Sunday, April 26, 2009

Batman: No Man's Land Vol. 1

After Gotham has been ravaged by a plague and an earthquake, the government decides to bump all that noise and evacuate everybody and quarantine the city forever. Well, a lot of poor people and supervillains are left behind, and who has to clean up? Batman, and also the police I guess. This trade collects two stories, the first done pretty well by Bob Gale and Alex Maleev setting up the gang like nature of Gotham, and how the good guys have to rewrite the terms of justice in a new environment devoid of hope. The second story, by Devin Grayson and Dale Eaglesham, centers on Scarecrow and his efforts to rouse fear in a local church/shelter. As far as crossovers go, No Man's Land is one of the best, and the writers seemed to thrive working within this bleak, stripped of technology storyline.

RATING: 81%

26 comments:

Susan Mitchell said...

The bourgeois reader will hate it: there's too much bat-magic, too much bat-genius, too much bat-bliss.

Bryan said...

This is, in hindsight, probably the best DC crossover-event-type-thing in the last 15 years. There's a ton of "neat" moments in there.

Fake R3 Persona said...

Intriguing! Is this a book that a girl can finish in a single sitting?

Walter Benjamin and the Mechanical Reproductions (the band) said...

o you guyz r still righting about comic books

Walter Benjamin and the Mechanical Reproductions (the band) said...

sorry had to get out of town for a few dayz dont ask yall u dont wanna be involved n this

Walter Benjamin and the Mechanical Reproductions (the band) said...

(dead hookr, &c)

John said...

You know, nBNL, dead hooker jokes are an act of epistemic violence against wymyn.

(I think you'd really like Othello.)

laurie said...

I know who Gary Glitter is...

John said...

I know who he is, too. And I also see every time Chris edits a 5 word comment 20 times.

laurie said...

Yeah, when's that guy gonna realize we love him even if his comments are perfect. Andrew, too.

laurie said...

Whoops. I mean uh, aren't perfect.

John said...

Yeah, Andrew always deletes his hilarious comments.

Viking Andrew said...

You mongrels have to understand something: Chris and I have German blood; we're constantly aware of our inherent superiority, and thus feel the need to revise revise revise!!

laurie said...

Yes. It could be that. Or it could be that you're both just really insecure.

Viking Andrew said...

"The writing process is revision."
- One of the many shitty ENGL 1301 textbooks I've used throughout the years.

laurie said...

"Proofread BEFORE you publish." -Me, just now

John said...

@ Andrew
I think Heidegger said something like that, right after he said "Naziism is just fine with me!"

@ Laurie
That's so bourgeois. You just can't handle the magic, the linguistic bliss of genius untrammeled by convention that is the Houston School.

Chris said...

Yeah, Laurie has bourgeois written on her forehead.

Just ask her fellow law students!

laurie said...

I haven't even told you guys about my personal assistant yet. His name is Tyler.

John said...

Tyler beats Skyler. That's gotta be the worst fucking name ever.

Actually, that's not even true. The worst name ever might be Vangie, might be Valeen, might be Shyella.

laurie said...

Funny thing is, Tyler is real. And I do actually pay him to run my errands.

LoCo said...

Yeah Laurie I didn't think you were kidding at all.

I can't wait to move back to New York and pay people to do all sorts of unmentionable shit for me!

McT's Girlfriend said...

Yeah I am real. But guess what? That bitch Laurie hasn't actually paid me yet. She owes me like 5 pays.

McT's Girlfriend said...

Can you guys help me shame her into paying up? Please.

laurie said...

Whatevs. Don't be jealous because you have to buy your own groceries.

laurie said...

Dirty prole.