Well, this story, Dead Robin, is it... the last Gotham Central story Ed Brubaker worked on.
It’s unfair to say the series is solely Brubaker’s, Rucka’s done some good work on it, but he’s also done some really bad work on it too. (Rucka’s like that). Gotham Central works best when it’s about the cops and their resentment of Batman, specifically their need for him. The series strays from that sometimes and still works, but most times doesn’t. The last dozen issues or so have been of questionable quality, with some exceptions. So, Dead Robin is a damn nice surprise--it’s the series working again, even thought original artist Michael Lark has shipped out for good pay and respect at Marvel.
There are so many good scenes in this story--a cop shooting Batman (she doesn’t like him), a girl flirting with Robin, a couple parents using their dead son for media coverage--it’s great. It’s what this series always should have been... Reading Gotham Central, Batman doesn’t seem real, because Gotham Central takes place in the real world. So it’s a surprise when Batman does show up. He doesn’t fit in the world the series creates.
In other words, neat.