Batman: No Man's Land Vol. 4

Batman

by Chuck Dixon, John Broome (Illustrator), John Cassaday (Illustrator)

After suffering a cataclysmic earthquake, the U.S. government has deemed Gotham City uninhabitable and ordered all citizens to leave. It is now months later and those that have refused to vacate "No Man's Land" live amid a citywide turf war in which the strongest prey on the weak.
Batman and his allies continue their fight to save Gotham during its darkest hour. In this final volume, Lex Luthor swoops in to help rebuild Gotham City - but his secret plan is to secure the ownership of much of the city's real estate! In the chaos of the waning days of the city's crisis, The Joker strikes, kidnapping a number of infants and killing members of the Gotham City Police Department.

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

542 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2000

About the author

Charles "Chuck" Dixon is an American comic book writer, perhaps best-known for long runs on Batman titles in the 1990s.

His earliest comics work was writing Evangeline first for Comico Comics in 1984 (then later for First Comics, who published the on-going series), on which he worked with his then-wife, the artist Judith Hunt. His big break came one year later, when editor Larry Hama hired him to write back-up stories for Marvel Comics' The Savage Sword of Conan.

In 1986, he began working for Eclipse Comics, writing Airboy with artist Tim Truman. Continuing to write for both Marvel and (mainly) Eclipse on these titles, as well as launching Strike! with artist Tom Lyle in August 1987 and Valkyrie with artist Paul Gulacy in October 1987, he began work on Carl Potts' Alien Legion series for Marvel's Epic Comics imprint, under editor Archie Goodwin. He also produced a three-issue adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit for Eclipse with artist David Wenzel between 1989 and 1990, and began writing Marc Spector: Moon Knight in June 1989.

His Punisher OGN Kingdom Gone (August, 1990) led to him working on the monthly The Punisher War Journal (and later, more monthly and occasional Punisher titles), and also brought him to the attention of DC Comics editor Denny O'Neil, who asked him to produce a Robin mini-series. The mini proved popular enough to spawn two sequels - The Joker's Wild (1991) and Cry of the Huntress (1992) - which led to both an ongoing monthly series (which Dixon wrote for 100 issues before leaving to work with CrossGen Comics), and to Dixon working on Detective Comics from #644-738 through the major Batman stories KnightFall & KnightsEnd (for which he helped create the key character of Bane), DC One Million , Contagion , Legacy , Cataclysm and No Man's Land . Much of his run was illustrated by Graham Nolan.

He was DC's most prolific Batman-writer in the mid-1990s (rivalled perhaps in history by Bill Finger and Dennis O'Neil) - in addition to writing Detective Comics he pioneered the individual series for Robin , Nightwing (which he wrote for 70 issues, and returned to briefly with 2005's #101) and Batgirl , as well as creating the team and book Birds of Prey .

While writing multiple Punisher and Batman comics (and October 1994's Punisher/Batman crossover), he also found time to launch Team 7 for Jim Lee's WildStorm/Image and Prophet for Rob Liefeld's Extreme Studios. He also wrote many issues of Catwoman and Green Arrow , regularly having about seven titles out each and every month between the years 1993 and 1998.

In March, 2002, Dixon turned his attention to CrossGen's output, salthough he co-wrote with Scott Beatty the origin of Barbara Gordon's Batgirl in 2003's Batgirl: Year One. For CrossGen he took over some of the comics of the out-going Mark Waid, taking over Sigil from #21, and Crux with #13. He launched Way of the Rat in June 2002, Brath (March '03), The Silken Ghost (June '03) and the pirate comic El Cazador (Oct '03), as well as editing Robert Rodi's non-Sigilverse The Crossovers. He also wrote the Ruse spin-off Archard's Agents one-shots in January and November '03 and April '04, the last released shortly before CrossGen's complete collapse forced the cancellation of all of its comics, before which Dixon wrote a single issue of Sojourn (May '04). Dixon's Way of the Rat #24, Brath #14 and El Cazador #6 were among the last comics released from the then-bankrupt publisher.

On June 10, 2008, Dixon announced on his forum that he was no longer "employed by DC Comics in any capacity."

Reviews

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's such a difference once Greg Rucka comes back it's crazy.

So the last volume felt like weird side stories all put together despite being the correct order of reading. This is a lot better as Greg Rucka writes the majority of these stories. Batman decides enough is enough and goes to Jim to try to work things out. This is easily the best arc of the entire No Man's Land because it has heart. But before Batman can do that Two Face decides to kidnap Jim and put him on trial. Leaving a very tense court room issue.

We also get a few fun issues of Catwoman that surprisingly don't completely suck. On top of that I even enjoyed the Robin and Nightwing issues here, both help move the story forward. The Lex stuff was decent but basically a way out for the No Man Land storyline to continue.

The best moments come in the last few issues where the Joker strikes. Joker as always is a insane piece of shit and what he does is disgusting and you probably seen it on plenty of list of "Top worst things the Joker has done" but it's the aftermath that really shines. It shows how strong and important Jim is to the batfamily while also showing Bruce is vulnerable at times for a friend.

Overall, this event was WAY too long but it finished very strong. Up and down, but if it finishes it strong, I can be happy. A 4 out of 5.

[Wing Kee · Rating 5 out of 5]

The end of my favorite Bat family event.

World: The art is good, it's solid and the tone is great for the entire series. So good. The world building is solid and so good, sure the idea of No Man's Land is ridiculous but when inside it it's so good. The pieces have been moved for the finale and the introduction of Lex is so good. There is consequences in this world and it's great. Heartbreaking and great.

Story: I love No Man's Land, it's the first huge event that really grabbed me when I was young and it was the event that gave me Harley in book continuity and Cassandra. The finale was well paced and consistent throughout the series and the lasting effects of what happens in the end is great. It's heartbreaking and beautiful and melancholy and it's everything great about a Batman story.

Characters: The entire family is here and they all have a final to their journey within No Man's Land, it's so good. After so many issues these characters have grown so much the standouts of course are Huntress and Cassandra. Of course this also has my favorite Batman/Gordon scene of all time in the garden...it makes me cry every time.

This is my favorite event for Batman, it's flawed but it just hits so many emotions.

Onward to the next book!

[Mizuki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Batman & Robin: Batman Reborn review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Once again, I tore myself from Batman online fanfics long enough to finish reading actual Batman comics.

And here is a downside to binge on Batman fanfics for too long: you see pairings and romance everywhere when you read the actual comics:

Me react to the Batman+Commissioner Gordon's garden scene: I know Batman/Gordon is not a popular pairing, but why in this comic canon, why must the two of them meet in a freaking rose garden in the dead of the night to have a heart-to-heart and why must Robin actually comments to Barbara that 'it feels like my parents are having a fight'!?

LOL

Back to the actual story, I really am amused to no end by the Two Face/Detective Renee Montoya subplot, and the Two Face vs. Gordon courtroom scene (Gordon appoints Harvey Dent as his defense lawyer against Two Face's accusation is really amazing!)..........and last but not least..........the Robin (Tim Drake) +Two Face scenes during the battle with Bane and other gangs. Robin is so funny and witty I'm really impressed.

Penguin shows up here and there and I like how he is written and drawn.

As to Bane.......he has never been my favorite villain and I can do with NOT seeing his hairy chests this often, but I think he is okay in this volume.

So in the end.......the conspirator turns out to be...Lex Luther! although it isn't as much a surprise for me but I still like to see Mercy Grave showing up.

It's hint that The Joker (with Harley Quinn tagging along) will play bigger part in the next volume, so I will jump to read it.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Less hopeless and forlorn than it's predecessor volumes, likely because it chronicles the end of the "NML" and tells some entertaining tales of Catwoman, Nightwing and, yes, even Batman to bring things to a close.



Because it's a major Batman Event nefarious plots by Joker just had to be the finale, to be honest I found his constant abuse and belittling of Harley to be more than a little disturbing. I think the era of comics definitely went too far with using that kind of behaviour for "comic" relief, and I'm glad they are no longer written this blithely.

Qualified recommendation only to those who could stomach the first volume, otherwise far too much of a slog to arrive here.

[Chelsea 🏳️‍🌈 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easily the best part of this entire overlong arc. Rucka wrote the majority of this collection and that was definitely it's saving grace.

This is the conclusion to the No Man's Land arc. I certainly have no idea why it had to be so long. I'm reminded of the fact that recent events don't get nearly as much time because series just don't last as long as they used to. I often lament that fact, but this is the first arc that made me think shorter events might be the best choice. This event should've been 50 issues shorter. The same lessons were learned over and over again and with such bleak material, that just made reading this a sludgefest.

That being said, there were some highlights in this volume:
- No Man's Land #0: Ground Zero was the best issue in the entire arc. It tells of Bruce's first days when the National Guard closed Gotham down. You see him just after losing the fight in congress, encountering Talia (again, I don't get people saying Morrison ruined her - she really wasn't great here either), and him realizing Huntress has taken over as Batgirl. While I still do not understand why Huntress cares so much about earning Bruce's approval, this was the only issue where Bruce wasn't horrible towards her. This was also the only issue where Bruce really felt like a person. Why couldn't this have been the vibe throughout the entire arc?
- I enjoyed the final confrontation between Bruce and Commissioner Gordon. While I've hated 99% of what Gordon has done in this arc, I enjoyed the tension of that issue.
- I enjoyed Babs showing concern for Cass' wellbeing. She's the only person that seems to care (aside from that weird vibe later with her and Azrael and I hope they weren't trying to make that romantic because Cass is a teenager).
- Pretty par for the course that Luthor was the one responsible for the NML law getting repealed. I think it's meant to be implied that Lucious was working on it through legal means, rather than dirty press, but then the next issue says it was Luthor that did it. So, yes, this was an entire arc where the major great events were thanks to villains. I could've gotten behind this idea if there weren't so much of the Batfamily drama.

I'd read the conclusion with Joker and Sarah Gordon before in the Celebration of 75 Years of the Joker. That came with the added context of watching the Joker progress from a wacky clown poisoning Gotham's fish supply to a domestic abuser that beats children with crowbars, puts women in wheelchairs and takes naked photos of their bodies, kidnaps babies and kills women trying to protect them. I think we were supposed to glean that the Joker finally snapped after Batman kept sending in his allies to deal with him rather than giving Joker the attention he so desperately wanted. However, when you read all of the issues, it does seem a bit out of left field. Anyway, it's a sad conclusion but everything's sad in this arc so I didn't really feel much of anything. Sorry Sarah died for the same reason Babs was shot - for Gordon's pain.

I have mixed feelings about it taking ages for Huntress to realize that the crazy murderous cop maybe wasn't the best guy to rally behind. How many people did he gun down and force under his control before she realized something wasn't right? I also don't love that it takes her being shot 3 times, half dead lying in the snow for her to hear a "good job" from Bruce. This was strange... but also one of the only issues where she wasn't intolerable in this entire arc.

Catwoman's issues were so hard to look at that I skimmed them at best. After two seconds of the first page, all I saw were tits. And I say this as a bisexual, there were so many horribly drawn poses of Selina Kyle that I think I came out of this heterosexual. I'd never been so upset at seeing tits and ass before. She gets shot, the panel is drawn to show as much T&A as possible. She lands in the water and her tits float above the water. I can't express how gross this art was. Was there text? I do not know. All I saw were tits.

Anyway, as a whole, this entire arc is not a recommend from me. The few issues I enjoyed were not worth sludging through this entire arc. It's joyless, the heroes don't feel particularly heroic and I just kept seeing ways it could have been better. Maybe it's COVID, but I think if this had focused more on the heroes all starting out forcibly isolated from each other and showed us each of them helping civilians trapped in Gotham at the start, this would've been better. Instead, it was mostly Bruce being a bully, Gordon making horrible choices, Blue Lives Matter rhetoric, hatred of the poor, a few dashes of racism, executions, and some of the worst of 90s art I've seen in a long time. It was also way, way, wayyyyyyy too long.

[Vinicius · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essa parte 4 foi incrível!! Tiveram vários arcos interessantes no encadernado, envolvendo diversos personagens da Terra de Ninguém.

O arco com a Lince foi emocionante, ela recordando seus traumas e sofrimentos. O run do Capa Dura foi muito bom também, trazendo consigo a significância por tras símbolo do "heroi"; o Tim e a Steph tendo que lidar com problemas pessoais; a Leslie trazendo a tona seus medos e sua motivação como médica e; por fim, o Batman e o Jim recomeçando sua amizade.

Enfim, foi uma HQ muito boa que, não só trouxe boas histórias de ação e estratégia envolvendo a Terra de Ninguém, mas também discussões e problemas éticos, morais e pontos de vista em uma terra sem lei.

[Daria · Rating 5 out of 5]

PROBABLY THE BEST ONE JUST BY THE SHEER AMOUNT OF EMOTIONAL DAMAGE IT DEALT ME.
The Leslie and Bruce issue? Where she hugs him? And he apologises? And he cries? The GORDON AND BRUCE SCENE? Where he takes off his mask because that's ALLL HE HAS TO OFFER but Gordon doesn't want it??????? The Harvey and Montoya scene??? Gordon asking Harvey to defend him????? Opening up some deep old wounds in my frail little heart. The Dick and Babs hang out time? The Joker and Pettit issue? Helena?? SARAH????
There's literally nothing I can say about this issue besides the shock and rush of emotions I've felt. The Christmas issue with Jean-Paul and Batgirl was the sweetest thing. I can't believe I'm saying this but Jean-Paul was /actually bearable/ in this one. Who would have thought?

[Katherine (Kat) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[jay ⚢ · Rating 5 out of 5]

☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️

[Matt Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

No Man's Land was one of the first comic series I remember investing in. The promise of a mega Batman crossover with Gotham in dire straits that Batman must put to rights captured my imagination and stuck with me. I was, of course, not alone in this, as No Man's Land is still remembered as one of the most successful Batman crossovers of the past two decades. It comes to mind in ways that War Games, Batman RIP, and more simply don't.

That's the secret, I think. It isn't enough to merely be zeitgeist. It has to withstand the tests of time.

This is the final volume of No Man's Land, concerned with the actual politicking of how it is Gotham managed to pull itself out of this year from hell. There's a lot of maneuvering, not the least of which is the revelation of the identity of Gotaham's actual, ultimate savior (which I won't spoil here). It adds a delicious wrinkle and a solid counterpoint to Bruce Wayne himself, giving a very anti-superhero perspective to how Gotham would eventually be saved. It's not enough, this argues, to take the city back block by block. You actually need the government and public support to undo this municipal nightmare.

Of course, this means that No Man's Land almost completely crumbles under the weight of its own logic. "Gotham City is declared a No Man's Land because this devastating earthquake caused too much property damage and it was a safer bet to just close Gotham, declare it not a part of the United States, and then stop anyone from getting in or out after an arbitrary cutoff date. It strains credulity even with the level of suspension of disbelief that comics normally requires. It's not that Gotham is a PR nightmare; it's a humanitarian shitastrophe. Thousands upon thousands left to die, abandoned by their government through absolutely draconian measures at the expense of a cool idea for a story.

Now, all that said, I think part of the reason this holds up as well as it does is because of all the cohesion. The Batman editorial team really brought it to make sure that all of these No Man's Land tales held up and wove a complete tapestry. Some were less good (the Catwoman issues across all volumes were just abysmal) or necessary (I didn't read a single issue of any of the Azrael tales) and it sagged a bit in the third volume (lack of Greg Rucka). But the truth is that it comes around at the end and it comes around hard. The actual finale with the return of The Joker in a big bad way is iconic to me in ways that early comics only ever could be. The splash page of The Joker leaving behind his devastating final act of No Man's Land is one of those comics pages that is burned into my head forever. And that actual final act, the repurcusssios of it, are all one final knife twist in what could have been easily disposible. True, it's not as huge an act as the death of Stephanie Brown or the apparent death of Batman/Bruce Wayne, but it doesn't have to be. That such an event can make everything feel pyrrhic speaks volumes to the skills of Rucka and Devin Grayson as writers. That it works as well as it does makes sure this massive event ends on a proper note, the likes of which don't ever seem to happen in massive crossover events in comics. They always seem to blow the ending. And given that this was a year long and crossed over into every single Batman book at the time, that it holds up is largely down to the strength of this ending.

Honestly, this is the era of Batman for me. And while I have fallen off the superhero bandwagon in a big bad way over the past few years, I must admit that this is the kickoff to what is my favorite era of Batman comics in terms of "status quo". Cassandra Cain Batgirl. Tim Drake Robin. Nightwing in Bludhaven. Oracle. Spoiler. Lite Azrael. The promise of a new Gotham. I love watching the Bat Family all together like this. And it makes me want to go read the rest of the Batman comics that came out between this and Infinite Crisis. For the Rucka. For the imminent arrival of Ed Brubaker. Chuck Dixon on the ancillary Bat Family books... For all of it. And while this might not hold up as well as I want it to (and Vol 1 was easily the best), it's a solid nostalgia read and one of the great Batman comics that people who like Batman comics all should read. For they will almost assuredly like it very much.

3.5 Stars

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though the series may be losing a little steam by this point, there is enough in this volume to leave the reader satisfied.

While there has been substantial time devoted to both the Penguin and Two-Face in the previous 3 volumes, we're given someone new to focus on this time around. Bane makes his entrance into No Man's Land with grand plans for the crumbled city. While the reader is still not entirely sure what direction he's headed in throughout the book, the end treats us with a blockbuster twist worthy of a gasping WHOA.

This also contains one of the best back and forth exchanges between Batman and Commissioner Gordon that I've ever read. I was truly on the edge of my seat. It leads to a stunning move on Batman's part to try and gain Jim's trust again.

All that great stuff aside, some of the artwork was lackluster and at times, pretty ugly. What's great about a multi-artist collaboration can also lead to a disadvantage. It can be pretty cool to see different artists visions throughout, resulting in some intense visuals but it can also lead to some disappointing storytelling that can take the reader right out of the comic.

[John Yelverton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This whole "No Man's Land" story is starting to wind down now, and that's a good thing, because Batman needs to get back to doing what he does best. It's still a good story though.

[OmniBen · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Zero spoiler review for the omnibus, with the score for this volume) 3/5
When a Batman event... scratch that. When what is possibly the greatest Batman/Gotham event on paper manages to fumble the ball over and over, taking what was an absolute sure fire hit into a middling, rollercoaster of quality, then you know that the comics event rulebook needs to be torn up, burnt and scattered to the wind.
As I said, this was a great idea. An outstanding one in fact. But because 'comics have to comic' with pointless, pathetic tie ins, and a seemingly in-exhaustive laundry list of writers and artists all get a turn writing or drawing this event, as if Batman (who should be the pinnacle of DC quality) is now the town bike and anyone can have a ride, regardless of quality or merit. They took an easy slam dunk, tripped over their own ineffectiveness and avarice, and stumbled awkwardly into an increasingly apathetic crowd. How could you screw this up? Oh yeah... comics event. My bad.
Now in fairness, there is some good stuff here, and because its Batman, the average is always made a little bit better, and at the same time, the disappointment hurts a little bit more at the same time. The few decent writers turn in some decent writing. The few decent artists turn in some decent art, apart from Jim Balent on the Catwoman tie in, who singlehandedly is bringing sexy back to comics. Or at least he was two decades ago. God help us all now.
I will never understand who was calling the shots here, who kept putting overly stylised, cartoonish artists on a Batman book, about the dystopian destruction of Gotham. Cause nothing says the darkest days of Gotham like kiddy-ish cartoons and bright colours. Fuck off with that garbage! The revolving door of writers didn't help matters either, with the lacking a consistent narrative feel and direction. Instead, you feel like you're being pulled in a dozen directions at once, and most of them are inane and unnecessary, and not executed very well. What we got, was pretty average, and what we didn't get, could have been awesome. This should have been the story of one or two very talented, very committed writers. Instead, it was the equivalent of letting a five year old bake a cake when given the ingredients but allowed to determine their own quantities. This should have been brilliant, and if you skip about half of it, it's pretty good. But pretty good isn't good enough, and again, that's if you know which half of it to avoid. Though it is usually pretty obvious a few pages in. I gave up halfway through and began skipping the issues that made my brain hurt and my eyes sad.
So is it still worth reading? I mean, yeah... kind of, I guess? It's not offensively bad for the most part, and the opening third is pretty damn good. Just bring a big pair of gum boots, cause you'll definitely be wading through some shit to get to solid ground. 3/5


OmniBen.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

"No Man's Land" comes to a compelling end as Volume Four of the collected series develops a satisfying reason to shift back to the status quo.

Batman and his crew play an active role in moving the plot along. We get some amusing interludes with Catwoman as well as grittier scenes with Lex Luthor as the Superman villain attempts to wrap a ruthless takeover of Gotham real estate in humanitarian cloth.

Not all of the threads are knotted successfully. Ex-policeman William Pettit veers from being a possibly misguided Punisher-style vigilante to a raving lunatic in short space. It's a plausible shift, but the treatment is rushed.

Similarly, the Joker (one of my least favorite characters) assumes almost supernatural competency in setting up the final confrontation. I found his sudden elevation to be uneven and manipulative, and unclear art doesn't do the finale any favors.

I'm in the camp that thinks that psycho-killer Joker undermines the willing suspension of disbelief that's necessary to enjoy the Bat-verse. That's evident here in what's otherwise a well-structured conclusion.

[Liz.Loki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the best volume!

Only things I didn't like were some additional issues that I don't consider canon bc they were bad and boring lmao and also HELENA AND DICK?? I HATE THEM AS A COUPLE!

Joker as a villain was so well written I HATE THAT MF SM BUT HE KNOWS HOW TO ENTERTAIN ME YK HE'S SICK AND TWISTED

The ending was so well done imo, a bittersweet ending bc there's so much to mourn after the events of No Man's Land but also the city is filled with HOPE again and that's really Gotham's biggest strength. A city full of hope despite its tragedies.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keep this nostalgia train going

[Jolyne Kujoh · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm actually so mad that they retconned the single best storyline in comic history, Harley Quinn deserves better

[Dr Rashmit Mishra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read the whole NML as single issues , I think my reviews as Volumes are disorderly so , I'll just review the whole thing in the last Vol

[Tony Laplume · Rating 4 out of 5]

After Knightfall, this story arc, and perhaps this volume in particular, represents the material that most closely echoes Christopher Nolan's vision in The Dark Knight Rises.

Basically, Gotham experienced a giant earthquake, became completely decimated, and was declared a federal no man's land. The buzzards attempt to pick at its bones. The buzzards in this concluding volume of the saga do in fact include Bane, although at this point he's already begun the transition that took him away from the intelligent brute who broke Batman to the fool who was hardly distinguishable from the representation in Batman and Robin. There's also Lex Luthor, the mysterious benefactor who helps resolve the whole thing, finally stepping in to help rebuild (although because he's a villain Bruce Wayne is finally motivated to do something other than prance around as Batman; if that sounds harsh that's the critical assessment of the logic behind the whole arc, and besides, Luthor still won in the end, being elected to president of the United States not so long after).

The main writer is Greg Rucka. He makes everything seem a lot more sober than it really is. Any other writer would have made it look pretty lunatic. In fact, most of the other writers in the collection do. The supporting characters in their own titles, as represented, are laughably beside the point. The character who comes off best is Huntress, who at this point in her career was the would-be new Batgirl, but this is also the point where there actually was a new Batgirl (in one of the confusing moments Huntress actually dawns this Batgirl's costume; if you read only this volume, you would probably assume she was the new Batgirl all along).

Yet the biggest moment of the collection is gutted when her heroic sacrifice...doesn't happen. Instead, Commissioner Gordon's bouncing bride is killed off, soon after Huntress...doesn't die. Both incidents occur under the auspices of the Joker, naturally, who for some reason (which is never even attempted to be explained) is completely overlooked by Batman during the whole crisis.

Long story short, Rucka probably owes his mainstream comics career to this material, and really, he ought to be incredibly grateful that Batman didn't get the same event fatigue that Superman did. These comics were originally published in 1999 and 2000. One of the key moments, in the few times Jim Gordon is in the spotlight (including a trial under the auspices of Two-Face), is a direct confrontation over the various event stories he and Batman had weathered recently.

The movie version was better.

[Chaitra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the last volume of No Man's Land, in which Gotham is officially part of the United States again. (How costly building those bridges again must have been. Aren't you very unhappy now, US government? Not only was isolating Gotham a wasteful experiment to begin with, it ended up costing you extra. On a side note, I suddenly remembered all those bridges destroyed in The Dark Knight Rises). There's a terrific story in this volume, the one where Joker wants to light one last fire in Gotham, because he's feeling ignored by Batsy-poo. Huntress proves her worth, which is personally very satisfying, because I thought Batman is a kind of a dick to her generally.

There's Bane, who basically just leaves because Batman asked him to, which is a terribly boring. There is an outside interest (quite obvious if you think about it) who's buying up real estate (or rather forging property claims) in Gotham and he leaves too because Batman asks him. Which is also quite unsatisfying. There's a needless death, and this character can't catch a break, and that's quite annoying too, because kill some main character instead of only a slightly important one. (Even if that doesn't work, because they always come back in some shape or another).

But, all that is overshadowed by the abomination that is Catwoman's art. How does she even move with those two horrible boobs that do not for one minute look real? They take up way too much real estate, and I'm pretty sure would get in the way of all the slinking and shimmying. (I had a picture of her, but I can't find it anymore, and that's just as well. It's too terrible to contemplate). If that wasn't enough, this particular Cat costume has a tail. A pretty useless tail, because it's not as if she can use it to hang off railings. Who thought it was a good idea? I kept wishing one of the bad guys would reach out and grab that stupid tail when she's jumping right on top of them. It makes me appreciate her totally abnormal proportions in other comics, because they're not as bad as this.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 2 out of 5]

It seems this storyline just goes on and on without any real ending in sight. Batman is still battling away and hasn't really made a dent in 4 books. The bad guys are still on the loose, the gangs still run the city, no matter what he does nothing really changes. And that's what's so frustrating about "No Man's Land", there doesn't seem to be any purpose or direction, it's just a lot of fight scenes with little or no substance, just a lot of ordinary people sitting around complaining that their government abandoned them - which they did, and that has never made any sense to me. Why would the US government abandon Gotham after an earthquake? Did they abandon New Orleans after Katrina (some might say yes, Spike Lee for example, but that's another matter)?

Anyway, the series drones on in its unremitting nonsense. Bane appears and he and Batman battle, Zsasz causes tension in a refugee hospital where Killer Croc shows up, Superman shows up again to no avail, and Two Face does some pointless posturing.

It's a dull book, like the other two before it, with nothing particularly interesting happening either way. I've given this series 4 books, that there is more means little to me as I'm stopping it here. "No Man's Land" is a series that just goes on and on and isn't much more than assorted fight scenes and a nonsensical setup. Fans only, the casual comics reader will wonder why DC bothered.

[Christian Oliverio · Rating 4 out of 5]

No Man's Land finally comes to a thrilling end with only moderate amounts of filler.

The opening issue was definitely filler, but it felt very main-story and the dark tone immediately brings us back into this awesome narrative. I loved seeing Dr. Thompkins take the spotlight and reprimand Batman. She's awesome. We also finally continue the main story with Two-Face having Montoya kidnapped after Gordan made a bad deal with him. Honestly, the only filler was Catwoman, who didn't have much to do after delivering her package to Batman, and Azrael, who didn't have much to do after Scratch. Nightwing and Oracle's story was pretty awesome (love them together), especially when Huntress entered the equation, and seeing the "outside interest" finally reveal himself was pretty dope.

But the best part was easily the highly dark and intense 'endgame' story with Joker. All the running plotlines come to a close and we see Joker do some of the darkest stuff I've read. Easily Killing Joke levels of evil. It's a real shame much of the great "holy madman, Batman!" moments come near the end. Without giving spoilers, this has one of the strongest endings I've seen in big arcs like this. The journey is certainly worth the ending.

[Adrian Santiago · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un año después del inicio de la tierra de nadie. Y muchas situaciones que si bien le dieron un cierre a la historia, se me hicieron mega absurdas.

Joker estuvo a la luz mucho tiempo y muchas veces, su territorio estaba marcado y nadie hizo nada hasta que dio su golpe final. También Luthor se volvió intocable hasta el momento en que Batman le dijo "te vas". Aunque la historia de Harley Quinn que se encuentra un libro de cómo mantener a tu amor interesado fue buena, al final se vuelve más dependiente y nadie entendería cómo puede justificar al Joker.

La parte de Huntress defendiendo y peleando con muchos a la vez, fue buena. E incluso al final tenemos un capítulo de relleno horrible y sin sentido sobre Gordon "cumpliendo su deber". En una ciudad que mágicamente ya estaba 100% reconstruida.

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leer todo lo demás ayudó mucho, los buenos fueron medio malos y los malos tuvieron que ser buenos. Una reconstrucción contra el tiempo, contra el joker, contra los que ahora veían una oportunidad de hacer dinero frente a la catástrofe, una reconstrucción de humanidad y de una ciudad que realmente ha enfrentado de lo peor.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much of the final volume of No Man's Land is high quality. Greg Rucka really knows how to write Batman, and Chuck Dixon continues to be a top quality author as well. The volume wraps up the story of Gotham as No Man's Land, and there are some excellent, moving scenes, like between Batman and Gordon, and to a lesser extent, Batman and Huntress. Rucka's Joker is brutal, not in the bad sense, but in the sense of he's a brutal, violent Joker. He's the most psychopathic Joker since Moore's, and he's written quite well. If the story was just Rucka's Batman in NML, it would be top-quality Bat writing. The problem is that the asides for Catwoman are unreadable (which is a shame, as I like Catwoman), and the Azrael stories aren't great either.

It's a fitting end to No Man's Land. On the whole, I liked the story, and Rucka, Dixon, and Grayson are all great authors. The middle two volumes lagged a great deal, but it's a good Bat story on balance.

3.5 stars, rounded down due to John Ostrander's writing being basically unreadable, and the wretched art of Dale Eaglesham and Scott McDaniel

[J.M. Hushour · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the most satisfying entry so far in the tale of Gotham City, post-giant earthquake. Batman and friends scramble to hold the city together, Two-Face puts Gordon and then himself on trial, the Joker lurks in the background, and some unknown force is filling Gotham with tons of construction material in a bid to rebuild the city and basically take-over everything. There are some great moments here: a weird Killer Croc/Zsasz storyline, said Two Face trial, and Batsy and Gordon finally reconciling. Bane returns, too, working for the mysterious "savior" of Gotham who is, natch, revealed at the end.

[Hugo Emanuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very strong and emotional ending to the massive No Man's Land saga, whose gut puch endgame was somewhat diminuished by the saturation that had set due to the excessive length of this event.

Honestly 20 to 25 issues less of NML would benefit this event considerably. If there were less 400 to 600 pages less of this event, who is over a whooping 3000 pages (if one counts the Road to No Man's Land omnibus), this could have been an amazing event. As it stands, there is too much filler and repetition to really be above a 3 stars event.

The concluding volume, though, is well worth 4 stars .

[Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

After being disappointed with the last volume I was pleasantly surprised by this one, the ending to this huge arc was pretty damn good and it even managed to deliver some unexpected surprises near the end as well. Although I found it a bit jarring that some of the issues were out of order, but overall this was a surprisingly good ending to No Man’s Land.

[Vance Gatlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

It bounces around in continuity. In Volume 3 it ends with Robin's predicament and then its ignored until the end of this book. Other than that, the first half was good, though I don't know why the Batman: No Man's Land issue 0 wasn't in the first volume.

[Derek Royal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been reading the No Man's Land saga for what seems like forever. Not the strongest Batman comics, and the highlight of this final volume is Rucka's stories. Still, there's a reason why it took me so long to slog through these volumes.

[Joakim Ax · Rating 5 out of 5]

One heck o a finally, that I did remember since reading it before, but still hits a homerun with me cause it´s just good writing imo. Familys has been lost, rescued, killed, saved and scarred for life.