2006 for Detective Comics, issues 800 through 808, then issues 811 through 814, and then later compiled as a trade paperback. These individual comics started in January 2005 and ended February 2006.

Plot

After dealing with crime, Bruce Wayne heads to a gala called Waterfront Reclamation Project that was supposed to help low-income residents affected by the earthquake during No Man's Land. A young underage girl name Haddie McNeil tries to seduce Bruce, but he rejects her. Days later, Batman finds her dead due to overdose and the main culprit seems to be a young man name Mickey Gravesly. A group of criminals kill Mickey, and plan to dump his body in the river, but Batman arrives and brutally beats them up. He realizes that someone set Haddie's building on fire, and asks Tim Drake to help him.

As Batman and Robin save people from the building (which is owned by The Penguin) they discover 5 pregnant bodies burned. A woman finds out her daughter Cassie is missing, and goes to Gotham City Police Department for help, when suddenly Mr. Freeze barges in Joseph Hirsh's (an attorney) office. Mr. Freeze starts killing Joseph Hirsche and people randomly while Batman tracks down a man name Teddy Washburn who worked for Two-Face, The Riddler, and Black Mask's gangs to steal babies and sell them. He scares Teddy's wife and tries to track down people who knew Teddy; meanwhile a man who steals people's faces tries to kill Penguin but fails, triggering an explosion in Penguin's house.

Reception

The critical reception for Batman: City of Crime has been generally positive. Readcomics.org praised the dark atmosphere and gritty character design. Further comment was given on the story not needing to rely on heavy character deaths or integral changes to the whole Batman universe. Reviewers expressed surprise at the dark, gritty, and often-graphic images this comic portrayed. They compared to other highly praised Batman titles, such as War Games. This graphic novel has also been praised by "bringing horror back to Batman."

Issues

1. #800 "Allone at Night"
2. #801 "City of Crime Part 1"
3. #802 "The Secret Keepers"
4. #803 "The Horror Show"
5. #804 "All You Need Is Love"
6. #805 "The Heating Up"
7. #806 "A City. Not My Own"
8. #807 "Crown Point"
9. #808 "The New Face"
10. #811 "The Experiment"
11. #812 "Pearls and Fine China"
12. #813 "A Place of Fear"
13. #814 "The Big Show"