Comments on: Alternate Current: All-Star Batman and Robin Is Amazing

By: Mitchell Mueller

Mitchell Mueller — Wed, 07 May 2008 18:35:26 +0000

gay stuff right there

By: Obi Wan Quixote

Obi Wan Quixote — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 05:42:04 +0000

I’m all for building a story, but only getting to the point in issue 9 would be bad enough in a monthly book. When the comic drips out every four or five months, you can’t blame the audience. All Star Superman made its case on the first page.

I loved Dark Knight Strikes Again, but what made it was the art. It was more like a newspaper’s political cartoons than a superhero book. The art for ASBAR works against the story. Jim Lee’s work is exactly the kind of dimwitted ‘cool’ bullshit that DKR and DKSA were parodying. It’s kind of fitting that in ASBAR Alfred has better tits than Vicki Vale, but I’m not sure Jim Lee’s in on the joke.

And it’s not just the art. As we’re all re-reading it … read that rooftop seduction of Black Canary scene. That is just laughable. Not ‘funny’, it’s pathetic. Human beings don’t look, sound, talk, move, think, feel, dress, interact, behave or do things like that. These aren’t people on the edge, not when they don’t have any resemblance to people.

By: Dyfrig

Dyfrig — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 13:45:38 +0000

However you frame it in terms of context, there’s no escaping the fact that All Star Batman and Robin is a stinker of a book. I sat down and read the run this morning, as you suggested. Doubtless, it gets better as it goes on. And there are some good ideas in there – especially the plotline that pits Batman against the embryonic JLA. But it is so badly written that these good ideas are wasted.
I suppose I’d better add that I’m no Frank Miller fan. The fact of the matter is that he lacks nuance – his characters are carboard cutouts who speak in cliche. Black Canary, in this book, illustrates the point perfectly. She only has one aspect to her character – the desire to beat up men who patronise her – and talks like an Irish theme-park Leprechaun.
The worst aspect of Miller’s writing is that he’s far too fond of the sound of his own voice. If he thinks that he has written some good dialogue, it goes into the book, regardless of whether it works in the context of the story. Take the sequence with the Joker in ASBAR #8. He has a page long monologue detailing how you need to crush your victim’s larynx before killing them in a hotel, so that they don’t make any noise. But stationed outside his hotel room is a topless bondage dyke with swastikas covering her nipples. Why bother keeping quiet, if you’re not bothering to hide? So that Miller can include his big violence-porn speech about how to strangle women, which he thinks makes him sound dangerous and cool.
Miller is a bad writer, and ASBAR is a terrible book. Comics are expensive, and there are a lot of good ones out there. Save your money for something that deserves your pennies.

By: JonB

JonB — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:44:14 +0000

“To take it further, if Robin is the reflection of the reader as a character, what does it say when the Boy Wonder nearly killed a man (Hal Jordan, poster child for comic-dom causes of redemption)? Is it a reflection of the readers who, despite their continued claim to be for the heroism of comic books, are really just out for the blood of these characters?”

I think it can be read that way pretty easily — Robin’s been enough of a reader cipher so far, especially in the earlier issues in the Batmobile, that there’s stuff there to support that — but it’s also useful to remember that Miller views this as being in continuity with his DKR and DKSA stuff. Dick’s eventually going to turn out to be the murdering psycho that gets dumped into the Batcave volcano at the end of DKSA, so this aspect of his character makes sense.

“With this in mind, when Batman took Robin to the cemetery at the end and forced him to remember, I thought it could have also been a symbolic gesture of a return to the basics and a return to the heroism. Hopefully.”

This early? I doubt it’ll be anything permanent for the run, since Miller’s nowhere near done (I think he’s talking about 20 issues? I can’t remember where I read that); Miller’s trading pretty heavily on Batman in overdrive in this DCU that’s even more outlandish than normal, and I think he’ll continue to work in that context. And Batman’s already a hero, in his own twisted way. I think this Batman’s turn to a more traditional interpretation of the character is going to take some time, and probably a couple more Gotham rogues.

By: markpoa

markpoa — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:58:16 +0000

Great analysis there. I’ve been reading the series more for the farce, but you do have a point that Frank Miller is not just all show.

To take it further, if Robin is the reflection of the reader as a character, what does it say when the Boy Wonder nearly killed a man (Hal Jordan, poster child for comic-dom causes of redemption)? Is it a reflection of the readers who, despite their continued claim to be for the heroism of comic books, are really just out for the blood of these characters?

With this in mind, when Batman took Robin to the cemetery at the end and forced him to remember, I thought it could have also been a symbolic gesture of a return to the basics and a return to the heroism. Hopefully.

By: david

david — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 07:15:42 +0000

Jon managed to articulate a lot of things that I’ve been thinking over since ASBAR first started coming out. Miller’s body of work has been too consistent and too quality for him to suddenly fall off with no warning.

I think he’s got a plan for the book, and that plan is showing how Batman grew from a 24-year old jerk into the guy who can lead the entire Justice League when he gets older. The last few pages of ASBAR #9 are really a turning point, for both the series and Batman.

I’m interested to see where they’re going with it. I’m hooked.