Batman: No Man's Land, vol. 4...

[fajrdrako]

Batman: No Man's Land, vol. 4 is an ongoing massive multipart crossover story published by DC Comics about six years ago. It was published chronologically in Batman, The Batman Chronicles, Detective Comics, and other Batman titles, until there was enough material to fill five volumes of reprint graphic novels. Leading up to it were several other story arcs telling how Gotham City was destroyed by an earthquake and plague, and was eventually declared "No Man's Land" by the U.S. government. People were evacuated, the bridges were bombed, and Gotham officially ceased to exist. Except of course that not everyone died or left; the remaining residents lived in a state of poverty and crime even worse than normal for Gotham. Think Escape from New York, with Batman and co. in it. Think post-holocaust.

I'd bought the first three volumes and was enjoying the story, but couldn't afford any more.
Recently, moved by my enthusiasm for Greg Rucka's writing, I managed to order vol. 4 on Interlibrary Loan. The Toronto Public Library came through for me. Greg Rucka wrote part of this story – other writers were Devin Grayson (whose work I also like, particularly in Nightwing), Chuck Dixon and Larry Hama. The last two are not bad, but generally a little too violent and dry for my tastes.

Vol. 4 is in the middle of the "No Man's Land" series. The first story (by Hama) recounts the coming of Bane (a Batman villain) to Gotham City, with intent to kill. At this point Gotham is difficult to break into; there's a rather nice sequence of an encounter between Batman and a nun named Sister Agnes.

The second story, Spiritual Currency, is about an encounter between the altruistic doctor Leslie Thompkins, and true to form for a Devin Grayson story, was much more to my taste. Dr. Thompkins is set on protecting and saving one of her patients, a multiple-murderer, whom another murderer wants to kill. A lovely story of angst, fear and courage.

I've always liked Leslie Thompkins as a character. "No, she's not my mother," explains Batman to the mute Batgirl. "But she's been like a mother ot me for most of my life. Protect the doctor and her clinic with your life."

After a few more stories by Dixon and Hama about the fight with Bane, we have another Grayson
story in which Clark Kent, incognito, makes a visit to No Man's Land – trying to make himself look scruffy. It's a lovely, subtle story. "I have everything under control," Batman tells Clark. He's lying.

The next story is a Greg Rucka one called Jurisprudence, in which Harvey Dent (a.k.a.
Two-Face) is messing with ex-Commissioner Jim Gordon's head. In the course of the No Man's Land storyline, Gordon made a truce with Dent; now Dent is making him regret it. It's a clever story with a psychological twist, and it features one of my favourite female characters at DC, Renee Montoya, who was later a protagonist in Gotham Central.

And then my favourite story of the collection, Falling Back, also by Rucka, which is
about a conversation in a garden, a conversation between Batman and Commissioner Gordon, about the damaged state of their friendship. It's real character piece, a relationship piece, and not a battle in sight. My favourite part was the climax: in a grand gesture to prove his trust, Batman removes his cowl so Gordon can see who he is. And in reciprocal trust, Gordon
refuses to look.


~


The last story is also by Rucka, Assembly Redux. It's a Joker story; a tough, smart, militaristic woman has come from elsewhere to negotiate with the Joker and the Penguin for control of Gotham. We know she's working for someone else. I tried and failed to guess her identity – and I can't say it's because I don't know DC comics well enough, because I know this character fairly well. I twigged when, at the end, she put on her chauffeur's cap and went to meet her employer. The woman was Mercy, Lex Luthor's right-hand-woman.

Cool.

I wonder how long it will be until Interlibrary Loan comes up with vol. 5.