Rating: 
Summary: Batman and the gang deal with a Gotham City earthquake
Review: "Batman: Cataclysm" finds injury added to injury as Gotham City, already weakened by a debilitating plague (see "Batman: Contagion") is hit by a massive earthquake. Just to make things fun, the epicenter of the quake is less than a mile from Wayne Manor, which comes tumbling down on top of Batman and Alfred. In the aftermath of the destruction Batman and his allies join the frantic rescue efforts around the devastated city. These stories were originally published in the 1988 comics "Batman" 553-55, "Detective Comics: 719-721, "Batman: Shadow of the Bat" 73-74, "Nightwing" 19-20; "Catwoman" 56; "Robin" 53, "Batman Chronicles" 12, "Blackgate: Isle of Men" 1, and "Huntress/Spoiler: Blunt Trauma" 1.Of course from the perspective of 2002 these comic book stories now ring hollow, since we have seen what happens to superheroes in the face of "real" tragedies. But that is an unfair standard to apply. The issues that stand out from an artistic standpoint are those drawn by Mark Buckingham, who has achieved the requisite moody style to capture the feel of Batman. I appreciated the role Barbara Gordon plays during the crisis, the Huntress stories are above average, and there is a nice throwaway episode involving Two-Face. Others involved in dealing with the crisis include Robin and Nightwing, of course, along with Catwoman, Spoiler, the Penguin, Ra's al Ghul, Lucius Fox, Harold, and the Gotham City Police Department. Overall the emphasis is a bit more on vignettes rather than a grand epic storyline, resulting in a solid but not particularly memorable effort all around. Still, I shudder to think how the Batcave gets rebuilt in secrecy, but that is just me.
Rating:
Summary: Batman and the gang deal with a Gotham City earthquake
Review: "Batman: Cataclysm" finds injury added to injury as Gotham City, already weakened by a debilitating plague (see "Batman: Contagion") is hit by a massive earthquake. Just to make things fun, the epicenter of the quake is less than a mile from Wayne Manor, which comes tumbling down on top of Batman and Alfred. In the aftermath of the destruction Batman and his allies join the frantic rescue efforts around the devastated city. These stories were originally published in the 1988 comics "Batman" 553-55, "Detective Comics: 719-721, "Batman: Shadow of the Bat" 73-74, "Nightwing" 19-20; "Catwoman" 56; "Robin" 53, "Batman Chronicles" 12, "Blackgate: Isle of Men" 1, and "Huntress/Spoiler: Blunt Trauma" 1. Of course from the perspective of 2002 these comic book stories now ring hollow, since we have seen what happens to superheroes in the face of "real" tragedies. But that is an unfair standard to apply. The issues that stand out from an artistic standpoint are those drawn by Mark Buckingham, who has achieved the requisite moody style to capture the feel of Batman. I appreciated the role Barbara Gordon plays during the crisis, the Huntress stories are above average, and there is a nice throwaway episode involving Two-Face. Others involved in dealing with the crisis include Robin and Nightwing, of course, along with Catwoman, Spoiler, the Penguin, Ra's al Ghul, Lucius Fox, Harold, and the Gotham City Police Department. Overall the emphasis is a bit more on vignettes rather than a grand epic storyline, resulting in a solid but not particularly memorable effort all around. Still, I shudder to think how the Batcave gets rebuilt in secrecy, but that is just me.
Rating:
Summary: Disjointed, but great!
Review: A good chunk of this book takes place within a span of 5 minutes, while at other times, it jumps back and forth by several hours. But overall, the stories were compelling, and the artwork quite excellent. I recommend it, but to fully appreciate it, I think the reader should also purchase the sequels, "No Man's Land" volumes 1-3.
Rating:
Summary: Disjointed, but great!
Review: A good chunk of this book takes place within a span of 5 minutes, while at other times, it jumps back and forth by several hours. But overall, the stories were compelling, and the artwork quite excellent. I recommend it, but to fully appreciate it, I think the reader should also purchase the sequels, "No Man's Land" volumes 1-3.
Rating: 
Summary: Batman's world has been rocked!!!
Review: Batman, one of the greatest, toughest, and darkest vigilantes ever is about to have the city that he protects and calls home changed forever. Gotham, one of the largest, darkest, and somewhat disturbing cities is about to undergo a chaos of apocolyptic proportions! For a gargantuan earthquake measuring over 7.5 on the richter scale seemingly comes out of nowhere and utterly knocks most of it to the ground. And the legendary Dark Knight and his team of vigilantes have to set things right again.
But it's not that easy, this isn't a situation where the Batman can just beat the crap out of his psychopathic enemies and throw them back into the insane asylum, this is a situation where the Dark Knight has to not only stop the crimelords and psychos that are coming out of the woodwork to control the now broken city of Gotham, but also has to take the monumental task of saving the citizens of Gotham from being completely slaughtered by the earthquake, plus he, all the law enforcement squads, and rescue teams have the giant task looming over them of rebuilding the shattered city. And, let me tell you it's not going to be an easy task!!
This is truly a great graphic novel in the Batman mythos, this is a situation that will either mold Batman into an even greater hero, or destroy him utterly. This is a must read for every fan of the Dark Knight, like myself. If you have the money, and the time, buy this groundbreaking graphic novel now! Trust me, it will definitely be worth your while!!
Rating:
Summary: Batman: Cataclysm
Review: Batman: Cataclysm was overall a great comic book, and very enjoyable. For Batman fans, the comic is much different than most Batman books. For example, you won't see too many of the regular vilians (Joker, Scarecrow, etc.). Instead Gotham is rocked by a huge earthquake destroying everything, even the Batcave. Batman is left to fight something he has no power over, mother nature. It makes for a very interesting tale, as Batman sees the city he loves burn and crumble into oblivion, and he can do nothing to stop it. Along the way, heroes like Nightwing, Robin, Huntress, Spoiler, and Catwoman join forces to help trapped citizens and fight off escaped convicts. Then, a man calling himself the Quakemaster takes claim for the earthquake and threatens Gotham with another one. In the end, the identity of the Quakemaster is very suprising. Batman: Cataclysm is one of the best storylines and definitely one of the most emotional storylines for a Batman series. It is a good read with great artwork, and it leads to the aftermath story of Gotham, Batman: No Man's Land.
Rating:
Summary: C A T A C L Y S M !
Review: Gotham City. The Dark Knight. The innocent populace. The venal and the corrupt villains. And a 7.6 earthquake. This is the story of Batman's darkest hour as he and his fellow vigilantes desperately rush out to salvage what's left of their beloved city after a devastating earthquake, which killed thousands and left many more wishing they had died with the rest. Gotham barely survived the terror of the 'Contagion' plague... The `Legacy' Virus further drove it to extinction... Now, it is a shambles due to the 'Cataclysm'... The Batman's city is dead. It is beyond help... Enter now 'No Man's Land'...
Rating:
Summary: C A T A C L Y S M !
Review: Gotham City. The Dark Knight. The innocent populace. The venal and the corrupt villains. And a 7.6 earthquake. This is the story of Batman's darkest hour as he and his fellow vigilantes desperately rush out to salvage what's left of their beloved city after a devastating earthquake, which killed thousands and left many more wishing they had died with the rest. Gotham barely survived the terror of the 'Contagion' plague... The 'Legacy' Virus further drove it to extinction... Now, it is a shambles due to the 'Cataclysm'... The Batman's city is dead. It is beyond help... Enter now 'No Man's Land'...
Rating:
Summary: Quite a slow-starter but in the end worth it
Review: Like I said in the title of the review this book is quite a slow-starter as far as storytelling goes. You'll find yourself already through one third of the book (about 120 pages) with everything collapsing and causing trauma before the story actually starts to take shape and begins to develop. From there on it keeps getting better and better when it turns out the quake did not only wreck the city itself but hit Blackgate Prison as well (which holds some of Gothams most dangerous criminals), when the people of Gotham start having to decide to go live on instinct or to stick to their common sense, and when suddenly a mysterious figure who calls himself "Quake-master" claims to be responsible for the quake and starts making demands. It's also interesting to see how Batman reacts now that he has to 'fight' something that is more than just another villain but a big-scale disaster instead. Something that requires the man behind the mask to realize where his priorities lie, without turning it into another attempt to a 'dark & gritty' tale which already has been overdone by now. Another thing I definately want to mention is the excellent climaxing in this book. Where in most books you find out who or what is responsible for everything that is going on halfway through the book (if not earlier), and then spend 50 pages with the good guy chasing the bad guy into an obvious end, that's not the case here. It keeps you wondering what exactly is going on untill even the last 10 pages where everything finally falls into place (and where you finally find out who "The Quake-master" is. And it's not who you think it is either !). In the end I have two little points of criticism. One of them being the fact that there are so many different artists who worked on the story. Off course that's logical since it's a collected cross-over which ran through several titles, but some of the art (like Scott McDaniels work) isn't really appropriate for a story with this kind of theme, where some other art (like Bill Sienkiewics' and Klaus Jansons work) really IS. The other little point is the presence of some editorial slips. This varies from spelling errors ("two" instead of "too") to a character referring to something that couldn't have possibly just happened. But apart from those minor points it's a very nice read and a good prequel to "No Man's Land" which follows it.
Rating:
Summary: Great Read but.....
Review: Overall a great book. Gotham City faces something worse than even the Joker or Penguin could do to it, Earthquake! Batman battles those who come out of the darkness to take advantage of the destruction while Bruce Wayne fights to save his city politically. Only mistake I made was reading the No Mans Land Comics(which were even better) before I read this so It spoiled some of the suspense for me. I would advise against doing that.
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