Editing Gotham Central (section)

==Publication history==
[[File:GC01.jpg|thumb|200px|Renee Montoya is [[outing|outed]], art by [[Michael Lark]].]]
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:GothamCentral35.jpg|thumb|250px|Robin appears with Stacy in artwork for the cover of ''Gotham Central'' #35, by [[Sean Phillips]].]] -->

===Formation===
Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker collaborated on the "Officer Down" Batman [[fictional crossover|crossover]]. They wanted to do a series about the police in Gotham City and finally obtained approval from DC executives. The writers wanted Michael Lark for [[penciller|pencils]] and waited nearly a year to get him onboard due to scheduling, but used the opportunity to plan out the storylines. They plotted out the new series' elements and decided to script the first [[story arc]] together, then split the lengthy cast into two shifts: Rucka would write the [[GCPD]]'s day shift storylines, Brubaker would take the night shift, and Lark would pencil them both.<ref>[http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=2311 The Beat (Part 1): Ed Brubaker talks ''Gotham Central''], [[Comic Book Resources]], June 30, 2003</ref> ''Gotham Central'''s debut yielded [[Eisner Award]] nominations in 2003 for Best New Series, Best Writer (Rucka), Best Writer (Brubaker), and Best Penciller/Inker (Lark).<ref>[http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=2022 2003 Eisner Comic Industry Awards announced], [[Comic Book Resources]], April 10, 2003</ref>

===Sales problems===
''Gotham Central'' repeatedly failed to break the top 100 comics in sales. Despite this, [[DC Comics]] were encouraged by the improved sales of the [[trade paperback (comics)|trade paperback]] collected editions. In an interview, Ed Brubaker stated that the book sold pretty well and was never in danger of cancellation, outselling almost all of Vertigo's books at the time. Ultimately Lark and Brubaker moved on to other projects, and, after three years of publication, the series ended amid the ''[[Infinite Crisis]]'' aftermath. It continued to have sales troubles through to the conclusion: issue #37 ranked 102nd place,<ref>[http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=6092 Top Sales Charts for Actual Sales in November, 2005], [[Comic Book Resources]], December 16, 2005</ref> and issue #38 ranked 120th place<ref>[http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=6194 Top Sales Charts for Actual Sales in December, 2005], [[Comic Book Resources]], January 13, 2006</ref> on the distributor's charts.<ref>[http://comicsalliance.com/ed-brubaker-looks-back-on-batman-part-two-gotham-central-and-the-man-who-laughs/ ComicsAlliance Ed Brubaker looks back on batman part-two Gotham Central] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916102837/http://comicsalliance.com/ed-brubaker-looks-back-on-batman-part-two-gotham-central-and-the-man-who-laughs/ |date=2016-09-16}}, [[ComicsAlliance]],  December 10, 2014</ref>

===End of the series===
Despite the sales, writer [[Greg Rucka]] assured that DC would have continued publishing ''Gotham Central'' as long as he wanted to write it and that it was his decision to conclude the series. Rucka felt that the book was a co-creation between himself, Lark and Brubaker and when they left, with issue #25 and #37 respectively, it was time to move on. The year-long break provided by the ''Infinite Crisis'' event provided an opportune place to close out the main storylines.<ref>[http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=49462 Greg Rucka on the end of ''Gotham Central'']{{dead link|date=March 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}, [[Newsarama]], November 15, 2005</ref> At one point, Rucka was in talks to replace ''Gotham Central'' with a new series called ''Streets of Gotham'', which would focus on Renee Montoya as a private investigator. Those plans were scrapped in favor of making Montoya a major character in the weekly series ''[[52 (comics)|52]]'', with Rucka as a co-writer. In 2009, DC released an unrelated series called ''[[Batman: Streets of Gotham]]'' that has been described as a mixture of ''Gotham Central'' and another canceled Batman series, ''[[Batman: Gotham Knights]]''.