Pick of the Brown Bag
January 6, 2024
by
Ray Tate
Happy New Year! We made it! I honestly didn't think we would, but here we are! A perusal of the first two issues of Batman Off World begins a new year of Pick of the Brown Bag reviews.
When the Irish mob decides to fight for their territory in Gotham City, they hire some outside muscle to enforce their rule.
Of course, historically and canonically, Superman predates Batman. So, Batman is aware of other lifeforms visiting and inhabiting the earth. Hence his nonplussed reaction at seeing the alien brute.
Batman's defeat forces him to make a decision. He will travel the universe to find a means to beat up aliens.
It's really a simple, somewhat absurd premise but one that's original in the eighty plus years of the character. So, props to new Batman writer Jason Aaron for thinking it up.
Off World begins with Batman knee deep in aliens. The first leg of Batman's journey lands him in the ship of an alien warlord.
He's an original creation. So don't fret about identifying him. The phrase Stormers, short for War Stormers, is a new designation. Essentially alien soldiers, or cannon fodder if you prefer.
However, aliens come in different sizes and packages. Not every alien can be a War Stormer.
Ouch. Batman's janitorial position amusingly fits the martial arts trope of the student sweeping up the master's dojo and such. It also provides him with a rare opportunity that fits right into his plans.
The Punch Bot is exactly what it sounds like. It's a training robot you punch. Batman being a genius rebuilds and restores the Punch Bot to its original condition, with one adjustment.
Now, Batman has exactly what he wanted. A course in beating up aliens by something of an expert.
The commentator offering color is a Tamaranian prisoner named Ione.
Ione is one of Starfire's people. This means Batman met the Tamaranians before his original sidekick Dick Grayson did way back in the pre-Crisis.
An encounter that consistently reboots with whatever cosmos DC's heroes happen to be operating in. So, Off World fits quite nicely in the scheme of things. Not that it had to.
Anyway it's with the depiction of the Tamaranian you can see the stark difference in style between Doug Mahnke and every other artist. Mahnke with the even grittier inks of Jamie Mendoza makes everything, including a Tamaranian, weird and dangerous.
Artistically speaking, the late, great George Perez created the Tamaranians. A peace loving people, the Tamaranians also pursued freer sexual mores and were all gorgeous, bronze warriors with green alien eyes.
They were a kind of throwback to the fantasy figures of science fiction pulps.
Most artists illustrating Tamaranians
after Perez followed his lead.
Nothing wrong with that. Mahnke opts for a different kind of beauty that represents tribalism, in an anthropological sense, and some bad experiences. That's why Ione sports tattoos. Her deep set eyes, one possibly artifice, gives her an almost hawk-like appearance. Her hair though clean and fluid bears a pragmatism that's uncommon to the Tamaranians.
Gradually, Ione becomes Batman's confidant. As time passes, very quickly I may add, Batman begins to gain a reputation.
He's building what he did in Gotham City within the new ecosystem of the warship. I find this exercise fitting Batman to a tee. He's not adapting to the new environment. He's shaping it to his liking.
Off World is essentially a prison drama within a science fiction setting. For that reason Batman gets beaten up a lot before he becomes a master of alien anatomy.
Still, this is a comic book. Perhaps not for all-ages but definitely not for somebody expecting Oz.
Ooops. Wrong, Oz.
Batman isn't in any real danger. Off World is basically a game of "Gee, I wonder how Batman will survive that." Some of his survival depends more on Ione and less on his indomitable will.
Another element that's well played is the fact of need. The warlord needs hands, or tentacles. Literally.
The idea of the "storm shield becoming clogged with space debris" makes sense. The use of prisoners as cleaners makes mercenary sense as well. Sure. A Federation starship would harbor oodles of methods for automatic cleansing. This isn't Federation space. Hell, it's not even Klingon space.
Because of this need, the warlord provides a certain amount of security on the ship. He allows the other prisoners to create a pecking order, but death is counterproductive to his wants. If his charges die after they've cleaned the shields...eh.
As such, the plot intrinsically finds methods of keeping Batman safe. To such an extent that he finds himself "magically" speaking multiple alien-languages.
Now, the warlord may figure that he can remove that lingo chip from Batman's corpse, should it come to that. However, the fact he implants lingo chips in all his prisoners indicates a level of dependence.
The second issue of Off World presents Ione's escape plan in full and shows how far Batman has come in his studies.
The escape plan naturally doesn't go without hitches, and Batman cannot help but feel a certain camaraderie with Punch Bot.
This selflessness places Batman in jeopardy. Yet, he's Batman. This is a tale set in his past. So you cannot once imagine the Dark Knight somehow biting the dust.
After eluding the trap of frozen death, Batman finds himself on a strange, new world. This again allows Batman to display his newfound knowledge of the cosmos.
The aliens parlay with Batman, and he learns of a grand injustice that must be opposed.
Batman Off World isn't a perfect Batman series. There's that pesky question about who's guarding Gotham.
Batman also lucks out a lot, even beyond the aforementioned rationalizations. Off World nevertheless is very entertaining especially for those pining for simpler days when the Batman mythology wasn't quite so confusing.
It's funny that Batman being dropped into an alien warship is easier to understand than say finding Batman only rich enough to buy townhouses and transversing Gotham City by its sewer system. I'll also be glad to argue that Batman teaming up with a Tamaranian bounty hunter is a lot easier to chew than his partnering with some low-tier extra dubbed Ghost-Prancer.
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