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Batman: No Man's Land: Difference between revisions
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A [[Bat Family Crossover]] that ran through the main ''[[Batman]]'' titles in 1999. After [[Trauma Conga Line|a rash of bad luck]]--superflu/ebola outbreak, another outbreak, and a 7.6 earthquake, two of which were courtesy of [[Knight Templar|Ra's]] [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|al Ghul]]--the US Government decides Gotham City is too costly to save and instead blows the bridges, effectively cutting the city off from the rest of the world for a year. The inmates of Arkham Asylum are loose, no one's coming to help, there are about a dozen honest cops willing to save the city, and [[Oh Crap|Batman is missing.]] Worried yet?
Implicitly, the idea was to drag the Gotham of [[The Eighties]] and the [http://lifewithoutbuildings.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/gotham-1.jpg Burton films] into the 21st century. Thematically, the story is something like ''[[Mad Max]]'', ''[[Escape
In the meantime, high doses of [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|awesome]] come from just about everyone. Even the Ventriloquist.
The story also brought to an end the majority of Batman stories throughout [[The Nineties]]--notably, the aforementioned ''Contagion'' and ''Cataclysm'' stories, as well as ''[[Knightfall]]'' and even ''[[Batman: Year One]]''. Somewhat surprisingly, the political angle of the story averted any particular anvils being dropped, except when talking about unconstitutionalism (and even then, the characters [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] away any possible accusations of silliness). Elsewhere, ''NML'' also gave the comics new characters like [[Batgirl (Comic Book)|Cassandra Cain]] and her father, [[Psycho for Hire|David]], introduced [[
In 2000, DC released a hardcover novelisation, written by [[Greg Rucka]]. Starting in 2012 as well, DC is re-releasing the series in a group of big honkin' softcovers, with preciously unincluded issues.
The reminder of [[Escape
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=== The story provides examples of the following: ===
* [[Achilles in His Tent]]: Batman is this for about three months after his failure to reverse Congress's decision.
* [[A Day in
* [[Anticlimax Boss]]: Depending on how you view the ending, or if you were waiting for Joker's big move to either happen earlier or be larger in scope and body-count, the ending, chilling though it be, can come off thusly.
** If you were looking for a grand rematch between Batman and Bane, sorry. Their meeting was fairly civil -- but, somewhat paradoxically, still manages to be ''awesome''.
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* [[Bound and Gagged]]: When Batman sees {{spoiler|the six civilians that Two-Face killed, he goes into [[Unstoppable Rage]] mode, invades Harvey's courthouse headquarters, and easily does this to him. The threats that follow make Two-Face look genuinely terrified that Batman might break his [[Thou Shalt Not Kill]] code.}}
* [[Bread and Circuses]]: How most of the villains (''especially'' the Penguin) keep their "territories" under control.
* [[Canon Immigrant]]: This is the story that brought arch-moll Harley Quinn into the DCU. Mercy Graves, Luthor's aide-de-camp from ''[[Superman:
* [[Captain Ersatz]]: Huntress for Batgirl, early on--[[Creator Breakdown|without Barbara Gordon's blessing]].
* [[Cardboard Prison]]: Somewhat averted at first; Arkham actually activates its quake-proof shutters when the initial quake hits, locking all of the lunatics inside. It's only when Gotham is actually declared a No Man's Land, and the staff begins to leave one-by-one, that Jeremiah Arkham is forced to let out the inmates because he cannot stomach the thought of leaving them inside to slowly starve to death (it's hinted that his ultimate decision comes from his childhood pet cat suffering a similar fate).
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* [[The Chessmaster]]: Luthor and his ridiculously circuitous scheme: {{spoiler|destroy any and all real-estate records in Gotham and substitute them with new ones reflecting ownership by [[Lex Corp]],}} meaning that most of the original owners who might sue to correct this 'error' had already fled the NML, were missing, or dead.
* [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]]: Two-Face accuses Jim Gordon of this. The Penguin tries to pull it on Lex Luthor [[Running Gag|and gets schooled. Badly.]]
* [[Closed Circle]]: Gotham's shut off from the world for a year. There are National Guard outposts stationed outside the city with kill orders for anyone trying to get in. Or out. This also means anyone in town after the bridges are blown ''stays'' there. [[Playing
* [[Compressed Adaptation]]: The novelisation, of necessity, leaves out a bunch of subplots and even entire characters, including Azrael and Superman.
* [[Covers Always Lie]]: ''Batman'' #563 shows The Joker standing triumphant over the ruins of Gotham. He doesn't show up in a single panel of the story.
* [[Crazy Prepared]]: To start with, the fact that Bruce Wayne quake-proofed every building he owns. [[Irony|Save for Wayne Manor]].
** William Petit, head of the GCPD's rapid reaction force. A hardcore survivalist, he keeps an enormous stash of ammunition in an apartment building basement on the off chance Gotham degrades to the point where he'll need to fire guns ''a lot''. In the beginning, this benefits the Blue Boys as he manages to "scrounge" enough ammo to keep them functional. But when he and his squad break away from Gordon to [[Start My Own|carve out their own territory]], he takes his bullets with him.
* [[Deal
* [[Death
* [[Death Trap]]: Somehow, someway, Joker is ''still'' able get the resources to build a massive glass-box deathtrap complete with acid nozzles, lasers, and machine guns. And he ain't happy when Azrael shows up instead of Batman. So much so that he refuses to let Azrael even try to rescue the kid put inside the trap as bait.
* [[Depending
** Ian Edginton's [[Dumb Muscle]] version that beats up a man with valuable survival skills (whose value in No Man's Land is unimaginable) simply so he can be the "alpha male".
** Devin Grayson's [[Bruiser
** Chuck Dixon's [[Genius Bruiser]] version, who's essentially [[Spider-Man|The Kingpin]] with scaly skin and red eyes.
* [[The Determinator]]: Huntress takes half a dozen bullets to the stomach from the Joker and keeps going. That tells you something about her right there.
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** Two-Face {{spoiler|hiring David Cain to kill Jim Gordon}} has shades of this in the comics. The novelization elaborates on and at certain points outright changes his motives to be more sympathetic.
* [[Friendly Local Chinatown]]: A little short on the "friendly" part, but Gotham's local Chinatown does play a role in at least two stories.
* [[Friend in
* [[Gatling Good]]: How Bane establishes his presence in awesome (toward the end of [http://about-faces.livejournal.com/5283.html?thread=22691 this page]). A panel so manly it will make your testicles double in size.
* [[Honor Before Reason]]: Jim Gordon and the rest of the GCPD loyalists/''Blue Boys''. Leave the city, especially when the US government tells any and all Gothamites still alive to get out of Dodge? Nuts to that!
** Leslie Thompkins takes it even further when she refuses to leave Mr. Zsasz to die. Zsasz, as some might remember, is even more [[Ax Crazy]] than the Joker is - he literally ''lives'' to kill, and nothing else.
** The Huntress, who faces the Joker--who it should be noted is at the utter top of his game--and lives to tell the tale.
* [[Hurricane of Puns]]: The aftermath of Robin's battle with Mr. Freeze in the sewers lends itself to a particularly groan-worthy (but [[Narm Charm|fun]]) one that would make [[Batman and Robin (
* [[Ironic Echo]]: "I swear, that psycho must have had a bullet for every man, woman, and child in Gotham!"
* [[It Is Beyond Saving]]: The premise of the arc is that the US government believes this about Gotham.
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* [[Sherlock Scan]]: When Superman visits Gotham a second time as Clark Kent, Batman immediately picks apart the inconsistencies of his disguise as a resident of NML:
{{quote| '''Batman:''' The toes of your shoes are scuffed, but you forgot to scuff the heels. Your shirt is dirty but bears no evidence of sweat or epidermal oil stains. And no one here has smelled like deodorant soap or laundry detergent for five months.}}
* [[Shout
* [[Shown Their Work]]: The credits for "Underground Railroad" mini-arc mentions that the creative team got an actual martial artist to help plan out the martial arts sequences.
* [[Sinister Scythe]]: The Joker is briefly seen wielding one when he takes his anger out on a stuffed Batman dummy.
* [[Snow Means Death]]: Huntress' last stand against the Joker.
* [[Stalker
** Disturbingly, The Penguin actually acts a bit like this toward ''{{spoiler|Mercy Graves}}''.
* [[Superman Stays Out of Gotham]]: Even if the government's ban on anyone going in or out didn't apply to superheroes, Batman is adamant Superman keep out of his city. Superman refuses to listen but he gets the message after his efforts to help the city don't work out as he intended.
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