"Two Down"

[xdoop.insanejournal.com]

This is from Batman Chronicles #16. It's written by Greg Rucka and illustrated by Jason Pearson and Cam Smith.

The story takes place during "The Road to No Man's Land," after Gotham City was destroyed by an earthquake.

Renee is busy overworking herself, so Gordon orders her to take a break. She visits her parents' grocery store, where they tell her that her brother Benny left a few days ago to help in the neighborhood and hasn't come back.  Renee goes out to find him.





An angry Renee asks Benny "Don't you know who he is?!" Benny answers "Of course I know! But he's been helping us, Renee..."




"Dawn, and I still don't know what to make of him."


Renee and Harvey are underground when Renee hears someone calling for help.




The ceiling collapses. Renee pushes Harvey and the man out of the way, but gets buried under the rubble.

Harvey flips his coin.

Later, Renee wakes up to see Harvey and her mother looking down on her.

Later, Renee's father gives her a bullet that he found. "Just in case."


"...something's going to happen... and it'll all end..." We see Batman watching from a distance.





Harvey, Renee, and Benny battle the men when...





"Then try, detective. I'll watch."


Batman watches them leave. "Okay."

Comments

[jarodrussell.insanejournal.com]

People crap on No Man's Land, but I actually like it. Even the parts where the JLA doesn't swoop in and rebuild everything (you know, like they always do in Bosnia, Afghanistan, etc.) make sense, because to rebuild a city you have to start with the people, which I think is the message of the story: you can't throw infrastructure at a problem, the people affected by the problem have to fix the problem.

[taggerung301.insanejournal.com]

I've always enjoyed No Man's Land too
especially since Cass was introduced during this time

[warpedhand.insanejournal.com]

I mean, as long as you accept that this is about the people of Gotham, and not the Justice League, and at the end of the day it's comics, it's a good story. You can't think about "well why didn't the people not involved do this?", because that's not the point, and it does somewhat break the story, because again, comics.

[scottyquick.insanejournal.com]

People crap on No Man's Land

Wait, they do?

[jlbarnett.insanejournal.com]

except Gotham is an average American city, not torn by sectarian strife, corrupt govenment, etc...

And before anyone says anything, I think everyone knows what I mean. Gotham had a normal society before the quake and no significant groups within that would want it to be prevented from returning to that normal society.

[bariman1987.insanejournal.com]

The JLA didn't step in because Batman told them to.

Batman: This is MY CITY. I'll fix it.
JLA: Really, Bruce? You'll use your super-strength to dig people out of the rubble; your super-speed to deliver food, water, and medical supplies; your invulnerability to go into hazardous situations, such as fires, gas leaks, and toxic spills, and clean them up; your cosmic energies to repair key infrastructure; and your telepathy to coordinate everything?
Batman: ...I'm Batman.

Even then, the JLA doesn't have to rebuild everything. They could just render basic humanitarian aid. But they didn't, because the US Government declared that Gotham City was no longer part of the USA, enforced with a military blockade and orders to shoot at anyone going in (and possibly out too), and because Batman said so.

[jarodrussell.insanejournal.com]

They could just render basic humanitarian aid.

Because Gotham City U.S.A. deserves it more than Afghanistan or Bosnia or where ever it sucks to live because of warlords, starvation, and ruin...right?

[jarodrussell.insanejournal.com]

Let me add to that previous post.

Yes, the JLA should have helped, despite what Batman said. The story where Superman fixes the power plant just so people can go nuts to prove the JLA shouldn't be there is a bad idea. They should be dropping Cornucopia machines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembler_(nanotechnology)) to clean up the water supply, recycle waste, etc. No doubt, no question.

HOWEVER. If you accept the premise that the JLA doesn't stick its nose into other disaster areas in China, Bosnia, Brazil, etc., you're left with one of two options:

1. The JLA is specifically a group that puts America first, because it's America.

2. They realize the dangers of trying to be gods and fix everything, and hold back to saving people only in times of the most dire crises.

I'm more comfortable with the second, even though I don't like it.