Batman: Off-World #4 – Jason Aaron, Writer; Doug Mahnke, Penciller; Jaime Mendoza, Inker; David Baron, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: It’s been a while since the last issue of this Jason Aaron space epic, but it hasn’t lost a step—this is still a fantastic Batman story that puts the Caped Crusader in a completely new scenario while keeping him completely recognizable. When we last left off, Batman had taken down Captain Synn and liberated his ship, but it turned out that the slaver Synn was just a pawn of a much bigger enemy—the Blakksun Mining Company, who has been kidnapping children across the galaxy for years. And just like that, Batman did the only thing he could and started traveling around the universe liberating them one at a time. This has had mixed effects—with him picking up some allies, but losing Ione, who sees him as self-destructive and borderline suicidal. With only a robot and a space wolf as company, Batman finds himself overwhelmed by the enormity of space and consumed with thoughts of what he’s left behind.
Doug Mahnke’s art is brilliant as always, filled with gritty details that cover the brutality of space combat. There are also some fantastic moments that cover the intense loneliness Batman feels as a stranger in space at the very beginning of his career. But this issue belongs to the villains in a lot of ways, as the walls start to close in on Batman. The Blakksun Corporation is clearly on a whole other level than the villains we’ve seen before, with the way they deal with Captain Synn making that very clear. And then there’s the Thanagarian, a mysterious bounty hunter deputized to claim the prize on Batman’s head. This character reminds me a lot of an evil Mandalorian, with his character design at first making me wonder if he’s supposed to be a Czarnian. The end of the issue shows just how powerful he is, and potentially brings another ally of Batman back into the fray. Fantastic stuff, and I wonder if this is a prelude to Aaron taking over Batman.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
