Is there a trade between Cataclysm and No Man's Land?

[ZombieHavoc]

I know there is a gap in the issues collected in Cataclysm and NML vol. 1, and there seems to be events that you don't see, if you go right from the Cataclysm trade to NML vol. 1. So is there a trade that comes in between, and if so, what's it called? Thanks.

Also, who is this Harold fellow that was in Cataclysm?

[Kid Kyoto]

nope, I asked the same thing a few months ago. Apparently there was a special Road to No Man's Land that covers most of what you need to know.

[Captain Jim]

This question actually just came up not too long ago in another thread. There were two major arcs between the two you mentioned: Aftershock and Road to NML (the content of which should be pretty obvious by their names). Unfortunately, however, they have never been collected.

Harold was a scientific genius who was also a mute dwarf. Formerly an unwilling henchman of the Penguin, he later became a behind-the-scenes assistant for Batman.

[fallout boy]

I would seriously consider collecting the Aftershock issues if I were you. They aren't necessary to enjoy NML but they do contain some pretty emotional topics, mostly about people trapped and dying in the aftermath of the quake. Road to NML isn't nearly as good, IMO but it does introduce Nick Scratch.

Aftershock:

Tec 722, 724-726
Batman 555-559
Robin 54
SotB 75-79

[Captain Jim]

There are indeed some excellent stories there, but I thought they got old and somewhat repetitious after awhile. Curiously, I woulld have sooner recommended the Road to NML issues, which do set-up and lead more directly into NML.

[Choppa]

Harold was a scientific genius who was also a mute dwarf. Formerly an unwilling henchman of the Penguin, he later became a behind-the-scenes assistant for Batman.

Yeah until Jeph Loeb killed him for no apparent reason.

[agentofthebat]

thanks now all i can think about is Hush again and i pushed that out of my mind a long time ago!

[ZombieHavoc]

Was Harold killed in Hush? I was reading Batman for a few years before Hush started, and I don't remember him. Maybe I'm just not very perceptive.

[Captain Jim]

If I remember correctly, I think Harold resided in the batcave for awhile until Cataclysm, at which point he vanished for awhile. He showed up in Azrael a bit after that and then disappeared again. He then returned at the end of Hush, only to have his character violated before he was killed off.

[Kid Kyoto]

just out of curiosity what was Nick Scratch's story? There was a mystery about him for a while, was he a mutant, alien, Satan himself? Did his story ever get told?

[Lorendiac]

If I remember correctly, I think Harold resided in the batcave for awhile until Cataclysm, at which point he vanished for awhile. He showed up in Azrael a bit after that and then disappeared again. He then returned at the end of Hush, only to have his character violated before he was killed off.

I did some research on it once. Harold's death scene at the very end of Part 11 of "Hush" was apparently the first time he'd been seen in any of Batman's personal titles in about five years. Invisible ever since "Cataclysm," as you say. I heard something about an appearance in "Azrael" too, but I don't know any details, and that doesn't change the point that in the core Batman titles Harold had basically vanished from the face of the earth as far as anyone could tell from his total absence in them!

It's obvious that the writers who preceded Jeph Loeb in the late 1990s and early 2000s on such titles as "Batman" and "Detective Comics" and "Gotham Knights" had exactly Zero Interest in doing anything at all with Harold! Explains why Loeb got away with killing him so quickly, although I can't help thinking a lot of the people reading "Hush" probably didn't have a clue who this guy named "Harold" was when he popped up out of nowhere (from their perspective) to be accused of betraying Batman's trust! :p

[Captain Jim]

just out of curiosity what was Nick Scratch's story? There was a mystery about him for a while, was he a mutant, alien, Satan himself? Did his story ever get told?

Interesting question. I always thought something was amiss there myself. We had this really big build-up before NML (which implied that Scratch had something to do with what was about to happen) and then... nothing! Oh, he did reappear near the end of NML in Azrael, I think. But his return engagement was a big disappointment, IMO. He also returned again near the end of Azrael's title, but I forget the details (which were, fittingly, very forgettable).