Review by Frank Plowright

The credits for this second volume of Road to No Man’s Land show far fewer creators involved, which if nothing else indicates a more consistent tone. Four pencil artists handle the bulk of the pages, and only thirty or so pages aren’t written by Chuck Dixon, Alan Grant or Dennis O’Neil.

Azrael wasn’t featured at all as destruction all over Gotham was seen in Volume One, but two chapters of his participation from O’Neil and Roger Robinson both open and close this selection. He’s still at odds with Batman, and their relationship deteriorates further. O’Neil is competent without being startling, but Robinson’s art is strong.

Nicholas Scratch recurs throughout this volume, as determined to prevent Gotham’s resurrection as Bruce Wayne is to ensure it, and Wayne seems to be fighting a losing battle. The question being asked in political circles is whether money ploughed into rebuilding Gotham after an earthquake would provide any value, and Dixon and Jim Aparo provide a powerful chapter of Wayne in front of a congressional committee explaining why he won’t desert the city.

Whereas the previous volume toured around a series of individual incidents, there’s a greater sense of a story now moving in a single direction. Costumed villains are back, commissioned to cause even greater chaos in Gotham, and as drawn by Mark Buckingham in Arkham Asylum they look great. Unfortunately his contributions are restricted to three chapters, and there’s far more art from William Rosado (sample art right) whose pages lack imagination and occasionally adequate foreshortening.

This is Road to No Man’s Land, and so by the end No Man’s Land has manifested. Dixon and Grant have laid the plans for chaos by highlighting the restricting of repair funding that causes millions to desert the city, and Arkham Asylum can no longer afford to keep staff paid. The inevitable consequence is the doors being thrown open allowing Gotham’s maddest to return. They’re returning to a city cut-off from the wider world, connecting bridges and tunnels destroyed leaving Gotham quarantined. If you want to follow the story further, your choice is No Man’s Land Volume 1 2011 edition or 1999 edition, the former bulkier, but the latter more focussed.

Volume Two doesn’t match Volume One, with Scratch a big part of that, unconvincing when introduced by O’Neil as a middle aged man’s idea of a threatening rock star, and never given adequate motivation for his crusade. Even allowing for the point of his character being someone with a massive control of the masses, his preaching is tiresome and toward the end as one plan after another is foiled he’s no more credible than Dick Dastardly.

Road to No Man’s Land Omnibus combines both these volumes in hardcover if you have the money and the desire.