NML Crossing, Episode 050 – Detective Comics #730 (1999)
NML Crossing, Episode Fifty
Detective Comics #730 (March, 1999)
“No Law and a New Order, Part Four: Language”
Writer – Bob Gale
Pencils – Alex Maleev
Inks – Wayne Faucher
Colors – Dave Stewart
Letters – Willie Schubert
Edits – Illidge, Gorfinkel, Vincenzo, O’Neil
Cover Price: $1.99
A special Sunday appearance of NML Crossing for our landmark, milestone FIFTIETH episode!
Today, we’re wrapping up our discussion of No Man’s Land’s opening salvo “No Law and a New Order”, wherein our hero tussles with the Quakemaster… and reestablishes himself as a force to be reckoned with in the post-quake Gotham City!
Plus: The NMaiLbag, where we talk more about comics hobby naming conventions… and why I’m a little too precious about all’a that stuff!
NML Crossing on Youtube
What a wonderful surprise. Happy Easter.
It seemed rather easy for Batman to take over Scarface’s territory. Maybe Scarface was just the weakest of the gang lords, but he went down fast. I’m interested to see what “Hell” Wesker ends up in. I don’t remember a No Man’s Land prison run by Batman.
Just like how batteries are more valuable than diamonds, the people want protection more than freedom. It has become a feudal society in the No Man’s Land. Batman has become a gang lord just like Gordon, and their current relationship may make them enemies.
This opening arc just makes me want to see more.
A few thoughts on the graphic novel terminology discussion from this episode:
I do think there is a distinction between trades that collect issues with no planned beginning, middle, and end vs. something like Watchmen that was serialized individually with a plan for the whole story. But I would argue that it’s still different than a graphic novel, at least if I’m being super obnoxious. We don’t call a mini series a movie, even though it had that whole plan despite serial release.
Yes, I can see the argument that Dickens work is all called novels even if they were released serially (stories I would argue were not fully planned stories before serialization started). But I think that’s a historically complicated era in publication history, given that novels weren’t really financially feasible for a new release of unpublished material by one author for one story. We could make the same argument about comics until a few decades ago, true. I also think academic scholars are more likely to qualify these Dickens works as not a traditional novel, calling it a novel in serialized parts or something like that.
This is why, for academic purposes, I think the nuanced terminology is helpful and generally aligns historically with other media’s criticism. But, for practical purposes, it’s easy to just call these types of publications graphic novels. Most is my pedantry is coming from the place of needing better terminology to be accurate when academically speaking of these things instead of everyday discourse.
The modern-day sci fi examples I think are a little different: I don’t think those novels, by and large, are all old stories cobbled together for a new format with nothing new added. I think they’re largely old stories with new stories added to the larger framework, so I think it’s a little different than a trade that publishes only old, previously published stories. And I would argue that these sci fi works are more called short story collections than novels.
Despite my push back on the points above, there is definitely still a part of me that agrees with them and yells at the semantic in me to shut up. Ultimately, I’m not trying to say the other viewpoints aren’t valid, just that I think they generalize too much for the most helpful literary analysis, criticism, and historical context.
To criticize my own point above:
“ I think they generalize too much for the most helpful literary analysis, criticism, and historical context.”
Notice how I never said anything about for being the most fun, welcoming, or easiest to use. That was clearly a mistake so my above points are only part of the equation.
As I think Alan said, sometimes we all just need to lighten up and that is especially true for me.