Chris Burnham

Batman has come back from the dead and decided that it's not just Gotham that's broke, but the whole world is in need of it's own Batman.

Bruce therefore funds the setup of Batman Inc, where each city/region gets it's own Batman. Often it's the case of a local anti-crime crusader who agrees to take on the Batman frachise.

This is a collection of the first 8 Batman Inc stories, that shows Wayne with several local Batmans in the fight against Levithan, a new powerful enemy. The whole Bat family are included, as well as some of the usual supporting characters (e.g. catwoman), and some new ones.

Not everyone trusts Wayne, sometimes because of his money, sometimes because of previous history on an personal level - Batman is the father of the young current Robin, whose mother is (apparently) dead and beloved by other people in the Inc.

Some of the graphics are stand out, especially the chapter spent in the computer with the avatars. The multi batman army is menacing. It's good to see the inclusion of "local" crime fighters (e.g. the South Americans, the Japanese and the Africans) - hopefully this will give the non-North American characters some wider exposure. There is some indication in the supporting text that these characters were chosen because they have already been established in their native market sometime in the past, so were given a new lease of life.… (meer)