All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder
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| All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder | |
 One of the covers for the first issue of All Star Batman & Robin, The Boy Wonder. Art by Jim Lee and Scott Williams. |
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| Publisher | DC Comics |
|---|---|
| Schedule | Bimonthly/Erratic |
| Format | Ongoing series |
| Publication date | July 2005 – present |
| Main character(s) | Batman Robin |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | Frank Miller |
| Penciller(s) | Jim Lee |
| Inker(s) | Scott Williams |
| Colorist(s) | Alex Sinclair |
All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder is an American ongoing comic book series published by DC Comics. It was launched in July 2005. The first story arc is written by Frank Miller and penciled by Jim Lee.
This is the first series to be launched in 2005 under DC's All Star imprint. These series are helmed by renowned writers and artists in the American comic book industry and attempt to retell some of the history of prominent DC Universe characters, but outside of DC Universe continuity, and not be restricted by it, in order to appeal to new and returning readers. Every series under the All Star imprint is set in its own continuity and separate universes.[1]
As the first series under this imprint, ASB&R was extremely popular, the first issue selling over 300,000 copies [2]. The once-monthly series became increasingly delayed over time, to the point where only one issue was published in the entire year of 2006. When issue 5 was released, the series was placed back on a regular bi-monthly schedule, with the exception of Issue #10, which has been postponed from April 9th release to July 30th release. Issues 11 and 12 however were canceled untill a later date. This is possibly due to Frank Miller being busy with the movie The Spirit (film), or just due to lateness.
Despite drastic drops in sales since the first issue, All Star Batman and Robin remains DC Comics' highest-selling title.[3]
Contents |
[edit] Story
In a retelling of the origin of Batman's sidekick, Robin: Bruce Wayne and Vicki Vale are at the circus watching "The Flying Graysons," an acrobat family consisting of twelve-year-old Dick Grayson and his parents. When Grayson's parents are shot to death by a hit man, he is escorted from the scene by several cops of the Gotham City Police Department in a threatening manner. Vicki and Alfred Pennyworth chase after them. Batman begins searching for the killer and then rescues Dick Grayson from the police, telling him that he has been drafted into a war. More police chase after the Batmobile with orders to kill Batman, during which Vicki is seriously injured. Dick is frightened by Batman's violently ramming the police vehicles during the chase. When Dick begins to cry, Batman smacks him, though he then catches himself, questioning these actions. He tells Dick he will find his parents' killer, and tells him not to trust the Gotham police.
Arriving in the Batcave, Batman drops Dick off, leaving him to his own devices. When Dick asks what he can eat Batman coldly tells Dick to eat the cave's vermin if he is hungry. Alfred informs Batman that Vicki is in critical condition, but knows a doctor in Paris who might be able to save her. Alfred contacts Superman, who is enraged to learn of Batman's kidnapping of Dick. Alfred reveals that Batman knows Superman's secret identity forcing Superman to bring the doctor from Paris to Gotham. Batman and Alfred get into a heated argument over Alfred's providing Dick with clean clothes, a blanket and food, and when Batman manhandles Alfred, Alfred orders him to cease, much to Batman's bitterness.
The Justice League, consisting of Wonder Woman, Superman, Plastic Man and Green Lantern, discusses Batman. Green Lantern and Plastic Man suggest talking to or inviting him into the League, Superman wants to arrest him and Wonder Woman wants to kill him. The latter two heroes argue rather heatedly over the issue, but are implied to have romantic feelings for each other and possibly even a relationship. The argument ends in a kiss, and Wonder Woman leaves in a huff, agreeing to wait before acting on her own to stop Batman. Batman comes to the aid of Black Canary, who is fighting a group of thugs, including "Jocko-Boy" Vanzetti, who killed Dick's parents. After defeating the criminals, the two crimefighters share a romantic interlude, before Batman takes Canary home, with Vanzetti bound and gagged in the Batmobile's trunk. Batman and Dick managed to extract from Jocko-Boy the name of the person who hired him: the Joker.
Dick wants to fight crime with Batman, but Batman says he needs a secret identity first. Batman leaves the cave when he sees Green Lantern's symbol in the sky. After dumping Jocko-Boy in a river, Batman meets Green Lantern, but refuses to speak to him. Dick creates a costume, basing it on Robin Hood. Joker goes to see Catwoman to tell her he has an idea in mind for Batman. Batman returns to the cave, and when Dick tells him his name is Hood, Batman tells him his new name is Robin, pointing out that enemies can grab the hood Dick fashioned as part of his costume. Dick receives a new costume made by Alfred.
Together they confront the Green Lantern. Robin paints the entire room yellow and he covers himself and Batman in yellow. They talk to Jordan, who proceeds to beat on Batman while being openly mocked by Batman. Robin then steals Green Lantern's ring causing GL to go after Robin. Robin then attacks him and almost kills him before Batman saves his life. Batman then takes Robin to his parents graves, where they share a moment of grief.
In an underlying storyline, the Joker now makes his appearance in the ASBR storyline, as a psychotic killer, with serious issues. In a scene in ASBR, he has sex with a local attorney, only to then kill her afterwards. In addition, he has a dragon tattoo on his back, maybe meaning a link to the yakuza or a not-so-subtle reference to famous killers in the media, such as Hannibal Lecter.
[edit] Covers
The first issue launched with four different covers. three of them were illustrated by Jim Lee — one sporting Batman, the other Robin and one a sketch variant of Batman. Frank Miller illustrated the fourth. Since then, Frank Miller has drawn variant covers for the series. With the exception of issue #2, the Miller covers are sold in 1:10 ratios. As of issue #8, the variant covers are being drawn by renowned Batman artist Neal Adams, with the variant for issue #10 by Frank Quitely.
[edit] Continuity
The All Star titles are self-contained story arcs existing outside of official DC Comics continuity. Despite sharing a label with Grant Morrison's All Star Superman, All Star Batman & Robin exists in its own continuity unrelated to other books in the All Star imprint.[4]
Frank Miller has also stated that All Star Batman & Robin does exist in the same continuity as the other storylines in his "Dark Knight Universe". This consists of Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, its sequel Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Batman: Year One, the upcoming Holy Terror, Batman!, and the Frank Miller / Todd McFarlane collaboration on Spawn/Batman. Of these, only Year One is considered canonical to the mainstream DC Universe.[5] In 2007, Frank Miller's "Dark Knight Universe" was officially designated as Earth-31 within the new DC Comics Multiverse comprised of 52 alternate universes.[6]
Morrison himself has admitted to being uncertain whether his Superman and the version featured in All-Star Batman & Robin are the same due to the dramatic time differences between the two books: "I don’t know if it would have worked. For me, I guess I do see it all taking place in the same world even though they seem like very different characters. Frank Miller is doing Batman at the beginning of his career and I am doing Superman at the very end of his life, in the years beyond All Star Batman. But it could be the same character as far as I am concerned. That’s where they may have ended up."[7]
[edit] Reception
Initially released with great fanfare and to much anticipation, the fan and critical reception to All-Star Batman has been mixed. Nearly all complaints about the series are directed at Frank Miller's writing, specifically his non-traditional interpretation of the main character. In the series to date, Batman is consistently violent and cruel, excited by his own sadism towards criminals, musing over the injuries he has inflicted. His abuse extends even towards innocents: he verbally and physically abuses Dick Grayson in an attempt to prevent him from grieving over his parent's deaths, even slapping the boy in the face. Immediately following this, Batman appears to kill a group of corrupt police officers by landing the Batmobile on top of a pursuing squad car. Later, at the Batcave, he withholds food from Grayson and suggests that the boy catch rats and eat them if he is hungry.[8] Perhaps the book's single most infamous moment occurred when Miller's gritty style of dialogue led the title character to introduce himself to Grayson as "the Goddamn Batman." The phrase went on become something of a meme among comic book fans for its perceived comedic value,[9] and has, since its sudden fame, been repeated at least once in nearly every subsequent issue of the comic. According to reviewer Brett Weiss, the line "drew derision from fans and critics alike".[10]
Reviewer Peter Sanderson, acknowledging that the series is "widely reviled", pondered whether Batman's treatment of Grayson is akin to a drill sergeant toward a new recruit, but questioned whether this would merely traumatize Grayson further. Sanderson nonetheless claimed to be "fascinated" with how this behavior reveals Batman's personality, likening his rough treatment of Grayson to the psychologically frightening experience V subjected Evey to in V for Vendetta. Sanderson also pointed out that Miller's view of All Star Batman and Robin as a prequel to his graphic novels Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again suggests that the darker, grittier take on Batman and his more dysfunctional relationship with Robin make sense when taken in context. This viewpoint also suggest that Batman's rough treatment of Dick Grayson reveals a lot about the inner workings of Batman's personality.[5]
Reviewer Brett Weiss, in the Comics Buyers Guide #1636 (December 2007), gave the first issue of the series high marks for being interesting and edgy, but opined that by issue #6, the series became "a bad joke", citing the series' "absurdly bad, faux-noir dialogue", and presenting Batman "as a psychopath, as opposed to merely dark and disturbed." Weiss praised Jim Lee's art as "gorgeous", but opined that it was wasted on the title, which he saw as "something that seems to be bad on purpose".[10]
Comics journalist Cliff Biggers, in Comic Shop News #1064 (November 7, 2007), called the series "one of the biggest train wrecks in comics history", expressing amazement at how he feels Frank Miller disregarded every aspect of Batman's character in order to tell "A Sin City story in bat-garb." Reviewing issue #7, Biggers excoriated the sequence with Batman and Black Canary as "farcical" and "Tarantinoesque", arguing that Miller's work could not get worse. Biggers gave the issue a "D", explaining that it would have been an "F" if not for Jim Lee's art, and suggested that one way to salvage the work would be for DC to reprint the book with blank word balloons, and let readers submit their own scripts.
[edit] Collection
- All Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder, Volume 1 (collects issues 1-9, Released June 25th 2008)[11]
[edit] References
- ^ Interview with Geoff Johns at newsarama.com; September 3, 2006
- ^ Frisch, Marc-Oliver, "DC Sales, May 2006."
- ^ "DC Comics Month-to-Month Sales February 2008"; Publishers Weekly The Beat Sales Charts; April 2, 2008
- ^ Johns on "All Star Batgirl"
- ^ a b Comics in Context #119: All-Star Bats on IGN
- ^ Comic Book Resources - CBR News: THE COMMENTARY TRACK: "Countdown: Arena" #4 w/ Keith Champagne
- ^ "All Star Morrison III: Superman"; Renaud; Jeffrey; comicbookresources.com; April 17, 2008.
- ^ PopMatters review
- ^ Tales From the Longbox review
- ^ a b Comics Buyers Guide #1636 (December 2007); Page 59.
- ^ DC Comics
[edit] External links
- DC Comics Official site
- IGN article
- Newsarama's Jim Lee preview interview
- Newsarama's Frank Miller preview interview
- Cover gallery by Jim Lee
- Newsarama article: Miller & Lee Team on All Star Batman
- Publicity blurb page at dccomics.com
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