To coincide with this year’s Batman Day on Sept. 18, DC Comics released a one-of-a-kind anthology featuring the Dark Knight titled Batman: The World. The 184-page hardcover book includes original tales of the Caped Crusader from all around the globe. Batman: The World‘s international stories are written and illustrated by a creative team from each corresponding part of the world. The Batman story from the United States is written by Eisner Award winner Brian Azzarello (100 Bullets) and illustrated by Lee Bermejo (We Are Robin), who previously collaborated with Azzarello on acclaimed projects such as Joker and Lex Luthor: Man of Steel. Editor Katie Kubert is overseeing the globetrotting project.
CBR spoke with Azzarello and Kubert about Batman: The World and their excitement over the ambitious project. Azzarello teased a little about what can be expected from his story, “Global City,” which focuses on the Dark Knight’s reflections and the realization that justice knows no borders. Kubert also discussed what countries contributed stories to the book and how some of the new entries will be introduced to the overall Bat-universe.
CBR: What can you tell us about the concept behind Batman: The World?
Katie Kubert: Batman: The World is one of DC’s very first forays into the global market. It’s a collection of fourteen different Batman stories from around the world. Each of these stories takes place in a specific country, and each story is written and drawn by the top talent in that country. Our Spanish story is written and drawn by the incredible Paco Roca, and our Italy story is written by Alessandro Bilotta and drawn by Nicola Mari, for example.
Each of the stories is meant to convey the fact that Batman is more than an American hero, and more than just a hero for Gotham City. He’s a hero for the entire globe, and we wanted to show that in the most authentic way possible by creating this anthology collection of stories an offering it to all these territories at the same time that it’s offered to our American readers. Azzarello was one of the creators we tapped first, and he and Lee Bermejo did our U.S. Batman story, and they lead into the concept in a dramatic and creative way.
CBR: Can we expect to see other iterations of Batman such as Knight and Squire in Batman: The World, or are these exclusively Bruce Wayne stories?
Kubert: These are Bruce Wayne stories because Bruce Wayne is Batman! He’s got these core values that define who he is as a hero who he is as a person, and this book explores what that looks like in each country. The talent from each of the different countries came to us with what kind of story they wanted to tell what they thought made most sense for their part of the world. What does a Batman in Poland look like, and how is it different from a Batman in China?
In some of the stories, Batman’s costume changes to reflect the country where the story takes place. In the Korea story, he’s got a cool, Korean-style costume. In the China story, we show how Batman influences some of the people from that country and how his actions serve as a call to heroism for some. We are introduced to a new character called Panda Girl in that story. So it’s Bruce Wayne around the world doing different things in different time periods throughout his life.
CBR: Brian, you’ve written a number of highly acclaimed stories, including Joker and 100 Bullets that gained you an Eisner. How does your previous success affect your current work, and where does Batman: The World fit into your respectable archive?
Brian Azzarello: I don’t feel any pressure from the things I’ve done in the past. Where does Batman: The World fit? Well, it’s another chance for Lee and I to work together on Batman. After Batman: Damned we thought were done with this character, but I guess you’re never really done. Honestly, we jumped at the chance. I do a lot of traveling and I’ve met and befriended a lot of these foreign publishers. I’ve been to Spain, Italy, and France, and I’ve been to a brewery with the Czech publisher. It’s great to be part of this kind of global initiative.
CBR: What can you tell us about the story you contributed to Batman: The World?
Azzarello: Before I wrote the first story, I got to read a few of the scripts for the other ones. I saw what sort of flavor they were bringing and rather than be very specific to the US I decided to take Batman out of the country. Every other page is a splash or double-page spread of him in some sort of foreign locale. It’s a lot of eye candy, and Lee went nuts.
CBR: Where does your story take place?
Azzarello: My story jumps around. Batman’s fighting the Penguin in red square in Brazil. Then he’s in the catacombs in Rome with Bane. So there’s a lot of different places. I saw this as an excuse to draw Batman fighting his villains in cool places.
CBR: Is there a particular moment in your story that you’re excited for fans to see?
Azzarello: Maybe Joker and Harley and Tokyo. That’s a pretty good page. I think what we were doing with Batman: The World is laying down the groundwork that says Gotham City is everywhere. I mean, every place has crime. Every place has corruption. And because of that, every place needs Batman. I think that’s pretty much what we were trying to say here. The world is Gotham City.
Batman: The World is on sale now from DC Comics.
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