Batman: Off-World threw down the gauntlet hard in its premiere issue. Not only did it deliver the kind of wild storytelling that only Jason Aaron could have come up with, but it gave us a wholly refreshing Batman tale. Trapped on an alien warship, the Dark Knight is learning to duel deadly extraterrestrials after a battle with an alien criminal in Gotham. But how is that training going?
Very, very well, as it turns out. The opening pages are a testament to this – Batman manages to clear out the engines of the ship while also saving one of his fellow prisoners from being flame-broiled. “It is said that only the strongest and the crulest survive even one trip inside the Storm Stacks,” his inner narration reads. “No one in living memory has survived two. This is my fifth.” Aaron also has fun playing Batman off Tamaranean bounty hunter Ione and one of the “punch-bots” that is training him; his refusal to kill his enemies is…well, alien to them. It ends up impacting both of them in ways they never saw coming.
Artist Doug Mahnke ups his game from the previous issue, once again delivering some heavy hitting images. Toward the end of the issue, Batman comes face to face with a horde of soldiers and manages to dispatch them with a number of blows. This is in stark contrast to the first issue, where he was soundly beaten; it shows that Batman’s greatest weapon isn’t his Batarangs or smoke bombs, but his mind. Jamie Mendoza’s inks add dimension and shadow to every figure within the book, whether they’re a gaping maw of teeth or a pile of tentacles.
Once again, though, the highlight of the book for me is the coloring from David Baron. Baron’s work is a study in contrasts: the bright blood red of the War Storm ship cleaves through the inky black of space. And once again, Batman stands out due to his bluish-black cloak and grey bodysuit. Finally, when Ione tells her life story to Batman, the scenery shifts from a hellish glow to warmer tones, tinged with the bright greens and purples fans have come to associate with the Tamaranean race.
Batman: Off-World #2 is a brutal blast, showcasing the Dark Knight’s ability to adapt to any situation while ratcheting up the insanity. This issue ends with Batman in a seemingly hopeless situation, but given that this is the same man who survived having his spine snapped in two by Bane and Darkseid’s Omega Beams, his captors will have plenty to fear.
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