Around the world with Gack – “Batman World” review

Travel motivation

Batman decides to go out into the world and fight crime. Something new? Well, not really, because he has been a member of the Justice League for a long time, which counteracts global crises. Nevertheless, this time Batman goes alone into the world, and he is introduced not only by Brian Azzarello, who does it really well, you can see fear and anxiety in his frames, but also cartoonists and screenwriters from around the globe.

Various fictional themes, characteristic of the given countries, were used. We are dealing, among other things, with the theft in the Louvre or a classic story about taking revenge in faraway Korea. Nevertheless, the latest story, taking place in Japan, is a big hit. Batman couldn’t help but visit Japan. Okadaya Yuichi travels back in time and places the Avenger of Gotham in the time of the samurai, depicting his adventures in the form of manga, which gives extraordinary pace to spectacular duels.

How did the Polish part fare? Tomasz Kołodziejczak served us something completely different from the other authors, because this story seems a bit shorter than the others, and yet it keeps us in suspense. Bruce, realizing Warsaw has a very low crime rate, wants to see if he can get the technology used in the Polish capital for his native Gotham to help fight crime. To this end, he visits the city himself and talks with the woman who owns the technology used there. We get the typical mix of business Bruce and the avenger in a bat costume. It is also noteworthy that for antagonists they make ordinary balaclava thugs, which are commonly known from Polish pop culture. On the other hand, the work of the cartoonist Piotr Kowalski is very realistic, especially the city scenes. Night or day

Weak points

The first thing that stings my eyes the most is Paco Roc’s script. This Spanish screenwriter and cartoonist focused on telling a story about how Bruce Wayne spends his holidays on the Iberian Peninsula. Maybe a good idea, because Spain is associated mainly with sunshine and beaches, but knowing the realities of this country a bit more, it is sad that the author did not explore the place where the “bat” was located. Analyzing the Spanish cover, I came to the conclusion that it must be Benidorm in the autonomous community of Valencia, which has a bad reputation throughout the country as the largest drug smuggling center in the country of Cervantes. Not only I was disappointed with this solution, but also my Spanish friends. The drug theme begs to be explored in the story with Batman.

Another story that I liked on average for dialogical and aesthetic reasons concerns China. Batman meets Panda Girl here, who is his huge fan. Unfortunately, for a fan and her idol, the dialogues are very rough, expressionless, and the speech bubbles in which the characters’ dialogues are spoken are unusually large, thus taking up most of the frame’s surface.

One-way ticket

This anthology is a great collection of short stories. With more ups than downs, each story has a lot to contribute and shows Batman in a way that is both familiar and new as we explore the Gotham City Bat from the perspective of authors from all over the world. Even the stories that I didn’t like that much are still wonderfully crafted stories. You can see a lot of love has been poured into them for the icon that is “bat”. With so many great stories and great creative teams, you’re sure to find more than one story here that you will love. Batman World is a truly outstanding comic book worth buying, if only to get to know a wide range of countries and stories told in them.