Batman: No Man's Land, Vol. 1

Batman: No Man's Land #4

by Greg Rucka, Jason Pearson (Illustrator), Jon Bogdanove (Illustrator)

Gotham City: a dark, twisted reflection of urban America. Overcrowded, overbuilt, and overshadowed by a continuous air of menace, this gothic nightmare is a breeding ground for the depraved, the indifferent, and the criminally insane. It's also the object of one man's obsession. Forever scarred as a child from witnessing the brutal murder of his parents, Bruce Wayne has dedicated his life to protecting this city from its many predators, taking a form to inspire hope in the innocent...and fear in the guilty. He is the masked vigilante known as the Batman. With Police Commissioner James Gordon, these two men have always fought to preserve law and order, side-by-side, struggling against a pervasive and relentless criminal element, working together to hold the line. Until now.

Leveled by a massive earthquake that has left thousands dead and millions more wounded, Gotham City has been completely cut off from outside aid, transformed into a lawless battleground -- a No Man's Land -- where the survivors are turning against one another, and where the city's protectors are torn by a crisis that may consume them all. Gotham now teeters at the edge of the abyss...and Batman is missing.

For the first time, the classic Batman epic is collected in full, including chapters that were never before collected, starting with these stories from BATMAN: SHADOW OF THE BAT #83-86, BATMAN #563-566, DETECTIVE COMICS #730-733, AZRAEL: AGENT OF THE BAT #51- 55, BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #117-118, BATMAN CHRONICLES #16.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Batman, Dc Comics, Comic Book, Fiction, Superheroes

544 pages, Paperback

First published December 13, 2011

About the author

Greg Rucka, is an American comic book writer and novelist, known for his work on such comics as Action Comics, Batwoman: Detective Comics, and the miniseries Superman: World of New Krypton for DC Comics, and for novels such as his Queen & Country series.

Reviews

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

No Man’s Land is one of those essential Batman stories that I’ve been meaning to read forever and now that my life is finally slowing down a bit, I can get to it. Even this first volume comprises a fair number of stories so I’ve put a mini review in for each. If you’d rather read the short version, I put a tl;dr review in at the end. :P

No Man’s Land takes place in the aftermath of a massive earthquake which devastates Gotham. Despite the warnings of a seismologist, no one (besides Bruce Wayne) seriously considers an earthquake as likely to happen in Gotham so only the Wayne buildings are built to withstand that kind of disaster. The federal government decides it’s easier to abandon Gotham than to try to provide the massive aid necessary to rebuild the city. Instead, they order an evacuation, leaving the city to the criminals, the stubborn and the destitute. This means that there is no law and order in Gotham and with the disappearance of Batman, different factions fight for control.

No Law and a New Order - ★★★★★
Writer: Bob Gale
Artist: Alex Maleev

The collection starts off strong with a fantastic intro story, gorgeously illustrated by Alex Maleev, which introduces the idea of Gotham as an abandoned no man’s land populated by criminals and those few people who either refused or were unable to get out in the evacuation. Batman has disappeared and is assumed by most to have abandoned the city so the story deals with the attempts of the people who are struggling to survive amid the ruins. We get to see what Oracle, Penguin, Joker, Huntress and others have been up to since the quake but the story really focuses on the few remaining members of the GCPD and Jim Gordon in particular. It poses some interesting questions about just how far they’ll go to maintain some semblance of law and order and I’ll be very interested to see how Gordon moves forward.

Miracle Run! - ★★
Writer: Dennis J. O'Neil
Artist: Roger Robinson

I’ll admit right now that since first meeting him in Knightfall, I’ve never been a fan of Azrael. He has at least toned down his brainless jackassery since then but this still isn’t an impressive story. Basically, Batman has given Azrael the mission of tracking down a charismatic cult leader named Nick Scratch who all but ensured Gotham would be declared a no man’s land. It verges from just plain to silly to tolerable but the artwork is awful. I’d like to see someone make Azrael interesting but this isn’t it.

Fear of Faith - ★★★
Writer: Devin Grayson
Artist: Dale Eaglesham

This story has Jonathan Crane (aka Scarecrow) manipulating a group of refugees who are hiding out in a church under the care of a naïve and benevolent man named Father Chris. I will admit that I’m really not religious so this felt a little preachy. That aside, I do like that it focuses on Huntress and the struggle with her darker, violent side so I felt it was one of the better stories in the volume.

Devil Down Below - ★½
Writer: Dennis J. O'Neil
Artist: Roger Robinson

This is basically Azrael comes to Gotham. Azrael tails Scratch to Gotham and ends up helping an old woman attempt to reach her daughter who is stranded in Gotham. This is the same writer/artist duo from “Miracle Run!” and while the art is a little better, the story definitely isn’t. I’m not sure if it’s worse but the ending definitely left me wondering, “WTF?!”

Bread and Circuses - ★★★
Writer: Ian Edginton
Artist: D'Israeli

This story focuses on the black market set up by Penguin and results in a Penguin vs Batman showdown. The art style is…different but I actually liked how it worked with the story. Not bad and it totally feels like something Batman would do.

Mosaic - ★★★
Writer: Greg Rucka
Artist: Frank Teran

This story follows Batman’s conflict with a group assembled by an even crazier than normal Blackmask. I’ve liked Greg Rucka since reading Gotham Central and he crafts a pretty interesting story here, especially with the conflict between Oracle and Batman. I don’t think he handles Gordon’s personality as well but still pretty good. I have to say that I’m really not a fan of Teran’s dark, messy artwork but I think that might be more a matter of personal taste than lack of quality.

Two Down - ★★★½
Writer: Greg Rucka
Artist: Jason Pearson

This is one is a very interesting Two Face story that is best because it’s Montoya struggling with how to handle him rather than Batman. Montoya has a helluva history with Two Face (figures pretty largely into Gotham Central as a matter of fact). Rucka does an absolutely fantastic job with this story and it definitely had me glued to the page all the way through. I’m not a huge fan of the way Pearson illustrated it but still one of the better stories.

Comforts of Home - ★★
Writer: Scott Beatty
Artist: Damion Scott

Man this couple deserves a fucking Darwin award. If I lived in Gotham and I got even the HINT of an idea that I was in Joker’s house, I would GTFO in a heartbeat. But apparently the lure of loot is too much for them and of course shit gets crazy. But seriously, dude?! Joker’s house?! What. The. Fuck. The artwork is pretty decent though.

Harold - ★★
Writer: Dennis J. O'Neil
Artist: Chris Renaud
Meh. This story centers around Batman's little mechanic/fix-it-guy Harold. I think I may have to accept that I'm just not impressed by O'Neil because I have yet to read a story of his that really interested me. Basically this just tells you what happened to him after he and Alfred got stranded in the ruins of Wayne Manor and what he's up to now.

Jellybean Deathtrap - ★★
Writer: Dennis J. O'Neil
Artist: Roger Robinson

And...another mediocre Azrael story. This one involves Azrael filling in for Batman against the Joker. The results were better for Azrael than I expected, there was an interesting moment with Batman at the end and for once with Azrael the artwork wasn’t awful. Probably the best of the Azrael stories in this volume but I still wasn't a huge fan.

Balance - ★★★★★
Writer: Greg Rucka
Artist: Jason Pearson

Bless you Rucka for writing an adorable Alfred story. This gives you insight to what happened to Alfred from Cataclysm to the current point and I loved seeing the bond between him and Batman. Much, much shorter than "No Law and a New Order" but I loved it just as much.

Home Sweet Home - ★★★
Writer: Lisa Klink
Artist: Guy Davis
This one was actually pretty good. It's about an older man who's lived on the same street in Gotham for his entire life and refuses to evacuate. He's a fixture in the community and even with all the chaos and unrest tries to help out his neighbors. Things get predictably dark and violent with the entrance of some villains and their gangs but overall it's a good story despite not great artwork.

Visitor - ★★
Writer: Kelley Puckett
Artist: Jon Bogdanove

This is Superman comes to Gotham and tries to fix everything with boy scout cheer. Not gonna lie, this was a perfect illustration of why I can’t stand Superman. However, it does seem slightly contrived that he runs into a single group of depressed survivors and gives up. Pretty sure Superman would be the most useful guy in a crisis like this. And I gotta say though that I have a hard time buying that an earthquake would reduce people back to the feudal stage where they just pay tribute to anyone who solves a problem. The artwork is good but the story is just okay.

Shades of Grey>/u> - ★
Writer: Bob Gale
Artist: Phil Winslade
This was awful. It’s like a morality tale with Batman. Basically, he finds two women arguing over who a baby belongs to and then has to figure out how to deal with it. It’s just incredibly stupid. I don’t really have anything else to say about it, other than that I wasn’t any more impressed with the artwork than the story.

Step Into the Light & Misery Dance - ★
Writer: Dennis J. O'Neil
Artist: Roger Robinson

Holy shit. Someone please take Azrael away from O'Neil. I don’t care if he created him, he clearly can’t do him justice. In this one, Azrael goes up against a serial killer who dances for his victims to “ease their suffering” and then cuts their throats. Turns out that's exactly as terrible as it sounds. And still the same unimpressive artwork.

The tl;dr version of this review is that it’s a really interesting concept whose execution varies from outstanding to mediocre depending on the writer(s)/artist(s). I’m giving it three stars but honestly there’s a lot of terrible stories in here so it’s not one I can wholeheartedly recommend. I do think the idea of Batman being somewhat at sea in an atmosphere that is constant chaos is a really interesting one. I like seeing how Batman's skillset isn't really geared towards the kind of trouble that Gotham is in and the moral quandaries that presents.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was really solid. When you throw in a ton of different writers/art styles into one book you can assure it'll always be mixed results. Some stuff you'll love, some you'll like, and some you'll just wanna skip as soon as possible. No Man's Land is a Batman mega crossover that happened in the 90's and early 2000's where Gotham was hit with a earthquake and left to basically die. So Batman is back in town but now it's all broken into sections where people hold territories from Joker, to GCPD, to Batman turf. It's a all out war!

What I liked: Most of the stories involving Gordan, Batgirl, or Batman are all solid. I also really enjoyed the two face story quite a bit. The art, when good, was really solid for it's time. The concept is great too and keeps things fresh. The Superman issue was way too funny as Superman basically like "Fuck these people" in the end.

What I didn't like: Some of the issues were meh. Especiall Azreal or whatever his name is. This Christian crime fighter is just dull and screams 90's. Also his suit sucks and his art is so bad in comparison to the rest of the artwork in here. Also the penguin story was far too long and found very little interest in that.

Overall it's around a 3.5. It's solid, interesting, and had some great stories. It's the mix of 4-6 issues of blah that bring it down. Still worth checking out for Batman fans for sure! Gotta grab volume 2!

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

MINI REVIEW: this is the first of several volumes about a Gotham which has been mostly abandoned by the rest of the world. An earthquake hit Gotham and it was so horrific that most people left Gotham yet enough stayed for various reasons, creating a feudalistic setting in which gangs (and rare good groups) control different sections of Gotham. A lot of the Batman villains have stayed and make their appearances, especially The Penguin.

Where is Batman? Nobody knows and he isn't around at first but other vigilantes have taken up the slack.



This volume (close to 500 pages) covers a number of stories inlcuding Jim Gordon and his people trying to control a small section of Gotham. Nice play on moral and personal divisions as well as regular people trying to survive day by day and slowly sinking down into something far below civilization (Superman shows up to “help” and then realizes he's doing it all wrong).

The Azrael bits felt mostly out of place but everything else was somewhat good to superb. Writers and artists varied and I have newfound respect for writer Bob Gale.

“Fear of Faith” was my favorite but just a notch above “Shadow of the Bat”. I plan to continue the series.

OVERALL GRADE: B to B plus (higher if Azrael wasn't in it)

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

It starts with the story of what the Gotham is like, with no govt aid and being abandoned and the whole city divided into factions ruled by multiple people and villains and the initial story is Gordon and GCPD establishing a stronghold and then Batman vs Ventriloquist and saving those people, then the Huntress story vs Scarecrow and also others joining in, Father Chris and faith and all that. Good so far. We follow multiple viewpoints like whatever is going on with Barbara and how she deals with a new Batgirl and this one saves GCPD headquarters from Black masks men or a story where Batman vs Penguin happens and he tells him whose in charge or the one with Renee and Two-face or the one where Azrael has to fight the joker and save someone. Plus the story Alfred tells kids about the knight of hope - batman! Its good! The story takes some detours and focuses on different things like the story of a sarge as he is fighting Victor Zsasz men and then what the Joker does or the one where Superman comes in to save to no avail and the ballad of Thomas wayne and his past and how it relates to Bruce in the present and him caring for a child or Azrael helping people and fighting this villain: Death Dealer and saving Barbara! Good end!

Its a pretty good volume and is bulky for sure and is a fun read and I love multiple view points and exploring what the crisis is like and how Bruce is dealing with all this and showing how villains have carved out a territory for themselves and I like the way they focus on Ventriloquist, Penguin and sort of hint at what the Joker has been upto and its excellent plus the art and coloring is very nostalgic for sure but its good. Plus the way Batman handles the crisis explores his personality so well and the hints of things to come is excellent! Loved it!

[Diz · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collection compiles stories from different books, so there are a lot of different writers and artists represented here. The stories range from OK to poor. There weren't any stories that stood out to me. Also, I was a bit surprised that Azrael seemed to make more appearances in this book than Batman. That's unfortunate since Azrael, particularly the version of him that appears in this collection, is one of the most boring characters ever created.

[The Lion's Share · Rating 2 out of 5]

I genuinely couldn't finish this. I'm just not a Rucka fan. I got so bored after 200 pages of sticking it out I gave up.

I find Ruckas' writing really tedious I had the same problem with his indie run on Lazarus.

[Chelsea 🏳️‍🌈 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, this was depressing and quite heartless. The only heroes in this book are the civilians and they somehow manage to be kind and generous in the face of unbelievable cruelty - at the hands of the villains and the so-called heroes.

It's a funny thing when you consider Jason Todd. I feel like there was a huge shift in the writing for Batman comics when readers voted in to kill Jason Todd. Here was a character that grew up in poverty. Father was a criminal, murdered by Two-Face. Adoptive mother was a drug addict, OD'ed and left him homeless and destitute. Readers vote in to kill this kid and he's replaced by his absolute antithesis: Tim Drake, rich kid and a self insert if I ever saw one.

Tim Drake grew up with enough money that his family lived next door to the Waynes. His entire backstory and the way his father talks screams privileged, classist and often racist. Written by renowned asshole Chuck Dixon and hater of the poor, Alan Grant, several of Tim Drake's stories revolve around demonizing the poor - who are often depicted as people of color. I preface this review with this information because it was the perfect shitstorm for No Man's Land being filled with a barely disguised, patronizing, ignorant, despicable hatred for the poor.

Bob Gale's stories are horrid. He literally has Batman refer to the poor that have been victimized as the "intellectually challenged". He says that all the people with common sense had already left Gotham. Which is especially ignorant considering in previous issues, Barbara Gordon says that the people that stayed in Gotham after everything went to shit stayed because "some had no choice. The poor, the destitute, illegal immigrants." Huntress later says the people that stayed were "Too sick, too confused, too poor." These people couldn't leave. This story ends with the conclusion that the poor couldn't be trusted to guide themselves without being in servitude to the gang members, so Batman allows the gangs to keep victimizing them. He later writes a story where 2 women literally live out the Story of Solomon and it's a hack job if I ever read one. So, in conclusion: fuck Bob Gale.

There's a story by Devin Grayson, who's writing I try to hard to avoid. Unfortunately, she wrote the first story where a hero was present. Father Chris is running a refugee type camp with people from all faiths. They're living in harmony and helping everyone, regardless of where they came from or if they turned away from a life of crime. There's a woman that's even helping sex workers and addicts - the kinds of people the cops, Batman, and Huntress have turned their backs on. There's a reformed gang banger who tries to help in any way that he can. Father Chris is "tested" the same way everyone else is and manages to sort of overcome that without succumbing to the "devil". Of course, Huntress just makes this worse and is the worst in this story - I hate the way Grayson writes her. Anyway, it's a basic story I think I forgive because there are several worse stories here. Seriously, this was almost the only story where people of color weren't criminals here to be murdered.

The story with the GCPD is painful to read. Not just because of current events but because it's horrible in general. The police are not heroes here. It perfectly exemplifies the Blue Line and the issues with police just protecting their own. They instigate a gang war which could (and most likely did) harm innocent bystanders in the process. One police officer is just executing people who haven't even tried to harm him and Gordon just tolerates it. He's even thankful to the executioner later. Who the fuck am I meant to root for here? They're referring to these people as "animals", "mongrels", and "vermin". It just feels like I'm reading a racist, Blue Lives Matter supporter's power fantasy. They're not serving or protecting anyone but themselves.

Anyway, the art varies a lot. Some of it is absolutely haunting. There's one story, by Gale I think, where I swear I saw the outline of Batgirl's labia. Not necessary.

Rucka's stories are okay. The first is just Marriage Story. I'm watching Gordon and his wife yell at each other and then Babs yell at Bruce. I really don't care. The second it pretty good. It's a story about Renee Montoya trying to protect her parents where she runs into the moral dilemma of whether or not to trust Two Face, who appears to be helping the neighborhood. I've read it in Gotham Central before, I believe, but I enjoyed reading it again. It covers moral dilemmas about trusting villains in tough times a hell of a lot better than Grayson's. The Squire story from Alfred's POV is very good! Always love stories from Alfred's POV and it leads to my last comments about this collection/story arc.

Scott Beatty's story was almost my favorite, were it not for Montoya's. It's a quick short story about a couple trying to find shelter in the Joker's house. He's got his own little collection of trophies and death traps. Short, but very creepy and interesting.

Puckett's Superman story was the one bright spot in this book - at first. He eventually comes to Batman's same conclusion which is "these people can't be helped". We can't swoop in and fix some of the issues here because they don't understand how not to work within these "feudal" systems now. It sounds less patronizing coming from Superman, but it's still rather annoying. I think the point was supposed to be that Superman can't just sweep in with a big show and fix everything, because the issues are much more complicated in Gotham. However, I would've understood Bruce's point and him telling Superman to go home if I felt like Batman helped anyone in this book. Anyone at all.

The Azrael stories added nothing to the rest of this for me, unfortunately. I like this character in Rebirth Detective Comics, but I didn't care about him here.

The stories that worked the best were the community coming together to save each other. None of the supposed heroes did heroic things in this book. Whether that's because this arc was meant to show the heroes being "tested" (as though they haven't been since their creations) or whether the writers believed showing privileged heroes beating up on and shitting on the poor was heroic, I'm not sure.

This book is heartless. This book is dark, both morally and literally. I only wish Batman, Commissioner Gordon, Batgirl and Huntress did nearly as many things to actually help Gotham's citizens, as a priest, Two Face, a former gang member and a little old lady did during this turmoil.

[Wing Kee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of things to like...then there's Azrael.

World: The art is generally good. Dated but good. The Guy Davis did and issue. I love that. The world building is very solid. It's well thought out and consistent between the titles. This us one of the those unbelievable situations that is so logically consistent it's great writing.

Story: There are so many highlights. It's well thought out and full of heart and all the emotions. The tone is great and the weight of the situation is handled so well. From the first arc with the Blue Boys, to Batman, to Babs to Scarecrow this is a really solid arc and a solid event. The stakes ar high the world is just interesting and all the writers bring their A game. Then there is the Azrael boring stuff which I do not like at all.

Characters: Great! All the characters are through the lens of No Man's Land and it's good. It's raw and it's real and it's interesting. Seeing Bats adjust to the world, seeing Gordon making new rules and seeing the Penguin and Scarecrow, it's all so good and so rooted on the core of the character that's it's riveting.

So good, love this event. It was one of the best.

Onward to the next book!

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of a Hobbesian, right wing fever dream about human nature and the total collapse of established authority. The narrative doesn't much reflect my own politics at all but it does make for a pretty wild change of pace from the mostly optimistic, inclusive tone of contemporary comics at any rate.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

No Law & A New Order by Gale. I wasn't sure what I'd think of the non-Rucka stories, but this is an interesting start, helped in no small part by the Alex Maleev artwork. But more generally, this story sets an interesting foundation for NML of warring tribes in a post-apocalyptic city and uses that basis to create a very different sort of Batman story based on ethics and morals. The introduction of a new Batgirl and the strong focus on The Gotham PD both add to the enjoyment of this story [7/10].

Fear of Faith by Grayson. I find it fascinating that this arc focuses on a new political group (the church), a new heroine (Huntress), and a new villain (Scarecrow). It shows the potential power of treating Gotham as a setting for adventure that can be inhabited by many peoples and groups. This tale of a powerless Scarecrow is fascinating, but also way too slow [6/10].

Bread & Circuses by Edgington. At first this story feels repetitive, as we've seen the elements before, but it finally puts the Penguin front-and-center, and the battle of wits between him and Batman actually proves very interesting, as it's never clear who's on top [7/10].

Mosaic by Rucka. Rucka was one of the main reasons I picked up these volumes. His first story is interesting and unusual, but also badly fractured ... which pretty much goes to the name. Despite horrible art, some great characterization really comes through, continuing to add depth to the new setting [7/10].

The Batman Chronicles: Two Down by Rucka A great early Montaya story that shines for his relationship with Two Face [8/10]. The Comforts of Home by Beatty. An amusing story because it shows the dangers left in Gotham [7/10]. Harold by O'Neil. A shallow vignette [5/10].

Other Shorts: Balance by Rucka. A nice, if shallow story about Alfred [7/10]. Home Sweet Home by Klink. A great look at a citizen in NML, with beautiful art by Guy Davis [7+/10]. The Visitor by Puckett. A good answer to the question of why other heroes aren't saving Gotham [7/10]. Shades of Gray by Gale. This final short does a terrific job of reminding us of some of the main factions of Gotham, while also offering a few great stories; the one about Bruce's father is particularly strong [8/10].

Azrael by O'Neil. The Azrael issues are a bit troublesome because they're so out of tune with the rest of the volume. O'Neil doesn't participate in the round-robin writing and generally doesn't seem to care about the plot threads of the rest of the collection. I also found the first couple of issues actively bad, though it might have been me getting used to O'Neil's style again. By the last few issues, I felt like I was reading about a variant of The Question, which was interesting, but not necessarily good for the collection.

Overall, I was surprised how good the whole volume was. There were quite a few good writers working on No Man's Land, and though the plot didn't do much that was interesting, there were still piles of interesting character stories here.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe it's just the long slog of weak, over-the-top, absurd Batman events I've read recently, but this one (along with its prelude, Batman: Cataclysm) actually manages to stand out as something special.

The premise is a little hard to swallow at first: after an earthquake devastates Gotham City and sends it into a state of lawlessness, the US government abandons the city altogether and designates it an unassociated "No Man's Land." I mean, it's tough to believe the government would ever designate a city in its own borders as "no longer a part of the country," and the level of lawlessness is akin to that of a completely destabilized nation, but once you force yourself to suspend disbelief, this actually becomes a very grounded, human set of stories about people trying to get by in a complete disaster area.

That's what makes me appreciate this event so much (at least in this first volume). The stories aren't 100% Batman swooping in and saving the day and immediately restoring order. It's about Batman (and other heroes) trying to figure out where they fit in a world like this, and if there's anything they can do to restore order. It's about realizing how helpless these superheroes would be to make any permanent change in this situation, and rather about the small things they can do to try to make the people who are living in these areas feel just a little bit safer. It's honestly what superheroics are supposed to be, and seeing this idea explored so well by so many different writers and artists really works for me.

Now, that said, this isn't, like, a thriller. If you're looking for more straightforward, classic Batman crime solvery, you're not gonna get much of it here. There are little splashes of it, but its mostly about exploring the status quo of the No Man's Land itself. It's about the ever-growing presence of marauding, territorial "gangs" and how, in these circumstances, these aren't necessarily a bad thing. These supposed "gangs" offer protection to the people who live in their territories and are able to fight off those that would do the other residents harm. It can at times even reckon with the very definitions of "criminality" and "order" in a way I found somehow insightful, despite the fact that this is a book with "Batman" plastered on the cover.

In any case, this is a very cool experiment on DC's behalf, and I'm excited to see how much farther they push it. It's 4 large trade paperbacks long, which feels like it might start to wear out its welcome, but so far, I'm digging it.

[Mohammad Aboomar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the old collection, the one that appeared in five volumes. The first volume of this new collection of four volumes adds the issues of Azrael to the cross-publication saga.

[Chaitra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth the price and time of reading just for the intro into No Man's Land. It doesn't have Batman because Batman is off sulking. (Actually he's building even more Bat Caves because he doesn't want to ever face a situation like No Man's Land, but then he regularly does, so I guess the Bat Caves are superfluous but ooh, shiny gadgets. You can say that I'm a bit peeved with Bats.) But it does have Huntress who does what needs to be done, and is sorely used later if you ask me. It has Oracle who is also sorely used, even though she does an excellent job of running a ring of informers that Bats conveniently makes use of when he finally shows up. It has Commissioner Gordon who is no longer authorized but runs his officers like a gang would and he's peeved as hell with Bats as well, for good reason, at least in this issue. I do think Gordon continued this mess until it made him stupid, but it started off understandably.

This volume's Azrael is the Azrael I remember - the absolutely boring as fuck superhero who doesn't do anything properly. I would have said the Batman stories are no good, but he's faced with a population who have become so used to the hardscrabble lives that they've been leading for the three months that he's been gone, and Bats has to do extra to put the fear of god in them. Yeah, take that Bats. That's what happens to hubris.

The art is okay. I actually like the arc, despite my kvetching about it. It does have a few issues that seem like the writers had no idea what to turn out but they had to, and scribbled down the first thing that came to their mind, but it also has some good ones. (Like the Montoya and Two Face one, which is great and has a bearing on what happens later on in the arc).

[Boots LookingLand · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first volume in this mega-arc starts strong with Gordon and the remaining GCPD trying to provoke fights between gang factions to gain ground in former Gotham (now No Man's Land). Other points of interest include a mysterious new Batwoman, and the various kooks from Arkham carving out their own turf, including the Joker who is roving quietly like a jackal. Azrael is back with a new costume that's way too silly to take seriously (and sillier still, he fights an Irish dancer? Oy vey. This character's days are numbered, methinks).

Unfortunately the disaster plot that made Cataclysm and the other preludes so compelling gets subsumed with other silliness, like Batman just vanishing for more than three months while the city crumbles and a visit from Superman who fixes a power plant and then decides to leave Batman to the rest since he’s not really grooving on the tenor (uh, what?).

The escalating turf war between the GCPD, Batman, Ventriloquist, Two-Face, Black Mask, and Penguin is what holds this together, but barely. Even Jim Gordon’s kvetching started to grate on me, which is pretty bad. Still had to give this three stars since it kept me reading. Hopefully the series gets better instead of worse.

[Max Z · Rating 4 out of 5]

...and after the Earth shattered and the buildings crumbled, the nation abandoned Gotham City. Then only the valiant, the venal and the insane remained in the place they called No Man's Land.



It's been ninety days since Gotham has been blocked off from the outside world and the event is in full swing. This five hundred pages volume collects roughly thirty days of in-universe time and the issues in it were published roughly from March 1999 to June 1999, that's a period of three or four months. We finally get to the real meat of this monumental arc and, boy, it's a delight. Each volume features a map of Gotham with territories marked by various gangs and entities that control them. I don't think I've seen Gotham's map before and it's pretty cool to finally see where the constantly referenced places are geographically. During the first volume Batman takes down a bunch of villains and the map at the start of the next one looks very differently. I assume this tradition will continue later.



The four issue story arc that the book starts with is called No Law and a New Order and it's an entry point to the event. Oracle gives us an outline of who controls what part of the city, how are the things and then the story switches over to Gordon and his "Blue Boys". They've managed to carve a chunk of the city and police it. It's been harsh on the former commissioner, and Batman disappeared three months ago and nobody has seen him since. Gordon is bitter about it but he has a job to do. The story is interspersed with short interludes of a solo punk with a gun trying to rob everyone who he sees. The catch is that the gun has no bullets. His first victim calls him out on it, his second one - a kid, almost gives him his treasure of two batteries but then is protected by a guy with a bow. And his third victim is the Joker. Well, we hardly knew ye.



Then the story moves on to the Batman. He's back in town and he has a new sidekick - new Batgirl (Cassandra Cain). He's back but he doesn't understand the new rules yet and the rest of the arc has him taking down the Ventriloquist to "free" the people under him. Except they don't want to be free, they want some semblance of order and hierarchy to feel safe and survive. Batman is shocked by this but not for long. He says that they're his people now and establishes his rules for them. He realizes that he has to mark his territory too because this is what they have instead of the law now. The arc ends with that realization.



Azrael has received his new costume from Batman earlier and now his series describe his first steps. Batman gives him the task of bringing Nick Scratch down (technically this must have happened much earlier, it's a somewhat parallel story) and we witness the persuasion power of that villain. With just a few words he hypnotizes the officers guarding a boat on the outer side of the river and goes into Gotham with Azrael hiding in it. Scratch also cryptically hints that this was his plan all along but after some shenanigans on the other side he disappears for the rest of the volume while Azrael has his adventures in Gotham.



The next big juicy arc is called Fear of Faith and as you might've guessed already, is all about Scarecrow. It is four issues in length and the main protagonist here is not Batman but Huntress. She protects a small neighborhood that surrounds a church. And it turns out that insidious Scarecrow is right inside reading a book in plain sight. Huntress attacks him immediately but is promptly stopped by the priest. This is not what we do here, he explains, and, of course, leaves Scarecrow free to manipulate the people as he pleases. This arc features early DC work by Dale Eaglesham and, though at this point he has years of experience working at Marvel, it's still not as great as the stuff he will produce ten years later. Some panels are amazing, some are not. The arc was written by Devin Grayson and it's also her early work and both the writing and plot are good.



The rest of the volume is an assortment of short stories, with some better than others. We find out what happens to the villains in Gotham after Batman takes them down, the tension between Oracle and new Batgirl is given some time, and other stuff happens everywhere. The one story that is a big highlight of the volume for me is from Batman issue 566. It is called The Visitor. All these years I've wondered why haven't Justice League intervened? Why does noone else help Gothamites? Where is Superman? And finally I get a good answer. Basically, Superman flies into Gotham to help people and in a tense scene Batman gives him 24 hours to do it. Superman quickly finds a former chief engineer of the Gotham power plant and they fix it together. Power is restored to some parts of the city. Superman leaves to check it out and upon his return he's abhorred to find that there is already a crowd of people all bringing gifts to the engineer in the hopes of getting some electricity. Just like Batman earlier, Superman understands now that he cannot just fly in and save everyone.



So far, the event exceeds my expectations by a mile in contract to the okayish Cataclysm and somewhat boring Road to No Man's Land that preceded it. While those were saved by Chuck Dixon, he is absent here. But no matter, it looks like everybody on the creative team is on board and give their best, invigorated by the new status quo. I should also mention that this was probably hell to collect and read back in the day. For example, both of the four issue arcs I've mentioned are literally in four different series each! I'm not sure how would the comic shop owners sell individual issues to the casual readers, they would be pretty much unreadable on their own. Thankfully, that is a thing of the past and now we can enjoy the collected volumes in all their glory.

[Adam Spanos · Rating 2 out of 5]

So i jumped into the no man's land story, thinking that it will be worth it but eventually i got utterly disappointed.

I'll start with the art. There are plenty of different artists involved in this but overall it is mediocre at best. At some points the art was really hideous.

Next one is the plot. So many plot holes and a boring to death pacing. Also it is like an old school comic, clustered with dialogues, monologues etc, something that is really annoying to me personally. (that's why i can't get into the golden-silver age era of comics)

My only extra star is because of the originality of the idea. Seeing how Gothamites and all the villains would react to an utter destruction of their city was something new and fresh for its time. Unfortunately it is so poorly written and penciled.

[Nephyo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow batman writers in the late 90s were absurdly cynical about humanity. This volume uses its "story" aa a thin veil for an ideological rant and forgets to deliver believable characters, interesting events, or an engaging plot. I couldn't get through all of it but 2/3rds was enough for it to be the first batman book I hated enough to write a review about. I don't know what the writers were thinking in those years but it wasn't pretty.

[Arianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Considering how much I liked the previous "Road to No Man's Land" volume, I thought I would enjoy this a lot more. Instead it's made up of a lot of mediocre stories, collected in an order that is kind of confusing.

Azrael gets the worst treatment by far. He is still following Scratch, who manages to get away each time. Then Batman sends him to chase other villains, none of whom Azrael can catch. Basically they want to keep publishing his solo run but they have nothing for him to do, so they just send him "chasing" people, and in the meantime he monologues about how conflicted and sad and crushed he feels. At some point Jean Paul is struck by lighting? randomly? in the middle of a fight? But he's not actually hurt and immediately becomes a better fighter. I think it was meant to be a metaphor about faith but it's either poorly written, or simply lacking the context of JPV's previous musings, since so few issues of his are collected.

There's another story where Azrael stumbles into a dancing killer. He doesn't even try to track him down as Leslie Thompkins literally solves the mystery for him by telling him outright who she thinks the killer is. Truly exceptional writing.

The tagging wars are the most exciting part of this volume. The post-apocalyptic scenario is crafted well and manages to test people's survival skills and their reaction to tragedy in ways I found compelling and quite realistic.

However, the more that Gotham is stuck in this situation the more ridiculous it becomes. The writers manage to find convenient explanations for most of the stuff that's happening, like why Superman can't just swoop in and solve everything, but I can't find a single justification for the lack of food. Why wouldn't food (and other supplies!) just be dropped by airplanes, people have been doing that since WW2. Food is cheap and plentiful in the modern western world and this is the USA. Yes, it would take trillions to rebuild the city, but you could just feed these people if you're not letting them leave? You're just starving them to death for no reason? Aid could even come from other countries if the US government has this weird agenda to torture its own people. Actually, instead of trying to fix the electrical grid, Superman could just bring a shit ton of supplies and then fewer people would have cause for shooting each other in the streets.

How was there even an earthquake that flattened an entire city to the ground leaving only the Wayne buildings standing up? I'm sure other buildings would have stayed up by pure luck, and if the earthquake was really so terrible the Wayne buildings would have collapsed anyway. If you want me to suspend disbelief, just shut up and don't continuously remind me of how ridiculous the situation is.

The romance between Commissioner Gordon and Sarah made me want to vomit every time they came on the page. I mean, you have this old man who looks like my late grandpa, moustache and all, having fights with his mistress-turned-wife where they're breaking things and then having make up sex. Gordon is so childish, petty and emotional. I get that he's in a stressful situation but so is everybody else. He needs to grow up.

[Victoria Hawco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Turns out earthquakes are bad!!

[Liz.Loki · Rating 2 out of 5]

This comic is SO UNNECESSARY LONG and I feel like none of the characters act like themselves...

[Andreas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a tough book to review, because there are so many different stories in here. So you end up with a mix of bad, okay, and excellent stories.
For me, none of the stories were so bad I wanted to stop, and the great issues make up for the bad ones.
What really made me love the overall story was the consistency in world-building and plot throughout the different stories. I really got invested in what the different groups of people are up to, and how certain characters, like Batman and Jim Gordon, handle this new reality they find themselves in.
The art is varied, but I found most of it to be great, especially for its time.

[Burton Olivier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another one that's more of a 3.5 but I'll bump it up because I like the vibe of this era, lot of fun, interesting stuff. Also, really nice to get an issue done by Guy Davis in there.

[Joakim Ax · Rating 5 out of 5]

This feels like an oddly good point where one can enter into Batman comics. But more so to discover Gotham through Batman´s eyes. cause at this point in time. Batman has been away for three months. And upon his return. He will have to learn the new rules and grounds of The No Mans Land.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

No Man’s Land isn’t your usual story of classic super heroics, it’s a tale of survival and because of that it’s one of the most harrowing and memorable events in the character’s history.
I didn't enjoy this as much as other Batman stories and honestly for me the series dragged on a bit.

[Shad · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a lot of Batman stuff, in fact most of the top shelf of my bookshelf is dominated by Batman trades (mostly paperbacks but I have scored a few hardcovers) and I would rank this amongst my favorites.

It was unlike any Batman story I have read up to this point. I found most of the book to be captivating as it wove the story of a post-quake Gotham that has been cut off from the world. The various gangs and factions, some led by various villains or the remnants of the GCPD, carving up the city. The return of Batgirl in the form of Cassandra Cain, Batman’s own return to the city not going as he planned, his begrudgingly taking the new Batgirl under his mantle. Jim Gordon’s refusal to accept the returning Batman and Barbara’s animosity when she watches another woman in “her” role while she sits in a wheelchair, feeling semi-useless as a “high tech girl” in a “low tech world”. Even the brief appearance of Superman in the city as he makes an attempt at the boy-scout thing and himself finds the citizen’s of Gotham unable to accept the kind of salvation he can bring was well told.

In fact the only problems I had with the whole book were a few not so gripping segments with Azrael/Jean Paul Valley. While not all of them were bad from a story standpoint, in the first few the story just didn’t affect me much.

And while I’m discussing the Azrael spots its fair to mention that in these segments (and a few others) I found the artwork to be less than stellar. A large part of what I enjoy about these books is the art, often times I find the art in many of the Batman books to be so amazing that I often struggle with other series that don’t live up to that standard. Which means there are times in this book, namely the Azrael stories (but a few others) where I just didn’t care for the look of it.

Overall though I simply have to give the book high marks and label it mandatory reading for Batman fans.

[Henry Blackwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m overrating this maybe by a star because I really love the idea and while I don’t think the writing is amazing, it’s well executed. At least better than I thought it would be. I’ll end up reading the leadup to this one day but being dropped into this world is kinda cool. Post Apocalyptic Batman. It’s got a lot of things going for it. Azrael, however, is not one of those things.

I’ve got to say that Denny O’Neil (and I don’t want to sound too savage but I can’t help myself) must’ve either had early onset dementia or a long history of drug use. Because Jesus Christ Azrael is one of the worst things I’ve ever read.

I wish I could post a panel from my phone because it describes this better than I can.
The panel is from an issue where the assassin Azrael has been tasked to find the Joker by Batman... the panel is of Azrael walking aimlessly with the caption: ‘He has found no sight of the joker’s presence. But he has found men and women walking aimlessly’
That’s all Azrael does. Walk aimlessly til he haphazardly falls upon the villain and then promptly goes back to walking aimlessly while another lazy tap dancing villain is cooked up.
DC and Marvel wonder why they drowned in the 90’s. Don’t feed us shit and call it mince meat. This Azrael comic shouldn’t even be in the collected edition.
Even in the first issue of Azrael on this run he had a new suit and kept forgetting that he didn’t say or do the stuff he used to so he just said nothing instead. Its like why bother at this point.
I’m going to skip them next time they made me sick.

Other than that I really enjoyed my time reading these, especially when Rucka was writing something or Maleev was pencilling something.

[K · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure what exactly it was that kept me from enjoying this as much as I thought I would. I've loved all the other work by Greg Rucka that I've come across...ah. I see. The compilation of stories in this aren't all by Greg Rucka. That explains why it just didn't seem to mesh very well. Different writers, different illustrators; just didn't work all that much for me.

Gotham City has been hit by an earthquake. The government tried to evacuate the populace, but not everyone left...some couldn't, and others didn't believe that the government would truly abandon them. For some reason, Gotham has been isolated. Nothing...people or goods...can come in or out. (I thought I was starting at the beginning of the story w/ these, but apparently not. Something to do w/ Nick Scratch, a character I'm not familiar with.) Batman has disappeared & it's up to the remaining police force to try to re-establish some law & order...or at least justice & order. Different sections of Gotham have fallen under the power of different gangs & villains. When Batman returns, he finds that the people have changed. Freedom isn't the most important thing in their lives. They want food & protection, regardless of who is giving it to them.

Another gripe is the storyline about Azrael. I honestly don't know this guy, but we're thrown into the (apparent?) middle of his storyline. I found it frustrating.

I'm going to give the subsequent editions a chance...mostly because I've already borrowed them from the library.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sprawling storyline involving Gotham being shut down from the rest of the world after a series of cataclysms, with this picking up a few months after the borders have been shut down. An interesting way to get Batman to have to operate in new ways--since gang warfare breaks out, his usual tactics just don't work in here. I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear that both The Dark Knight Rises and Arkham City used some ideas from here.

Fantastic character work in here--Bruce Wayne, Barbara Gordon and Jim Gordon all get some character building and introspection in here, it's not just action sequence after action sequence. I rather enjoyed Huntress' storyline and the way that panned out.

I was dreading Azrael when I realized he was included in here, but luckily I really like what they've done with his character. He's still not a favorite, and doubtful he ever will be, but after his stint as a homicidal and self-righteous Batman really anything is going to be better. Even Azrael has some excellent character development in here.

[Suzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. There were some parts that seemed to drag a bit but I did enjoy it and find it worth the money. I am pretty upset that DC still did not include nor collect "The Road to No Man's Land" which, in my opinion, is a crucial part to the story line. You can read the story without it but I certainly enjoyed it a lot more. The story is about an earthquake that hits Gotham. All the buildings, except those own by Bruce Wayne, are destroyed. This story is about life after the quake and the hell Batman and the citizens of Gotham go through. It is a long book(about 500 pages) and it continues in four other books. Be prepared to wait a bit for the other newly collected books to come out.

[Maria Kramer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of disasters renders Gotham unfit for habitation. The federal government cuts it off and it's survival of the fittest. Since this is a big crossover event, the quality of the stories goes up and down. Still, this is a landmark in the history comics - inspiring The Dark Knight Rises, among other things.

The one issue that absolutely floored me - the one with the Death Dancer. A villain who - no joke - tap dances in front of you, then kills you with his sharpened shoe. OMG. Did the writer's realize how hilarious that was, or were they just sleep-deprived and running up against a tight deadline? The world may never know.

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