Batman meets Star Wars, courtesy of writer Jason Aaron and artist Doug Mahnke. And it is a lot of fun, even if it does not seem very credible…
At the beginning of his second year of activity, Batman encounters, for the first time, an extraterrestrial working as a henchman for a crime boss in Gotham. After a confrontation in which the vigilante gets his ass royally kicked, he decides to go into outer space and get acquainted with other races and how to fight them, intent on bettering himself as the protector of his city.
Of course, this is a bit of a retcon, since never before in previous lore had there been any reference to Batman spending months among the stars at that point in his career. But what the hell—Batman: Off-World is such an achievement that you won’t really care.
After boarding a spaceship as a castaway, Batman becomes a slave to a ruthless warlord who abducts aliens to turn them into mercenary warriors. Working in the innards of the vessel, Batman slowly learns about alien anatomy and how to gain the upper hand on them in a fight. Soon, he leads the other slaves in a rebellion, and they take over the ship. From there, with the help of some strange allies, the masked crimefighter decides to face a powerful and merciless family responsible for much of the suffering in the galaxy. Cue space battles, fistfights, robots, and even some alien species known by DC readers.
Aaron does a very competent job of taking the mostly urban character of Batman and throwing him into a science fiction scenario that would probably be more appropriate for Superman. The story never slows down; there are enough twists to keep the reader constantly engaged, along with strong characterization and consistently exciting action sequences—the latter due in large part to the remarkable skills of penciller Mahnke and the colors of veteran David Baron.
These days, it is rare to see a superhero comic as compelling and competent as this, delivering most of what we expect from the genre: a big adventure that you will want to revisit someday.
I, for one, would love to have a monthly Batman book written by Jason Aaron.
Batman: Off-World (2025, DC Comics)
By Jason Aaron, Doug Mahnke, David Baron
176 páginas
Nota: 10 nerds (de 10) 😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎
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