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albertico66's review
3.0
Back to the main story - great close by Rucka and Grayson to this major storyline.
ibnjah's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
captwinghead's review
3.0
Easily the best part of this entire overlong arc. Rucka wrote the majority of this collection and that was definitely it's saving grace.
This is the conclusion to the No Man's Land arc. I certainly have no idea why it had to be so long. I'm reminded of the fact that recent events don't get nearly as much time because series just don't last as long as they used to. I often lament that fact, but this is the first arc that made me think shorter events might be the best choice. This event should've been 50 issues shorter. The same lessons were learned over and over again and with such bleak material, that just made reading this a sludgefest.
That being said, there were some highlights in this volume:
- No Man's Land #0: Ground Zero was the best issue in the entire arc. It tells of Bruce's first days when the National Guard closed Gotham down. You see him just after losing the fight in congress, encountering Talia (again, I don't get people saying Morrison ruined her - she really wasn't great here either), and him realizing Huntress has taken over as Batgirl. While I still do not understand why Huntress cares so much about earning Bruce's approval, this was the only issue where Bruce wasn't horrible towards her. This was also the only issue where Bruce really felt like a person. Why couldn't this have been the vibe throughout the entire arc?
- I enjoyed the final confrontation between Bruce and Commissioner Gordon. While I've hated 99% of what Gordon has done in this arc, I enjoyed the tension of that issue.
- I enjoyed Babs showing concern for Cass' wellbeing. She's the only person that seems to care (aside from that weird vibe later with her and Azrael and I hope they weren't trying to make that romantic because Cass is a teenager).
- Pretty par for the course that Luthor was the one responsible for the NML law getting repealed. I think it's meant to be implied that Lucious was working on it through legal means, rather than dirty press, but then the next issue says it was Luthor that did it. So, yes, this was an entire arc where the major great events were thanks to villains. I could've gotten behind this idea if there weren't so much of the Batfamily drama.
I'd read the conclusion with Joker and Sarah Gordon before in the Celebration of 75 Years of the Joker. That came with the added context of watching the Joker progress from a wacky clown poisoning Gotham's fish supply to a domestic abuser that beats children with crowbars, puts women in wheelchairs and takes naked photos of their bodies, kidnaps babies and kills women trying to protect them. I think we were supposed to glean that the Joker finally snapped after Batman kept sending in his allies to deal with him rather than giving Joker the attention he so desperately wanted. However, when you read all of the issues, it does seem a bit out of left field. Anyway, it's a sad conclusion but everything's sad in this arc so I didn't really feel much of anything. Sorry Sarah died for the same reason Babs was shot - for Gordon's pain.
I have mixed feelings about it taking ages for Huntress to realize that the crazy murderous cop maybe wasn't the best guy to rally behind. How many people did he gun down and force under his control before she realized something wasn't right? I also don't love that it takes her being shot 3 times, half dead lying in the snow for her to hear a "good job" from Bruce. This was strange... but also one of the only issues where she wasn't intolerable in this entire arc.
Catwoman's issues were so hard to look at that I skimmed them at best. After two seconds of the first page, all I saw were tits. And I say this as a bisexual, there were so many horribly drawn poses of Selina Kyle that I think I came out of this heterosexual. I'd never been so upset at seeing tits and ass before. She gets shot, the panel is drawn to show as much T&A as possible. She lands in the water and her tits float above the water. I can't express how gross this art was. Was there text? I do not know. All I saw were tits.
Anyway, as a whole, this entire arc is not a recommend from me. The few issues I enjoyed were not worth sludging through this entire arc. It's joyless, the heroes don't feel particularly heroic and I just kept seeing ways it could have been better. Maybe it's COVID, but I think if this had focused more on the heroes all starting out forcibly isolated from each other and showed us each of them helping civilians trapped in Gotham at the start, this would've been better. Instead, it was mostly Bruce being a bully, Gordon making horrible choices, Blue Lives Matter rhetoric, hatred of the poor, a few dashes of racism, executions, and some of the worst of 90s art I've seen in a long time. It was also way, way, wayyyyyyy too long.
This is the conclusion to the No Man's Land arc. I certainly have no idea why it had to be so long. I'm reminded of the fact that recent events don't get nearly as much time because series just don't last as long as they used to. I often lament that fact, but this is the first arc that made me think shorter events might be the best choice. This event should've been 50 issues shorter. The same lessons were learned over and over again and with such bleak material, that just made reading this a sludgefest.
That being said, there were some highlights in this volume:
- No Man's Land #0: Ground Zero was the best issue in the entire arc. It tells of Bruce's first days when the National Guard closed Gotham down. You see him just after losing the fight in congress, encountering Talia (again, I don't get people saying Morrison ruined her - she really wasn't great here either), and him realizing Huntress has taken over as Batgirl. While I still do not understand why Huntress cares so much about earning Bruce's approval, this was the only issue where Bruce wasn't horrible towards her. This was also the only issue where Bruce really felt like a person. Why couldn't this have been the vibe throughout the entire arc?
- I enjoyed the final confrontation between Bruce and Commissioner Gordon. While I've hated 99% of what Gordon has done in this arc, I enjoyed the tension of that issue.
- I enjoyed Babs showing concern for Cass' wellbeing. She's the only person that seems to care (aside from that weird vibe later with her and Azrael and I hope they weren't trying to make that romantic because Cass is a teenager).
- Pretty par for the course that Luthor was the one responsible for the NML law getting repealed. I think it's meant to be implied that Lucious was working on it through legal means, rather than dirty press, but then the next issue says it was Luthor that did it. So, yes, this was an entire arc where the major great events were thanks to villains. I could've gotten behind this idea if there weren't so much of the Batfamily drama.
I'd read the conclusion with Joker and Sarah Gordon before in the Celebration of 75 Years of the Joker. That came with the added context of watching the Joker progress from a wacky clown poisoning Gotham's fish supply to a domestic abuser that beats children with crowbars, puts women in wheelchairs and takes naked photos of their bodies, kidnaps babies and kills women trying to protect them. I think we were supposed to glean that the Joker finally snapped after Batman kept sending in his allies to deal with him rather than giving Joker the attention he so desperately wanted. However, when you read all of the issues, it does seem a bit out of left field. Anyway, it's a sad conclusion but everything's sad in this arc so I didn't really feel much of anything. Sorry Sarah died for the same reason Babs was shot - for Gordon's pain.
I have mixed feelings about it taking ages for Huntress to realize that the crazy murderous cop maybe wasn't the best guy to rally behind. How many people did he gun down and force under his control before she realized something wasn't right? I also don't love that it takes her being shot 3 times, half dead lying in the snow for her to hear a "good job" from Bruce. This was strange... but also one of the only issues where she wasn't intolerable in this entire arc.
Catwoman's issues were so hard to look at that I skimmed them at best. After two seconds of the first page, all I saw were tits. And I say this as a bisexual, there were so many horribly drawn poses of Selina Kyle that I think I came out of this heterosexual. I'd never been so upset at seeing tits and ass before. She gets shot, the panel is drawn to show as much T&A as possible. She lands in the water and her tits float above the water. I can't express how gross this art was. Was there text? I do not know. All I saw were tits.
Anyway, as a whole, this entire arc is not a recommend from me. The few issues I enjoyed were not worth sludging through this entire arc. It's joyless, the heroes don't feel particularly heroic and I just kept seeing ways it could have been better. Maybe it's COVID, but I think if this had focused more on the heroes all starting out forcibly isolated from each other and showed us each of them helping civilians trapped in Gotham at the start, this would've been better. Instead, it was mostly Bruce being a bully, Gordon making horrible choices, Blue Lives Matter rhetoric, hatred of the poor, a few dashes of racism, executions, and some of the worst of 90s art I've seen in a long time. It was also way, way, wayyyyyyy too long.
oddmara's review against another edition
5.0
PROBABLY THE BEST ONE JUST BY THE SHEER AMOUNT OF EMOTIONAL DAMAGE IT DEALT ME.
The Leslie and Bruce issue? Where she hugs him? And he apologises? And he cries? The GORDON AND BRUCE SCENE? Where he takes off his mask because that's ALLL HE HAS TO OFFER but Gordon doesn't want it??????? The Harvey and Montoya scene??? Gordon asking Harvey to defend him????? Opening up some deep old wounds in my frail little heart. The Dick and Babs hang out time? The Joker and Pettit issue? Helena?? SARAH????
There's literally nothing I can say about this issue besides the shock and rush of emotions I've felt. The Christmas issue with Jean-Paul and Batgirl was the sweetest thing. I can't believe I'm saying this but Jean-Paul was /actually bearable/ in this one. Who would have thought?
The Leslie and Bruce issue? Where she hugs him? And he apologises? And he cries? The GORDON AND BRUCE SCENE? Where he takes off his mask because that's ALLL HE HAS TO OFFER but Gordon doesn't want it??????? The Harvey and Montoya scene??? Gordon asking Harvey to defend him????? Opening up some deep old wounds in my frail little heart. The Dick and Babs hang out time? The Joker and Pettit issue? Helena?? SARAH????
There's literally nothing I can say about this issue besides the shock and rush of emotions I've felt. The Christmas issue with Jean-Paul and Batgirl was the sweetest thing. I can't believe I'm saying this but Jean-Paul was /actually bearable/ in this one. Who would have thought?
tmwebb3's review
4.0
Could have used more Batman, and maybe a different ultimate villain, and a better use for Joker,but very good nonetheless. Loved the focus on the Bat family and GCPD.
rashthedoctor's review
4.0
Having read the whole NML as single issues , I think my reviews as Volumes are disorderly so , I'll just review the whole thing in the last Vol
macthebrazen's review
4.0
I was torn between 4 and 5 stars. Went with 4 because I feel some of the Catwoman stuff was pretty weak.
But I LOVE some of the social commentary in this book, beginning with the first issue, wherein Dr. Leslie does her badass pacifist thing and her morals are challenged and fleshed out. Another favorite moment would be a spoiler, but involves an interaction between Batman and Jim near the end of the book. Very solid read overall. Glad the arc ended strong.
But I LOVE some of the social commentary in this book, beginning with the first issue, wherein Dr. Leslie does her badass pacifist thing and her morals are challenged and fleshed out. Another favorite moment would be a spoiler, but involves an interaction between Batman and Jim near the end of the book. Very solid read overall. Glad the arc ended strong.
apageinthestacks's review
5.0
Greg Rucka is one of the most underrated Batman writers (and honestly comic writers period). His chapters in this truly shine and made this volume in particular incredible.