If you don’t already know the heartwarming story of Batkid, the latest Make-a-Wish Foundation initiative and one of the most elaborate projects the non-profit organization has undergone, it goes something like this: Five-year-old cancer survivor Miles Scott wished to be “Batkid,” Batman’s sidekick, so Make-a-Wish Foundation, with the help of thousands of volunteers, turned San Francisco into Gotham City for a day and staged a series of events and crime scenarios, culminating with Batkid rescuing Gotham and receiving a key to the city from Mayor Ed Lee (as well as thumbs up from past and present Batmans, Christian Bale and Ben Affleck).
As a side project, a group of hometown creatives decided to create a digital comic book telling Batkid’s story. There really couldn’t be a more appropriate format (aside from possibly a print comic book). Every panel in the comic was sourced from Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Flickr. “We just wanted to share the Batkid story, and we thought it would be nice to re-tell it from the perspective of those who helped make it happen, and that’s the people of San Francisco,” explains one of those involved, AKQA art director, John Ta. The site takes a series of shared moments and crafts them into a digital experience, resembling a comic book, that tells Batkid’s story in a fun, cute way. It’s well put-together, and easy to digest. Following the Batkid comic, visitors to the site are encouraged to donate to the Make-a-Wish Foundation.
Although they’re undoubtedly proud of the work and hopes it finds an audience, there’s really only one opinion Ta and Gavin care about. “Really, we just hope Miles thinks it’s cool,” Ta said. Since he’s now the star of his very own digital comic book, it’s hard to imagine that he wouldn’t. Check out the Batkid comic here, and donate to Make-a-Wish Foundation if you’re so inclined, so there can be more stories like Miles Scott’s. Credits after the jump.