Batman Road To No Man’s Land 2 Review By Deffinition

DC mega events can often be hit and miss. We go from the spectacular such as Knightfall to the mundane I.e. Hush and just because there’s hype around a book doesn’t mean that it will always deliver.

Gotham has been destroyed by plague, Earthquakes and Mother Nature really seems to have it out for the city. I criticised the last volume for being too by the numbers. The plot suffered heavily in my opinion due to its reliance on repeating several beats from the far superior ‘Batman: Cataclysm.’ However, as mentioned earlier there is always the potential for a book to make good on it’s promises.

That’s why I’m drawing a line in the sand on the disappointing Volume 1 and going into Volume 2 with open eyes.

Will this book right the wrongs of the last arc or is it doomed to make this road one of the worst I’ve traveled on so far in my Batman Canon Read through?

Let’s find out!

Scratch one off for Good Comic Books

The book opens on Azrael travelling to Washington to protect a senator from rock and roll star turned religious cultist: Nick Scratch. Instantly I groaned and when they used dialogue like:

‘Hey everybody, everybody except for Jabba the Hutt. I see you in sitting in the back Jabba, looking for Leia? Hey bad news, she’s run off with the Emporer.’

I didn’t exactly have high hopes for the work. Scratch doesn’t really make a compelling villain in the beginning and I found it hard to see why he had been propelled to a religious figure when he was an absolute moron. I’m talking Joey Essex moron, I’m talking all of Geordie Shore combined levels of IQ and an idiot as an antagonist isn’t exactly what I crave when picking up a book about The Dark Detective.

For some reason Azrael saves the senator, then let’s him visit Scratch straight after. Of course the politician is immediately murdered. Nice work Az, I can see why you didn’t get totally written out of the New 52…oh…wait. Azarael confronts the musician who of course reveals his master plan instantly and the two face off.

Scratch escapes, framing Azarael in the process. Whilst I normally find this story beat a cliche it’s nice that Batman turns up to inform him that he is no longer allowed to don a mask. Vigilantism is over for him. Whilst we know that the crimson crusader (sorry I don’t think Azrael has any nick names so I have to just go with one I’ve made up myself to make him sound more interesting) would return it’s admirable that the writers realised how much of a f**k up the story was. I suppose the ends don’t justify the means but it made me forgive some of the misgivings of this stories introduction.

A whole new World

The quality quickly picks up when we encounter Oracle being saved by Man-Bat. The femme fatale and feral fiend befriend one another and go for a fly through the city. Like Beauty and The Beast crossed with Aladdin we are granted the chance to view Gotham City with wondrous eyes from above. It’s a really welcome tonal shift that vastly juxtaposes the street level view we are often given with Batman. It showcases Gotham’s grace and grandure in such a splendid way that would make even the most downtrodden feel uplifted.

We are quickly taken back to ground level but it’s nice to have such a triumphant moment set amongst all the rubble and devastation within the city.