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Batman: No Man's Land #2
Batman: Road to No Man's Land, Vol. 1
The U.S. Government has deemed Gotham City uninhabitable after a cataclysmic earthquake. Months later, those who have refused to vacate "No Man's Land" live amidst a citywide turf war in which the strongest prey on the weak. As gangs terrorize the ravaged populace, the Scarecrow uses a church relief project as a real-life lab to test his experiments in fear. But with the return of Batman and the appearance of an enigmatic new Batgirl, justice returns to Gotham.
After a cataclysmic earthquake, those who refuse to vacate Gotham City live amid a citywide turf war. Collects BATMAN #555-559, BATMAN: SHADOW OF THE BAT #75-79, DETECTIVE COMICS #722, #724-726, ROBIN #54 and THE BATMAN CHRONICLES #14.
After a cataclysmic earthquake, those who refuse to vacate Gotham City live amid a citywide turf war. Collects BATMAN #555-559, BATMAN: SHADOW OF THE BAT #75-79, DETECTIVE COMICS #722, #724-726, ROBIN #54 and THE BATMAN CHRONICLES #14.
433 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 13, 2015
48 people are currently reading
368 people want to read
About the author
Chuck Dixon
3,426 books1,031 followersCharles "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."
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."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews
May 30, 2024
Gotham deals with the aftermath of a cataclysmic earthquake. With each issue, the story seems more and more hopeless. The stories all originally appeared under the Aftershock coverdress.
November 5, 2017
3.5.
Dated but still has it's moments.
World: The art is fine, it's starting to date, I do like Buckingham though cause of Fables. The scope is it is quite good. The world building is solid, setting up more post and beyond Cataclysm. I like the time spent at each and every little nook and corner of Gotham making for a grander tale.
Story: There are not a lot of superhero/villain fights...well two and those are quite fun. But the core of this story are the people and the Gotham characters dealing with the Aftermath. Sure, there's nothing to punch and a lot of the stories is *insert Bat character* saving people but I like it. It reminds me of disaster stories and post apocalyptic stories were small individual character and moments build up a larger narrative. Yes there are times its redundant yes it's expected and not big in surprises but it also gives a more human side to the Bat family that punching bad guys doesn't give. It's like a giant breath intake and a long exhale for the world to breath and just do small character moments.
Characters: A lot of characters and I like it. Each is facing it differently and I don't mind it. Bruce is figuring out what to do, as is all the Bats and I like the quiet contemplating they do when they are saving people. It's fairly one note at times but I like it. The use of the villains this arc is also strong with them showing up just to spice it up when needed.
I don't mind Aftermath. Cataclysm was very redundant in expressing horror of the situation through all the books but this one has issues dealing with a problem and people in it and I don't mind it at all.
Onward to the next book!
Dated but still has it's moments.
World: The art is fine, it's starting to date, I do like Buckingham though cause of Fables. The scope is it is quite good. The world building is solid, setting up more post and beyond Cataclysm. I like the time spent at each and every little nook and corner of Gotham making for a grander tale.
Story: There are not a lot of superhero/villain fights...well two and those are quite fun. But the core of this story are the people and the Gotham characters dealing with the Aftermath. Sure, there's nothing to punch and a lot of the stories is *insert Bat character* saving people but I like it. It reminds me of disaster stories and post apocalyptic stories were small individual character and moments build up a larger narrative. Yes there are times its redundant yes it's expected and not big in surprises but it also gives a more human side to the Bat family that punching bad guys doesn't give. It's like a giant breath intake and a long exhale for the world to breath and just do small character moments.
Characters: A lot of characters and I like it. Each is facing it differently and I don't mind it. Bruce is figuring out what to do, as is all the Bats and I like the quiet contemplating they do when they are saving people. It's fairly one note at times but I like it. The use of the villains this arc is also strong with them showing up just to spice it up when needed.
I don't mind Aftermath. Cataclysm was very redundant in expressing horror of the situation through all the books but this one has issues dealing with a problem and people in it and I don't mind it at all.
Onward to the next book!
August 26, 2020
I know it's a comic book but it was still a bit overwrought and sentimental. Really pushing Batman into a different role than he's suited for, really felt like a vehicle for morality lessons, which maybe is always the case but it stood out a bit much.
December 8, 2018
A story about a rich guy driving his weaponized monster truck around a destroyed city, so he can injure and humiliate people who are just trying to survive. Also featuring heartfelt speeches about the importance and beauty of capitalism.
I think my favorite parts are when Alfred apologized that Bruce's orange juice wasn't fresh squeezed, while most of the city has nothing to eat and drink, and Batman talking about Gotham having the highest crime rate in the world while he's driving the previously mentioned truck to stop "looting" at stores that will never be open again.
Also Batman hugs people while talking about his feelings.
I think my favorite parts are when Alfred apologized that Bruce's orange juice wasn't fresh squeezed, while most of the city has nothing to eat and drink, and Batman talking about Gotham having the highest crime rate in the world while he's driving the previously mentioned truck to stop "looting" at stores that will never be open again.
Also Batman hugs people while talking about his feelings.
November 20, 2022
No Man's Land appears on many lists as a top Batman story. So, I thought I'd start reading collections of it over time. I started with this "lead-in" volume...it was very blah. Maybe the main event will end up being a great story, but I found this "Aftershock" collection to be painfully one note. Each story was a "let's see how much Gotham is descending into chaos after the earthquake." And that was it. For many issues. It doesn't really move forward at all and seems to be treading water painfully before a big event.
The idea that Batman finally faced a villain that he couldn't defeat, a natural disaster, was touched upon but not explored to any depth. To me, that is the strongest angle here. Survivor morality stories have all been done many times, the aspect of a superhero powerless in front of overwhelming odds is something that could be much more originally explored.
The artwork wasn't really my jam, either. It was very dark, heavy inks over pencils and Batman looked very strange when he actually appeared in the story.
Overall, not a strong lead-in story at all and very boring.
The idea that Batman finally faced a villain that he couldn't defeat, a natural disaster, was touched upon but not explored to any depth. To me, that is the strongest angle here. Survivor morality stories have all been done many times, the aspect of a superhero powerless in front of overwhelming odds is something that could be much more originally explored.
The artwork wasn't really my jam, either. It was very dark, heavy inks over pencils and Batman looked very strange when he actually appeared in the story.
Overall, not a strong lead-in story at all and very boring.
April 29, 2022
Took me a /while/ to read through this and it honestly wasn't that great. There was a few issues that were nice, like Helena saving those kids from that butcher (I love her, she's great, give me more of her content please), and the issue with Batman and Nightwing being very sad and angsty and making me cry, and Tim and Nightwing's stuff, but OVERALL it was just a lot of filler content. While this type of story-telling was amazing during the actual Cataclysm stuff, right now it's become pretty repetitive and boring. We get it. Gotham has been destroyed. We're all crying. Everyone is leaving. Etc, etc. There's no need for 400 pages of it.
August 19, 2019
Not possible for me to finish it.. I surrender (DNF) 😂
February 15, 2023
Wow Gotham’s REALLY broken.
Read
January 21, 2020These issues follow Cataclysm, carrying the banner “Aftershock.” Whereas Cataclysm took place right before, during, and immediately after the earthquake, this book sees how Gotham is getting on in the weeks following (hint: not great). Once again, it’s largely short stories focusing on various characters. Some stories are beautifully tragic and nuanced, while others are kind of throwaway. It’s an inevitable result of too many cooks in the kitchen. Conversely, there’s a share of great art here, with Jim Aparo and Mark Buckingham rising to the top for me. Aparo’s Detective 724 is a fantastic piece of work, with an amazing final two pages. I also found this volume less redundant than Cataclysm, which focused on the quake again and again and again. These stories are more wide-ranging and character-driven.
Elsewhere, Greg Rucka contributes his first ever Batman story in a Chronicles issue - it’s about Renee Montoya, a character he would further define in his own Batman run, Gotham Central, 52, and The Question. He even hints at Renee and Two-Face’s relationship that comes to fruition in Half a Life. I think it’s great that Rucka latches on to the character he wrote about in his first comic. The story’s solid, too.
Elsewhere, Greg Rucka contributes his first ever Batman story in a Chronicles issue - it’s about Renee Montoya, a character he would further define in his own Batman run, Gotham Central, 52, and The Question. He even hints at Renee and Two-Face’s relationship that comes to fruition in Half a Life. I think it’s great that Rucka latches on to the character he wrote about in his first comic. The story’s solid, too.
December 12, 2021
I read this after a little break post Batman: Cataclysm. I think it would have been too much of the same stories had I read this immediately after, and I recommend the same to anyone else reading No Man's Land for the first time: take a little break.
The first story Batman: Shadow of the Bat #75 by Alan Grant takes place 8 days after the quake & we're starting to see more opportunistic supervillains on the street: Freeze and Clayface, for example.
The writing is a little stiff (especially the dialogue in the Batman, Freeze & Clayface fight), but I like the continuity Grant writes into his issues. He starts a story with a man who's lost everything in By Fire...or by Ice? and then gives us his sad & messed up backstory in A Long Slow Death.
The man who lost everything (Walter Smith): "Just tell me --why? Why do you do it? Why do you fight on when everything's gone... When there isn't any hope?"
Batman: "Life must always go on. The dead are beyond pain... But the living deserve to be spared as much of it as possible."
WS: "I -- I don't know what to do..!"
Batman: "Let out your grief. Don't be ashamed of it. Sometimes, it takes death to make you realize how precious life is."
I liked Batman #555 Trapped Like Rats by Doug Moench. It's a Batman & Robin search and rescue mission, but yet another supervillain (this time it's the Ratcatcher) tries to get in the way!
As Batman & Robin figure out how to rescue the people trapped on the subway underground, there's this heavy exchange between Batman & Tim...
Robin: "Yeah, but what then? With this rocket tunnel sealed off--"
Batman: "We lead them out to safety the same way we came in."
Robin: "You mean...through the Batcave?"
Batman: "If it's the only way, yes."
Robin: "Y-you... you'll let them see Wayne Manor collapsed into the cave? The fact that you're..."
Batman: "It's either that, Robin... Or let them die."
Robin: "Okay, when you put it like that, the choice is obvious --no contest. But still...killing the whole Batman thing is a heavy--"
Batman: "The loss of Bruce Wayne's secret won't "kill" anything, Robin. The Batman will go on--with or without the Manor, with or without the cave... and even with or without me."
Robin: "Huh? But without you, how could--"
Batman: "The Batman will never die, Robin --I thought I'd already made that clear. Jean Paul Valley didn't work out, and Dick Grayson wasn't quite right either... But if and when the time comes, someone will be right --and someone will pick up the mantle of the Bat. Preferably you."
Damnnn, that's heavy!
EXCEPT, in the very next issue Batman #556, Batman seems to take it all back!!
Batman: "I'm afraid I'm asking you to commit to something you might not--"
Tim: "I know, Bruce. I'm just wondering...why you never mentioned it before."
Batman: "The need never seemed real before. So many dead... I'm wondering if it's fair, asking you to give up so much of your youth."
Tim: "But now...?"
Batman: "The quake was a dash of cold reality --a mass killer without a face -- all-powerful and impossible to stop. It made me realize the importance of enjoying life, while it lasts. The end could come for any of us Tim, at any instant."
Tim: "As you reminded me only a thousand times during my training."
Batman: "Merely knowing it is one thing... but now I've actually felt it. The ground itself could disappear from under our feet... Maybe you should be standing in the light-- instead of living in the darkness with me. Does that sound right, Tim?"
Tim: "No. It doesn't."
Batman: "Doing what we do is an honor... A privilege. It's the best thing I can possibly do."
And then they are interrupted by Alfred and Dick.
Dick: "You two slacking off again...while trusty Alfred and I have been busting our buns topside?"
Batman: "We've just been... planning future moves, Dick."
Tim: "Yeah -- major moves."
Damnnnnm x 10!
First it was 'Tim, I want you to be the next Batman' & now it's, 'Tim, you should lead a normal life'.
That's a whole ton of whiplash, Moench!
It isn't mentioned again in the next issues, so I wonder what to make of it.
Also, Dick and Alfred were clearing the Manor debris... Where did Harold Allnut go??!
Anyway, I liked the issue (#556) as a whole, but I especially liked the ending. Batman saves a man who was refusing to leave his structurally unstable apt. Batman saves him just in time as the building collapses.
Man: "M-my...my home... everything I had..."
Batman: "Except the only thing of real value... your life."
Police officers: "Look! There he is!" "He got out--!" "But...How--?"
Man: "S-somebody saved me...rescued me...somebody who said I...I'm worth somethin'."
Police officer: "Who--?"
Man: "I don't know... scary guy...but good... Maybe some kind of...Dark Angel." <3
As the stories go on, so does the time post-quake.
The next issue after #555 is Detective Comics #722 by Chuck Dixon, and it's now two weeks post-quake. Batman and Robin are still swinging around the city, trying to help everyone they can. Robin takes the lead in this issue with an abandoned little girl that he tries to reunite with her family. Robin is trying to track down her mother and boyfriend and Dixon doesn't shy away from telling us a "bad story" about bad people... There is a happy ending though, and the reunions in this issue are the little girl with her Grandparents & Commissioner Gordon with his wife, Sarah.
I love a good Chuck Dixon story; it's self-contained, it introduces and focuses on new characters, and always comes back to it being a Batman story.
"Everything we could rely on is gone. Nothing is what it was. When you can't count on the ground under your feet --what can you count on?"
Alan Grant writes the next messed-up story, of course. Batman: Shadow of the Bat #76, The Gauntlet. No supervillains in this one, just terrible, monstrous, humans.
Batman is on his way to save a group of rich Gothamites who have been stuck in the ruins of a party for the last two weeks. There is no more food... and they decide to draw straws to see who they will have to eat to survive. Batman arrives right after a man is killed, to discover that he wasn't the first one they sacrificed since the quake...
So dark. Which is what I'm coming to learn is "classic" Alan Grant writing.
Robin #54 by Chuck Dixon only reaffirms how annoying Stephanie is/that's pretty much anything I read with Stephaine in it... :-/
Tim goes to try and visit his friend (gf?) Ariana but finds Stephanie at the local High School where there's an emergency shelter set up. Robin goes to check on Stephanie & is then tasked with going to her house to get her Spoiler costume so no one else finds it (annoying). So Robin goes, and of course, Cluemaster is there! (Stephanie let her dad go in Cataclysm & now he's back to ruin Robin's night.)
Robin escapes Cluemaster (and the armed guards chasing them), gets Steph's costume, and then gets the girl (Ariana) at the end.
"Face it, Boy Wonder. You got a bad case of the Stephs." Ug! She's kind of the worst, right?
Batman: Shadow of the Bat #77 by Alan Grant is also another weird one. There's a psychotic professor who makes Batman play a game of luck to save the life of a criminal he was chasing. It's a bit Two Face/a bit Joker-esq but with regular people. That seems to be Grant's way.
Batman #557 by Moench was interesting. Ballistic is introduced as a for-hire gun/criminal, but he ends up being a good guy! The issue is all action & kinda skippable in terms of No Man's Land story progression.
Chuck Dixon has another falling scene in Detective Comics #724 just like he wrote into #722, except this time it's Dick who loses his footing.
Batman: "I've got you." <3
Dixon also writes a great Bruce Wayne. Bruce and Lucius are approving a quake memorial statue & totally shuts it down. (It's a firefighter holding a possibly dead figure of a woman or young child. It's very sad looking.) "It's an abomination. It commemorates failure. Gotham doesn't need a reminder of its pain. All you have to do is look around. The last thing we need is a fifty-foot celebration of victimhood. Bring me something inspiring. Bring me something about courage. About the future."
Ooh, I love when Bruce Wayne has personality! <3
Alfred, of course, is a BAMF as always. He's a construction worker, actor, and Batman caretaker. Love how he deflected Bruce Wayne's annoying, privileged & scummy neighbor Devlin Davenport in this issue.
We also get more Bruce Wayne in Batman: Shadow of the Bat #78 & #79 by Grant. I actually liked this storyline The Blank Generation Part 1 and 2 the most out of the other Grant stories in this volume because we see Bruce Wayne trying to do right by Gotham at the same time as Batman. I liked how impassioned Bruce is to keep business in Gotham and then his approval of the hundreds of small-business idea.
The plot device of Mad Hatter & Narcosis was OK.
There are three short stories in The Batman Chronicles #14: Master of the House by Lisa Klink, The Lunatic Fringe by Bruce Canwell, and Random Encounters by Greg Rucka.
Master of the House is an Alfred as a BAMF story. <3
He protects/defends the Manor from looters and keeps them from discovering the Batcave.
The Lunatic Fringe is a Huntress story with a creepy cannibal (and little children and puppies) ala Alan Grant.
Random Encounters is a prose story about Renee Montoya & her brother Benny. The story is about killing in self-defense (or, on the job, for Renee) vs. murder. It's also about Two Face a bit, well, at least his coin & the choices he makes. It's an ethical piece (about killing & war). Less about the quake and more about Gotham.
I thought it was well written & liked it (even if it felt out of place in the beginning).
Batman #558 & 559 by Moench feels so bleak. The volume is coming to a close in a few more pages, and Bruce is seeking strength from Alfred and from Vesper. Gotham is a dark dark place. Dogs are roaming the streets, rats are eating people alive, mass funeral pyres are being lit, and Gothamites are making a mass exodus.
From #558:
Batman: "Help me, Alfred. I need strength."
Batman: "I'm not good with death, old friend... Never have been. It shatters me."
Bruce: "Help me, Vesper. I need hope. I'm not good with helplessness... Never have been."
Oof. (´;︵;`)
I love Detective Bullock in #559, trying to defend a hospital from looting gangs. There are barely any police (or doctors or firemen or EMT works) left as everyone is abandoning Gotham (what happened between issues #557 & 558??! Dunno!). Love that Bullock never gives up & love his flirting with Nurse Brass. <3
Issue #559 ends with a bridge collapse as it's overrun by Gotham refugees. The death toll is beyond imagining.
Last two issues of this volume are Detective Comics #725 & 726 by Dixon.
The surviving city is in chaos. Now it's just playing damage control for Batman & family.
Batman (to Nightwing): "When my parents died I looked at the years ahead. And all I could see was this city. Brighter and cleaner than I'd ever known it. And I wanted to make it that place. I wanted to sacrifice my future --my life to make it a city --where what happened to my parents would be...unimaginable. And when I looked at the shining city --I never saw myself in it. As if I'd be long gone when it became that perfect place. Now Gotham is gone. And I'm still here." :'(
in #725 Batman and Nightwing are on the roofs together. Dick shares that he's thinking of becoming a police officer in Bludhaven. (Bruce doesn't like it.) They talk about their roles and their places within their cities.
Dick: "Didn't you think I was good enough to be you?"
Batman: "You're better than me, Dick."
<3
Batman: "Gunfire. Automatic."
Dick: "Thank God."
LOL
#726 is a good, short, twisted Batman & Joker story with a little girl as a hostage. She's alive and well at the end & that's exactly what Joker wanted: to give Batman false hope now going forward that all Joker's hostages can be saved. Twisted!
And that ends Batman: Road to No Man's Land, Vol. 1.
Doug Moench & Chuck Dixon are my favorite Batfamily writers here & Alan Grant is a bit of a miss for me.
The art is all over the place, but the volume as a whole was pretty enjoyable.
3.5 stars total.
The first story Batman: Shadow of the Bat #75 by Alan Grant takes place 8 days after the quake & we're starting to see more opportunistic supervillains on the street: Freeze and Clayface, for example.
The writing is a little stiff (especially the dialogue in the Batman, Freeze & Clayface fight), but I like the continuity Grant writes into his issues. He starts a story with a man who's lost everything in By Fire...or by Ice? and then gives us his sad & messed up backstory in A Long Slow Death.
The man who lost everything (Walter Smith): "Just tell me --why? Why do you do it? Why do you fight on when everything's gone... When there isn't any hope?"
Batman: "Life must always go on. The dead are beyond pain... But the living deserve to be spared as much of it as possible."
WS: "I -- I don't know what to do..!"
Batman: "Let out your grief. Don't be ashamed of it. Sometimes, it takes death to make you realize how precious life is."
I liked Batman #555 Trapped Like Rats by Doug Moench. It's a Batman & Robin search and rescue mission, but yet another supervillain (this time it's the Ratcatcher) tries to get in the way!
As Batman & Robin figure out how to rescue the people trapped on the subway underground, there's this heavy exchange between Batman & Tim...
Robin: "Yeah, but what then? With this rocket tunnel sealed off--"
Batman: "We lead them out to safety the same way we came in."
Robin: "You mean...through the Batcave?"
Batman: "If it's the only way, yes."
Robin: "Y-you... you'll let them see Wayne Manor collapsed into the cave? The fact that you're..."
Batman: "It's either that, Robin... Or let them die."
Robin: "Okay, when you put it like that, the choice is obvious --no contest. But still...killing the whole Batman thing is a heavy--"
Batman: "The loss of Bruce Wayne's secret won't "kill" anything, Robin. The Batman will go on--with or without the Manor, with or without the cave... and even with or without me."
Robin: "Huh? But without you, how could--"
Batman: "The Batman will never die, Robin --I thought I'd already made that clear. Jean Paul Valley didn't work out, and Dick Grayson wasn't quite right either... But if and when the time comes, someone will be right --and someone will pick up the mantle of the Bat. Preferably you."
Damnnn, that's heavy!
EXCEPT, in the very next issue Batman #556, Batman seems to take it all back!!
Batman: "I'm afraid I'm asking you to commit to something you might not--"
Tim: "I know, Bruce. I'm just wondering...why you never mentioned it before."
Batman: "The need never seemed real before. So many dead... I'm wondering if it's fair, asking you to give up so much of your youth."
Tim: "But now...?"
Batman: "The quake was a dash of cold reality --a mass killer without a face -- all-powerful and impossible to stop. It made me realize the importance of enjoying life, while it lasts. The end could come for any of us Tim, at any instant."
Tim: "As you reminded me only a thousand times during my training."
Batman: "Merely knowing it is one thing... but now I've actually felt it. The ground itself could disappear from under our feet... Maybe you should be standing in the light-- instead of living in the darkness with me. Does that sound right, Tim?"
Tim: "No. It doesn't."
Batman: "Doing what we do is an honor... A privilege. It's the best thing I can possibly do."
And then they are interrupted by Alfred and Dick.
Dick: "You two slacking off again...while trusty Alfred and I have been busting our buns topside?"
Batman: "We've just been... planning future moves, Dick."
Tim: "Yeah -- major moves."
Damnnnnm x 10!
First it was 'Tim, I want you to be the next Batman' & now it's, 'Tim, you should lead a normal life'.
That's a whole ton of whiplash, Moench!
It isn't mentioned again in the next issues, so I wonder what to make of it.
Also, Dick and Alfred were clearing the Manor debris... Where did Harold Allnut go??!
Anyway, I liked the issue (#556) as a whole, but I especially liked the ending. Batman saves a man who was refusing to leave his structurally unstable apt. Batman saves him just in time as the building collapses.
Man: "M-my...my home... everything I had..."
Batman: "Except the only thing of real value... your life."
Police officers: "Look! There he is!" "He got out--!" "But...How--?"
Man: "S-somebody saved me...rescued me...somebody who said I...I'm worth somethin'."
Police officer: "Who--?"
Man: "I don't know... scary guy...but good... Maybe some kind of...Dark Angel." <3
As the stories go on, so does the time post-quake.
The next issue after #555 is Detective Comics #722 by Chuck Dixon, and it's now two weeks post-quake. Batman and Robin are still swinging around the city, trying to help everyone they can. Robin takes the lead in this issue with an abandoned little girl that he tries to reunite with her family. Robin is trying to track down her mother and boyfriend and Dixon doesn't shy away from telling us a "bad story" about bad people... There is a happy ending though, and the reunions in this issue are the little girl with her Grandparents & Commissioner Gordon with his wife, Sarah.
I love a good Chuck Dixon story; it's self-contained, it introduces and focuses on new characters, and always comes back to it being a Batman story.
"Everything we could rely on is gone. Nothing is what it was. When you can't count on the ground under your feet --what can you count on?"
Alan Grant writes the next messed-up story, of course. Batman: Shadow of the Bat #76, The Gauntlet. No supervillains in this one, just terrible, monstrous, humans.
Batman is on his way to save a group of rich Gothamites who have been stuck in the ruins of a party for the last two weeks. There is no more food... and they decide to draw straws to see who they will have to eat to survive. Batman arrives right after a man is killed, to discover that he wasn't the first one they sacrificed since the quake...
So dark. Which is what I'm coming to learn is "classic" Alan Grant writing.
Robin #54 by Chuck Dixon only reaffirms how annoying Stephanie is/that's pretty much anything I read with Stephaine in it... :-/
Tim goes to try and visit his friend (gf?) Ariana but finds Stephanie at the local High School where there's an emergency shelter set up. Robin goes to check on Stephanie & is then tasked with going to her house to get her Spoiler costume so no one else finds it (annoying). So Robin goes, and of course, Cluemaster is there! (Stephanie let her dad go in Cataclysm & now he's back to ruin Robin's night.)
Robin escapes Cluemaster (and the armed guards chasing them), gets Steph's costume, and then gets the girl (Ariana) at the end.
"Face it, Boy Wonder. You got a bad case of the Stephs." Ug! She's kind of the worst, right?
Batman: Shadow of the Bat #77 by Alan Grant is also another weird one. There's a psychotic professor who makes Batman play a game of luck to save the life of a criminal he was chasing. It's a bit Two Face/a bit Joker-esq but with regular people. That seems to be Grant's way.
Batman #557 by Moench was interesting. Ballistic is introduced as a for-hire gun/criminal, but he ends up being a good guy! The issue is all action & kinda skippable in terms of No Man's Land story progression.
Chuck Dixon has another falling scene in Detective Comics #724 just like he wrote into #722, except this time it's Dick who loses his footing.
Batman: "I've got you." <3
Dixon also writes a great Bruce Wayne. Bruce and Lucius are approving a quake memorial statue & totally shuts it down. (It's a firefighter holding a possibly dead figure of a woman or young child. It's very sad looking.) "It's an abomination. It commemorates failure. Gotham doesn't need a reminder of its pain. All you have to do is look around. The last thing we need is a fifty-foot celebration of victimhood. Bring me something inspiring. Bring me something about courage. About the future."
Ooh, I love when Bruce Wayne has personality! <3
Alfred, of course, is a BAMF as always. He's a construction worker, actor, and Batman caretaker. Love how he deflected Bruce Wayne's annoying, privileged & scummy neighbor Devlin Davenport in this issue.
We also get more Bruce Wayne in Batman: Shadow of the Bat #78 & #79 by Grant. I actually liked this storyline The Blank Generation Part 1 and 2 the most out of the other Grant stories in this volume because we see Bruce Wayne trying to do right by Gotham at the same time as Batman. I liked how impassioned Bruce is to keep business in Gotham and then his approval of the hundreds of small-business idea.
The plot device of Mad Hatter & Narcosis was OK.
There are three short stories in The Batman Chronicles #14: Master of the House by Lisa Klink, The Lunatic Fringe by Bruce Canwell, and Random Encounters by Greg Rucka.
Master of the House is an Alfred as a BAMF story. <3
He protects/defends the Manor from looters and keeps them from discovering the Batcave.
The Lunatic Fringe is a Huntress story with a creepy cannibal (and little children and puppies) ala Alan Grant.
Random Encounters is a prose story about Renee Montoya & her brother Benny. The story is about killing in self-defense (or, on the job, for Renee) vs. murder. It's also about Two Face a bit, well, at least his coin & the choices he makes. It's an ethical piece (about killing & war). Less about the quake and more about Gotham.
I thought it was well written & liked it (even if it felt out of place in the beginning).
Batman #558 & 559 by Moench feels so bleak. The volume is coming to a close in a few more pages, and Bruce is seeking strength from Alfred and from Vesper. Gotham is a dark dark place. Dogs are roaming the streets, rats are eating people alive, mass funeral pyres are being lit, and Gothamites are making a mass exodus.
From #558:
Batman: "Help me, Alfred. I need strength."
Batman: "I'm not good with death, old friend... Never have been. It shatters me."
Bruce: "Help me, Vesper. I need hope. I'm not good with helplessness... Never have been."
Oof. (´;︵;`)
I love Detective Bullock in #559, trying to defend a hospital from looting gangs. There are barely any police (or doctors or firemen or EMT works) left as everyone is abandoning Gotham (what happened between issues #557 & 558??! Dunno!). Love that Bullock never gives up & love his flirting with Nurse Brass. <3
Issue #559 ends with a bridge collapse as it's overrun by Gotham refugees. The death toll is beyond imagining.
Last two issues of this volume are Detective Comics #725 & 726 by Dixon.
The surviving city is in chaos. Now it's just playing damage control for Batman & family.
Batman (to Nightwing): "When my parents died I looked at the years ahead. And all I could see was this city. Brighter and cleaner than I'd ever known it. And I wanted to make it that place. I wanted to sacrifice my future --my life to make it a city --where what happened to my parents would be...unimaginable. And when I looked at the shining city --I never saw myself in it. As if I'd be long gone when it became that perfect place. Now Gotham is gone. And I'm still here." :'(
in #725 Batman and Nightwing are on the roofs together. Dick shares that he's thinking of becoming a police officer in Bludhaven. (Bruce doesn't like it.) They talk about their roles and their places within their cities.
Dick: "Didn't you think I was good enough to be you?"
Batman: "You're better than me, Dick."
<3
Batman: "Gunfire. Automatic."
Dick: "Thank God."
LOL
#726 is a good, short, twisted Batman & Joker story with a little girl as a hostage. She's alive and well at the end & that's exactly what Joker wanted: to give Batman false hope now going forward that all Joker's hostages can be saved. Twisted!
And that ends Batman: Road to No Man's Land, Vol. 1.
Doug Moench & Chuck Dixon are my favorite Batfamily writers here & Alan Grant is a bit of a miss for me.
The art is all over the place, but the volume as a whole was pretty enjoyable.
3.5 stars total.
April 16, 2024
A very ambitious concept executed pretty well. Turning Batman's home into a disaster area is a really neat way of testing the often used critique of "Superheroes don't work against problems you can't punch" by showing tons of small moments throughout the issues collected in this volume where Bruce and the other members of the Bat Family stop to help the people of Gotham in little ways and discuss what they can and need to do in this situation and later on there are even whole issues and scenes devoted to showing Bruce trying to use his money and power to help the city economically recover. It feels really refreshing to me as a current reader seeing Batman constantly going out of his way to help regular folks rather then warring with his major villains or allies and having existential crisis', even when Major villains appear in these stories, they're mainly used as set dressing or plot devices to show how the quake effected their parts of the city. The only minor detractor here is that depending on the issue, the art can sometimes feel a little weak. Nothing anatomically or perspectively wrong, just some styles and choices in here I don't care with personally, like with how blocky characters look in some issues or how sometimes Batman will be trying to scare a looter or something and he'll be smiling, which just never looks right to me. It's more creepy in a villain way then intimidating in a badass hero way. Overall though this was a real treat to finally check out and I cannot wait to get into volume 2.
July 22, 2020
"Crime isn't Gotham's biggest problem right now. Survival is."
"There's no vengeance to reap from the cracked and sundered Earth, no villain to hold responsible for this horror."
The decision to put Batman and company up against of a variety of villains is common, but having the Dark Knight struggle against a natural catastrophe and the reality of what that does to a city, is genius. Gotham is plagued by sickness, a destructive Earthquake, and a series of aftershocks that cripple the city and its citizens. Many are dead, trapped, and hopeless. Many issues of this volume spend page after page depicting the horror, destruction, and challenges facing the city and its people. There is no one to punch, no bomb to stop, no quick solutions. And Batman's purpose as a force to rival the criminals, the insane, and the evil is challenged by the very simple notion that an earthquake is not evil. How this arc is developing the struggle that all of the characters have, from Batman and his allies, to the police, to citizens, is complex and real. These are Batman stories out of the ordinary, superhero stories of the unique variety. Many issues depicting the paralysis and hopelessness of the cast are amazing, but the final two issues stand out. The first "At the End of the Day" features one of the best conversations between Batman and Nightwing as they discuss their paths and if they will ever retire from the hero life. The final issue "Fool's Errand" tells a quick and horrifying Joker tale that acts as a subtle reminder of why he is the Batman's greatest nemesis.
"There's no vengeance to reap from the cracked and sundered Earth, no villain to hold responsible for this horror."
The decision to put Batman and company up against of a variety of villains is common, but having the Dark Knight struggle against a natural catastrophe and the reality of what that does to a city, is genius. Gotham is plagued by sickness, a destructive Earthquake, and a series of aftershocks that cripple the city and its citizens. Many are dead, trapped, and hopeless. Many issues of this volume spend page after page depicting the horror, destruction, and challenges facing the city and its people. There is no one to punch, no bomb to stop, no quick solutions. And Batman's purpose as a force to rival the criminals, the insane, and the evil is challenged by the very simple notion that an earthquake is not evil. How this arc is developing the struggle that all of the characters have, from Batman and his allies, to the police, to citizens, is complex and real. These are Batman stories out of the ordinary, superhero stories of the unique variety. Many issues depicting the paralysis and hopelessness of the cast are amazing, but the final two issues stand out. The first "At the End of the Day" features one of the best conversations between Batman and Nightwing as they discuss their paths and if they will ever retire from the hero life. The final issue "Fool's Errand" tells a quick and horrifying Joker tale that acts as a subtle reminder of why he is the Batman's greatest nemesis.
June 13, 2019
Start of the whole No Man's land saga. I have read the whole thing before , but for the sake of it , I decided to re read it . And it's not aged as well as I remembered it .
The art , considering it's time , I have decided not to talk about . In terms of plot , the basis is simple , USA is finally abandoning Gotham and doing so at the hour of it's need .
The creation of Nick scratch as a villain to convince USA for the creation of No Man's land is ludicrous and the existence of Scratch as a villain itself is eye-roll-worthy .
A lot of story takes place in the Azarael storyline and I am not a Azarael fan so it was all a boring blur . The dialogues were campy for most part as well but you can probably discount that because of the era it was written it
Overall a mediocre produce
The art , considering it's time , I have decided not to talk about . In terms of plot , the basis is simple , USA is finally abandoning Gotham and doing so at the hour of it's need .
The creation of Nick scratch as a villain to convince USA for the creation of No Man's land is ludicrous and the existence of Scratch as a villain itself is eye-roll-worthy .
A lot of story takes place in the Azarael storyline and I am not a Azarael fan so it was all a boring blur . The dialogues were campy for most part as well but you can probably discount that because of the era it was written it
Overall a mediocre produce
August 5, 2017
It's the bridge between the plague attack and the earthquake in Gotham, to when Gotham becomes No Man's Land. It's not necessary to read this arc, because there isn't a whole lot in it that advances the plot in a meaningful way. It's not very interesting, and the art is quite terrible in parts and uninspired in others. But it's also not repulsive.
December 8, 2018
Detective Comics #725 : ♡
June 12, 2019
3.5 mixed bag (for me) of stories. The aftershock arc is a real downer. DC 725-26 were the highlight for me.
December 4, 2020
Uninteresting, overwrought, and really doesn't do anything to convince me that Gotham should be rebuilt. It very much seems like it shouldn't.
August 17, 2017
A good look at the aftermath of the cataclysmic Gotham earthquake. I am ready to get to No Man's Land proper, but one more volume first.
March 14, 2021
Gotham has been hit by a massive earthquake! Disaster on an unfathomable scale for the Dark Knight to handle! That was the hook the brought me back to a storyline I vaguely read as a kid (the last big name comic publisher's arc I remember ever following, actually).
Here I go, embarking on this journey. Well folks, the results are not great. This prelude volume sets the scenery in some capacity, but goes absolutely nowhere with it. We have standalone issue after standalone issue where either Batman broods over his own issues and how bad things are in Gotham, maaaaybe dealing with a C-tier villain or some looters (more on that later), or a B/C-tier hero does some minor good deed.
I was hoping there might be some redeeming artwork among this shambles, but it's all rather hohum at best. Lots of wonky action sequences, generic scenes of Gotham in ruins. The worst offense here is the ridiculously tropey portrayal of practically anyone non-white. There is almost clinical attention paid to making poor people (whether they are quake victims or petty criminals) look like caricatures.
I've recently reread part of No Man's Land volume 1 & 2, and what strikes me with Road to No Man's Land Volume 1 is how little the plot advances. I feel like I probably could have skipped this Road to No Man's Land duology, since all three works I've read are effectively the same misery porn, detailing the destruction and sorrow of a city literally torn asunder. Famine and disease spread like wildfire, criminals and super criminals alike thrive in the chaos, buildings collapse, innocents die, and Batman.... has to deal with the logistics of bringing in a construction company to repair the batcave without revealing his identity. It's almost satirical how little the caped crusader does in this volume, aside from handle his own personal issues, like defending his parents' coffins from looters.
Looters are the biggest antagonist in Road to No Man's Land, which is amusing, reading this in the middle of a pandemic, with several decades and numerous national tragedies making up ground between present day and when No Man's Land was conceived and written. Little effort is made to indicate that people are turning to crime out of desperation, simply that bad actors are taking advantage of the overworked emergency services. It's all banal "thugs besieging a hospital to steal narcotics" type stories that are utterly laughable today, and they likely were laughable when they were written.
Onward and forwards to volume 2. Let's hope there's something good in those pages.
Here I go, embarking on this journey. Well folks, the results are not great. This prelude volume sets the scenery in some capacity, but goes absolutely nowhere with it. We have standalone issue after standalone issue where either Batman broods over his own issues and how bad things are in Gotham, maaaaybe dealing with a C-tier villain or some looters (more on that later), or a B/C-tier hero does some minor good deed.
I was hoping there might be some redeeming artwork among this shambles, but it's all rather hohum at best. Lots of wonky action sequences, generic scenes of Gotham in ruins. The worst offense here is the ridiculously tropey portrayal of practically anyone non-white. There is almost clinical attention paid to making poor people (whether they are quake victims or petty criminals) look like caricatures.
I've recently reread part of No Man's Land volume 1 & 2, and what strikes me with Road to No Man's Land Volume 1 is how little the plot advances. I feel like I probably could have skipped this Road to No Man's Land duology, since all three works I've read are effectively the same misery porn, detailing the destruction and sorrow of a city literally torn asunder. Famine and disease spread like wildfire, criminals and super criminals alike thrive in the chaos, buildings collapse, innocents die, and Batman.... has to deal with the logistics of bringing in a construction company to repair the batcave without revealing his identity. It's almost satirical how little the caped crusader does in this volume, aside from handle his own personal issues, like defending his parents' coffins from looters.
Looters are the biggest antagonist in Road to No Man's Land, which is amusing, reading this in the middle of a pandemic, with several decades and numerous national tragedies making up ground between present day and when No Man's Land was conceived and written. Little effort is made to indicate that people are turning to crime out of desperation, simply that bad actors are taking advantage of the overworked emergency services. It's all banal "thugs besieging a hospital to steal narcotics" type stories that are utterly laughable today, and they likely were laughable when they were written.
Onward and forwards to volume 2. Let's hope there's something good in those pages.
March 9, 2024
This is a very well-structured and composed graphic novel that touches on the Aftershock of the devastating earthquake to hit Gotham in Cataclysm.
From the surface, the story appears to call out to an abyss of hopelessness and people searching for the lost, injured, dead, while trying to save the survivors in need of rescue.
The GCPD is the only department able to function at least partially, leaving Commissioner Gordon, Sergent Sarah Gordon, Montoya, and Bullock to control looters with a handful of cops behind them. All while Barbara Gordon continues to work tirelessly to send out cops/rescue services to help as disasters continue to arise. The water is tainted by Cholera, rats flood the streets searching for food, mass grave burnings are occurring daily, and all citizens are left without job and destitute in quake-proof Wayne-provided shelters or in the hospital with limited chances of survival and life-saving medications. Airforce from the National Guard and Blüdhaven bring in food, water, and survival gear as they can but many go without.
In the meantime, vilians like Mad Hatter continue to wreak havoc while others get in touch with their inner monster much as Huntress has witnessed when a bus load of children and their driver are kidnapped and nearly killed.
Wayne Manor is nearly looted and Bruce's secret discovered but is protected by brave Alfred Pennyworth. Tim Drake ronevues as Robin to help rescue Stephanie Brown's costume from her surprisingly untouched suburban home but runs into her father Cluemaster along the way.
Meanwhile, Montoya shares a beer and long winded story with her brother Benjamin as they discuss the horror of death and murder as it pertains to protecting the innocent. While the droves of infrastructure threaten to pull factories and Jobs from Gotham.
Batman and Nightwing share a night of reminiscent of the good old crime-fighting days while helping a small town between Gotham and Blüdhaven that ended up in the wreckage. Finally, Joker manages to plan a murder/hostage situation while in Arkham but is thwarted by Batman.
This is a great story that accurately captures the devastation and hopelessness the people pg Gotham are enduring, but it is very heavy and slow reading material.
From the surface, the story appears to call out to an abyss of hopelessness and people searching for the lost, injured, dead, while trying to save the survivors in need of rescue.
The GCPD is the only department able to function at least partially, leaving Commissioner Gordon, Sergent Sarah Gordon, Montoya, and Bullock to control looters with a handful of cops behind them. All while Barbara Gordon continues to work tirelessly to send out cops/rescue services to help as disasters continue to arise. The water is tainted by Cholera, rats flood the streets searching for food, mass grave burnings are occurring daily, and all citizens are left without job and destitute in quake-proof Wayne-provided shelters or in the hospital with limited chances of survival and life-saving medications. Airforce from the National Guard and Blüdhaven bring in food, water, and survival gear as they can but many go without.
In the meantime, vilians like Mad Hatter continue to wreak havoc while others get in touch with their inner monster much as Huntress has witnessed when a bus load of children and their driver are kidnapped and nearly killed.
Wayne Manor is nearly looted and Bruce's secret discovered but is protected by brave Alfred Pennyworth. Tim Drake ronevues as Robin to help rescue Stephanie Brown's costume from her surprisingly untouched suburban home but runs into her father Cluemaster along the way.
Meanwhile, Montoya shares a beer and long winded story with her brother Benjamin as they discuss the horror of death and murder as it pertains to protecting the innocent. While the droves of infrastructure threaten to pull factories and Jobs from Gotham.
Batman and Nightwing share a night of reminiscent of the good old crime-fighting days while helping a small town between Gotham and Blüdhaven that ended up in the wreckage. Finally, Joker manages to plan a murder/hostage situation while in Arkham but is thwarted by Batman.
This is a great story that accurately captures the devastation and hopelessness the people pg Gotham are enduring, but it is very heavy and slow reading material.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 24, 2018
Art 3/5, Story 2/5. If you like many many short stories about how the earthquake affected random people, this is a good story for you. It really goes into depth about how Gotham has truly fallen apart from this earthquake. Is this a necessary story? Not by any means. Let's see if I can sum it up.
-Batman fights Cayface and Mr. Freeze at the same time.
-A father goes crazy after dropping his son and giving him brain damage.
- A lost little girl loses her parents and Robin tries t help her find them (they were dead)
-A trapped fancy party resorts to canabilism
-Robin and Huntress fight her dad and let him go
-people try to loot the Manor but Batman and Afred fight em off.
-Batman saves an old man who refuses to leave his home and makes the old man feel like his life is worth something
-A teacher trapped with his dead students goes insane
-Ballistic, an all about justice, no mercy, kinda guy, ends up fighting batman
- Conflicts arise with property and buildings between owners
-batman loses it a bit realizing he cant fight poverty and ruin.
-Mad hatter and some poison dude come out to wreak havoc
-Another robbery attempt at the mansion, but alfred kicks butt
-An interesting story about a pilot and internal conflict
-Finally, the city falls apart and almost everyone leaves. Everyone who doesn't is either dying, fighting, or fighting while trying to save the dying.
-Lastly, there is a redeeming good issue about Joker messing with Batman. Forcing him to always hope, even when he would normally not.
-Batman fights Cayface and Mr. Freeze at the same time.
-A father goes crazy after dropping his son and giving him brain damage.
- A lost little girl loses her parents and Robin tries t help her find them (they were dead)
-A trapped fancy party resorts to canabilism
-Robin and Huntress fight her dad and let him go
-people try to loot the Manor but Batman and Afred fight em off.
-Batman saves an old man who refuses to leave his home and makes the old man feel like his life is worth something
-A teacher trapped with his dead students goes insane
-Ballistic, an all about justice, no mercy, kinda guy, ends up fighting batman
- Conflicts arise with property and buildings between owners
-batman loses it a bit realizing he cant fight poverty and ruin.
-Mad hatter and some poison dude come out to wreak havoc
-Another robbery attempt at the mansion, but alfred kicks butt
-An interesting story about a pilot and internal conflict
-Finally, the city falls apart and almost everyone leaves. Everyone who doesn't is either dying, fighting, or fighting while trying to save the dying.
-Lastly, there is a redeeming good issue about Joker messing with Batman. Forcing him to always hope, even when he would normally not.
December 11, 2018
I had heard glowing praise for No Man's Land, and the lead up to it. Maybe it gets better once it really gets underway. This volume could have used some better editing for continuity. Apart from all of the issues dealing with the aftermath of a tremendous earthquake in Gotham (that must have happened before this... I feel like having an issue where it happens in this collection would have been worthwhile), and the stories being generally grim, there is very little continuity between these stories. They deal with standard Batman characters, but the cast jumps around between books, and the same characters sometimes have the same or very similar interactions, and not in a way that sets the scene from a different perspective, just in a way that it was clear that nobody was talking to each other about what they were doing. I gather that it's supposed to get worse, but the stories were a bit too maudlin at times and too bleak at others, and this just wasn't an enjoyable read because of it. And then there is the length. I appreciate that I got a lot of pages of comics here, but when they aren't very good, it makes getting through the 400+ pages a real slog. I will definitely be taking a break before trying to read any more of this, at the very least.
December 23, 2022
Acting as a bridge between Cataclysm and No Man's Land, the "Road To" books mostly deal with the aftermath of the earthquake that levelled Gotham. At times, the plot points feel real stale and recycled: there's only so much you can do with "Gotham has been wrecked."
The writing is incredibly uneven. Doug Moench continues to be genuinely terrible to the point of unreadability. I do not know why he feels the need to add text boxes in comic books explaining what you can see in the image itself. If Batman is swinging between buildings, you do not need a box that says "The Batman swings between buildings." Grant and Dixon are more hit and miss in this collection. The final two issues, both 'Tecs penned by Dixon, are quite good and almost feel like the pages of a prestige comic book. The first deals with Batman and Nightwing surveying the wreckage of Gotham, but this serves as a backdrop for some great character development. The second issue has Joker toying with Batman from inside Arkham. Both of these are the only major highpoints of the colection.
Ultimately it's completely skippable in a (re)-read of the Bat Family.
The writing is incredibly uneven. Doug Moench continues to be genuinely terrible to the point of unreadability. I do not know why he feels the need to add text boxes in comic books explaining what you can see in the image itself. If Batman is swinging between buildings, you do not need a box that says "The Batman swings between buildings." Grant and Dixon are more hit and miss in this collection. The final two issues, both 'Tecs penned by Dixon, are quite good and almost feel like the pages of a prestige comic book. The first deals with Batman and Nightwing surveying the wreckage of Gotham, but this serves as a backdrop for some great character development. The second issue has Joker toying with Batman from inside Arkham. Both of these are the only major highpoints of the colection.
Ultimately it's completely skippable in a (re)-read of the Bat Family.
May 12, 2023
“Will Gotham have to die before it can live again?”
No Man’s Land May kicks off with a so-so collection of lead ups stocked with major, major talent.
So a lot of these I’ve never read before, especially all the Shadow of the Bat issues and that one Batman Chronicles issues. And a lot of them didn’t like completely wow me like I was hoping maybe.
But at the same time, I’m never going to fully dismiss a thing that has THIS many like major Bat Title creatives involved. Moench and Aparo, Breyfogle, Alan Grant, STELFREEZE, and Mark freaking Buckingham. Just an absolute embarrassment of riches. It’s amazing to think of a time where the Bat Titles were just this stocked with talent across the whole line.
Also Chuck Dixon is there, I guess. But even his stuff, it’s solid! It’s also neat seeing the titles tackling actual, street-level storytelling this consistently. So maybe these weren’t like crazy good or just plain crazy like the KNIGHTFALL stuff was/is but I’m happy I’m reading these.
No Man’s Land May kicks off with a so-so collection of lead ups stocked with major, major talent.
So a lot of these I’ve never read before, especially all the Shadow of the Bat issues and that one Batman Chronicles issues. And a lot of them didn’t like completely wow me like I was hoping maybe.
But at the same time, I’m never going to fully dismiss a thing that has THIS many like major Bat Title creatives involved. Moench and Aparo, Breyfogle, Alan Grant, STELFREEZE, and Mark freaking Buckingham. Just an absolute embarrassment of riches. It’s amazing to think of a time where the Bat Titles were just this stocked with talent across the whole line.
Also Chuck Dixon is there, I guess. But even his stuff, it’s solid! It’s also neat seeing the titles tackling actual, street-level storytelling this consistently. So maybe these weren’t like crazy good or just plain crazy like the KNIGHTFALL stuff was/is but I’m happy I’m reading these.
June 18, 2024
If I’ve given lesser stories four stars, then this must be a five. Early on in this collection, Alan Grant’s story “The Gauntlet” in Shadow of the Bat #76 made me start a new list of my favorite individual stories. I love the 90’s stank exuding from this book, I love Vesper Fairchild and her role as radio personality. Norm Breyfogle and Staz Johnson are just two artists amongst many that contributed to the strong aesthetic here.
All to say that, my frustrations with DC comes from so many reboots, of course right? No Man’s Land seems like such a Goliath of a story spanning so many books at the time, and this first glimpse (I done fricked up and forgot to read Cataclysm first) shows how beautiful and submersible the world building can be when given the time. The city is hopeless, we see it from all angles, shelters, hospitals, families, people working the forces. When you read this book you’re there, and that’s all you can ask for. 5 stars.
All to say that, my frustrations with DC comes from so many reboots, of course right? No Man’s Land seems like such a Goliath of a story spanning so many books at the time, and this first glimpse (I done fricked up and forgot to read Cataclysm first) shows how beautiful and submersible the world building can be when given the time. The city is hopeless, we see it from all angles, shelters, hospitals, families, people working the forces. When you read this book you’re there, and that’s all you can ask for. 5 stars.
April 30, 2025
Moench, Grant and Dixon on fire!
This is a brilliant collection of stories from the aftermath of Cataclysm as Gotham teeters at the edge of either rebuilding and restoration, or abandonment and ruin. Batman shares his doubts and desperation with allies like Gordon, Nightwing and Huntress while they in turn recognise his isolation and helplessness against the natural forces that have plunged Gotham into ruins. For once Batman wonders if his later ego Bruce Wayne might not be the better person to face Gotham's problems, even as he realises he has reduced Wayne to a caricature to hide his 'real' Batman persona.
Bleak, almost overwhelming tales of a broken city are delivered by the three main writers Doug Moench, Chuck Dixon and Brit import Alan Grant with real power, placing Batman into a dilemma he knows he must settle: who does Gotham need more - Bruce Wayne or The Batman?
This is a brilliant collection of stories from the aftermath of Cataclysm as Gotham teeters at the edge of either rebuilding and restoration, or abandonment and ruin. Batman shares his doubts and desperation with allies like Gordon, Nightwing and Huntress while they in turn recognise his isolation and helplessness against the natural forces that have plunged Gotham into ruins. For once Batman wonders if his later ego Bruce Wayne might not be the better person to face Gotham's problems, even as he realises he has reduced Wayne to a caricature to hide his 'real' Batman persona.
Bleak, almost overwhelming tales of a broken city are delivered by the three main writers Doug Moench, Chuck Dixon and Brit import Alan Grant with real power, placing Batman into a dilemma he knows he must settle: who does Gotham need more - Bruce Wayne or The Batman?
February 1, 2019
Unique in that it truly makes the reader believe Gotham is entirely in a hopeless situation, one even Batman cannot save. This is highlighted best in Batman #558, "Dying City."
The low points actually all have to do with Batman's roster of villains (Clayface, Mr. Freeze, Mad Hatter), plus two other characters that are less popular (Ballistic and Narcosis).
The better parts deal with the larger story of Gothams' population and businesses deciding on what to do post-quake, ultimately...
I'd say that the human stories are more interesting in Cataclysm. If one were to take the best parts of Cataclysm and this volume and trim the fat, you'd have a heckuva good book.
The low points actually all have to do with Batman's roster of villains (Clayface, Mr. Freeze, Mad Hatter), plus two other characters that are less popular (Ballistic and Narcosis).
The better parts deal with the larger story of Gothams' population and businesses deciding on what to do post-quake, ultimately...
I'd say that the human stories are more interesting in Cataclysm. If one were to take the best parts of Cataclysm and this volume and trim the fat, you'd have a heckuva good book.
March 17, 2020
This book contains self-contained stories about the aftermath of the earthquake that struck Gotham. For me, this book is more of a continuation of Cataclysm than a prelude to No Man's Land. I enjoyed the Robin issue. I know it's geared more towards young adults but it's a title that I'm willing to try. This is also my first time to encounter Spoiler and I find her really interesting. Overall, this is a book that you can skip, especially if you read Cataclysm already, because it does not really add anything to the story. However, I would still suggest that you give this book a shot because the last 2 issues (i.e., Detective Comics 725 and 726) are amazing.
October 17, 2025
In this comic, Gotham is now facing a natural evil (the earthquake) which Batman can't just punch in the face like he would any other villains threatening the city, which was so interesting to read. I could feel his frustration and anger about how unjust the whole thing was, and how heavily each death weighted onto his shoulders.
Unfortunately the rating is not higher bc I didn't like the non-linear narration. It was also a bit too long imo. I also was a bit disappointed that Dick and Tim got very little appearances, so after some time seeing only Batman doing the same stuff over and over kinda got repetitive.
Unfortunately the rating is not higher bc I didn't like the non-linear narration. It was also a bit too long imo. I also was a bit disappointed that Dick and Tim got very little appearances, so after some time seeing only Batman doing the same stuff over and over kinda got repetitive.
March 22, 2019
Though I would say that Road to No Man’s Land is bit pointless after Cataclysm, it’s a good place holder and a decent storyline to fill in the gaps for the actual No Man’s Land series.
All the original authors keep the story going and aside from one or 2 so-so illustrations, it’s a good looking collection. Also felt some of the arcs and one-offs weren’t exactly rich or useful in the grand scheme of things, but, overall, Road is relatively enjoyable. Don’t know if it’s totally required reading, though...
All the original authors keep the story going and aside from one or 2 so-so illustrations, it’s a good looking collection. Also felt some of the arcs and one-offs weren’t exactly rich or useful in the grand scheme of things, but, overall, Road is relatively enjoyable. Don’t know if it’s totally required reading, though...
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