One of my biggest problems with superhero comics is that they're not self-contained. The major comic company's insistence that all their comics exist within one "comic universe" means that at any given time, multiple artists are working on multiple projects meant to exist both independently and as a cohesive whole. Someday, somebody's going to pull this off, and it's going to be very impressive.

Batman: Cataclysm is not that project. Spanning multiple comic series, the book describes the aftermath of Gotham City being hit by a major earthquake. Each time we jump from title to title, however, from Batman to Nightwing to Detective Comics to Huntress to Catwoman, the story has to be reintroduced and explained. And the stories themselves have little in the way of originality. People are trapped, no one knows what's going on, and a bunch of no-name characters need to be rescued. Aside from that, the Quakemaster storyline, wherein someone tries to take credit for causing the earthquake as part of a scheme to blackmail the city, is not terribly interesting. I did, however, enjoy the bits with the Penguin, who gets threatened by Batman into using his henchmen to help rather than to loot, but determines who to help and who not to help based on how useful they might someday be.

As a one or two-issue story, this could have been good, but there's no need to explore it over and over again through the kaleidoscope of the DC comic universe. ( )

Gotham City shakes rattles and rolls. A 7.6 magnitude earthquake hits Gotham City and flattens a whole lot of it. Batman and the Batman family, including those such as Spoiler and Huntress (and even Catwoman) help save hundreds of people while thousands more die in the rubble and chaos.

This is the Trade Paperback that sets up the 'No Man's Land' storyline.

I liked the story on the whole, even how we got to see the exact same moments of the earthquake from so many different points of view, and they were all pretty unique as well. (I loved Renee Montoya's reaction to it).

What I didn't like was some of the art. What drives me most insane about the art in this collection was how Robin (Tim Drake edition) goes from being about a 5'9" guy to a four foot tall kid and back (not to mention the fact that in one issue he sees his father and the father seems fine, and in the next he 'doesn't know if his dad's okay because he hasn't had a chance to check on him'. Oops... continuity error. Still, a solid three star collection. ( )

Cataclysm is a “collected edition” of the stories that lead up to the “No Man’s Land” storyline. Basically, an earthquake and subsequent aftershocks absolutely destroy Gotham City. Batman, Robin, Nightwing, Oracle, Huntress, Spoiler and even Anarky lend a hand to clean up along side Gotham’s finest and The G.C.F.D. There are looters, thugs, prison escapees and so-called masterminds to be taken care of while Gotham’s law abiding citizens are waiting to be pulled out of the rubble. Fires and floods run amok and almost all communications are down. The story is definitely a worst case scenario, fortunately for us the book itself is not. There are many writers and artists involved but the whole thing manages to stay cohesive. While it might not knock your socks off it is a solid collection and a fun, quick read. Overall I would give this book a 4/5. ( )

A compilation of the "Batman" comic book sequence from 1999, in which Gotham City - and Wayne Manor - are virtually destroyed by a massive earthquake. The whole of the book deals with the quake and Gotham's response. Many of the scenes have been given additional power in light of the September 11, 2001 attacks; they seem eerily prescient in their portrayal of heroes doing their best to save life, at great personal risk. A well-told and powerful tale, and a lead-in to the "No-Man's Land" sequel. ( )