1793 ( )

I thought that this series was going to end really well, but I found myself mildly disappointed by the ending. I suppose that this has to do with the fact that in comic serials, there really isn't ever and ending. There were some fairly decent parts to the overall story, although again they are both strengthened and weakened by the variable storytelling (as I have mentioned in my previous reviews). ( )

No Man's Land marks the end of the 1990s in Batman comics. Authors that had overseen the Dark Knight for a decade Chuck Dixon and Alan Grant were eased out through the course of the story ark for Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka. Its conclusion with Lt Essen being killed by the Joker, repeating his crippling of Barbara Gordon in the Killing Joke + murder of Jason Todd, heralds a series of shock events that would occur in Batman comics for the next decade+: Stephanie Brown killed, Jason Todd brought back to life, Blüdhaven nuked, Cassandra Cain dropped as Batgirl and made a villain, Stephanie brought back to life as the new Batgirl (then just twenty-four issues later wiped out of existence for the New 52 reboot restoring Barbara Gordon as Batgirl). Come to think of it, what happened to Sue Dibny in Identity Crisis occured during this series of events so I guess it was a wider trend? It all becomes so wearisome after a while.

A brilliant conclusion to a great series of vignettes & plot lines all centred around No Mans Land. Some brilliant art, the majority of it was OK & there was some weaker entries. Great fun, easy to read & of course, a Batman Universe event involving the psychotic clown. Recommended to all fans of the genre. ( )