Welcome to the '90s.
The Premise:
During the '90s there was a yearly tradition of large scale crossovers among the Bat-Books, usually centering around some kind of disaster that befell Gotham City, each escalating in scope and significance. You had the destruction of Arkham Asylum and the resulting wave of murder and mayhem caused by the freed inmates (Knightfall), a deadly plague (Contagion), and an earthquake that quite literally shook the city to its core (Cataclysm). After the city was entirely destroyed in the quake, the US government finally caught on to the fact that a LOT of really bad stuff was happening to Gotham in a very short period of time, and had no sign of abating. Given that Gotham has never been known as a particularly pleasant place to begin with, and was much more notorious for being the home of scores of lunatics and corruption, the American government made the almost unheard of decision to just abandon ship. No Fema, no national guard, nothing. Rather than attempt to rebuild, the US declared Gotham a literal No Man's Land within it's borders. All citizens were ordered to evacuate, power was shut off, mines were placed in Gotham River, bridges were blown, and a 'no one in, no one out' policy was enacted.
Much like one would expect out of Gotham city, the evacuation procedure was less than stellar. The poor, the mentally incapable, those who could not care for themselves were left behind - along with criminals, and a few stubborn stalwarts. Gotham became a lawless feudal system where batteries and canned food were more important than money, and street gangs waged war and divided territory, marking buildings with spray tags. This was the world of No Man's Land, an epic year long story that stripped Gotham to its most basic, bloody, and brutal instincts. Like most Batman stories, Bruce's arc and the arc of the city itself run parallel. Both need to rebuild themselves after they have been broken down to their most uncivilized places. Bruce has returned from three months away licking his wounds, after failing to convince the government that Gotham was worth saving. In that time the city has fallen into this barbaric state, fueled by the belief that Batman has abandoned them. Jim Gordon, who has stayed behind, feels so betrayed that he has come to despise the vigilante he once called friend. Bruce is ashamed of his failure, and keeps himself at arm's length from all his allies, believing he has to take responsibility alone. But the city is totally different than before, and there is a question as to whether the symbol of the Batman has any power in this new system.
World Building:
While I had read the novelization of this story before, this was my first time reading any of the actual issues. Reading now I'm most impressed with the level of world building this storyline established, especially in the first arc. Much like the Age of of Apocalypse story in the X-Men that came out earlier in the decade, this was an opportunity to take the sprawling cast of the Batman mythos and repurpose them to an entirely new situation. However, unlike AoA, this is no alternate reality - all of this is happening in the 'real' DCU, and so the repercussions are felt even harder.
A lot of thought was put into the creation of this world, and it shows. It helps to create a rich reading experience for those of us familiar with the usual dynamics of these characters, one that rewards for having followed their journeys to this point. This Gotham is an inversion of the usual status quo in many ways, but some fundamental flaws of the city have risen to the surface in the absence of containment. The brutality of Gotham is unmasked as the architecture of civilization is torn down.
In Batman: Year One a younger Jim Gordon says he would never allow his wife to take the train into Gotham, that seeing the buildings of the city from the sky almost convinces you that Gotham is a civilized place. At the same time, Bruce, flying in, laments seeing a sanitized Gotham by plane and wishes he was in the thick of it by train. There is no plain or train in the No Man's Land - only feet firmly on the ground. NML takes this idea of Gotham's relationship to architecture to its furthest point, asking what is the true heart of Gotham when the infrastructure of our society is ripped away? What happens when the people of Gotham are forced to stand on their own?
It's not a pretty answer. Masked killers still rule the streets, they just do it openly now. Gotham is divided into separate territories, each controlled by a different gang or protected by a vigilante. This neighborhood system is a life or death high stakes version of our real world 'good' or 'bad' areas, amped to the extreme. Here Gotham is a war zone, and in a way this is a look at what parts of modern day Africa or the Middle East would be like with brightly colored serial killers running the show instead of warlords and hatemongers. A map shows where main event players like Zsasz, Black Mask, and Croc have staked territory and rule with a combination of fear and power. Even Gordon and the remaining police have changed - known as the 'Blue Boys' they are run as a combination street gang, urban army, and police force. Gordon is pushed to the limit, forced to make decisions that Batman would never dare to make. There is a very real sense that Bruce, Gordon, and the other heroes are being tested for having faith in Gotham all these years. They can't abandon the city for fear that they'll have been proven wrong after all these years and so they sink with it, hoping that eventually they'll rebuild it by sheer force of will, before they are also crushed like Gotham by the quake. Was Gotham a modern day Sodom, and the quake a divine intervention, a latter day flood? Are Batman and Gordon meant to bring about the next generation, or are they just willfully in denial about Gotham's true nature?
The very rules of society are changed in a world of no electricity, and so the methods of Batman's fight have to change as well. How does one become scarier than the world around you when the world around is a living hell? This is the question Batman struggles with, and he starts far behind the 8 ball. In the three months he took to prepare himself, the spirit of the people has become entirely subjugated. Not even the appearance of Superman, the most hopeful and savior like man in the entire DCU, can inspire them to want to lift off their shackles. There is only survival. To succeed at winning his city back, Batman will have to learn how to unite and inspire at a time when he is cutting himself off from and chasing people away. It is a total paradigm shift in tone that he'll need to make and at the end of volume 1, there is no conclusive idea that Bruce will be able to make the internal changes to become a leader of his people, rather than simply a protector. Maybe Gordon will be that man, instead.
Structurally, every area is marked by tags, and in a world of no technology spray paint becomes the only means of determining boundaries. Even Batman is forced to start using spray paint to spread his symbol. No one goes out at night, since there is no light and batteries are scarce, so almost all the stories take place during the day. This is a basic, but FUNDAMENTAL difference to pretty much every Batman story, ever, and gives a decidedly eery feel. Batman is totally out of his comfort zone. He can't race over rooftops because half the buildings are in ruin. He has to patrol during the day. For the first time Batman wants to be seen, and there is no method of distribution of his image. It's a different world.
Almost the entire cast is represented in the story, with the very conscious exception of Robin and Nightwing, who have been purposely pushed away by Bruce. For the most part the characters are used very effectively and in clever ways. Two Face runs an underground court where he acts as judge, jury, and executioner - playing on his past as DA Harvey Dent and his warped obsession with justice. The Penguin prospers, running an underground pipeline of smuggled goods and controlling the supply. Black Mask finally feels free to show his scarred face, just like the city has become 'unmasked,' and leads a cult like gang he mutilates to look like him. Characters are used to solve infrastructure problems in the story.
And my absolute favorite thing is Batman using Lockup and KGBeast to run a prison, because this is exactly what Lockup has always wanted to do. He's stoked about it, it is literally his MO as a criminal, and so Batman utilizes him. It's a small but GREAT little moment that shows how well the creators thought out where these characters would be in this world.
Bob Gale:
I have very little familiarity with Bob Gale outside of this book, and I have to say I was really impressed with his work. While the overall story and high concept of the crossover is a wonderfully nuanced idea, the individual issues range from good to mediocre. Gale's work is consistently the most attuned to the over-arcing plot, balances the character beats and world building well, and genuinely feel like they are telling a long form story rather than 'just an issue of Batman.' Good stuff.
Batman is a Dick
There was a period of time when Batman wasn't portrayed as a complex, troubled, and driven man with no time for excess social niceties, but just as a straight up dick. I'm not sure if NML is at the apex of this period, but it is DEFINITELY in full swing here and more than a little off-putting, especially after spending so much time with the more well adjusted Batman of today. It's no wonder Gordon is pissed at him all the time - dude doesn't even stop by to say hello this entire volume. I forgot just how unlikeable Batman can be when his humanity is pushed to the background - and this is the key reason that Bruce Wayne should always be a major part of the equation. It's no coincidence that Bruce is barely to be found in NML, only the cape and cowl, and as such the supporting characters become the characters I want to spend more time with. This dickery made the character almost toxic by the early 2000s, when it became an actual plot point in the books leading to 52 and Grant Morrison's revitalization of the franchise.
Azrael
Azrael is a character I've never had any affinity for whatsoever. Specifically created to be a representation of '90s excess and a failed Batman replacement, he then became Denny O'Neil's pet project and the star of a 100 issue series I steadfastly avoided. Given all that I was surprised to find that I enjoyed his parts in NML. He seems a very different character at this point in his journey (about midway through his series) that the bland hyper-religious "Batman meets Punisher" killing machine he is in Knightquest. Instead I found a man who constantly feels the need to prove himself, to do better to overcome the failures of his past both in his mind and the minds of others. He has a certain self-deprecating charm, a dry humor, and level of fallibility that actually makes him a slightly more relatable protagonist than Batman at times.
Those are words I never thought I'd say, by the way.
So Azrael was a pleasant surprise, and while I'm not sure how essential his story will be to the main arc, in the absence of Robin and Nightwing it's nice to have another less dickish perspective on the ground.
