Batman: No Man's Land
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Batman: No Man’s Land is an American comic book crossover storyline that ran for the whole of 1999 through the Batman comic book titles published by DC Comics.
The lead-up story began with the arc "Cataclysm" which described a major earthquake hitting Gotham City. This was followed by the storylines "Aftershock" and then "Road to No Man's Land" which resulted in the U.S. government officially evacuating Gotham and then abandoning and isolating those who choose to remain in the city. The "No Man’s Land" story proper covered the residents of the city during this time of isolation until its time of re-opening and the beginning of rebuilding.
Publication history
The main storyline ran through the monthly Batman titles Detective Comics, Batman, Batman: Shadow of the Bat and Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight with other spin-offs serving as tie-ins. In all, "No Man's Land" encompassed 80 regular monthly issues, 4 specials, and the Batman: Harley Quinn graphic novel, which introduced Harley Quinn to the DC Comics universe.
The storyline is divided into several arcs. A part of the story would continue from one Batman title and then to the next Batman title that would come the following week, much the same format used in the Superman comics for that time. Unlike the Superman comics, where a creative team is maintained for one monthly title, the same creative team is maintained for the duration of the story arc.
The core storyline is collected as trade paperbacks in five volumes. However, because of the large number of issues that were devoted to "No Man's Land," only 40 of them made it into the collections. A novelization of the story line was also written by Greg Rucka and released as hardcover in January 2000.
Plot summary
 | This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (November 2007) |
Gotham City had suffered the results of a magnitude 7.6 earthquake in the earlier "Cataclysm" storyline. Previous disasters, such as two separate plague outbreaks, caused many to want to write off Gotham completely. The U.S. Government gave a timeline. At the end, all bridges were destroyed and all known paths out of the island city were covered by the National Guard. The Justice League of America were forbidden by law from entering the city. They kept busy defeating outside threats to the city, along with other crises. The situation inside was left to Batman and his allies; Superman offered his help in the city, but after staying for one day realized this was not the type of problem he could fix with just power. Upon the realization, he leaves Gotham in the hands of Batman, (although Superman, in the guise of Clark Kent, would appear again months later to check on Batman's progress).
The city was swiftly carved up by gangs and various supervillains Batman had battled over the years. Jim Gordon and several well known Gotham officers chose to stay behind and an unknown number of policemen willingly followed suit, all in an effort to protect the innocent people. Oracle and Huntress also ended up on the inside.
Huntress adopted the Batgirl persona in Batman's absence, realizing that Gotham needed 'Bat-Personnel' to keep the situation under control. As Bruce Wayne, Batman had left the city to try to solve the problem politically, using his name and money to convince the federal government to delay closing off Gotham. Unfortunately, his efforts failed, arguably because he appeared to the government as Bruce Wayne—an air-headed billionaire with little concern for serious issues—of which the No Man's Land was exemplary.
Some 100 days after the Federal Declaration of the No Man's Land, he returned to Gotham to reclaim the Batman title and his people, many of whom had long since given up on him. Even his former ally, Jim Gordon, believed that Batman had abandoned Gotham to the villains.
What Batman returned to was a state of unrest and disorder on a grand scale. Since there was no longer anywhere to spend it, money became worthless; people would barter anything from batteries to services to protection for daily necessities. It seemed the only person to have any use for cash was the Penguin, who had nightly events where those few with cash left spent it all on such rare and simple items as an apple. The Penguin, despite his riches and implicit opportunities to flee the city, instead opted to stay. He had his own mysterious link to the outside and apparently enjoyed taking advantage of the dire situation in Gotham.
With Batman being gone for so long, and his very existence debatable in the Gotham underworld, the Huntress was able to pass off as not Batgirl, but Batman himself to many of the criminals she faced. Following the example of the gangs in town, she even tagged by graffiti her territory with the bat symbol. She went back to her Huntress costume when the Dark Knight confronted her after her failure to hold territory against Two-Face's forces, without any pleasantries. The third Batgirl, Cassandra Cain, estranged daughter of assassin David Cain, made important contributions to the effort during this time, as well as starting a lasting friendship with the Oracle.
In an effort to redeem herself, the Huntress went to the aid of a church that was open as a hospital and sanctuary to anyone desiring it in Gotham. Having no protection because of their benevolent intentions, the church and its kind staff were sitting ducks. The Huntress' desires to use her expertise to protect them was seen more as an unnecessary and warlike show of force than as help, even when she was trying to halt the Scarecrow's machinations to sabotage the church's efforts.
The weaker gang-leaders fell first, mostly to Batman and or James Gordon's officers. Street by street battles were fought, with deaths on both sides. Eventually Gordon's forces split, with half the squad following the more violent Petit, who believed that the only solution was to meet violence with more violence rather than Gordon's more peaceful methods. Two-Face became a major warlord, acquiring and losing territory every so often, and caused major problems for the police. He kidnapped Jim Gordon, killing two of his guards, in revenge for breaking a previous alliance, although in the subsequent trial Gordon was acquitted by the defense of Harvey Dent, Dent concluding that since Gordon had been essentially blackmailed into the alliance the agreement was void. The Penguin, as previously mentioned, remained in the city and was approached by Mercy Graves, acting on behalf of Lex Luthor, to begin a rudimentary clean-up of the downtown districts for Luthor's eventual move-in. Poison Ivy took over Robinson Park. She ended up caring for numerous orphans and was left alone by Batman in return for providing food. Zsasz owned his own territory, as did Mr. Freeze. Bane, too, was involved indirectly as a strong man for Lex Luthor; he notably destroyed the Hall of Records to fulfill one of Luthor's goals. He also drastically reduced Two-Face's territory in the process, making him insignificant. Despite his status as a supervillain, the Scarecrow was welcomed into a church filled with refugees and manipulated various factions in a plot to send the church's refugees spiraling into fear and despair. The Riddler, strangest of all perhaps, actually fled Gotham and spent the year barely noticed. The Joker made the most of his rare appearances. He spent some time as the ruler of an apartment building filled with supplies. This ended up, naturally, with lots of dead people, many from his own gang. He later re-formed and attacked Petit's territory. During the attack, he captured several of Petit's men, dressed them up to look like him, and forced them to walk in front of Petit; the now-insane cop shot all of them without even confirming whether or not they were the real Joker. When Petit killed an officer who tried to desert, Huntress knocked him out, subsequently facing the Joker and around twenty of his men all by herself, suffering near-fatal wounds in the process before Batman and Nightwing showed up to help her.
When Lex Luthor's money illegally brought in an army of construction workers, the Joker tried to kill his share. Bane, employed by Luthor now, appeared again, protecting the innocent workers from death, maiming and worse.
Near the end of the saga, as a statement to murder hope with the news that the No Man's Land was intended to end on New Year's Day, the Joker decided to kill all the children born during the "No Man's Land" storyline. Sarah Essen, Commissioner Gordon's wife, ended up confronting the Joker alone in Gordon's police headquarters. While saving a baby from a dangerous drop to a hard floor, she was shot and killed. Gordon restrained himself from killing the Joker, opting only to shoot out his knee. The Joker, quite naturally, found this unspeakably funny, since it had been he who crippled Barbara Gordon.
Eventually, thanks in no small part to the financial and political machinations of Lex Luthor — dipping his hands, as ever, in both legitimate and illegal means to achieve his goals — Gotham City was released and rebuilt, and rejoined the United States.
Gordon and the surviving officers were reinstated as full policemen.
Much of the story line was narrated by Oracle, as she used her resources to become a low-tech version of herself. She used paper to document events and the passage of time, operatives and emergency phones (knowing which ones were still in operation) to gather intel, and maps colored by pencils to keep track of who controlled which portions of the city at a particular time. Her maps were frequently shown in the comics to help the reader follow the progression of territorial disputes (Gotham City maps in current series are based in large part on Oracle's maps from this series). Oracle remained one of the few people in the city with the ability to contact the outside world. In his own series, Hitman, Tommy Monaghan had found his own ways in and out of Gotham (he spent No Man's Land protecting his own few blocks of where he had grown up, putting out the skulls of vampires as warning signs).
Like Oracle, all of the characters got serious testing of their mettle. Commissioner Gordon became more of a general leading an army than a police officer and held a grudge against Batman, even after he had returned. It wasn't until nearly the end of the story line before they talked again, and Batman even revealed to Gordon his secret identity, in a gesture to regain his trust, but Gordon turned away without looking. He didn't want to know who was under the mask, and told Batman to put it back on.
Issues
The story ran through the following issues:
- Batman: No Man's Land #0
- Batman: No Man's Land #1
- No Man's Land: Secret Files & Origins #1
- Young Justice Special #1
- Batman: Harley Quinn (graphic novel)
- Detective Comics #730-741
- Batman #563-574
- Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #116-126
- Batman: Shadow of the Bat #83-94
- Batman: Chronicles #16-18
- Catwoman #72-77
- Robin #67-73
- Nightwing #35-39
- Azrael #50-61
Plot
March 1999
Batman: No Man's Land #1
With Gotham City declared a federal No Man's Land, no one could legally enter or exit: National Guard battalions stalked all borders. Food and bullets became currency. In the first three months of NML, Oracle developed a new network of "agents." She created maps of the various territories and who controlled them. No one had seen Batman since NML was declared.
Shadow of the Bat #83
Oracle began to get reports of a "Bat" tag (territorial marking). To increase GCPD (Blue Boy) territory, Gordon planned to start a war between rival gangs and clean up after them. A woman in costume claiming to be "the Bat" began laying down vengeance on bullies. Word started spreading that Batman was back in town. Joker made a move for territory.
Batman #563
With a simple over-tag by the Blue Boys (GCPD), a war broke out between the LoBoys and the Street Demonz. After days of bloody combat, the Blue Boys simply walked in and claimed both territories (which included Police HQ and the Clocktower where Barbara lived). Batman and Alfred returned to Gotham City. After contacting Oracle, Batman ran into the new Batgirl. He told her he did not approve, but also did not disapprove; he ordered her to not disgrace the symbol.
Detective Comics #730
James Gordon, even after seeing the Bat tag, continued trying to convince himself that Batman was gone. Batman infiltrated Scarface's gang, took him down, and claimed his territory.
Azrael #50
Batman gave Jean Paul a new outfit (since people were associating his old one with the attacker) and asked him to take down Nicholas Scratch. Azrael got some information from Oracle on a former associate of Scratch's who could have been behind his mutant associates. Disregarding Batman's orders and wearing his old costume, Azrael went in after Professor Lade. Scratch's devils were there and they defeated him. He awakened tied up with Lade, the house on fire. He was able to get everyone out of the fire, but Lade escaped while he went in for others.
April 1999
Legends of the Dark Knight #116
Scarecrow was found living in a broken down church who's priest, Father Christian Sounder, had transformed into a refugee center. Gordon offered protection to the center, but Father Sounder refused it. Huntress attacked Scarecrow, but was held back by a former False Facer living in the camp.
Shadow of the Bat #84
When the refugee center's food supply was compromised by rats (secretly planted by Scarecrow), Father Sounder made a deal with the Penguin - he'd store the gangster's arsenal in return for food. Batman and Batgirl worked together to take down some False Facers. Scarecrow played the former False Facer, Mikey, into asking his old gang for protection. Crane knew about Father Sounder's hidden arsenal.
Batman #564
Mikey was shot by his old gang. Huntress got Batman to take him to Leslie Thompkins, who had a makeshift clinic up and running. After speaking with Leslie, Batman forced Penguin to tell him the location of his weapons store. Gordon found out the location as well from an anonymous tip. The False Facers attacked the refugee center; all its patrons learned of the weapons.
Detective Comics #731
A firefight broke out - Penguin's men killed the False Face gang and grabbed Father Sounder. With the GCPD nearing, Batman ended the squirmish. Scarecrow was fingered as the instigator, but Huntress turned the tables on him with pity. He left the refugee camp discouraged and burned his outfit. Father Sounder helped everyone drop the weapons off a bridge. Batman took Batgirl to one of his caves.
Azrael #51
Wearing his new costume (the old one was destroyed in the fire), Azrael found Professor Lade and got a possible location for Scratch. He set out to find the charismatic rock star, but felt as Jean Paul in an outfit - not as Azrael. Jean Paul was attacked by Scratch's devils again. Lightning hit him, and he felt Azrael merge with Jean Paul. He easily defeated the devils and headed out to find Scratch.
May 1999
Legends of the Dark Knight #117
The GCPD lost a battle trying to gain territory. Two-Face offered Gordon a truce. Batman, needing to let everyone know he was back, got information from Oracle about a gladiator contest Penguin was hosting. Batman crashed the party and challenged the Penguin.
Shadow of the Bat #85
Two-Face, trying to ally with Gordon, wiped out both of GCPD's nearby rivals. Batman took on Penguin's goons in front of a huge crowd. He played them against Penguin and defeated all his gladiators. Penguin called off all bets, enraging the crowd. Batman made a deal with him and got everyone off his case.
The Batman Chronicles #16
(Set before the declaration of No Man's Land) Renee Montoya, sent out for a few days off by Commissioner Gordon, went to stay with her parents. She began helping her brother with the clean-up and rescue nearby. Harvey Dent was in their group. She was skeptical, but his coin landed always on good heads. Working together, they formed a bond. Montoya saved his life when looters attacked and convinced Batman she'd reached him. A couple stranded in No Man's Land found what appeared to be one of Joker's hideouts while searching for supplies and food. Inside, they found dead bodies in a room marked "hostages," a piranha tank, a trophy which appeared to be the body of Jason Todd, and some rare artwork. Batgirl ordered them to leave and destroyed the place. Harold thought of his mother when the quake hit. Upset with Alfred, he went into the city to help fix things.
Batman #565
Batman delivered some of his take downs to Lock-up. Black Mask continued his offensive. Gordon struggled with his feelings for Batman; some of his crew began to doubt him. Batman asked Batgirl to hold ground against the advancing False Facers without being seen.
Detective Comics #732
Batgirl stopped the False Face attack, and captured Black Mask himself. Barbara witnessed the ordeal from her window and was devastated. Commissioner and Mrs. Gordon continued their public fight. Babs used a make-shift Batsignal. When Batman arrived, she went off on him - she felt slighted that someone was out there being her, with her legs. He asked her to trust him. The Gordons made up.
Azrael #52
Azrael chased Scratch into No Man's Land and faced off against Calibax once more. He defeated the monster and reunited a family. Scratch slipped away.
New Gotham
Two of the story lines immediately following "No Mans Land" were collected as TPBs with the subtitles "New Gotham 1" and "New Gotham 2" respectively playing up the fact that they were set in the rebuilt Gotham City following "No Mans Land". These were Batman: Evolution from Detective 743-750 and Batman: Officer Down collecting the story from Batman #587, Robin #86, Birds of Prey #27, Catwoman #90, Nightwing #53, Detective #754, and Gotham Knights #13. it was also added into the 2002 WB tv series Birds of Prey as you hear them frequently referring to the city as New Gotham
Lasting effects
"No Man's Land" introduced the character of Cassandra Cain, who would become the third Batgirl. An ongoing quasi-romantic relationship between Two-Face and Renee Montoya started as a result to this crossover and came to a head in the pages of Gotham Central's "Half a Life" storyline. "No Man's Land" also saw the death of Sarah Essen, the wife of Gordon, who is brutally murdered by The Joker in the arc's finale; an event that precipitated Gordon's temporary retirement from the force. The crisis also gave Luthor enough of a foothold in public opinion to win the candidacy of the President of the United States in 2000. This series also set forth the basis of the friendship between Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy.
Collected editions
Some of the stories were collected into trade paperbacks:
- Volume One (ISBN 1563895641)
- Volume Two (ISBN 1563895994)
- Volume Three (ISBN 1563896346)
- Volume Four (ISBN 1563896982)
- Volume Five (ISBN 1563897091)
The novel
There is a novel written about the No Man's Land time period that is mostly based around The Joker, The Penguin, Two-Face, Bane, Lex Luthor, and other villains, and the Gotham City Police Department along with the Batman himself. The novel addresses the relationship between Cassandra and her father David Cain, the infamous assassin. It also describes in more detail the various personalities left in the GCPD, including the militant cop Petit who is constantly belittling Gordon's orders as being too soft. Greg Rucka is the author of this novel. The book does, however, leave out Azrael and Superman, who were present throughout the story in the comics.
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