Review: Batman: Off-World #5 – Dark Knight News

523

“The moons of GethWeek”

Author: Jason Aaron
Artists: Doug Mahnke, Jaime Mendoza
Colorist: David Baron
Letterer: Troy Peteri

Review by Eric Lee

Small spoilers ahead!

Batman: Alien #5 is moving toward an ending in which Batman finally faces the series’ two main villains in an increasingly unequal adventure.

Love it or hate it, Outside the world is a Jason Aaron book of the highest order. While Aaron definitely has a talent for the emotional aspects of a character, that doesn’t really seem to be his main focus. He’s most interested in creating the most outlandish concepts and characters ever put to paper. That includes any new characters he creates for the story, as well as someone like Batman. In this latest issue, Batman seems even larger than life, to the point of becoming a cartoonish tough guy stereotype.

Questionable dialogue

The dialogue narration seems to reflect the exaggerated, overdramatic nature. With lines like, “In Gotham, vermin are crawling out of their holes. Holes I put them in” or “Somewhere out there is a ball full of orphans. Focus on that” they are so wacky and unmourned from what a normal person would say or think. They honestly read like a parody of Frank Miller’s dialogue from the mid-90s.

Reading this issue, it’s hard to remember that this Batman is supposed to be an inexperienced vigilante at the beginning of his career. About halfway through the issue, you get the feeling that he’s out of his depth. And it’s a really good scene where the masked vigilante finally does some self-reflection. It’s been a long time coming, because so far in this series, Batman has seemed hyper-competent and not at all like an inexperienced crime fighter. I’ve said it before, but what’s the point of setting this story in Batman’s early years if you’re not going to exploit his early personality?

The Blakksuns

This highly exaggerated tone applies to all the other characters in the comic as well. None are crazier than the villains, the Blakksuns. While I appreciate Aaron tackling the weird aspects of space, the Blakksuns are just so cartoonishly powerful and grotesquely evil that I have to tune out a bit. For example, one of the Blakksuns literally kills billions of beings by whispering. How can there be any real stakes when they are raised so unrealistically?

The issue is once again saved by some spectacular drawings by Doug Mahnke. The art team really goes for the strangest alien designs. He also seems to use some more graphically striking images to make the fight sequences the most exciting ever.

Diploma

Batman: Alien #5 has a more focused plot and some good character development. It’s a shame that it’s hard to get into the story because the villains and Batman are portrayed more like caricatures than real characters.

All images courtesy of DC Entertainment.