| "No Man's Land" | |||
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 Cover of Batman: No Man's Land vol. 1 (1999), trade paperback collected edition.Art by Alex Maleev. |
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| Publisher | DC Comics | ||
| Publication date | March – November 1999 | ||
| Genre | Superhero Crossover |
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| Main character(s) | Batman, Nightwing, Robin, Oracle, Batgirl, Huntress | ||
| Creative team | |||
| Writer(s) | Jordan B. Gorfinkel, Greg Rucka, Chuck Dixon, Scott Beatty, Paul Dini, Bob Gale, Devin K. Grayson, Kelley Puckett, Larry Hama, Bronwyn Carlton | ||
| Penciller(s) | Greg Land, Andy Kuhn, Yvel Guichet, Alex Maleev, Dale Eaglesham, Frank Teran, Phil Winslade, Damion Scott, Dan Jurgens, Mike Deodato, Tom Morgan, Mat Broome, Sergio Cariello | ||
| Inker(s) | Drew Geraci, Chris Ivy, Aaron Sowd, Wayne Faucher, Sean Parsons, Frank Teran, Phil Winslade, Sal Buscema, John Floyd, Bill Sienkiewicz, Sean Parsons, David Roach, Mark Pennington, Rob Hunter | ||
| Collected editions | |||
| Volume One | ISBN 1563895641 | ||
| Volume Two | ISBN 1563895994 | ||
| Volume Three | ISBN 1563896346 | ||
| Volume Four | ISBN 1563896982 | ||
| Volume Five | ISBN 1563897091 | ||
"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. "No Man’s Land" proper covered the residents of the city during this time of isolation until its time of re-opening and the beginning of rebuilding.
Contents |
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
Gotham City had suffered the results of a magnitude 7.6 earthquake in the earlier Cataclysm storyline. In response, the U.S government declared Gotham a "no man's land," destroyed all bridges leading to Gotham and forbade people from entering or exiting.
The city was swiftly carved up by gangs and various supervillains Batman had battled over the years. Jim Gordon and several members of the Gotham police department stayed behind to protect civilians. Oracle and Huntress also ended up on the inside. Bruce Wayne (Batman) left the city to lobby the government to not cut Gotham off, but failed. Gordon and his men waited for his return, but by the time he returned more than three months later, they believed he had abandoned Gotham.
Huntress attempts to keep order, fashioning a Batgirl costume. She soon discovers that criminals fear her more as Batgirl than they do Huntress and succeeds in holding territory of her own. When Batman returns, he allows her to continue to use the costume. However, when she fails to hold off Two-Face and his army of men and loses Batman's territory, she abandons the costume.
Batman and James Gordon's officers work separately to reclaim Gotham, piece by piece, by beating and subduing the gang leaders and then marking the reclaimed territory with graffiti. Various subplots emerge through the battles. Poison Ivy took up residence in Robinson Park and Batman allowed her to remain there as long as she cared for the orphans and distributed food.
Gordon once allied with Two-Face, but Two-Face betrayed the alliance. Two-Face also hired David Cain to kill Gordon, but Cain is thwarted by his daughter Cassandra. Cassandra later takes up the mantle as the third Batgirl to help clean No Man's Land up. Later, Two-Face kidnapped Gordon and put him on trial for breaking the alliance. Police officer Renee Montoya reaches out to Two-Face's Harvey Dent persona, whose defense leads to Gordon's acquittal.
The turning point for No Man's Land came with Lex Luthor arrived with his helicopters to rebuild Gotham. However, Luthor's covert plan was to take the deeds and much of the property in Gotham, since the original deeds had been destroyed, and many of the owners had died in the earthquake. Lucius Fox discovers the original documents and notifies Luthor. Luthor then attempts to kill Fox, but Batman intervenes, tells Luthor that Gotham is not for sale, and warns him to leave.
The United States government reverses the No Man's Land order and allows Gotham to rejoin the United States. Gordon and his surviving police officers were promoted. In the final scenes of the comic, the Joker attacks Petit's compound. Petit is killed and the Huntress barely survives. The Joker later kidnaps all of Gotham's babies. When Sarah Essen Gordon discovers the babies, the Joker murders her.
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
- JLA #32
- Hitman #37-46
New Gotham
Two of the storylines immediately following "No Man's 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 Man's 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.
Lasting effects
"No Man's Land" introduced the character of Cassandra Cain, who would become the third Batgirl. An ongoing quasi-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.
Behind the Scenes, No Man's Land precipitated the exit of longtime writer and editor Denny O'Neil from the Batman family of books. In an interview he stated that he retired three years before he was supposed to, due to the strenuous nature of editing. O'Neil was replaced by Bob Shreck.
Collected editions
Some of the stories were collected into trade paperbacks:
- Volume One (ISBN 1563895641)
- Batman: No Man's Land #1
- Batman #563-564
- Batman: Shadow of the Bat #83-84
- Detective Comics #730-731
- Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #116
- Volume Two (ISBN 1563895994)
- Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #117, 119
- Batman: Shadow of the Bat #85-87
- Batman #565
- Detective Comics #732-733
- Batman: Chronicles #16
- Volume Three (ISBN 1563896346)
- Batman #566-569
- Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #120-121
- Batman: Shadow of the Bat #88
- Detective Comics #734-735
- Volume Four (ISBN 1563896982)
- Batman #571-572
- Batman: Chronicles #18
- Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #125
- Batman: Shadow of the Bat #92-93
- Detective Comics #736, 738-739
- Volume Five (ISBN 1563897091)
- Batman: No Man's Land #0
- Batman #573-574
- Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #126
- Batman: Shadow of the Bat #94
- Detective Comics #740-741
The novel
In 2000, DC Comics published a novelization of No Man's Land written by Greg Rucka. There is a novel written about the story arc called No Man's Land. The story features many of the same characters as the comic book arc. It also describes other members of the GCPD. The book does, however, omit the characters of Azrael and Superman, who were present throughout in the comics.
There is also a shorter junior novel written by Alan Grant.
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