Overview: In Batman: Off-World #1, Batman trains himself to fight aliens by going into deep space and getting captured.
Title: Batman Off-World #1
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Doug Mahnke
Colorist: David Baron
Inks: Jaime Mendoza
Main Cover: Doug Mahnke & David Baron
Variant Covers: David Finch & Leirix Li; Ben Oliver; Pete Woods; Doug Mahnke
This comic book review contains spoilers.
We enter this story in Space Sector 0900, the Slag Galaxy, eight mega parsecs from earth. A bat-shaped ship is being boarded. Two beings communicate with their commander and remove their faceplates, revealing two alien species. There is someone else on the ship, the Batman. Batman (Bruce Wayne) defeats the two aliens and faces off with machines called riobots. Batman resists, prompting the captain to intervene.
Batman fights, but he is quickly taken out. He wakes up in detention with other aliens. He is on board a ship that kidnaps and trains different aliens to be mercenary soldiers. Among the aliens is a Tamaranian. She is planning something and attempts to include Batman, who is not interested. He does not want to escape. He is there for a specific reason.
Batman is given menial jobs and comes across a damaged training robot. He takes the robot for information. Now, we are given a flashback. Batman has started his mission of combating crime and that includes taking down the various mob bosses. Tonight he is taking on the East End Irish Mob. He takes care of the henchmen, but the boss reveals a secret weapon, an alien that is the same species of the ship’s captain in the present. Batman squares off to fight, but he is quickly defeated.
Back in the present, Batman continues his training. He will learn the weaknesses of the various alien species or die.
Batman: Off-World #1 variant cover by David Finch and Leirix
The art is the standard superhero style. I would have liked to have seen a different style for the flashback scenes in Gotham City to help differentiate it from the present-day action. The Tamaranian we meet has an interesting style. She looks like she has robotic parts and what looks like purple tattoos on her body. She is the knowledgeable character in this story. The only thing she does not understand is Batman.
Story-wise this plot is interesting. It actually attempts to answer the question of how Batman is able to deal with alien species. It furthers his training beyond what we’ve seen elsewhere. I actually hope that we get more of a story here than just a vehicle for Bruce Wayne to learn how to fight aliens after mastering fighting humans.
That said, this story does not depict the hero as completely over his head. He takes out the two aliens and the robots in the beginning of the story a little too easily, making it necessary for the captain, who happens to be the same species, to beat him. It creates a disjointed feeling that shows Batman as, perhaps, a little too formidable, despite undergoing training. From Batman’s description, it is likely that the captain could have killed him, but with how easy Batman beats the others, it’s harder to believe.
Editor’s Note: DC Comics provided TBU with an advanced copy of this comic for review purposes. You can find this comic and help support TBU in the process by pre-ordering this issue digitally on Comixology through Amazon or a physical copy of the title through Things From Another World.
