Collecting Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #119-121, Batman: Shadow of the Bat #87-88, Batman #567-568, Detective Comics #734-735, Young Justice Special #1, Robin #67, Azrael: Agent of the Bat #56-57, Batman Chronicles #17, Nightwing #35-37 and Catwoman #72-74.

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #119 is written by Greg Rucka and illustrated by Mike Deodato, Jr. Two-Face and the Penguin strike a deal. Two-Face agrees to give the Penguin Batman's territory, freeing Two-Face to expand into GCPD territory. Two-Face also makes a deal with a mysterious Russian woman to take control of Gotham City.

If you thought it was bad for Gotham, now it's winter. People thought that the river freezing over was a way out, but landmines soon put a stop to that. Now the people of Gotham have to add freezing to death to the list of worries. I'm not sure what is really going on at the moment. It seems like everybody is making deals with everybody else and are secretly planning on betraying each other. Or something. I'll wait and see if the second part of the story makes any more sense.

Batman: Shadow of the Bat #87 is written by Greg Rucka and illustrated by Mike Deodato, Jr. Chaos breaks out as the different factions make a grab for territory. Meanwhile, Batman is in the clutches of the mysterious Russian woman, Echo.

I guess that Two-Face reforming in the first volume of No Man's Land didn't last after all. Now he's in charge of one of the warring factions. Echo ends up drugging Batman and he starts having visions. You know what Batman having visions means, yet another flashback to the Waynes being shot. Echo capturing Batman was all part of Two-Face's plan so he could take over Batman's territory without him interfering.

Batman #567 is written by Kelley Puckett and illustrated by Damion Scott. One of the world's deadliest assassins has been hired to kill Commissioner Gordon. The only person that stands in his way is a mute young girl that is working for Oracle as one of her agents.

Yay, the first appearance of Cassandra Cain. or as I like to call her, Best Batgirl. With all due respect to Barbara Gordon and Stephanie Brown, I like Barbara best as Oracle and I haven't read enough of Stephanie's run as Batgirl to make much of an opinion. I'm getting ahead of myself though. It isn't time for Cassandra to become Batgirl yet and we don't even know her name at this point.

Detective Comics #734 is written by Kelley Puckett and illustrated by Damion Scott. Cassandra has foiled the attempt on Commissioner Gordon's life. Now she seeks out the man that hired the assassin Cain, Two-Face.

Knowing how much of a bastard David Cain was to Cassandra in the past makes it extra satisfying whenever she kicks his butt. It looks like Cain's plan to create the perfect fighter worked a little bit too well. We never actually get to see Cassandra's fight with Two-Face. It looks like all she did was take Two-Face's silver dollar from him, leaving him catatonic. Two-Face doesn't strike me as somebody particularly well-versed in martial arts, so the fight would have been pretty one-sided either way.

Young Justice Special #1 is written by Chuck Dixon and Scott Beatty and illustrated by Andy Kuhn. Robin is down because Batman has banned him from entering Gotham City. Batman never mentioned anything about Young Justice keeping out of the city, so Superboy and Impulse head out there to lend a hand.

Lagoon Boy also appears int his issue and he runs into a Kobra submarine lurking in the waters off Gotham. The Young Justice boys lend a hand when they turn up to help the city. The girls only make a cameo appearance, maybe because they were wise enough to stay away from the place. Superboy and Impulse rush off without thinking and Robin has no choice but to go after them and make sure they don't get into trouble. There is also one of Poison Ivy's experiments loose in Robinson Park as well.

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #120 is written by Greg Rucka and illustrated by Mike Deodato, Jr. Batman calls together his allies to make a plan of attack. The woman wearing the Batgirl costume is revealed to be Helena Bertinelli, also known as the Huntress. She refuses to blindly follow Batman's orders and parts company.

It was good to see the Bat-family back together again. Batman didn't have any problem with them helping out during the Clench outbreak, and when the earthquake first hit, but for some reason they had to keep out when Gotham was cut off from the rest of the country. I guess that doesn't matter any more as everybody is back together again. At least Batman is man enough to admit that he needs help. Most notably, this is the first appearance of Cassandra Cain as Batgirl. It was certainly the moment I was most looking forward to.

Robin #67 is written by Chuck Dixon and illustrated by Staz Johnson. Nightwing and Robin are summoned back to Gotham to help Batman retake the city. Meanwhile, a pair of villains have formed an unlikely alliance.

Two loser villains, Tommy Mangles and Gearhead find a stash of supplies in the sewers. Robin and Nightwing aren't specifically out to stop them, they're making their way into Gotham when they bump into the bad guys. I remember Gearhead from the previous volume of No Man's Land but I haven't heard of Tommy Mangles before. The Ratcatcher is also lurking about, so I suppose that sub-plot will come to a head in other issues of Robin in the other No Man's Land volumes.

Azrael: Agent of the Bat #56 is written by Chuck Dixon and illustrated by Roger Robinson. Cassandra has taken on the cowl of Batgirl and joins with Azrael to take down Nicholas Scratch.

These Azrael issues were never included in the previous volumes of No Man's Land that I read. I always wanted to see the team-up between Azrael and Batgirl and now I finally get to. It looks like we're finally getting an end to the Nicholas Scratch sub-plot as well. If we didn't think Scratch was serious enough already, now we have some of Batman's other villains saying just how dangerous he is. Thankfully, the Joker isn't impressed.

Azrael: Agent of the Bat #57 is written by Chuck Dixon and illustrated by Roger Robinson. Azrael has his final showdown with Nicholas Scratch. Luckily, the new Batgirl is there to lend a hand.

It was a long time coming, but we finally get to see Azrael give Nicholas Scratch a good kicking. Scratch talks the talk, but it all falls to pieces whenever he has to fight somebody himself instead of sending his lackeys to do it. Now let's hope that he doesn't appear again any time soon.

The first story in Batman Chronicles #17 is written by Scott Beatty and illustrated by Pascal Alixe. Francine Langstrom and her young son Aaron are searching for food with the help of the heightened senses that Aaron inherited from his father, Man-Bat. However, a group of thugs learn of this an kidnap young Aaron intending to sell him to the Penguin.

The second story is written by Dafydd Wyn and illustrated by Eduardo Barreto. Jenkin Yates is a TV host trapped in Gotham after the earthquake. He decides to keep broadcasting his show in the hope that somebody is still watching. Batman learns of the broadcast and decides that the man could help save Gotham.

The third story is written by Chris Renaud and illustrated by Graham Nolan. Batman is unmasked during a fight with Killer Croc and is seen by an old man that recognises him as Bruce Wayne. The old man decides to seek out Two-Face with the intention of telling him the discovery.

I always thought that Man-Bat was a pretty cool villain, but he doesn't actually appear here. His wife ends up taking the bat serum to rescue their son. So I guess that makes her She-Bat? Woman-Bat? I guess that Batman thinks that the guy broadcasting his TV show can be useful to remind the rest of the country what is happening in Gotham. Maybe now the U.S. Government can change their minds about shutting off Gotham from the rest of the country.

Nightwing #35 is written by Chuck Dixon and illustrated by Scott McDaniel. Batman has left Lock-Up in charge of all the criminals imprisoned in Blackgate. He fears that the criminals might realise what power they will have if they worked together, so he dispatches Nightwing to retake the prison.

Lock-Up has the Trigger Twins working for him as guards. The Trigger Twins are so goofy that I can't help but love them. Lock-Up has a bunch of other minor villains working for him as well. I guess the big name villains weren't interested. Or the big names are the villains that are still loose.

Nightwing #36 is written by Chuck Dixon and illustrated by Scott McDaniel. Nightwing is captured by Lock-Up and now has to face all of the criminals imprisoned in Blackgate.

All of the villains Nightwing is trapped with want to kill him. Everybody except Johnathan Crane, the Scarecrow, that is. He wants to keep Nightwing alive so they can use him as a bargaining chip to get free. At least Crane isn't getting up his own ass and banging on about being the master of fear or some nonsense.

Nightwing #37 is written by Chuck Dixon and illustrated by Scott McDaniel. Lock-Up decides that the time has come to execute all the prisoners so now Nightwing must work together with the criminals imprisoned there, if they don't kill each other first.

I always like stories where heroes have to team-up with villains. Of course, you know that it won't last because the villains always betray the heroes in the end. Except this time Nightwing is the one to turn on the villains. Of course he wasn't going to let any more of the criminals run free.

Batman: Shadow of the Bat #88 is written by Greg Rucka and illustrated by Dan Jurgens. Since Gotham has been cut off from the rest of the country, Poison Ivy has taken control of Robinson Park has has turned it into a luscious paradise. However, Clayface wants in on the action as well.

Poison Ivy isn't interested in fighting for territory like everybody else in Gotham. She is content to tend to her tropical paradise and look after the orphaned children. Then Clayface had to come along and spoil it all. He wants Ivy to grow fruits and vegetables so the produce can be sol to the highest bidder. Ivy isn't interested and she tries to kill him with a poisonous kiss but it doesn't work on somebody made out of clay.

Batman #568 is written by Greg Rucka and illustrated by Dan Jurgens. Batman and Robin must fight Clayface to free the enslaved Poison Ivy.

In this issue we finally find out what Batman had been doing during the early days when Gotham had been blocked off from the rest of the country. He had been setting up back-up Batcaves around the city and it so happens that there is a back-up cave underneath Robinson Park. It is in this cave that Clayface is keeping Poison Ivy Prisoner and making the children that were under her protection harvest the fresh produce. There has also been a split in Commissioner Gordon's faction. SWAT team leader Billy Petit thinks that Gordon is being too soft, so he and a group of other cops split off and form their own faction. Huntress ends up joining them as well.

Detective Comics #735 is written by Greg Rucka and illustrated by Dan Jurgens. Batman is caught in the middle when Poison Ivy gets free and wants payback for Clayface holding her prisoner.

I'm glad that Batman saw sense and didn't cart Poison Ivy away like he did with the rest of the Arkham escapees. If Ivy isn't there to protect the kids, then who will? It was satisfying to see Clayface get his comeuppance. Clayface is made of soil, just what a plant needs to grow big and strong. It's Pokemon logic, a Ground type is weak against Grass. Ivy's poisonous kiss seems to work this time as well. Maybe it's because Clayface is already weak from all the plants growing inside him.

Catwoman #72 is written by John Ostrander and illustrated by Jim Balent. Oracles calls on Catwoman with a mission to break into Gotham City. That is if she can get past the armed forces guarding the city.

I guess Catwoman managed to get out of Gotham before it got cordoned off from the rest of the country because she is first seen in New York. This isn't surprising as cats hate being locked up. She has a new costume as well, complete with whiskers and a tail. It's a bit too cutesy for my liking, but this is only the first time I have seen it so maybe the costume will grow on me.

Catwoman #73 is written by John Ostrander and illustrated by Jim Balent. The search to find a disc with information needed to save Gotham leads Catwoman into a confrontation with a group of mercenaries specialising in protecting valuable items from metahuman threats.

It turns out that the discs Batman wants Catwoman to find are in Manhattan, but she just came from Manhattan. needless to say, Catwoman isn't best pleased to be given tun runaround. Batman claims that he had Catwoman break into Gotham to make sure that she could in the first place. It just sounds needlessly complicated to me.

Catwoman #74 is written by John Ostrander and illustrated by Jim Balent. Catwoman finds out that Hardcases, Inc. aren't the only ones that want the stolen discs. Maxie Zeus wants the discs as well. Meanwhile, just who is Mercy, Catwoman's mystery buyer working for?

The identity of Mercy's boss shouldn't be too surprising for those of you that have seen Superman: The Animated Series. Those of you that haven't seen it will have to wait until later to solve the mystery. There is also a sub-plot about Catwoman having previously killed Selina Kyle. But Selina Kyle is Catwoman. Oh, I'm starting to feel dizzy...

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #121 is illustrated by Larry Hama and illustrated by Rick Burchett. Mr. Freeze is attempting to expand his territory by taking over Gotham's Chinatown. Naturally, Batman isn't having any of that.

Mr. Freeze is in control of the power station and people are bartering their goods to be burned as fuel to power the station. I guess it's all for nothing because the power plant is destroyed in the end. Or at least I think it is. It is hard to make out what is going on in-between Batman and Mr. Freeze's literary references.

This collection was much more enjoyable than the first volume of No Man's Land. Nicholas Scratch is gone (hopefully) and we have Cassandra Cain as Batgirl now. I really like the friendship she has with Azrael, so I look forward to seeing more of them in future volumes. I think Harley Quinn first made her comic book debut round about this time, so I have that to look forward to in a future volume as well.

My rating: 4 stars.

Next time: Avengers Epic Collection- Under Siege