Batman: No Man's Land
Fans of Batman are lucky to get Greg Rucka--the talented, gritty young author ofKeeperandFinder, among others--sharing time with their favorite licensed character in this novelization of DC'scomplete 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 thatAtticus Kodiakcould 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 laEscape 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 Landis 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.