Customer Reviews

Batman: No Man's Land

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The premise of this novel and the original comics are really quite simple (albeit quite a stretch, I have to admit). Gotham City is ravaged by an earthquake, the U.S. Government refuse to repair the damage and the citizens are ordered to move out. All bridges and entry-points are detonated - only the insane and hopeless stay back. Batman decides to stay on as the protector of his city - whatever is left of it!

Now once you've suspended your disbelief over the unlikely premise, you'll find that this story actually works on many levels. Especially in our times - we are seeing daily how people in Afghanistan and Iraq are working hard to bring order and a semblance of sanity back into their lives. And it works especially well for Batman. Batman, after all, is a Bruce Wayne's method of "forcing" his existence to make sense after witnessing his parents' brutal murder as a kid all those years back. Now, Batman is "forcing" a hopeless city back to order and meaning.

The original comics (now collected neatly into five tradepaperback) were great. Greg Rucka's novel is better. Somehow, seeing this story in prose makes it that much more "serious". Rucka, in this novel, decides to write more from the point of view of Gordon, Montoya, Essen and the GCPD rather than emphasizing the role of the costumed-vigilantes the way the comics do. Each section of the novel is prefaced by the journal entries of the crippled Barbara Gordon (the former Batgirl and now Oracle). The 'personal' touch of Barb's diaries makes the story just that much more potent and emotional. Even the exploits of Batman, the new Batgirl, Nightwing, etc. are seen through her eyes - driving home to the readers once more just how closely knitted the Bat-family really is and how much they really care/understand/emphatize with each other.

In my opinion, Rucka's comicbook writing is hit-and-miss game. Sometimes, he's great ("Wonder Woman: The Hikketia", "Huntress:Cry For Blood", "Queen & Country") and sometimes he just doesn't do it for me. He is still first and foremost a novelist and this book, "Batman: No Man's Land" is further proof that the man can craft a fine novel.

This is a great story about justice in a forgotten city, destroyed by an earthquake and overun with crime Batman and several others try to bring justice. This story alternates points of view many times through out the story from Batman to Penguin and everyone in between. Action and adventure fill the story with few dull moments through out it.

This story isn't a tough read and once you get into it its hard to put it down. The book can be confusing at times with all the different points of view but than again that is also what makes the story so interesting. The story is told from the first person by all of the many characters. Batman along with Batgirl and what is left of the Gotham Police Deparment fight villians such as Two Face, Penguin, Poisen Ivy and many more. It is a great read and i higly suggest it.

As a teen i loved Batman comics. I came across this book on vacation around the time the Batman Begins movie come out. I enjoyed this book thoroughly. Definitly a must read for fans, however if you read the No Man's Land comic series then you will know how this book plays out. Otherwise, it a great book.

It is a great book, which is written from different points of view. It's short chapters and interesting plots help you stay into the book. I think its great how different stories are developing seperatly and occasionaly meet to create tense and action packed chapters. All the different stories lead up to a great climax towards the end in which all stories come together to create a great finish to the book.

This book was awesome. Greg Rucka takes you inside NO MANS LAND with the other characters. He shifts off from just Batman so you get a well rounded view of the thoughts of NO MANS LAND. I just wish there was another book out there like this one. You Will love this book if you are a BATFAN.

It's both, actually. Grown people will have a hard time allowing themselves to actually read a Batman novel, after all, Batman is a superhero and superheroes are for kids, right?

yeah sure fine. But if you can get yourself past that, and look at this as a genuine adventure/crime novel, then maybe you've got something worth reading. There may seem at first to be some inherent difficulty with the story if you're not a fan of the comics, or the movies even, as i'm pretty much not. I've seen the movies, and liked each one less and less, and have not so much as held an actual Batman comic (or any other comic, for that matter) in my hands, ever.

However, Rucka does a good enough job in making this a very complete story; it doesn't really require you to have any knowledge of the characters, as you are introduced to each relatively quickly. Certainly having seen at least the movies will help, give you a certain degree of backstory maybe, but it shouldn't be necessary.

All that aside, this is actually a very mature story for a superhero tale. Kids'll be scared off by the length, and it is one of your grittier superhero stories. Rucka does well to write this for EVERYONE, not just comic nuts. It's not just another canned adventure story, the likes of which stuff the bookstore shelves and threaten to bore you with their sameness. This is something different, and although i might have felt a little silly at the counter buying a Batman book (it was something of an impulse buy...you know when you just HAVE to spend ... and it doesn't necessarily matter what you spend it on? Like that.) But not long into it, i discovered this story is more than it appears.

It's very entertaining, and although it isn't bursting with intellectual prose, it's not totally dead inside, either. The characters are all very alive, and very different, and the bad guys (Two-Face and Joker, among other classics) aren't just your typical cardboard cutouts of evil. They have vivid personalities, and Rucka perhaps does his best work with them.

Imagine if you will, your city being destroyed so quickly that the government would rather write you off than help you out. Arkham is cracked open like a peanut and all the great villains of the world of Gotham are roaming the streets and the Dark Knight is M.I.A.!

Novelized from the pages of DC Comics, Greg Rucka hits a home run with "NO MANS LAND". If you are expecting a book with a heavy emphasis on Batman, maybe this isn't your book. Rucka does a great job of dividing the attention four ways. The Bat-clan, the villians, the Gotham City Police, and journal entries from one of the characters.

The best part about this book is the great detail Rucka gives to each character. It doesn't actually feel like reading another authors interpretation of the characters, he nails each and every one. The regal prestige of the Penguin, the innerstruggle of Two-Face, the sadistic humor of the Joker, the dark justice of Batman; just to name a few characters. This kind of detail is even given to the minor players, the right-hand men of the villains and rookie cops. You feel like you know each one personally.

The field is loaded with so many characters from the world of Batman, and some folks from Metropolis are thrown into the mix as well.

If you're looking for action, you won't be disappointed either. There are great explosions, shoot-outs, and confrontations that will keep you up all night wanting to finish this book. There is also a fair amount of thought process throughout the pages of this book. You not only get to know what the characters are doing, but why they're doing it.

Overall, this book had me in awe. I'm normally an X-men fan, but if they keep putting out Batman books like this, I may be switching teams!

This is the third superhero novel I've read. All have featured Batman. The first was Enemies & Allies which was a great, World's Finest team-up set in the Cold War. The second, Batman: Inferno was to me a real dud, in its slow moving plotline and limited cast. Batman: No Man's Land has them both beat. The cast is much more expansive, with a variety of cops, a handful of major villains, and pretty much the entire Bat-Family playing roles; all dealing with the after effects of a Gotham City left to a handful of survivors, who stay behind after the city is destroyed and are essentially left for dead. The description of the waste laid to Gotham City after an unexpected earthquake is fantastic, setting the tone for a down and dirty, gritty battle for territory and redemption. Batman has to earn respect with his fists and his guts more than anything else, and it's a fantastic read with twists and turns galore. I never read the comic version, but I feel it's unnecessary- this book is just that good.

I first heard about this story from the DC Comics web site, which stated what had happened to Gotham, not to the people residing in it. I see this as a direct sequel to Dennis O'Neil's "Batman: Knightfall" due to the fact the story takes place after Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham to reclaim the Batman title. Rucka shows his talent in how smoothly he shows the character's relationships.

This is a must-have novel for any Batman-fan or some one into a gripping tale of reclaiming a destroyed city.

PARTY ON, DUDES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A great capturing of the devastation and destruction of Gotham. A post apocolyptic feel, and very easy to get into. A phenominal story, and 1000 times better than the "Batman Begins" novelization by Dennis O'neil.