Review by Frank Plowright

After four volumes of federal abandonment, it’s begun to seem as if the government is rethinking the order declaring Gotham off limits, and the end of Volume Four revealed Lex Luthor making preparations for that opportunity.

Instead of picking up on that bombshell, Greg Rucka opens this final No Man’s Land collection a year earlier, collaborating with Jordan B. Gorfinkel to show the desperation of Bruce Wayne as he gradually comes to realise that all his wealth and influence isn’t going to reverse a decision to close off Gotham. Greg Land captures the alleged glamour, while the Huntress discovers a way to engender greater respect.

Luthor’s involvement is a really clever twist. It places a considerable intellectual threat with vast financial resources squarely in Batman’s path. With what he’s able to call on, Bane primarily, and a lack of ethical scruples, dealing with those who considered themselves powerbrokers in the desolation is a simple matter. Rucka also explains the wider political ramifications, and the two ‘Shellgame’ chapters are magnificently illustrated by Sergio Cariello (sample art left), evoking people and place in considerable detail with instinctive storytelling skills. After lurking in the background for so long, here’s where the Joker finally emerges.

Devin Grayson writes the three chapters of ‘Endgame’ with Rucka, and that begins with the arrival of hope for Gotham after a year of desolation, but this is No Man’s Land, and the middle portion deals with two threats in a tragic Christmas story offering no cheer. Damion Scott’s art is great, but it’s good to see Dale Eaglesham (sample art right) improving on earlier outings delivering the emotion along with the power.

Because, for comics at least, no matter how smart it is, political machination isn’t as compelling as action, the actual ending to No Man’s Land is comparatively rushed and combined with the aftermath of tragedy. However, Rucka and Grayson provide a telling statement and fine wrap up. It seals the cap on the finest of the 1990s Batman crossovers.

Rucka continued on Batman as collected in New Gotham, while this content is combined with considerably more material in both the bulkier fourth volume of No Man’s Land issued in 2012, and the second No Man’s Land Omnibus.