BATMAN: NO MAN'S LAND
The biggest Bat-event ever is adapted into a mass-market prose novel

Writer: Greg Rucka
Hardcover Novel
Published by Pocket Books 2000
$23.95

Reviewed by Marc Bryant

Translating comics characters and concepts into prose stories is a tricky business. On the one hand, there's a tremendous potential to add insight to, and expand on subtexts of the characters that could only be hinted at with comics storytelling. On the other, characters like BATMAN and his supporting cast (including Gotham City itself) depend on their visual impact; their actions and their appearance, in speaking to their audience effectively.

In BATMAN:NO MAN'S LAND, novelist and comics writer Greg Rucka addresses both the strengths and weaknesses of prose adaptations, and has created a first-rate piece of work that stands with Elliot S! Maggin's rendition of KINGDOM COME.

DC couldn't have picked a writer more suited to this project than Rucka. Aside from the fact that he wrote the majority of the NO MAN'S LAND comics storyline and is already intimately familiar with the characters and situations, he's a successful novelist in his own right. Rucka's novels (FINDER, KEEPER, SMOKER and SHOOTING AT MIDNIGHT) focus on Atticus Kodiak, a security specialist (read: bodyguard) who tends to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders as he plays out his adventures in New York City with the help of a rich, diverse cast of characters. Sound familiar? All the Kodiak novels are strong reads themselves. (A bit player in PREACHER was recently seen reading a Rucka novel. Presumably Garth Ennis is a Rucka fan too.)

Rucka's narrative style on the NML novel differs from his Kodiak stories. With the exception of SHOOTING AT MIDNIGHT, the Kodiak books are all told from Atticus' point of view, giving the reader the sense of intimacy needed to enjoy the character-driven novels for all they're worth.

"If the whole story were told by one character, the perspective would be much too insular for a concept of NML's scope. "

In NML, Rucka breaks the narrative perspectives up between a number of the major players in the drama. The story 'pivots' around Oracle Barbara Gordon's journal entries to her father. All the major players (Batman, Gordon, Joker, Huntress, Bat-Girl, Two-Face ) get their say and the story is better for it. If the whole story were told by one character, the perspective would be much too insular for a concept of NML's scope. A first-person point of view would have put quite a drag on the story itself and in an adaptation like this, that's the last thing the writer needs, or thereader wants.

There are some characters I could have done without an inside look at - Joker and Two-Face come to mind. While I love Rucka's renditions of these characters in the comics, intimate looks like those in NML tend to humanize them a little too much, taking away the mystery and uncertainty that makes them so potent when handled by skilled writers.

The dialogue in NML is handled exceptionally well, with the same lean, economical treatment Rucka uses in his comics work. Every character speaks with their own voice. You could have shown me a single line from any passage and I daresay I could have indentified the speaker. That's a testament to Rucka's skills, not any particular savvy on my part.

"NML stands on its own as a riveting, well-played out, very human drama."

Ever so often, I tried to look at NML as a casual reader would, someone unfamiliar with the NML comics storyline, or even unfamilar with the entire Bat-mythos itself. If I'm any kind of a method actor (and what writer shouldn't be?) the story is even better when approached from this perspective. Charged with the energy of genuine novelty and the thrill of discovery NML is an even more effective, engaging and entertaining piece of storytelling.

Forget comparing it to other such adaptations (like the KNIGHTFALL or various Marvel 'novels'). NML stands on its own as a riveting, well-played out, very human drama, where the capes, cowls, utiltity belts and disfigurements are incidental wall-paper. Rucka has done the BATMAN universe justice here, setting a standard of excellence for all such projects to come.

Recommended

Marc Bryant is a regular contributor to PopImage.

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