THE ROAD THROUGH NO MAN'S LAND
(by Tim "TWO-FACE" Leighton)

Yes, I know this isn't really an animated topic, but I thought, hey, it's Batman's 60th anniversary, and this is the big event that celebrates it, so I should have a section dedicated to this year-long crossover. Besides, so far it's been excellent in every issue. We have this section split up into two parts - the first saying what has already happened, the second previewing what's to come. Enjoy!

UP UNTIL NOW...
JANUARY - APRIL: For synopses of what happened in the first four months of NO MAN'S LAND, go see Issues #26 and #27 of "Batman: The Animated Newsletter". Follow this link: 
http://www.toonzone.net/wbc/newsletters/btan

MAY, JUNE: For synopses of what how things really heated up in the fifth and sixth months of NO MAN'S LAND, see of "Batman: The Animated Newsletter". Follow this link: 
http://www.toonzone.net/wbc/newsletters/btan

JULY: For synopses of the many things that happened in the month that all of the other major players in Gotham broke back into the city, see of "Batman: The Animated Newsletter". 
Follow this link: http://www.toonzone.net/wbc/newsletters/btan

AUGUST: Batman teams up with a person named Lynx to combat a bunch of thugs using Gotham citizens as slaves to give the city a source of electrical power; meanwhile, Bane is starting to set his plans in action... Nightwing is locked-up in Blackgate, where he convinces the other inmates (among them, Scarecrow, Mad Hatter, The Ventriloquist, Firefly, Black Mask) to let him live, so he can be used as a "bargaining chip" when Batman comes to the island. 
Lock-Up is told that Nightwing has been eaten alive. Azrael has made Nicholas Scratch look like a fool - and many of his followers have lost faith in him. And Harley Quinn has finally been introduced to the mainstream: she meets the Joker, is set free from Arkham via the earthquake, helps him get supplies and valuables from the Penguin, is abused by the Joker, meets Poison Ivy, goes back to kick Joker's butt (and Batman's as well), and after Joker says "sorry", gets back together with 'im. End o' story!
Following those events, Harley applies "The Code" - the rules of dating - to her relationship with the Joker. He and Harley pick up a new ally which I'll just name "VICTIM", and hold a mock-election against Petit; this election never falls through, due to Huntress' intervention.
Catwoman returns to New York to find that all-important disk; Robin escapes from the Ratcatcher and is taken in by an underground gang called "The Wolflings"; Mr. Freeze resurfaces in the sewers, presumably killing Tommy Mangles and Gearhead. (Who?)

SEPTEMBER: Leslie Thompkins has taken in Mr. Zsasz, who later runs on a rampage in the M*A*S*H* district of NML. To complicate things, Zsasz is the man that severely injured one of Killer Croc's friends, so, of course, Croc wants revenge. Batman and Huntress collide with Leslie, telling her to take Zsasz out of her care immediately. Huntress and the mute Batgirl meet for the first time. Petit then enters the fray, hunting Killer Croc, inadvertantly endangering everyone with his brutal crime-fighting methods. All of this was in BATMAN CHRONICLES #18.

That's 48 issues of NML so far. For a complete list, e-mail us.

WHAT'S TO COME...
-September: "The Underground Railroad", in LOTDK #123 and SOTB #91. Batman hardly appears at all in this story; Robin, Penguin, and Joker have larger roles. Then in "Goin' Downtown", Two-Face, Penguin, and Bane collide in another major turf war - in BATMAN #571 and DC #738. And don't forget "Batman: No Man's Land #0", featuring what Batman did in the first 100 days of NML before re-appearing to confront Scarface.
-October: Superman returns to Gotham, saving the city from Petit and his renegade ex-cops. Then Two-Face breaks his deal with Gordon, kidnaps him, and puts him on trial.
-November: Batman confronts Gordon. The "Outside Interest" is revealed. The Joker makes his move.
-See below for more.

AS FOR THE OTHER HEROES:
-The Nightwing/Lock-Up brawl continues from of NIGHTWING to #36 and #37.
-Batman MIGHT reveal his identity to Gordon in November.
-Batman sends Robin out to get emergency food rations BUT is confronted by Mr. Freeze and the Ratcatcher in the process. Robin then goes up against Killer Croc in Robin #71 and 72.
-Azrael faces off against the Joker AGAIN in AZRAEL #60.
-The Huntress hangs out with Petit for the remainder of NML.
-Leslie Thompkins and the Huntress are the focus of BATMAN CHRONICLES #18, in August.
-Superman will return to Gotham in SHADOW OF THE BAT #92, in October.
-Apparently Wonder Woman may appear in NML in a special one-shot by the end of the year.
-Commissioner Gordon is kidnapped by Two-Face in BATMAN #572 and DC #739, in October. Batman later confronts him in LOTDK #125.

AND AS FOR THE REMAINING VILLAINS...
-Bane returns in September to destroy Gotham - and finally fulfill his plans - in "Goin' Downtown".
-Lock-Up is in trouble when Nightwing tries to take over control of Blackgate Prison in September!
-Mr. Freeze will appear in Robin #70 in September.
-The Joker re-appear in November in the two-part "Shellgame", just as Gotham is beginning to be re-built.
-Killer Croc appears in ROBIN #71 and 72, in October and November.
-Echo (introduced back in May in "Claim Jumping") will be returning to Gotham before the year is through.
-Two-Face re-surfaces in September in "Goin' Downtown", another major turf-war story, also featuring Bane and Penguin. In October he kidnaps Commissioner Gordon and puts him on trial in the two-part "Jurisprudence". He later re-appears in another big way later on in No Man's Land, apparently as the second-last villain to be defeated. (How fitting.)
-The Penguin also returns to a prominent role in "Goin' Downtown".
-The "outside interest" is revealed in SOTB #93, in November.
-Catwoman seeks refuge in the Penguin's territory in CATWOMAN #76, in November.
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FEATURED BAT-SITES FOR THIS ISSUE

TIM WAN'S BATMAN BEYOND: THE TOMORROW KNIGHT

http://come.to/batmanbeyond/

Wow do you think a website name could get any longer? :-) Basically it’s just a site devoted to Batman Beyond. There are character profiles, episode video captures, episode summaries/reviews, comic scans and reviews, and plenty of downloads such as Batman Beyond MP3s, MPEGs and wallpapers. My favorite section (which is also the largest) is the Paraphernalia section that has tons of products that have been graced with a Batman Beyond logo. If you like Batman Beyond, I’m sure you’ll have fun here, because I have a lot of fun making it!

-Tim

wantim@hotmail.com
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ANIMATED BATMAN/SUPERMAN SITES:

* - indicates a shameless plug for a site a certain double-faced editor created with his bare hands - in other words, a cheap advertising technique.

OFFICIAL SITES
-----
THE NEW BATMAN/SUPERMAN ADVENTURES
http://www.batman-superman.com
BATMAN:THE ANIMATED SERIES
http://www.batmantas.com
BATMAN BEYOND
http://www.batmanbeyond.com
SUB-ZERO: THE DEFINTIE GUIDE
http://www.batman-subzero.com
KID'S WB
http://www.kidswb.com
DC COMICS
http://www.dccomics.com
TOON ZONE
http://www.toonzone.net
RAVING TOY MANIAC
http://www.toymania.com
VOICE CHASERS
http://www.voicechasers.org

UNOFFICIAL SITES
-----
*TWO-FACE'S TOWER OF TRANQUILITY AND TERROR
http://www.angelfire.com/tx/TimTwoFace/index.html
BRIAN CRUZ' WB CARTOON PAGE
http://www.toonzone.net/brian/index.html
BRIAN'S BATMAN PAGE
http://www.batmanuk.freeserve.co.uk
GOTHAM GAZETTE
http://members.aol.com/gothamajp
BATMAN: THE ANIMATED HOMEPAGE
http://www3.sympatico.ca/quartet/home.htm
RA'S AL GHUL'S THE LAZARUS PIT 
http://www.aitnet.et/lazaruspit
THE DARK KNIGHT
http://www.darkknight.ca
BATMAN BEYOND: WELCOME TO THE FUTURE
http://www.batmanbeyond.net
TIM WAN'S BATMAN BEYOND
http://come.to/batmanbeyond
DCU ANIMATED
http://welcome.to/the_dcu
ANIMANIA
http://hjem.get2net.dk/twt/home.htm
HARLEY'S HAVEN OF HEDONISM
http://www.angelfire.com/hi2/harlequinhideaway
THE ANIMATED BAT
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Academy/7382/index.html
THE RIDDLER - EDWARD NYGMA'S PUZZLE WEBSITE
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/prospero.milan/nygma
THE BATMAN ACTION FIGURE PAGE
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Boulevard/7659/
BATMAN/SUPERMAN SNAP JUDGMENTS
http://www.snapjudgments.com/batsup.html
THE BATCOMPUTER
http://members.spree.com/batcomputer
BATMAN: FOREVER KNIGHT
http://batman.techv.net
WORLD'S FINEST
http://members.spree.com/sip/worldsfinest
CHARACTERS ON THE ADVENTURES OF BATMAN & ROBIN
http://www.xse.com/leres/batman.html
ARKHAM ASYLUM
http://animation.acmecity.com/saturday/352
JOKERZ TERRITORY
http://members.xoom.com/Jokerz84/index.htm
THE BATZONE
http://www.batzone.cjb.net/
JLA: THE ANIMATED SERIES
http://animation.acmecity.com/character/375
THE NEW BATMAN ADVENTURES: THE UNOFFICIAL SITE
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Makeup/5158
ANIMATED TALES
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dunes/2294/at
BATMAN & SUPERMAN: THE WORLD'S FINEST DISCUSSION CENTER
http://welcome.to/worldsfinest

NEWSGROUPS
-----
news:alt.comics.batman
news:alt.animation.batman
news:alt.comics.superman
news:rec.arts.sf.superman
news:alt.tv.cartoon-network
news:rec.arts.animation
news:alt.animation.warner-bros
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QUESTIONS, SUBMISSIONS, AND FAN-MAIL

If you have any questions, problems, links do not work, or anything else then please e-mail this address with your problems and we'll try to fix them as soon as possible. Also if you'd like to send any fan-mail then please send it to this address:

juno@direct.ca

As for submissions, feel free to submit an article or opinion on anything pertaining to BTAS. 
Keep in mind that as the editors, we have the right to edit your submissions if we deem it necessary. Such instances would include problems with length, grammar, and language. If we do feel we must edit something, however, we will do our utmost to ensure that the opinion and the basic message of the submission does not change, as that is the most important part of any artcile, and everyone is entitled to it. And if you do submit something, please don't just submit a basic review of an episode or a comic or something (because we have people writing for those purposes already) - write about an issue you'd like to discuss.
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BATMAN: THE ANIMATED ARCHIVES

The very kind people at TOONZONE were nice enough to give us our own little section of their huge and diverse website. The archives contain past newsletters and is semi-regularly updated with the latest one. To check it out go here:

TOONZONE's BATMAN: THE ANIMATED NEWSLETTER ARCHIVES
http://www.toonzone.net/wbc/newsletters/btan
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LIKE WHAT YA SEE? WANNA SUBSCRIBE? HERE'S HOW!!!

For those of you who are seeing this at the WBC HOMEPAGE BTAN ARCHIVES section, and want to subscribe just follow these simple instructions:

To subscribe email juno@direct.ca and put SUBSCRIBE in the subject line.

For more information the newsletter just email juno@direct.ca Thank you for your time, and thanks for reading! Tell your friends!

-Tim TWO-FACE Leighton and Dick Grayson, editors
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TO ALL GOOD THINGS...
...there must be an end. We would like to thank the endless amount of contributors for contributing their editorials, columns, news, jokes, reviews and other articles. We hope you've all enjoyed it as much as we've enjoyed making it! See ya next time!

CREDITS FOR BATMAN: THE ANIMATED NEWSLETTER

EDITORS: Tim "TWO-FACE" Leighton and "Dick Grayson"
AIR DATE SCHEDULES: Brian Cruz & our friends at the official BTAS/STAS site
BTAS REVIEWS: Tim "TWO-FACE" Leighton
EDITORIAL: The Ghost of Laura Hysert
COMIC REVIEWS: Aaron Maurer
TOY REVIEW: Kevin Smith
MONTHLY REPORT FROM THE UK: Brian Davis
"BTAN ARCHIVES" MODERATOR: Eileen Delgadillo
TRIVIA: Tim "TWO-FACE" Leighton
ROAD THROUGH NO MAN'S LAND: Tim "TWO-FACE" Leighton
TWO-FACE'S TRADING POST: Tim "TWO-FACE" Leighton
PROMOTIONS AND JUST GETTIN' THE WORD AROUND: Dick Grayson, Eileen Delgadillo, Brian Cruz, Brian Davis
THOSE WHO FILL IN FOR OTHERS WHEN THEY FOUL UP:-P Tim "TWO-FACE" Leighton
DELIVERY: Tim "TWO-FACE" Leighton
E-MAIL RECEPTION HANDLING: Tim "TWO-FACE" Leighton
BATMAN CREATED BY: Bob Kane (who else?)

Batman and all related indica are trademarks of DC Comics, Copyright c 1999.
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AND WE HERE AT BTAN SEND OUT A HUGE THANK YOU TO ALAN BURNETT AND RICK BURCHETT FOR PARTICIPATING IN THIS ISSUE!