jerseyluck

[jerseyluck]

Batman: No Man's Land: I Cover the Waterfront (Story #28)

The No Man's Land continues with a Batgirl solo adventure. Nothing much else to say.

The comic opens with a gang trying to beat a gas station owner. But the hero of the hour, Cassandra Cain, shows up and saves the man. And in a weird moment (for what Cass becomes), Batgirl considers murdering the gang's leader but is talked down by the bystander. Some Early-Installment Weirdness here.

Batgirl goes inside with the gas-station owner (Sanchez) to inform the larger Bat-Family. Somehow Cass gets annoyed at the endless talking of Sanchez... despite the fact that Cass is still in "can't understand language mode only body language" so I don't get why she is so annoyed at him.

The story cuts to Batman, Oracle, and Nightwing discussing that Cass will have to defend the area for the rest of the night before they can assist her. And then we cut to a flashback, were Batman orders Batgirl to get some gas to power a medical center.

Batgirl sneaks away from Sanchez to patrol the area, and she encounters the previously defeated gang: back with vengeance and a ROCKET LAUCHER!

The gang attack Sanchez's gas station again and Batgirl beats up most the gangsters again. In the struggle of the fight, the gang tries to steal gas from the pump... only to find out that Sanchez ran out of gas weeks ago. Sanchez stayed behind to make a point about never giving up and to provide for the community.

The gang leader uses the rocket launcher to destroy the gas station, and Cass goes on rage beating up gangster. Batgirl is only stopped by Sanchez saying that he stayed for principles and if she killed the man, she would no worse than him.

Anyway, Batman shows to congratulate Batgirl in managing to keep everyone alive aka the true mission of Bat-Family. And because this story doesn't want to be a bummer, it turns out Sanchez still has some gas on him. So, the hospital is saved! Hooray!

This story is a bit of a nothing. It is nice to have some more Cassandra Cain content, but Janet Harvey does not get Cass. I know this is still early Batgirl content, but this is boring. This story is not offensive, but nothing stands out. And that includes the art, which is just house-style. Not bad, but this is skippable.

5/10

[jerseyluck]

Batman: No Man's Land: The King (Story #27)

After several side-adventures with members of the Bat-Family, No Man's Land continues with a one-shot about The King of No Man's Land.

The comic opens on Batman saving a white-collar criminal from some bankers/weekend-warriors who have gone full cannibal in the No Man's Land. And pay attention because the opening highlights the theme of this story!

After defeating the cannibals, Batman gets distracted by a makeshift Bat-Signal. Our hero goes off to meet with a priest and little girl to find out why he has been summoned.

The priest shows Batman a building of kids with mental and physical disabilities. It is explained that these people have survived the destroyed area with the help of a MacGyver (survivalist/engineer) style expert who is only known as The King. The King has been keeping in contact with kids, but recently, he has suddenly disappeared. Worried, the priest asks Batman to find The King.

This is proven to be a smart decision because The King is being held hostage by some gangsters. They plan to profit from his knowledge base by forcing The King to work for them, but then Killer Croc shows up. And I got to give Jason Temujin Minor for drawing a creepy Croc.

Anyhow, Batman goes to Penguin to get information about The King. The mob boss admits that he has been trading with man of the hour, but Batman realizes that in order to get everything that The King has been giving away means that he has been stealing resources from The Penguin.

Batman searches the city for the man, wondering who The King was before Gotham went full NML. He concludes that The King is probably an ex-navy seal which again is part of the theme of this issue.

But we still have a Killer Croc to worry about. And on the scale from tragic figure to full monster man, Ian Edginton writes Croc as that is more crocodile than man. He just kills a henchman for trying to calm him down, and the reason why he wants to kill The King is that his animal instincts see a ruler to be a threat to his rule.

Batman shows up to fight Killer Croc. And it is a fine fight scene, which Batman wins by throwing Croc off a building. Of course, Croc survives the fall and escapes to be a threat later on in the saga.

Bruce goes to talk to The King, but he is shocked to find that The King is an ex-con from Blackgate named Stanley. Stanley admits that he stayed in Gotham figuring that with his knowledge base, he could make a buck in the destroyed city. But when he ran across the kids in the city, Stanley regained some humanity and knew he had to help them.

And now to talk about the theme of this issue about what a massive crisis can reveal about person's character. The issue opened on some bankers who in the normal world were respected civilians. But in NML, they became unforgivable monsters that killed and ate people. Meanwhile, Stanley, a criminal that spend most of his life behind bars became some sort of folk hero. That some solid storytelling for Edginton.

The issue ends with Batman bring Stanley to center of disabled kids where he is welcomed as a hero. And this was a solid issue overall. The thing holding it back is that Killer Croc was a little too animal-like, because I prefer him as just a guy. But this issue was still great despite that. But this is a great example of a one-shot.

7.5/10

[jerseyluck]

Batman: No Man's Land: Robin (#68-70): War Beneath the Streets! (Story #26)

The saga of No Man's Land finally gets back to the mad men in Gotham sewers and Tim Drake's efforts to stop them.

The comic opens on everyone's favorite villains, Tommy Mangles and Gearhead being flushed down the sewers after the beatings Robin and Nightwing gave them last issue. And I am going to be frank; this duo does nothing of relevance in this story so why are we spending so much page space on them, Chuck!

Now with some actually important characters, the comic cuts to Batman and Robin watching some civilians trade some canned food. Bruce wants to know where this food is coming from, so he assigns Tim to find out! And we get to see the foe that will try to stop Tim on this journey in a separate scene, as Ratcatcher sets his rats to murder/eat some fools that try to steal from the supply catch.

Tim barters with some civilians in exchange for information about who is selling the food. Robin then puts the fear of Batman in the gangsters, learning that the food is coming from a bunker in the sewers. But I feel like I am forgetting to mention something...

That's right, Stephaine is in this story for ongoing Robin plot threads! For the Spoiler interlude, Steph is working out to get rid of her post-pregnancy weight. (Yes, this series gave Spoiler a teenage pregnancy, we do not have enough space to deal with that here.) But when she arrives home, her mom ambushes her with the Spoiler costume. Steph explains that she fights crime as The Spoiler, and her mom takes it decently...

Until she forbids Steph from going out as Spoiler in public ever again. And that some good parenting from Crystal Brown (especially in hindsight), but this is superhero comics, so it doesn't stick forever.

Back to No Man's Land, Robin is wondering in Gotham sewers. And he almost runs into Gearhead and Mangles, but the sidekick doesn't. Good use of space, Chuck. Instead, Tim manages to get to the bunker...

As he sees Ratcatcher giving a Hitler speech to his rats. Unfortunately, the guard rats manage to ambush Tim. Surrounded by the legion of rats, Robin manages to escape when his suit electric defense system shocks the rats.

Robin travels the sewers, finding himself getting ill from some rat bites and chased by an angry Ratcatcher. Tim takes some pills to help fight the infection but afterwards passes out. Also, Tommy Mangles and Gearhead are also lost in the sewers. (Yes, I know that was a random injection, but that is keeping in their role in this tale.)

We then get a dream sequence with Tim's family/supporting cast finding out that he is Robin. This is a heartwarming scene which shows something unique to Tim: the fact that he has someone other than Bruce that he cares about. Tim has a life outside of Bruce, which the other Robins did not have in their time as the sidekick.

Back to reality, Robin is being cared for by a group of teens who were left in Gotham after the quake. They are being led by an old classmate of Tim who is acting like he is a D&D character. They are caring for Robin, treating his injuries...including giving him some ice.

Now, one might be curious of where one gets ice in the post-apocalyptic Gotham. Well as Gearhead and Tommy find out, Mr. Freeze is in the sewers just healing from his injuries. Freeze, well freezes the two after finding out that there is a bunker with food and supplies.

Freeze goes on a journey to find this bunker. But he is not the only one. The teens caring for Robin go looking for the supply room too. Tim tries to stop them, but he is still worn out from his fight with Ratcatcher.

Speaking of Ratcatcher, he meets up with Freeze. The two have a war of words, before Mr. Freeze intimidates Ratcatcher by freezing one of his pets. The pair of villains then go back to the bunker.

The comic then gives a moment of character development by showing Tim's fear of not living up to Bruce's expectations with a dream sequence. This the highlight of the comic. Anyway, after this Tim powers through his injuries to save the teens from the villains that control the bunker.

And not a moment too soon as Freeze and Ratcatcher scare off all the teens, except for Tim's old classmate. But Robin manages to take-down with help of some archery on Ratcatcher, and some physics on Mr. Freeze. And the pretty sweet action sequence.

The comic ends with all villains being captured and put in jail. Batman makes Batgirl watch over the transfer police transfer as he lets Robin rest after the hard day of work.

I got to admit that this is a pretty solid comic. Tommy Mangles and Gearhead are pointless in this, but everyone else is great. Seeing Tim is still trying to prove himself to Batman is a fun dynamic to him. I wish we got to see more of teenage crew that are just chilling in Gotham sewers. And the comic even managed to include an important moment for Steph. Not revolutionary but it is enjoyable read.

7/10

[jerseyluck]

Batman: No Man's Land: Catwoman (#72-74): Hardcase Heist (Story #25)

After some rough personal issues, I am back on the No Man's Land grind. This time with some Catwoman issues by Jim Balent and John Ostrander.

The story opens with on update on what Catwoman's current status quo is. Catwoman has moved to New York City, and during her time there, Selina had to fake her death by having her alter ego assassinate her.

Catwoman is on a heist trying to steal a jewel that looks like a cat. But surprise, the jewel is actually a communicator with a message from Oracle. Batman is asking that Catwoman to come back to Gotham... which annoys Selina because she was already planning to return to the destroyed city. There was no reason for this dumb trap!

The comic cuts to Batman and Barbara discussing the fact that Catwoman has gotten the message. Bruce knows that Selina will return but after that... well Catwoman does have some cat-like tendencies so who knows.

Catwoman is pissed at Batman for this trap/summons, but she catches a helicopter ride to Gotham. And in wider No Man's Land news, the mysterious woman who hired Bane is continuing the hidden mastermind's plan to take control of Gotham by having 3 henchmen block the only unknown path in/out of the city.

So how does Catwoman get into No Man's Land. She rides a boat with idea that the military will blow it up as it gets close Gotham. While the armed forces look at the wreckage, Selina would scuba into Gotham unseen.

This does not work flawlessly, so Catwoman has to hide from some Navy Seals while underwater. It would be a boring story, if Selina got caught here, so she gets into the city. Selena swings around the destroyed city to meet Batman...

But when Catwoman gets there, it is revealed that Batman called her into Gotham to tell Selina that he needs her to heist some computer disks... back in Manhattan. Bruce is such a dick in this story, and Catwoman agrees with me, because she is furious that Bruce is wasting her time. But the tensions are cooled off with a kiss between the two.

Cut to Selina trying to escape Gotham... with the passageway that the crooks are guarding. So, as Selina tries to escape, one of gangsters (Mookie, he will be important for the rest of the run) blows up the tunnel. Luckily, Selina manages to open a valve that gets all four them out of the city.

Selina recruits the schmucks to her crew, and she will need them. Because the people guarding the computer disks are a security group known as Hardcases Inc. They are great idea from John Ostrander, which is a shame that only exist for this story. Hardcases Inc are a group of ex-military recruits with low-level superpowers, who after leaving formed a security company. And they were hired by Bruce Wayne to guard these disks... which is a problem considering that he is trapped in Gotham, but he needs those disks now!

Catwoman has to outthink these guard-dogs in order to get these disks. She starts by dressing up in civs to let Hardcase know that Catwoman intends to steal the disks. But Hardcase's goons are not stupid and realize that this mysterious woman warning them is probably Catwoman, and they go on red-alert.

Cut to the night where Hardcase is on lookout duty on the opposing building. But they have to move when Catwoman launches a full-on assault with missile launchers and local crooks on helicopters. Hardcase Inc manages to handle this pretty well, but they are shocked when Mookie in the Catwoman costume blows himself up.

It turns out that Selina never left the building after warning the security company, so she just sneaks into the vault after Hardcase is distracted. Hardcase thinks they outsmarted Selina with a fake disk, but Catwoman just swapped out disks, so she as the information.

Cut to the aftermath where it is revealed that Mookie is still alive. It turns out that the crook is a metahuman with power to absorb kinetic energy. Back in Gotham, Oracle and Batman are discussing the fact that Catwoman is thought to be a murderer. Bruce tries to defend Selina, but then it is revealed that Catwoman has decided to sell the stolen disk.

And we get to see three interested parties. One is Hardcase Inc. who want to get back the stolen property. The next is the mysterious woman who is told to retrieve the disk from her boss. And the third is Maxie Zeus, a gangster from the Gotham who believes that he is the mythological Zeus (I want to be clear that he isn't actually a god, because Zeus is a thing in the DC Universe).

Selina sends her henchmen to World Trade Center to meet with Maxie. They are ambushed by Hardcase Inc, but it turns out this meeting is part of Selina's plan. There is a fight, but Catwoman is not near the meeting.

Selina is making a deal with mysterious woman elsewhere. But it turns out the woman has come prepared to deal with Catwoman, because the information on the disks is only important if no one knows about it.

Catwoman is blinded and is beaten badly by this unknown foe, but she is "saved" by the leader of Hardcase Inc. Catwoman gets shot when she tries to escape in the ocean, and this story ends with the mysterious woman escaping to do more crimes in No Man's Land later.

I really enjoyed this story. John Ostrander writes some compelling stuff in this brief run that I wish we could see more of. Hardcase Inc is a simple idea, but it builds in such a way that I want more of them. And he writes a fun Catwoman. Jim Balent is such a master at cheesecake, but it fits this fun story. Just good sexiness from Selina.

8/10

[jerseyluck]

Batman: No Man's Land: Nightwing (#35-37): Escape to Blackgate (Story #24)

After many mentions in other stories, it is about time to see Nightwing's grand plan to take over Blackgate Prison from Lock-Up.

The comic opens up by showing the awful conditions that Lock-Up has been keeping the prisoners that Batman sends him. Yup, many prisoners shoved in one bunker, getting shocked for attacking up, using muscle (KGBeast/Trigger Twins) to keep everyone in line! Sounds like the American prison system.

The comic cuts to Batman and Nightwing discussing the issue. Are they going to take over the prison because of inhuman conditions that the prisoners are facing?

Nope, this is a Chuck Dixon comic, this is not about helping prisoners Batman wants Nightwing to take control of Blackgate because the Caped Crusader is worried that villains will team-up with each other and will form organized groups to take action. You know like a union! God damn Dixon and your backwards politics.

Anyway, Dick contacts Oracle to establish the plan to the audience. There is a prisoner in Blackgate that kind of looks like Dick, so Nightwing will free the guy and take his place. At some point, Lock-Up will be ambushed and Bat-family will control the prison system.

Nightwing scubas his way to Blackgate prison, while Lock-Up are welcome new convicts to their new home. Fun spy shit.

But as Nightwing approaches the prisoner he wants to replace, we are reminded that is a No Man's Land story. Lock-Up prison conditions are inhuman... but the prisoners are feed on a regular basis with a roof over their heads. But that is better than a lot of wildlands that Gotham is in.

So, the prisoner alerts KGBeast and the Trigger Twins (not enough space to discuss what their deal is) that Nightwing is here. KGBeast is a master assassin, and the Trigger Twins are good at shooting people at a distance, so Dick is in trouble. When our hero takes a breath thinking that he got away, Lock-Up ambushes Dick knocking him unconscious.

And this is where Nightwing Secret Files is placed in the NML reading order. But that issue adds nothing to this arc, so I am skipping it. Instead, I am going to update you on the Bludhaven developments that Dixon put it here to establish stuff for the longer Nightwing series.

Nite-Wing (the crazy copy vigilante that just beats anyone, not just criminals) is captured by Bludhaven's police. But the corrupt Chief of Police decides to manipulate the kid, aiming him at Blockbuster's forces. Meanwhile, Blockbuster finds out that he needs a heart transplant (and god I want to talk about where he found his new heart instead of this story. It is very fun/stupid.) and the crime boss's mom is not taking it well.

Okay, back to main story, Lock-Up throws Nightwing into a pit with all of the supervillains. Dick can't escape by climbing up the hole because KGBeast is guarding it.

There is a huge fight among the villains about what to do with Nightwing. Scarecrow wants to spare the hero, but Firefly and his crew want to kill Dick (especially Firefly, in a previous story the arsonist's body was severally burned in a fight with Dick). It comes down to Ventriloquist and his sock puppet (yes, really) to calm down everyone.

Nightwing leads the villain to attempt to blow a hole in their pit so they can escape. But then Lock-Up comes to check-up on Dick (because he doesn't want to piss off Batman), but the prisoners lie and say that did some cannibalism instead. Lock-Up decides he needs to kill the supervillains to hide his crime.

Nightwing finds some gunpowder to blow a hole with help of a Z-list villain. And they manage to get hole to open before Lock-Up can flood the pit with seawater. In the next room, Nightwing notices some chains that he can climb up.

But as he climbs up, KGBeast ambushes Nightwing as he climbs up and Firefly is chasing after Dick for revenge. So, in a pretty solid fight scene (Scott McDaniel is a great artist for acrobatic action), Nightwing throws KGBeast down into the pit, trapping the supervillians.

Lock-Up and The Trigger Twins attack Nightwing once he is out, but Dick uses a forklift to defeat the jailers. The GCPD takes over the Blackgate, and Dick goes to Barbara's tower where he collapses from exhaustion. The End!

Yeah, this sure was a story. Let's start with good bits. McDaniel's art is great for action...but it is hard to make out who is who. There are so many villains in pit, but it is hard to make out the different faces to know who each other are. And this issue makes me curious about the ongoing Nightwing story. But this story is just fine.

5.5/10

[jerseyluck]

Batman: No Man Land's: Chronicles (#18): Spiritual Currency (Story #23)

No Man's Land continues on with the final Chronicles issue of the saga. And we are doing a character study on Leslie Thompkins for it.

Unlike every other issue of Batman: Chronicles, this issue only has one story in it, so we got an extra-long tale.

The issue opens on an overwhelmed/overworked Leslie Thompkins trying to assist a large number of people with medical issues. She has no supplies to help everyone relying on her...

But this is a fake out, cause it is just Leslie's dream! But reality is about as grim as the nightmare, it is still No Man's Land.

Leslie does a checkup where it is revealed that Victor Zsasz is being treated there. Which is a bad thing because as this issue keeps telling us, Zsasz is a man who only wants to kill people... so her decision to give the serial killer medical assistance is very unpopular.

Mikey (the ex-gangster from the second arc of NML) is assigned the job of watching over the ticking timebomb that is Zsasz. Leslie continues to some doctoring...

But at as time passes, Leslie takes a break and talks with Killer Croc. It turns out Mr. Zsasz got his injury from attacking one Croc's lieutenant... and said lieutenant got seriously injured in the fight. Croc is there to get update on the injured man, and to see if he can kill Zsasz in retaliation.

Leslie manages to calm down Croc... until the cops come to make everything worse. Pettit, Huntress, and the rouge GCPD officers came to Thompkins's Clinic for medical help. Leslie yells at Pettit for being, well, a cop, but accepts the injured anyway.

Mikey yells out in pain, because he was assaulted by Zsasz. Huntress and Leslie go to help Mikey. Huntress judges Leslie because the doc just won't let a psycho like Zsasz die. But Leslie explains that as a person, she can't let a person die even they are a serial killer. Leslie will help anyone who needs help. If she just him die, then Leslie couldn't be live with herself.

Anyway, we get a fun moment of former Batgirl, Helena, meeting up with the new Batgirl, Cass, who is wearing her old costume. It is a cute moment for the comic that needed to happen.

But Batgirl did not come alone, because Batman is also here. Bruce gives Leslie medical supplies...until he realizes that the medical supplies were meant for Victor Zsasz. Batman is annoyed, but he has to leave when the hero hears some gunshots. Before Bruce can leave, Cass asks if Leslie is his mom; Batman tells her no, but Leslie is a motherly figure to him.

Everything is heating up, as the cops are shooting at Croc, who decides if he is getting shot at might as well kill Zsasz. Batman tries to move Leslie out of fear she might be shot, but she refuses. Instead, Bruce leaves Batgirl to protect her from the powder keg that is happening.

As things are getting worse, Zsasz finally wakes up. And like the bastard that he is, Zsasz tries to some killing. Leslie stands up to Zsasz, trying to get him to feel compassion. While this is happening, we get scenes of Huntress and Batgirl/GCPD and Killer Croc fighting each other. It is a really neat sequence.

But Zsasz is a psychopath and decides to kill our good doctor. Leslie does not resist because she does not violence to be done in her name. Luckily Croc's friend has no such ideals, so Killer Croc charges at Zsasz before he can kill Leslie! Croc is just a fun character.

Batman ends the fight by trapping Zsasz in a metal tube. Bruce tells Leslie that Zsasz will be going to Blackgate (as soon as Nightwing takes it over). Leslie gives Bruce a hug for saving her, and out of sight Batman gives a smile at the soft, caring moment.

Anyway, this is another strong one-shot in the No Man's Land. It has great Leslie Thompkins moments, highlighting her role as caring, pacifist, motherly character in the Bat mythos. It is great to see Bruce to happy. Devin Grayson understands this character and Dale Eaglesham gives the issue some great art.

But the role of out villains in this tale are excellent too. It is nice to a frightening Zsasz as the villain. It is terrifying to see him as this psycho killer. This one of definitive Zsasz tales (and this issue is in his collection of stories about him. It is a correct choice.) Killer Croc is also fun here, and it builds up the crapness of bad cop Pettit in a compelling way. Just a fun story.

9/10

[jerseyluck]

Batman: No Man's Land: Batman: Harley Quinn (Story #22)

Continuing on in No Man's Land with the other character find of 1999: Harley Quinn! Yup, we this is how DCAU Harley Quinn was turned into the long running we love today.

This comic opens on everyone's favorite love interest to Harley: Poison Ivy! The plant villainess is leaving food for the citizens of Gotham, when she comes across the remains of rockets. And somehow Harley Quinn is in the rocket.

When Ivy brings the world's greatest clown girl in for medical treatment, Harley decides to tell us what she has been doing. Harley (back when she was Harleen) interned at Arkham Asylum. While working she fell in love with the Joker when she was supposed to treat him. When Harley was caught letting the Joker free, she was forcibly committed into Arkham.

That is where she stayed until the earthquake hit Gotham. When Harley went out in the world, she discovered evidence that Joker was still out there, and she decided to go full supervillain to be by his side. And the moment of her trying on costumes before she picks the classic costume, is just perfect little moment. One of many that Paul Dini and Yvel Guichet give the audience in this issue.

Harley catches up to the Joker as he is threatening Penguin for supplies. And Harley's gymnastic skills come in handy, allowing for Penguin's henchman to be killed. Joker recognizing her past identity and figuring that she might be useful, allows Harley to stay.

We cut to Harley doing some grunt work (finding a lair for Joker's crew, fighting opposing gangs, and eventually fighting Batman allowing Joker to escape) to gain Joker's favor. Eventually, Harley gets to spend a night with the Joker that she can't remember (Ivy assumes Harley was drugged).

When Harley wakes up, she cannot find the Joker but does get a message...to meet him on the amusement park's rocket ride. Cut to Harley getting launched off because Joker hates that he feels some romantic feeling for Harley, because it makes him boring. Harley manages to steer the rocket into Ivy's territory, and we cut back to where our story started.

Ivy feels some pity towards Harley, and gives her potion that will increase Harley's reaction, strength, and immunity to poisons. Ivy then recommends that Harley go attack Batman and Joker... out of spite that both feel towards the duo.

Cut to Harley (with great humor) making a makeshift Bat-Signal for Batman. Bats tried to talk Harley away from the Joker, but she tells Batman that Joker has a plan to kill the aid workers of Gotham in one big explosive trap.

The comic then cuts to one of the best Joker moments: Joker trying to make conversation with his henchmen about the women in their lives. Once one of them actually starts conversing with Joker about the lady he loves, Joker just kills the man... because Joker always has to be the center of attention.

Harley and Batman sneak into the lair. Batman deals with henchman while Harley confronts the Joker. The Clown Prince of Crime tries to use Joker Venom to kill Harley, but thanks to Ivy's formula, she lives. Cut to Harley beating up the Joker.

Batman tries to intervene (he thinks that Joker plans to kill all the medical worker, but doesn't know that was a Harley lie), but Harley whacks Batman over the head with her trademark giant mallet.

Joker tries to escape Harley's wrath, but she catches up to him. But then we see the (early) Harley Quinn character flaw of her going back to the Joker, with him only doing the smallest gesture of kindness. Granted, even Joker seems annoyed by this sequence of events.

Batman wakes up from his head injury and finds that the duo set the hideout to explode. This explosion tells the wider Gotham that the Joker is back... and he is done giving out jellybeans. The comic ends with Batman complaining to Alfred that he has to now deal with two crazy clowns!

Yeah, this comic is amazing! Paul Dini can write the best Joker stories out there, and he writes one here. Just so many little moments that show Joker's vanity. And the art by Yvel Guichet captures the humor from his sick mind.

But this is the intro to Harley Quinn, and it really works. It established the line of her being a foe for both Joker and Batman. Plus, it is nice to have Ivy involved in her life straight from the beginning. And Harley is fun, making you want to see more. Just a classic comic, and I think the best of No Man's Land.

10/10

[jerseyluck]

Batman: No Man's Land: Power Play (Story #21)

No Man's Land continues on with... what? I guess I have to stop cause It Hama Time!

That's right, it is the first Larry Hama story in the No Man's Land. For those who don't know, Larry Hama is one of the comics writers of all time. Hama has written Wolverine and GI Joe, one of the longest running runs written by a single writer. And the thing about Hama is that he does not preplan events/endings, he just writes a single page at a time having no idea how story ends until he writes the final page. This results in some of the wildest comics in all of the medium.

And he is now writing Batman! This story opens on Batman going to Gotham's Chinatown where he sees some people trapped in ice. As Batman does some investigating, he realizes that this Mr. Freeze's fault (no duh!), the frozen gangsters are from outside their territory, and there is power running in the area.

But before Batman can solve this mystery (?), he is ambushed by Asian gangsters with ninja weapons (like nunchucks and chains). I should mention Larry Hama is a Japanese American person. Anyway, Batman takes the goons down in a fun fight scene.

After Batman takes down the goons, he learns that Mr. Freeze is burning anything (Wood, family heirlooms, furniture), so that he can supply power to people.

We cut to Mr. Freeze's ice castle next to the power plant, where Batman does a Trojan Horse to get into the lair. And we get to see one angry Victor Fries ranting that people are just using the power to watch TV, and also his wife is dead! (At this point in continuity in Freeze and Batman's first fight, Nora got shattered by a stray blast from Victor's gun)

Batman arrives and tries to talk down Freeze. But this is a Hama comic, so we get beautiful drawn fight scene instead. And I want to shout out the colorist, Felix Serrano, for capturing the clashing vibes for heat and ice.

Freeze eventually captures Batman, but before Bruce even started the fight, he sabotaged the power plant. The explosion destroys the ice castle, leaving Freeze on an ice float in the Gotham River. There are references that Victor is a Prometheus figure... which turns into a confusing Frankenstein reference, and the villain swears vengeance.

And yup, this was not the best comic. The biggest positive is that the artwork in this issue is really great. Standout work from Rick Burchett. But this is in that weird middle phase that where people are trying to make BTAS Freeze into actual DC continuity. And the issue that sometimes pops up in Hama's work of confusing events happening, appears here. Could be better, but it isn't awful.

5.5/10

[jerseyluck]

Batman: No Man's Land: JLA (#32): Inside Job (Story #20)

Our journey continues with an interlude in both No Man's Land and the Grant Morrison JLA run!

This Justice League story opens with Superman in space talking on comms with Huntress, who is currently a member of the Justice League. And Helena is pissed off that JLA is not taking action to fix the world of No Man's Land.

Superman tells Huntress that despite the fact that the government is preventing the heroes from entering Gotham, the JLA has been working on a larger scale in helping the abandoned city.

For example, Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) and Orion (son of Darkseid) noticed that there was a giant cyborg bird flying above Gotham. When the bird was destroyed, it launched metal parasites that would have turned the citizens into drones (ala The Borg).

Luckily, the only person who was infected was Orion, whose alien physiology allowed him to survive the infection. At this point, Huntress wonders if LOCUS (the group responsible for the attempted robot plague) is responsible for the government setting up the No Man's Land orders... which is dumb question when we all know that it's rock-star/cult-leader Nicholas Scratch's fault!

But when attacking by air doesn't work, there is always the sea for another entry point with a giant fish. Seems like a smart plan, until one realizes that Aquaman (also Zauriel) is on the Justice League. The duo stops Locus's plan of sending in a submarine to get the machine virus into Gotham.

The JLA is now spending tons of time to prevent Locus from getting into Gotham, including Superman leaving the outer atmosphere to stop the techno-terrorists from drilling into Gotham with a drill-tank.

Anyway, Superman and Big Barda destroy the tank (despite Locus's defenses including a red-sun shield) and it is revealed that Locus had nothing to do with getting Gotham cut off from the USA. Also, the JLA has stopped similar efforts from Kobra/Y2K to take the city.

Also, Huntress keeps fighting, saving citizens from gang members. It turns out that she is Justice Leaguer helping the people of Gotham. Yeah, the people don't need the Flash delivering food to everyone in like a minute or Aquaman destroying the mines keeping people trapped in the city, we just need Huntress and Batman defending the people trapped in the city.

This was a very annoying comic. It tries to be that Superman issue (see here), but it lacks the sauce of that issue. It raises the questions that issue answered of why the wider DC community can't just fix the NML. The answer is that JLA is licking the USA's boot. A rare miss for Mark Waid.

Well-meaning message that the ordinary government decided to cut off Gotham from America, and supervillains are trying to take advantage... except that NML established that this was Nicholas Scratch/a-yet-to-be-revealed villain's fault. A confusing message.

4/10

[jerseyluck]

Batman: No Man's Land: Fruit of the Earth (Story #19)

Back to No Man's Land with the next big arc of the saga! This time with Poison Ivy!

The comic opens with a flashback to the first month of No Man's Land. Clayface comes to Ivy's territory with a terrible plan: the two use Ivy's powers and some child labor of the kids she is watching over to corner the food market of the destroyed city. Ivy tries to kill Clayface for this disrespect, but the clay monster captures her instead.

Cut to the current time of No Man's Land where Oracle is giving Batman an update about what is going on in Ivy's territory, but she lacks information. So, Batman goes to Penguin to ask him for information. And the gang boss lets Batman know while he is getting fruit from Robinson Park, he has been paying Clayface for the resources. Batman leaves and Penguin tells his henchman to cancel the next payment to Clayface predicting what is about to happen.

In a GCPD interlude, there is a major breaking point. Sergeant Pettit has decided to shoot some gangsters that are threatening the officers. He convinces some of the fellow officers that this is a warzone and Gordon's method will kill them all. Commissioner Gordon is left with his wife Sarah, Harvey Bullock, and Renee Montaya on his side, with a large force of officers following Pettit.

Batman and Robin (Tim Drake) go to Robinson Park, not just looking for Ivy. It turns out Bruce build a Batcave under the park during that time he briefly let Dick take over the Bat-cowl. And Batman needs something that was left in that cave.

When the dynamic duo enter the hideout, they discover Ivy and some orphans captured in clay. It turns out that Clayface has imprisoned Ivy since that meeting and has been using the kids as slave labor. Bruce angry at this abuse kids (and needing the box from the Bat-Cave) agrees to stop Clayface...somehow.

This is a reminder that Clayface is a clay monster that can shape his body into different forms including mud and brick. And Batman is lacking the tech that can help him overcome this superpowered foe. So, Batman has Robin take the orphans above ground while he stays with to fight the villain.

Meanwhile, Huntress is still angry at Batman's dickery, and she goes to confront Pettit's goons about the murder he has done as a cop. But Pettit convinces Helena that they are the same side as soldiers in a war.

Back to the A-plot, Bruce can't free Ivy from her clay prison while Ivy is weak from months of Clayface's abuse. Batman and Ivy realize that she needs water and sunlight to get back to fighting shape; so Bruce comes up with a plan. In more personal moments, Robin realizes that the captured kids were orphaned from the quake and have nowhere else to go. Ivy is the only one who can care for these kids.

But big bad Clayface comes down to the Bat-Cave to harass Ivy, and man Basil is such an asshole in this story. Good writing Rucka! Anyway, Clayface starts to overpower Batman, but out hero uses strategy to electrocute the villain with a rod and a powerline.

With Clayface shocked, Batman orders to Robin to use a bomb above ground in the lake in Robinson Park. The bomb breaks through the roof of the Bat-Cave, flooding it with water and letting some sunlight in. And this small amount of nutrients is all that is needed to get Ivy to break free and fight!

With Ivy free, she first uses some plants to make a new costume. Just want to say Dan Jurgens and Bill Sienkiewicz make some spectacular art in this issue, but this costume is a real highlight. Oh, also she beats up Clayface pretty easily.

With Clayface defeated Ivy goes in for the final (lethal) move. Batman and Robin try to save the monster, but Ivy's powers/wards manage to stop them. Clayface is melted down to soil, but he is still alive (somehow) and the superpowered monster will fight on in post-NML Gotham, so no harm no foul. But Ivy remarks at this point that the first day of summer has come.

Continuing the symbolizing of the fact that we are at the halfway point of the saga, we get to see things go from bad to worse with Gordon. The commissioner sends Renee to negotiate with Two-Face (on the account that Harvey did hire an assassin to kill him), but she is forced to stay in his territory.

Also, in Cental America, a woman offers a man an exorbitant amount of money to enter Gotham and cause trouble. That's right Bane, the Man Who Broke the Bat, is coming to No Man's Land!

But in rap-up to this story, Batman finds out that Ivy destroyed the thing that he entered Robinson Park for. Annoyed, Bruce realizes Ivy serves a purpose in No Man's Land, and agrees to leave her alone, as long as she keeps watching over the kids and gives fruit to starving Gothamites twice a week. The story ends with Batman realizing that there is still a way to get the thing he needs, but only Catwoman can get it!

And that was the end of what is currently the best story in No Man's Land. It introduces some new problems in the ongoing saga, but the main story is incredible. This story features what is the continuation of the modern Ivy! Previous Ivys would have been down with the child slavery angle Clayface did, but this establishes her soft spot for children. It's nice to have a less-evil rouge in Batman's gallery of foes! And the art is incredible. A classic story for everyone to read.

9.5/10

[jerseyluck]

Batman: No Man's Land: Azrael (#56-57): Scratched Out (Story #18)

It is time to see the first team-up of Azrael and Batgirl as they finally take down Nicholas Scratch!

The comic opens on a wild choice of having Azrael just dreaming of Wild West Batman. And this sequence is gorgeous, a true highlight of the story. Look at this to see the awesome art!

Anyway, getting back to the (more boring but still solid) story, we see Jean-Paul Valley being woken up by Leslie Thompkins after reading some western pulp. Azrael found this novel while trying to find some meds... which he couldn't. The Thompkins's Clinic is out of meds.

Cass is on her first patrol as Batgirl when she sees a gangster shoot another man...with a gun. When she brings the victim in for medical help, Jean-Paul figures that if the shooter had a bullet to spare in the world of No Man's Land, then something else must be up.

And Azrael happens to be right, because when the pair catch him, it is revealed that the shooter got his gun from Nicholas Scratch... and some medical care. Batman tells Azrael do finish his mission and take out Scratch off the board. Azrael goes off with some requests from Leslie, to get medicine and to handle the Scratch situation as nonviolently as possible.

Azrael and Batgirl go on their mission, with Azrael talking a bunch while Batgirl is silent. It is fun dynamic. Azrael enters the space in civilian clothes, in order to see what Scratch is doing in No Man's Land.

The answer: Scratch is trying to start a cult while wearing one of the dumbest outfits in comics. Ol' Nicky is wearing pale whiteface all over is body, is mostly shirtless except red-armored shoulder pads with spikes and has terrible red tattoos all over his chest/face. It just the worst!

Once you get over his terrible costume, you get to hear his stupid sales-pitch for his cult! Turns out Scratch got visions from God/Aliens which gave him power over the mortal mind. And he wants to build a nation in the destroyed Gotham where somehow; the Scratch club will take over the world and be worshipped as gods. But first, they need to kill the non-believers in Gotham.

Anyway, Jean-Paul is recognized as Azrael and is captured by Scratch's goons. Our hero is about to be killed, but Azrael convinces Scratch that his death would have more propaganda value if they made a big show off it and they put in the Azrael costume.

Jean-Paul is captured, but there is still a Batgirl around to save the day. Cass sneaks through the night, just stealing the guns from distracted cult members. After stealing enough, Batgirl goes to where Jean-Paul is captured and the two come up with a plan.

As the sun comes up, Scratch's crew gets angsty because of the missing guns. The cult leader still has few in a bunker, but by sending goons there, Azrael learns the location of the bunker. Our main hero is marched out to execution (the plan is to now stone Azrael to death... which good on themeing Denny) ...

Where they put the costume back on Azrael. And as we all know, Azrael gets his fighting powers only when he is wearing the costume. Batgirl takes down Scratch's most loyal henchman, when we get a really great final moment.

Scratch is yelling at people to take a shot at Azrael, but our hero points out that if Scratch really was chosen, then he should take out one Bat-vigilante. And we cut to Azrael giving a nice beatdown to Scratch.

Nicholas Scratch is done for No Man's Land (He will be back to antagonize Azrael later... including the very last story of the Azrael ongoing), and our heroes return with meds for the fair lady Thompkins. Jean-Paul is sad about the fact that enjoyed fighting, but Leslie says that he still has time to better himself, and to keep on helping.

And that is the best Azrael story of No Man's Land. Nicholas Scratch is still terrible... but he worked in this story. It is great to see him loss in this way, true wish-fulfillment of what should happen to every cult leader. Cass is built on some more and the themes of this series are put in very well. The art is great, just a fun story.

8/10

[jerseyluck]

In reading No Man's Land, an issue starts with this gorgeous 3-pages with just Western-style Bat-family, and it has nothing to do with the rest of the issue.

I just wish that there was a full comic based on this page by itself.

(Azrael: Angel of the Bat #56)

Credit: Art by Roger Robinson, James Pasco, Rob Ro, Alex Blayaert

[jerseyluck]

Batman: No Man's Land: Assembly (Also Robin #67) (Story #17)

It is time for No Man's Land to bring the crew back together. See Greg Rucka show the dynamics of the Bat-family and Chuck Dixon tell the tale of how Robin and Nightwing broke into Gotham...again!

This is a story that is important to tell in chronological order, so I will start with first 7 pages of Legends of The Dark Knight #130, then we will do the Robin issue, and then we finish out the Legends issue.

The story opens up with Batman telling Barbara to call Nightwing and Robin to bring them back to Gotham. After this, Bruce goes to Commissioner Gordon to see if the GCPD will ally with the Bat-Family over Two-Face's forces.

Gordon does not take the meeting well. The police commissioner is still hurt by the fact that Batman was nowhere to be seen when the city needed him the most. Gordon is so angry, he slugs Batman's face. Batman leaves Gordon to his lonesome after this.

And now it is time to see the journey Nightwing and Robin took in order to get into No Man's Land.

Oracle has found an access point in the sewers that the two Boy Wonders can use to get into Gotham unnoticed. While the two go to this entrance point, they kind of dunk on the fact that Bruce called on them now, when they were willing to fight in No Man's Land since the very beginning.

Anyway, they get to the point where the aqueduct and sewer cross (having a moment of Gotham history explaining the entrance, which okay, sure, fill that page count) and the heroes need to crawl a mile in a mine shaft to go into Gotham sewers proper. And they succeed, but when they get there, they alert their presence to some villian.

Gearhead and Tommy Mangles show to fight our heroes! What, you want to know who these villains are? Okay starting with Mangles, he is normal muscular thug who exists, so GCPD characters have a villain to beat.

Gearhead on the other hand, is a villain that Chuck Dixon created and pushed hard in the year running up to No Man's Land. He is basically cyborg who really hates Batman for stopping in a crime that led to him getting turned in a cyborg. You can see why the only people who have used him are Chuck Dixon and the writers of The Batman cartoon (and that cartoon did a major reinvention that made Gearhead a speed freak, which actually works).

Dick and Tim win the fight (I want to point that because of the low-tech state of No Man's Land; Tommy is just giving Gearhead a piggyback ride) by throwing them into a river. But a single rat watched the fight. That sure would be a problem if Batman had a rouge that controlled rats. Anyway, how's Ratcatcher doing?

But that cliffhanger will have to wait for another day! As we continue with our Legends issue, we get to see Cassandra Cain (had this point the Bat-family still has no idea what Cass's name even is, so she is called nameless girl for this issue) and Jean-Paul Valley hanging out, with Azrael even figuring how to communicate with her by using fists bumps. And then Nightwing and Robin show up.

Batman enters soon after everyone starts to get used to Cass and takes Nightwing on a side mission dealing with mysterious new Batgirl. We see the Batgirl praying outside, but when she comes in, it is revealed (to the readers) that new Batgirl was actually Huntress/Helena Bertinelli the whole time!

Bruce gets very aggressive towards Huntress, telling her she blew it one too many times. Batman takes the Batgirl identity back; but admits to Nightwing later that he did so, because he wanted Huntress to go rouge, as part of the larger plan to take back the city.

The story cuts back to the rest of the Bat-Family just catching up with each other. When Dick and Bruce arrive back, Batman tells the group that he needs all of them to take back the city. There is some questioning about whether they can trust Cass (Bruce's word is worthless because of the way he acted towards the family in the leadup to No Man's Land), but Barbara vouches for her.

Batman gives the missions: Robin and him will go to Ivy's territory in Robinson Park to deal with her, Nightwing is to take back Blackgate, and Azrael and Cass will hunt down Nicholas Scratch before he can do more harm!

As a special moment, Batman gives Cass the Batgirl costume telling her to honor the Bat-Code, and the issue ends with family swing out together!

And we are passed the halfway point of No Man's Land, the crew is back together, and we got a solid story. Firstly, the Chuck Dixon issue was the shakiest part of this story, but it leaves some interest in the Gotham Underground. But the Greg Rucka issue really captures the quiet beats and just heartwarming moments of the family getting used Cass. Excited to see what happens next!

7.5/10

[jerseyluck]

Batman: No Man's Land: Mark of Cain (Story #16)

No Man's Land continues by introducing the hot new Bat character of 1999! It is Cassandra Cain time!

The arc opens on Batman digging the graves for the gang members that died when Two-Face invaded his territory. Batgirl tries to watch over him to apologize, but Bruce is angry that she let Two-Face kill so many people.

Meanwhile, Barbara is waiting for one of her couriers to come back from a mission. And she comes bringing Oracle an apple. This charming moment is the introduction of Cassandra Cain, future Batgirl.

One thing to note is that Cass does not speak English, so Barbara is taking time to teach her the language. But then Commissioner Gordon shows up ending the pair's little bonding moment.

But as Cass leaves, her instincts let her notice that a man is bringing a rifle up a building. The assassin takes aim at Commissioner Gordon, but when Cass stands in the way of the commissioner, the killer stops and flees.

Elsewhere, Batman is putting the fear of the bat in Two-Face. Bruce threatens Harvey telling him that the consequences will huge if he continues criming.

Gordon and Barbara are interrogating Cass, but they are having trouble cause Cass can't talk. However, our mute hero uses a drawing to let them know that David Cain was the one who did the attempted hit. She uses more signals to let everyone that she is Cain's daughter.

Gordon tries to lock Cassandra in a room, but Cass turns it around and locks them up for their own safety. The rest of the issue relies on Daimon Scott's art to communicate the story. The artwork conveys that Cass was raised and taught David's fighting style. It's sad and shows that Cass has some beef with David.

Cass says her first word, "Stop", in an effort to him from killing Gordon, but they have a fight instead. Batman saves the two when they jump out a window, to fall several stories down. David drops Cassandra in order to get away from Bruce.

Cass and Batman then go to a graveyard to exchange notes. Batman reveals that it was Two-Face who hired David Cain to go after Gordon. Bruce learns Cass's backstory and the fact that she only knows the language of violence.

Batman then tells Cassandra that he trained under David Cain (in his world tour of mentors to learn the skills to become Batman) and says that it is his responsibility to stop Cain. They have a nice fight to speak their issues.

Batman goes to confront David, and the two have a nice fight. But while Bruce is dealing with her father, Cassandra is attacking Two-Face to see if she can stop the hit through the money man.

Cass interrupts the evenly matched fighter with two bags. One contains the payment for hit on Gordon, while the other contains every silver dollar that Two-Face had! And we get to see the panic that Two-Face feels when he can't rely on the coin flips to make decisions. Just A+ work from Kelley Puckerr.

Anyway, David leaves with his sack money saving Gordon's life. Cassandra accepts praise from Barbara for saving her dad's life, and has a reward for her heroism, Cass gets a picture of Babs being Batgirl. Batman smirks at this moment and admits that it is time to ask the rest of the Bat-Family to help him take back Gotham!

This is one kick-ass story. Cassandra Cain is fully formed out of the book, and you can see why people love her so much. Kelley Puckett's writing and Daimon Scott's art allow for one outstanding told comic, and it just a fun story overall. An essential tale for the Bat-Books.

8.5/10

[jerseyluck]

Yeah...there is a reason why you have not heard about Steph as Robin. It lasted 4 months of real time, and most of stories about her as Robin are... bad.

2004-6 might be the worst time for Bat-books (plus or minus a Under the Red Hood/Batgirl.)

Hey! I noticed your Robin designs and I love them but can you draw Stephanie Brown as Robin too? I know the point is that some people make the others identical and this isn't an issue for her but I still would love to see her included and her Robin design is so cute!

<3

[jerseyluck]

Batman: No Man's Land: Chronicles (#17): Little Boy Lost (Story #15)

After the adventures of Young Justice last issue, No Man Land goes back to the land of Chronicles.

The issue's main story, Little Boy Lost by Scott Beatty and Pascal Alixe, opens on Man-Bat's family, the Langstroms, hunting for the food in the rubble of No Man's Land. They are helped out by Aaron's Man-Bat mutations allowing him to smell out food. They are doing as well as one can to in a destroyed city.

Because the family drama of Francine Langstrom raising two children (one being a tiny Man-Bat) without her husband in No Man's Land would be dull, the story needs some conflict. And conflict might as be the name of the eye-patch wearing gangster that decides to kidnap Aaron for a higher place in NML.

After the villain beats up Francine and kidnaps her son, she goes to ask for help from the face of Gotham's underworld boss: The Penguin. Oswald says that there is nothing the Langstroms can do for him, especially without Kirk's Man-Bat serum, and he declines to help.

Thankfully this is a Batman story, so when he hears that child is danger, he threatens Penguin to give him information on the lowlife who kidnapped Aaron. And this Penguin interested in stopping the kidnapper because the crime boss does not want to face Batman's wrath for no reason.

Batman offers comfort to Francise before she can do something stupid, but it is too late because she took the Man-Bat serum already. Francise is now the She-Bat! Francise takes flight to find her baby boy!

And not a moment too soon, because Patchy has gotten annoyed with Aaron trying to kill the young bat. Francise saves her son while Penguin's goons kill the villain like he was a sea turtle on a beach. Reunited, the Man-Bat family (including a Man-Bated out daughter) fly away from Gotham... for now.

The second story, Tune On, Tune In, Freak Out is my favorite story of the issue. It is about a television host just broadcasting out to what he assumes is an empty audience because no one has power in No Man's Land. But it turns out everywhere outside is listening to his broadcast about the going-ons in No Man's Land.

This dorky host is capturing the video of people just living in No Man's Land. The existence of this man getting word about the people trapped in Gotham is so important that Batman decides that he needs to protect this host with Oracle's help.

So, when a bunch of gangsters try to break into the studio, Bats goes to beat them down. When the host comes out to be beaten by the gangsters, he finds nobody there except a Batarang. (This still at the point Batman is still an urban legend...for reasons) The TV show the world what happens is a major step to get the outside world to reopen Gotham, so it is a true story about the importance of speaking up even if you think nobody's listening.

The third story, Identity Crisis (no not that one), opens on Batman fighting Killer Croc. But this is just an excuse for Bruce's cowl to be removed, so a psychologist can learn Bruce Wanye is Batman!

Yeah, this is one of those "Person learns Batman is Bruce Wanye and dies immediately" stories. This time the guy tries to reveal the secret to Two-Face, but because this is No Man's Land, the secret identity knowledge is worthless cause Batman is just some poor dope trapped in the city.

Annoyed at the doctor's treatment of him back in Arkham, Two-Face does a coin flip to see if the doctor dies. Batman fights Two-Face's goons away from the doctor's corpse, and he remembers the doctor in past, not realizing that Batman dodged a bullet with his death.

Not my favorite bunch of stories. I think part of it is that I am not a big fan of Man-Bat and his shaky status quos, and that extends to his family. It is hard for me to care, even if the story is fine. The second story does some lifting for the issue's score, and the third story had some fine art. But you can skip this issue.

5.5/10

[jerseyluck]

Batman: No Man's Land: Young Justice Special (Story #14)

No Man's Land continues with a story about Young Justice that isn't written by the main writer of Young Justice. (We will get there)

The comic opens on not-actually-a-member of Young Justice: Lagoon Boy! For those of you who don't know Lagoon Boy, he was a creation of the Erik Larsen's run on Aquaman. Kinda looks like Savage Dragon. And I agree that Atlantis could use some more little freaks. It is shame that Lagoon Boy is most famous for being killed...twice in some very bad comics.

Anyway, Lagoon Boy is swimming towards Gotham when he ambushed by comics fourth best snake cult: Kobra! The cult is doing some shady stuff near Gotham, and they fire torpedoes at Lagoon Boy.

Meanwhile, Kon-El is being extremely thirsty for a robot girl at Young Justice Headquarters, and I just got to say, I do not want to see what Chuck Dixon thinks about what makes people find horny. Just bad, Chuck.

Impulse and Superboy are trying to cheer up a sad Robin. Tim is annoyed that Batman said he can't be in Gotham, but Bart and Kon realize that Bats never said that Young Justice could be in No Man's Land.

So, we get Superboy, Impulse, Robin, and Lagoon Boy all breaking in Gotham in different ways. It is nice to see the heroes break in Gotham individually and the military just getting annoyed that people just keep speeding into the city.

Bart and Kon get into Gotham first (Bart gives a man asking for food a turkey, in one of several good Impulse side-gags in this issue), and they decide to go into Poison Ivy's Forest after seeing smoke from that direction. The pair is attacked by a plant lady... and Superboy is thirsty for all the non-sentient life.

Meanwhile, Robin saves Lagoon Boy from a mob of hungry citizens. The two bond (joking that Lagoon Boy would fit in Gotham just fine) and go to Poison Ivy's territory to save the other boys of Young Justice.

When Robin goes to stop the plant lady, he is interrupted by Batman showing up. Batman saves the boys and then tells them to get the hell out of Gotham!

The heroes leave on the SuperCycle sad that they failed in Batman's eyes, when Lagoon Boy remembers that there are still Kobra subs near Gotham City. Young Justice realizes that they can't let Kobra do some science-terrorism on the struggling Gotham City, so they go under the sea.

Superboy, Lagoon Boy, and Lagoon Boy's pal Blubber (he is a whale with arms and legs) destroy the subs while Impulse and Robin destroy missiles heading towards Gotham. Also, the girls of Young Justice show up for a panel wondering what the boys are doing. Good job Chuck for keeping those weak, nasty girls out this comic *sarcasm*.

This comic is a not great tie-in for either Young Justice or No Man's Land. The nice things that I can say is that the art is good and Impulse is written decently. But that is balanced out by an extremely, uncomfortably horny Superboy. Does some exploration of heroes going to No Man's Land while showing the pointless of military guarding Gotham when superheroes/villains can just break in.

5.5/10