All Star Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder #6 came out today.
If you're at all familiar with this series, you'll know that Frank Miller delivers exactly the same quality work he did in the five previous issues.
(And no...I haven't bought any issues of this series. And neither should you.)
Most of the issue involves Batman punching his fist through windshields and into the faces of "bad" cops.
And Black Canary robbing people.
And Vickie Vale stripping naked in front of Jimmy Olsen.
And Barbara Gordon becoming a "Bratz Doll" version of Batgirl.
And characters repeating the "brilliant" catch phrase from the earliest issues ad infinitum.
It's a mess. It's an ugly, worthless mess. Frank, I know you hate the things that made your star...I know you've been making pieces of deliberate trash as anti-Valentines to the fans who keep demanding you write Batman again.
I think only the most desperate "It's Frank Miller on Batman so it MUST BE GOOD" crowd are still clinging to this thing. Well, them and the die hard Jim Lee fans.
Really...this book is ten pounds of awful in a five pound bag.
Posted by TL (Member # 8124) on :
Motion denied.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Egad! Why? You mean to say you LIKE what Miller's doing to Batman, TL?
Posted by TL (Member # 8124) on :
Well, yes. Yes!
No, I haven't read it. Before reading Puffy's post, I didn't even know Miller was back on Batman. I had started to write a different post, which was a whole thing about how Miller is a brilliant writer, and how can we question the guy that wrote Dark Knight, Sin City, Born Again, etc. etc. etc. (Especially Born Again. Geez, what a masterpiece.)
But really, since I haven't read the stuff Puffy is talking about, I knew I had nothing substantive to say, other than the fact that, traditionally, I have always liked Frank Miller.
So I decided to go with the easy two-word response, where I wouldn't have to defend my views on the topic (since I have none).
Posted by Lord Solar Macharius (Member # 7775) on :
Here's a link to Newsarama'a 9 page preview of ALL-STAR B&R (as well as Batman #666) if you wanted to have a peak TL.
I'm waiting for the trade on All-Star in the hopes that it will read better in one sitting. Well, lately I've been waiting on the trade for pretty much everything, but that's going to change again when Metal Men and Booster Gold come out next month.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
TL, Frank Miller's run on All Star Bats has been filled with the following:
Batman wantonly killing police officers with the Batmobile because they're "bad", giggling like a maniac.
Batman trying to force Dick Grayson to eat rats.
Batman trying to beat up Alfred.
Vicki Vale stripping down to next to nothing every time she turns up...for no particular reason.
*******
And that's just in the first two issues.
Question Frank Miller's brilliance? He's not trying to be brilliant...he's trying to do an endless spit-take on the stuff that made his career.
If any of it was actually funny, I wouldn't mind. But no...it's just weird, ugly, and pointless.
Posted by MightyCow (Member # 9253) on :
quote:Originally posted by Puffy Treat: Vicki Vale stripping down to next to nothing every time she turns up...for no particular reason.
This doesn't sound so bad Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
If this were Sin City, maybe...but DC's been advertising the All Star line as their "all ages, anyone can pick up and read" version of Batman from the start.
I know Miller's gradual fascination with making -every- female character insane or a stripper has increased over the years...but it just doesn't fit Vicki.
Posted by docmagik (Member # 1131) on :
I read the intro to the Infinite Crisis book--not the intro to the hardcover, but to the "novel" version of Infinite Crisis.
In there, they basically said the whole point of Infinite Crisis was that in the post Dark Knight era, they'd corrupted all the characters beyond the realm of heroism. They wanted to aknowledge that, and reign everybody back in.
So once they'd done the series, their decision was to stick Frank Miller on their "all ages" Batman book?
That's ridiculous.
Motion seconded.
I notice Denny O'Neil's name is nowhere on that book.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
motion to ban frank miller from writing anything ever again: aye!
Posted by docmagik (Member # 1131) on :
Although I do remember being the only person on Planet Earth who wanted to see his Batman Vs. Al Qaida book. That didn't ever come out, did it?
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
All Star Supes is great. All Star Batman... I read it. It's sort of like not being able to look away from a bad accident.
"I love being the goddamn Batman!"
The whole thing is a parody.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lisa: The whole thing is a parody.
The question remains though: Of what?
Miller apologists keep saying that: "It's a parody. It's a satire. There are no flawed Miller comics...just flawed FANS unable to appreciate his brilliance!"
But, I have yet to find anyone who can say just what it is he's mocking. Other than the fans themselves.
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
Himself.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
Having listened to the stuff the guy's said and written about his motivation and direction of ASBARTBW...he's never mentioned "poking fun at myself."..."I'm sick of Batman so I only agreed to do it if DC lets me do anything I please", yes. Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
ASBARTBW?
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder. That's the full title. Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
"In there, they basically said the whole point of Infinite Crisis was that in the post Dark Knight era, they'd corrupted all the characters beyond the realm of heroism. They wanted to aknowledge that, and reign everybody back in."
That was the theme behind the brilliant Kingdom Come series (and novelization), and handled much better there.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
Kingdom Come ended with both the "Old School" and "New Wave" super-heroes giving up the very notion of masked identities, reintegrating into the world's populace as "ordinary citizens with some special talents".
It was rather an anti-super-hero book.
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
I take it back. I just read #6. It's not parody, exactly. It's just... an alternate Batman.
I don't read any of the Batman books. I just don't find them fun. He was great in the last issue of The Brave and the Bold (teamed up with the Legion of Superheroes), but for some reason, Batman just isn't my cup of tea.
This one, though... do any of you remember Amalgam? A series of comics that merged DC and Marvel characters together? The All-Star Bats is sort of an Amalgamized Batman/Punisher. It's fascinating to me to see what he's doing here. It's like a prequel to the original The Dark Knight Returns.
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
It's "Batman Off His Meds!"
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
Not much like TDKR Bats, but he does act like the weirdo maniac Batman seen in The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Miller's first anti-Valentine to the fans who kept begging him for a sequel. Posted by Primal Curve (Member # 3587) on :
quote:Originally posted by Samprimary: http://www.shortpacked.com/d/20060207.html
Thanks to this link, I spent all day reading the entire archive of Shortpacked. Now I'm hooked. Gee, thanks.
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