Ji FU reviewed Batman by Greg Rucka
Good adaptation in novel form of comic book event
4 stars
Rucka was one of the authors who contributed to the late 90s "Batman No Man's Land" event over the course of 83 separate comics. He writes the novelization in a way that gets the story across while still wanting to go out and buy 83 twenty-five-year-old comic books.
The story goes that an Earthquake destroyed much of Gotham City, and then a hurricane and because it would cost so much to repair, and Gotham was already notorious for being a government sink hole due to all the crime the feds declared it a No Man's Land and was cut off from the rest of the country, blew up the bridges, put mines in the seas and told Gotham good luck and good riddance.
The normal baddies stayed behind: Joker, Two-Face, Penguin, Poison Ivy & Black Mask. Plus the to be expected regular dudes just trying to make it in gangs. …
Rucka was one of the authors who contributed to the late 90s "Batman No Man's Land" event over the course of 83 separate comics. He writes the novelization in a way that gets the story across while still wanting to go out and buy 83 twenty-five-year-old comic books.
The story goes that an Earthquake destroyed much of Gotham City, and then a hurricane and because it would cost so much to repair, and Gotham was already notorious for being a government sink hole due to all the crime the feds declared it a No Man's Land and was cut off from the rest of the country, blew up the bridges, put mines in the seas and told Gotham good luck and good riddance.
The normal baddies stayed behind: Joker, Two-Face, Penguin, Poison Ivy & Black Mask. Plus the to be expected regular dudes just trying to make it in gangs. Most of the government leaves, only a dozen or so of the GCPD are left, including Gordon, because no other police force he applied to wanted someone who needed a myth to do his policing for him.
It's certainly a look at how anarchy could occur in our modern age. I read most of this over 3 days. Even at >400 pages the end felt like it came too soon with a particular billionaire, no not that one, saving the day.
A few interesting notes, we see three different Batgirls here, including Oracle. A Batman who disappears, who practically forgets who Bruce Wayne is. A police force that has to become a gang themselves in order to have any chance of policing. And a particular clown who shows up just when he's wanted least.
I was somewhat disappointed in Poison Ivy. She shows at the very beginning of the story, and throughout the book she is hinted at to be laying low in the Park, but is never seen from again, even when the park is destroyed.