All-Star Batman & Robin, The Boy Wonder, Vol. 1

All-Star Batman & Robin, The Boy Wonder, Vol. 1

Allstar Batman and Robin is not so great!

AllStar Batman and Robin is not so great! I like comic book artist Jim Lee's artwork in this book! However, Frank Miller needs to work on the story! Frank Miller retells the origin of Robin and how he meets Batman for the first time. The problems with this book is Bruce Wayne/Batman's rude personality. It unlike any of the old DC comics that came before. This is not Batman and this is not a good Batman story. If you like Jim Lee's art, pick-up this book. But the story is mess. D

A Compelling and Highly Misunderstood Exploration

All-Star Batman & Robin begins with young Dick Grayson, happily flying through the air, bathed in rich, nourishing golds and pure, untainted whites. They are contrasted, on the next page, with a tramped up Vicky Vale, adorned in nothing but her undergarments, lit with subtle carnal reds, bathed in cool, almost depressing blues. The narrative box at the top of the page announces "Gotham City." Throughout the rest of this issue, we'll come to know Gotham as an infectious disease of the soul, constantly bathing its inhabitants in depressing blues and lustful/violent reds. It is a place where there is no innocence and little room for morality. Your only choices are to become a remorseless monster who preys upon victims or (in the case of The Goddamn Batman) a jaded monster who preys upon other monsters. With only a short stay in this virus of a city, Dick's world of love and purity becomes quickly tainted. He is forced to witness the death of his parents (caused by Gotham criminals), at which point those brilliant golds and pure whites seem to leave him forever. I first became aware of the growing rumbles of dissatisfaction with this title when the fourth installment came out. Everyone was livid that Dick still hadn't become Robin yet. They saw everything leading up to that moment as drawn out and unnecessary, expecting to quickly arrive at the formation of The Batman & Robin team. Of course, anyone could have (and has) written that story. Instead, Frank Miller endeavors to do something far bolder, here. He's less concerned with how Bruce and Dick became Batman and Robin, and far more concerned with how Batman and Robin work through their history of violence and victimhood in order to become heroes. It's unfortunate that this volume only contains the first half of this story, as much of this growth and realization first begins in the eighth installment (where those whites and golds curiously surface again). But still, bathed in the all prevailing blues and reds of the red light district that is Miller's Gotham City, we can begin to understand the basic idea. It seems to me that Miller began by asking himself "What kind of a city creates a man driven and passionate enough to become Batman?" and then answers with another question: "What kind of a Batman would that city force him to become?" Both of those questions are eloquently answered in these early issues. In a sense, Gotham is the strongest, most fleshed out character in this volume, with Batman only serving as its pawn, and Robin in turn serving as Batman's pawn. The true wonder of the next volume will be watching these characters step back from their anger and violence, re-examine their purpose, and return as heroes. For me, that makes this the most honest and compelling portrait of Batman's early years. A man driven enough by crime and violence to take it into his own hands doesn't craft a clear cut superhero morality over-night. First, he must burn off some of the adrenaline and hatred that drove him to action in the first place. This is a highly misunderstood volume, praised for Jim Lee's art (some of his finest yet) but, at best, playfully mocked for Miller's over the top depiction of "The Goddamn Batman". I would implore all readers of this volume to look beyond the obvious. Watch the art, listen to what Miller is trying to tell you about Gotham and the effect it has on people. Allow yourself to move beyond the shock that this is not the Batman you know. He will get there.

Oh No!

What starts out as an intriguing concept to retell Batman as more on the "edge" and who sees his fight against villainy as a war, where people for lack of a better word, are drafted (Robin) - ends up being a story, as many reviewers have noted, where it seems Miller is trying to push the limits. While some of the aspects are in some way, part of the Batman myth (after all, it is a war of sorts), others are such a drastic retelling that Batman is more "crazed" than heroic, and Robin does not lighten things up, but one does feel sorry for him. I wanted to love this comic. After all, Frank Miller has written I assert the best comic works ever in "The Dark Knight Returns" and "Born Again" (not to mention "Year One", "Love and War", "Sin City", and "Ronin"). This book has the art of a modern graphic novel or comic book, but the tone of a "Sin City" - except, Batman is, and never translates well into a "Sin City" genre. Miller's second writing disaster (The Dark Knight Strikes Again being the other).

The stake in Miller's reputation

If this series is (as Frank Miller sees it) the prequel to The Dark Knight Returns concept, then The Batman quite completely an unsympathetic creature indeed. More likely, though, Miller's writing has simply taken a self-indulgent turn for the worse and The Batman is just fine. In many ways, it's as if Miller's become the misanthropic Dark Knight he's written about so much. Thing is, up until about the The Dark Knight Strikes Back, even that Batman had a heart somewhere deep down below. And yes, kicking ASB&R at this point is kicking a giant, money-making cash-cow of a book while its down. But it bears repeating: this is a train wreck of a Batman storyline. Mind you, Jim Lee's artwork is firing on all cylinders. The downside to that is he's saddled with Miller's misogyny. While Lee's always been drawn to sexy takes on superheroines, the cheesecake factor is uncomfortably high here (see reducing Black Canary to a clone of one of Miller's Sin City vixens for the most egregious example in this volume). The characterization of all characters (particualrly the Justice League) is laughable, if not more than a little insulting to the reader's intelligence. In short, curiousity may draw you in to this one, but don't say you weren't warned.

A good book

I am about halfway through this book, i have to say that to me this book is un-Frank Miller. Sure it has all of the narrations like his other works, but the quality of writing and character dialog seem somewhat off. But i think i can understand where Frank is comming from here. It is practically Batman: Year 3 redone. Batman is still a rookie and trying to adjust to being Batman (like using a clint eastwood accent at times or trying to perfect a certain "Batman voice") and dealing with his own psychosis. I think frank does a good job at showing that Bruce/Batman is not as emotionally scarred as he will be. I'll have to read the rest, but so far i am enjoying it.

Keyword : batman