Amazon.com Review
Fans of Batman are lucky to get Greg Rucka--the talented, gritty young author of
Keeper and
Finder, among others--sharing time with their favorite licensed character in this novelization of DC's
complete No Man's Land comic series. (And fans of Rucka--assuming they get around to reading this at all--will still likely hold the opinion that
Atticus Kodiak could take Batman in a standup fight any day.)
DC shook up Gotham--literally--in its 1999 Batman plot arc: a 7.6 earthquake rocked Gotham City, wreaking enough destruction to bring the broken, crime-ridden, runt kid-brother of Metropolis and New York to its knees. In the story line's most indulgent liberty, those fat cats in Washington decide to write off Gotham, à la Escape from New York, blowing up the connecting bridges, mining the surrounding waterways, and signing into law the Federal Declaration of No Man's Land, which makes it a crime to even set foot in the city. The usual suspects from Arkham Asylum, Two-Face and the Penguin, the Riddler and Dr. Freeze, Poison Ivy and Mr. Zsasz, file out to begin running the show, strong-arming and manipulating the block-by-block turf battles that envelop the now-ultraviolent city. A conflicted Batman shows up fashionably late, only to find that these lunatics are the least of his worries: Lex Luthor, Superman's archfoe, has nefarious designs on Gotham too. Could this possibly get any better? Sure, No Man's Land is derivative fiction, but the appeal of Rucka--and, of course, Batman--can make this one worth the read. --Paul Hughes
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
WHAP! POW! Pocket Books joins DC Comics to bring Gotham's Dark Knight to the trade shelves for the New Year, in a savage millennial tale of urban implosion, divided loyalties and vigilante justice. Rucka (Shooting at Midnight) valiantly transcribes an essentially visual chronicle to print, no mean feat, given Batman's 60 years of history in comics, TV and film. In the new millennium, following a cataclysmic earthquake, the federal government has cut off Gotham City from the rest of the country, leaving the No Man's Land, with its masses of casualties and survivors, in the hands of the "lunatics" released from Arkham Asylum. They are the Penguin, Poison Ivy, Two-Face and the ubiquitous Joker. Newly married Commissioner Gordon makes a suicidal stand to maintain control with a handful of determined officers, and the former Batgirl (now the cyber-savvy paraplegic known as Oracle, thanks to a bullet from the Joker) tries to keep tabs on the chaos while hoping for Batman's superhero help. Batman is on the scene with a new Robin as well as the former Boy Wonder, now grown up and known as Nightwing. The inevitable showdown between the forces of good and evil is played out against a backdrop of violent urban decay, but the subject of sex (and death), which the series has often flirted with but largely skirted, is now candidly explored. The conception of the battle between costumed, urban criminals and crusaders as a gang war (with the Bat signal replaced by graffiti tags) is logical, and other familiar bat-tropes are ably transposed into contemporary milieus. The expected wordplay and punning retain the classic comic-book characterizations, infusing the tale with lively dialogue right up to the dramatic surprise ending. Agent, David Hale.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
