Review by Frank Plowright
No Man’s Land was the last of the all-encompassing Batman crossovers of the 1990s, and the longest of them, the prelude alone occupying three thick books when issued in paperback as Cataclysm and Road to No Man’s Land Volume One and Volume Two. A few extra stories are added as they’re combined for this hardback Omnibus leading into Batman: No Man’s Land Omnibus Volume One.
There’s a different mood to all three constituent parts. The Cataclysm section is very much headless chicken, sprawling all over the place with little focus and not a great deal to recommend it. The earthquake that devastates Gotham occurs early, and the best sections are both written by Alan Grant, firstly showing how the earthquake affects Wayne Manor, and the second focussing on Arkham Asylum.
That’s stunningly drawn by Dave Taylor, his only contribution, leaving Mark Buckingham as the most decorative artist overall. Not every page is prime Buckingham as we’d later know him, but they all catch the eye and he’s beginning to experiment with page framing (sample spread right). The other sample art is from Jim Aparo on one of the best later chapters, Chuck Dixon’s script of Batman explaining to politicians why Gotham matters. There are times when Aparo is coasting, but the range of inkers his pencils can effectively take is testament to his talent. William Rosado is the weakest of the other artists who handle a significant amount of pages, lacking imagination.
Taylor’s Arkham story is an exception, but almost all the overall highlights are from Road to No Man’s Land Volume One. They largely dispense with Gotham’s familiar villains to concentrate on the desperation of ordinary people whose homes and lives have been destroyed, and it seems as if the authorities are not stepping up. Batman is seen answering one cry for help after another in an impossible bid to save everyone. Just how hopeless that is is chillingly brought home by Doug Moench’s story of citizens attempting to evacuate via an unsafe bridge. There are villains, some armed and organised, but they’re mainly looters, the desperate, lost souls and the entitled wealthy.
However, the quality falls with what was originally Road to No Man’s Land Volume Two. A central villain is introduced, the extremely arch Nicholas Scratch, lacking credibility despite an ability to hook people into his unsavoury beliefs via a form of enhanced charisma. For reasons never explained here, he’s determined to see Gotham cut-off and abandoned, given no opportunity to rise from the ashes. Scratch is an old school monologuing villain and every page he appears on diminishes The Road to No Man’s Land fractionally further. He is a means to an end, as the story was always going to progress into lawless Gotham, but a better route would have ditched Scratch and concentrated on political expediences instead.
This holds together slightly better than the overblown Knightfall, but just picking up Volume One in paperback should be the preferred option for anyone on a tight budget.
