World’s Finest
‘We’re not in Gotham now!’ The Caped Crusader tours the globe in new graphic novel Batman: The World
AS THE BEST-KNOWN RESIDENT of one of the most famous fictional cities, the Dark Knight’s influence extends well beyond his homeland. Now DC has produced Batman: The World, a 184-page graphic novel comprised of 14 stories by creators from all over the planet, including countries such as Mexico, Czech Republic and Korea – although it opens with “Global City” by Batman: Damned collaborators Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo.
“As the world gets more rotten, it gets more Gotham,” laughs Azzarello. “What we’ve tried to do is show how Gotham is a character in itself – not just a city. That’s what was interesting about being a part of this project, which is made up of stories set in all these other cities, which are also characters.”
With Bermejo mostly favouring single or double-page spreads, Azzarello’s script provides plenty of opportunities for him to really cut loose. “The idea was ‘let’s do a lot of eye candy,’ and we wanted to get the villains in there,” reasons Azzarello. “We didn’t want Batman to just be stuck in one city, so we’ve brought him out to a few other places.”
Meanwhile, “Where Are All The Heroes?”, written by Carlos Estefan, drawn by Pedro Mauro and coloured by Fabi Marques, highlights similarities between the mythical Gotham and real-life Brazil. “Batman goes to São Paulo, which is an urban setting, much like Gotham,” explains Estefan. “He faces the harsh Brazilian reality, and the questions it arouses. There’s an enemy here but maybe defeating him isn’t as simple as it sounds.”
“Batman is one of the greatest heroes in the world, and I felt the responsibility to show that here in Brazil, even facing a government that denies support and access to the arts, we are alive and fighting and delivering quality art,” adds Marques.
“My biggest challenge was to colour the scenes in a way that really portrayed the city of São Paulo. We are currently the fourth largest city in the world and yet people from outside here have this stereotypical image of ‘Brazil carnival,’ and full of beaches. Which is not quite the case. Our city really reminded me of Gotham, to be honest.” SJ
Batman: The World is out on 14 September.