Batman: No Man's Land, Vol. 5 [Paperback]

Devin Grayson (Author), Greg Rucka (Author)

Book Description

Series: Batman: No Man's Land | Publication Date: April 1, 2001

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, +á 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

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: DC Comics (April 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563897091
• ISBN-13: 978-1563897092
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 0.4 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #516,658 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

The author of four novels about professional bodyguard Atticus Kodiak -- Keeper (nominated for a Shamus Award by the Private Eye Writers of America), Finder, Smoker, and Shooting at Midnight, Greg Rucka has been writing since he was eight years old, and hopefully is improving with age. A longtime comics fan, his first graphic novel series was the suspense thriller Whiteout, published by Oni Press and nominated for three Eisner Awards in 1999. Since that time he has been a contributing writer for DC Comics and an active participant in the Batman series of titles.
Born and raised in California, he earned his undergraduate degree at Vassar College and his MFA at the University of Southern California. He currently resides in Portland, Oregon. Mr. Rucka has two tattoos, and rides a motorcycle.

Customer Reviews

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gotham redeemed..., September 29, 2008

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H. Bala "Me Too Can Read" (Just moved to posh Marina Del Rey, CA - where if you drop a quarter, why, you just keep on walking) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Batman: No Man's Land, Vol. 5 (Paperback)

When Gotham was reduced to broken buildings and rubble by an earthquake registering 7.6 on the Richter scale, the city was deemed to be beyond repair by Congress. Gotham was evacuated and then its bridges blown up, its tunnels made inaccesible, its waterways mined. Those who remained in this No Man's Land were very much on their own. Without law and order, without electricity and running water, without its champion the Batman, Gotham descended into anarchy. Urban warfare erupted, as gangs carved up their own tribal territories and terrorized the weak and the innocent. One hundred days later, the Dark Knight finally appeared.

BATMAN: NO MAN'S LAND was published nearly a decade ago, so none of this is really top secret stuff anymore. Still, SPOILERS alert for the following:

BATMAN: NO MAN'S LAND Volume 5 is the final entry in the trades collecting the year-long No Man's Land story arc, which originally published in 1999. It starts with "Ground Zero," a 52-paged tale which takes us back to the early days of No Man's Land and fills in the gap between Bruce Wayne's failed attempt to influence Congress and Batman's eventual return to Gotham. This story also details how the Huntress became Batgirl. Bolstering the must-read factor is some of fantabulous artist Greg Land's early work.

Back to present-day No Man's Land. By the 312th day, most of the gangs and supervillains have been taken out. After grueling months of scheming and feverish fighting, Batman finally senses an ending. In "Shellgame" Lex Luthor begins his publicity campaign to "save" Gotham and the Joker feels left out (never a good thing). As these issues begin, Batman and Commissioner Gordon may have reconciled but the same can't be said for Batman and the Huntress. The Huntress has joined up with vicious ex-cop Pettit and his Strong Boys, and, certainly, Batman believes there'll be some fallout from that. "Endgame" is the big finale to No Man's Land and features a Batman engaged in a showdown on two fronts - with Luthor, as his real estate takeover is revealed and with Joker, who on Christmas Eve has kidnapped Gotham's babies. It all culminates with Gotham City at last on its way to recovery, but there is also one final shattering tragedy.

NO MAN'S LAND is one of the most ambitious storylines the Batman brain trust has ever attempted, and, if Wikipedia's right, only about half of the related comic book issues made it into these trade collections. I really enjoyed this huge story arc, a bit more even than KNIGHTFALL (see Batman: Knightfall, Part One: Broken Bat), which is also tremendous. I won't even harp too much on that the overall artwork failed to match the epic feel of this comic book event. But I'm into post-apocalyptic adventures, and this one definitely qualifies. And not only does NO MAN'S LAND focus on the Bat, but his supporting cast also gets plenty of attention. Sharp character development went into Oracle, James Gordon and Sarah Essen, the Huntress, and the near-mute Cassandra Cain. Cassandra, in particular, emerges as my favorite character in all this, and it was pretty inevitable that she would garner her own monthly series as the all new, all different, all kick-@&& Batgirl. Matter of fact, if I could point out one of the few faults in this trade, it's that Batgirl isn't much on-camera. Okay, I also didn't like that, most of the time here, Robin simply skulked around, keeping tabs on the Huntress and the Strong Boys. But these petty quibbles of mine don't change the fact that NO MAN'S LAND is a gripping, intense, and - despite the sometimes dubious artwork - well-presented adventure.

FYI: BATMAN: NO MAN'S LAND Volume 5 collects BATMAN #573-574, BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #126, BATMAN: NO MAN'S LAND #0, BATMAN: SHADOW OF THE BAT #94, and DETECTIVE COMICS #740-741.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, for those who just don't have the time or inclination to read the five trades collecting BATMAN: NO MAN'S LAND, Greg Rucka adapted the thing into a truly terrific novel (Batman: No Man's Land).

4.0 out of 5 stars Somewhat disappointing conclusion to the NML saga, October 28, 2011

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Batman: No Man's Land, Vol. 5 (Paperback)

This volume, the last in the five volume "No Man's Land" series, was a bit of a disappointment. While it still contains the high quality artwork of the previous four volumes and the dialog is still crisp, the sudden and relatively easy ending of the No Man's Land region was somewhat light in effectiveness. Despite all the regions controlled by marauding gangs, the power of the super villains and one year of extreme chaos, the prospect of peace and food was almost enough to restore civilization to Gotham City.
Much of this is probably due to the expectations that were built up. The four previous volumes were so loaded with tension and excitement that you expect the final act to be first to last caption action with a dramatic conclusion. It ends with a celebration of a New Year and era dawning in Gotham City, yet there is sadness at the gravesites of two major figures in this series of adventures starring the Batman.

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a review, February 12, 2011

By 

Dillon Johnstone "drjohnstone" (Denton, TX USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Batman: No Man's Land, Vol. 5 (Paperback)

In all honesty, with a storyline like this, you can't help but wonder how they would conclude it. But this really doesn't disappoint, in my opinion. Some could definitely say that it's boring, but that may be due to the fact that it's building up towards the ending.

I'm sure that for many, this series may seem a bit of a stretch to go out of your way to get simply because of the lack of sellers. But it doesn't disappoint. It was like watching a game of Risk unfold, which of course, had certain buearocratic and political elements in which Batman uses every means at his disposal. It has shown that even when all the playing cards seem to be in the villains hands, it's nothing more than all of them standing together at the tip of a pencil. If Batman could find a way to make the tip break, he will.