I agree with you. There is one thing though. I saw (not read) one issue where Crazy Steve and Dick Grayson, age twelve, confront the Green Lantern and to expose his weakness, they paint everything yellow. I found that kind of amusing.
A wonderful review of a horrible story. I usually have an instinct to try and figure out how a story can be made, in one's head, to make sense, but Crazy Steve is so unappealing, I find it hard to care.
The one exception is the split car incident. I wonder if that was Jim Lee trying to work out how Dick Greyson, Age 12, could emerge unharmed from a car that was just destroyed by the Batmobile. A more realistic crash would have left him dead or severely injured. Or if it didn't, it would've made Mr. Steve seem like an idiot as well as a psychopath, risking killing the boy he desperately wanted to recruit (for platonic but still psychopathic reasons). It still makes no sense, but maybe Lee was trading one absurdity for another.
Is the Crazy Steve name based on something specific? I looked it up, but though I saw many versions of the Crazy Steve name used for people and characters, the one one that stood out was from a Nickelodeon live action show I'd never heard of before. Was that the origin or was it more personal or, perhaps, random?
I admit I only watch the Sin City movie but...Why does this comic give me the impression Frank Miller was merely patched together ideas not used in Sin City and simply replaced the characters' names?
I had to stop the video when the Christian Bale montage started. I totally cracked up on that one, although I have no problems with the Batman voice. Dear lord, hard to belief that this was written by the author of "The Dark Knight returns".
I'm really looking forward to the next Miller time (BTW. Miller time still reminds me of Venkmans quote from Ghostbusters after they neutronized the female Gozer, right before she returns as Stay Puft)
Hooray! I've been looking forward to this one being made into a video.
-I wish that they'd gotten someone a little less, you know, completely rat-crazy to write this. It could have been really cool. Why couldn't they get... I dunno... Paul Dini, or someone like that? Anybody but rat-crazy Miller.
-AUGH! I'd ALMOST managed to completely forget Sin City Part Two, and you brought it back up. *fist shake!* I refuse to dignify it by calling it "The Spirit," because it's NOT!
-THE FREAKIN' SEXISM. It's part of what I despise most about Frank Miller's works. Thank you, Linkara, you wonderful, wonderful fellow, for openly denouncing the sexism, instead of praising it or letting it slip past without words.
-Things that Frank Miller has taught me about writing #1: More swearing makes things more edgy and EXTREEEEEME! (*facepalm* Urgh.)
-#2: Everybody in the world talks like a Humphrey Bogart movie and has a noir haiku monologue going on in their heads at any moment of the day.
-#3: And if they're not having a noir haiku monologue, they're Torgoizing.
-I've always wondered: What's up with the Bat-stubble in this comic?
-Crazy Steve is not only enormously crazy, he's also enormously creepy. HOW DOES THIS TRANSLATE INTO BEING A GOOD, PURE HERO? WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN-- Heroes shouldn't be creepy. It kind of hinders the idea of "I'm gonna help people!"
Anyway, your review was brilliant as usual. Keep up the good work!
Love the review, though I'm kind of confused you used the name "Crazy Steve." There's a guy called Crazy Steve on Drake and Josh and he's all sorts of Crazy Awesome and that hobo calling himself Batman could never in his lifetime ever come close to matching his awesome.
You've got your sights set on Millers less than stellar work? Going as far as to take Strikes again apart in the near future... Well I was willing to defend the guy, until I saw the Sprit. Then I thought he can't direct a movie for spit. Now that I've seen your review of this festering carbuncle latched on the side of Batman's mythos I have to ask what was he (Miller) thinking. I mean there has always been a certain overtone with batman's relation with Dick but my god. I think the only reason Vale was in the comic was to hook heterosexual males.
great work and looking forward to more... Maybe a movie review?
I'd been eagerly awaiting this review, and it did NOT disappoint. And I'm definitely looking forward to seeing you rip into "The Dark Knight Strikes Again".
I have to agree that Frank Miller is terribly overrated. What bugs me the most about him, however, is his decision to depict the Persian antagonists in his "300" as black? Persia is not in Africa, so why make the Persians look African if not to make them look like his idea of "evil"?
The script on Vicki Vale's titilating appereance... Makes most men in the world look very decent when you compare them to... that... I was traumatized. By the script. By the goddamn script.
"Somewhere, Bob Kane and Bill Finger are weeping."
I'd say they were doing that with DARK KNIGHT RETURNS and YEAR ONE already, but thank, thank, THANK you for giving Finger his props as Batman's co-creator. So many fans are quick to belittle and/or disregard his work (usually to pimp Miller as Batman's "real" creator), and the fantastic work he did make Batman such a special character gets nothing but neglect, hatred, or both. So kudos for reminding everyone who really made the Bat the icon he is.
It's worth noting that Lee is the second Image artist whose fine work got wasted on an awful Batman story by Miller. Todd McFarlane also wasted his considerable talent on another Miller stinker, SPAWN BATMAN. But at least that trash was just one issue long, whereas this is drawn-out agony at its worst.
Uh...excuse my noob-ness when it comes to comics, but who's Vicki Vale? I don't remember her from the original animated series (unless she was in an episode I missed) and I don't remember her being even mentioned in the Arkham Asylum game, and that provided quite a bit of info on the series provided you did the sidequests.
Several things kept me from picking up this series... Including the writing, the introduction of Wonder Woman really peeved me. Although the encounter with Green Lantern gave me a chuckle, especially the jab to the throat. Aww yeah! The comics suck, but I still get a laugh out of "GD Batman!"
Are you leaving the comics at that or will you also show the craziness from the further issues? And if not would you show some general moments of crap such as Wonder Woman and Green Lantern?
This was a fantastic review. I'd read the text one before, so I already knew that I was in for a good time when I saw these issues come up!
Also, Linkara, your Batman voice sounds remarkably like Nathan Explosion from Metalocalypse. You'd get away with mimicking him, should you ever review the Metalocalypse comic. There's only one issue, as far as I know, but then again, it's good, and very faithful to the series in its delivery, so I guess it's not review-worthy after all. :-P
Guess I get to the be the one person who didn't like this review. Fun.
Okay first off I want to say I respect your opinion if you don't like this book.
Though I love this comic, it's one of my all time favorite series' out there. Granted it needs to come out. But you get the point. I like it a lot. It's fun, it's crazy, it's over the top and it's a lot of fun.
This is a young brash and inexperienced Batman that isn't the refined warrior he would become as the years go on. He's overly violent and hasn't fully disciplined himself. I'm not making excuses, it's how I see the story was meant to be told and how Miller meant to tell it.
Also you do a lot of nitpicking here on things that never bugged me, like why Dick didn't have safety net under him.
I do agree that Miller's narration had some annoying moments.
But all in all, if you don't like All Star Batman I have no problem with that, and you do make some valid points, but in the long run I don't think it's anywhere near as awful as you paint it and it seems to be something totally of opinion, rather then other comics like Youngblood that are definitely awful.
I read this from the library a month ago. For some reason I thought Grant Morrison was the writer (probably because I had already read All Star Superman) and I couldn't figure out why Morrison was doing a bad Frank Miller pastiche. When I finally realized that Frank Miller was writing bad Frank Miller, it suddenly became much funnier.
"Who the hell do you think I am? When people talk of Gotham's heroes, they are referring to me their awesome leader! Lord Batman!!"
You forgot that Batman fought countless knife, gun and electric baton wielding thug, several mutants, an enhanced Bane, Scarecrow's fear gas, Harley Quinn, the Joker, Poison Ivy, giant plants, Killer Croc, a mutant Joker, and solved all of the Riddler's manyfold riddles. All in the same night.
Man, Batman: Arkham Asylum was an awesome game. Unlike this crap! And that whole repeating thing reminds me of something....
*GACK*
Hey? Who turned out the lights? Hey? Who turned out the lights? Hey? Who turned out the lights? Hey? Who turned out the lights?
Liked the review, but Linkara, I caught you saying "and viki could care less".
The saying is "couldn't care less". This is an important distinction to make, since "couldn't care less" means "is unable to care less", whereas "could care less" is the opposite of this. People who care a great deal could care less.
As a long time watcher i was rather disappointed by this review. Sure you point out the laughable and repetive dialogue but it seems you miss alot of points from Miller's TDK universe and the most important fact about Batman and Humans: We change.
In Year One we have a novice vigilante whos highly optimistic about his crusade. How do you think a man would be effected after 2-3 years (i can't recall was All Star Batman on his 2nd or 3rd year, i guess 3rd?) fightning lunatics such as the Joker and who else. Not to mention the *main* reason Batman became Batman was because he didn't believe in the justice system & the fact Gotham _has_ corrupted cops, hence he *fought* them, but you seem to find this totally non-Batman? It also seems you completely ignore Jim Gordon who does appear later in this serie and even *helps* Batman, why? Because he *isn't* one of the corrupted cops.
My main factor with all the critism on All-Star Batman, and thus disappointed you got the masses Linkara is that people forget that people *change*. This Batman's gone near insane and his behaviour to Richard Grayson surely explains his fate of who he becames in TDKSA, surely doesn't it? Sure now we go to the problem how All-Star Batman ended up being Miller-universe instead of something like "Ultimate Batman", but this is why you should acknowledge this is in the Miller universe. Not trying to modernize the mainstream comic story. Infact i guess we could agree Morrison's take on Batman has pretty much ultimized him since Morrison made Batman's career 15 years long and making loads of Silver Age stuff canon. ^^
Oh well besides all this derailment: disappointing review, i think you we're too harsh on the Miller universe and ignoring some aspects of Batman in the Miller-universe for the sake of complaining about it and fooling the non-comic readers. =/
Miller's take on Batman is not of a being that changes, but rather a psychotic madman who would subject children to eating rats and that kidnapping a boy to lead him into an insane battle against crime is somehow acceptable behavior.
This is not some deep take on the character that Miller has cleverly constructed to match with his other works - this is an example of pretty much every writing flaw that Frank Miller has. In the hands of a good writer, you could probably argue what you're talking about - that Frank is cleverly showing the weakening of Batman's grip on reality as he fights a desperate, losing battle in a harsh and cruel world.
But that's not what we see. In the canon of ASBAR itself, we see a lunatic running around beating up criminals, a skewered time scale, every other hero made to look impotent or flawed as opposed to the awesome manliness of Batman - it's something I'll get into in future Miller Time segments, but the fact is that Frank Miller has written the same characters over and over and over and over. He's a hack and it was finally with this story that people began to stop and realize that the guy's a hack.
Nothing of what you have said is indicated in the book. The only way you're able to derive that from this book is from the filmsy statement of Miller that this is supposed to take place in the same continuity as his Year One and Dark Knight Returns stories. As a story itself it is flawed, porrly written, and just plain bad.
Man, this one really made me laugh out loud. Probably your best so far, Linkara. Crazy Steve and Bearded Idiot combining forces would make the best/worst comic ever! I don't get why you would hate DKSA, maybe cause I haven't read the comic but the premise seems pretty good. With the reviews I saw with it so far, it seems to be either a hate it or love it kind of thing.
Wow, the sheer number of redundancies in the dialogue is astonishing. Redundant redundancies are redundant. Redundant. Redundant. They are redundant.
The Vicki Vale portions were tremendously awkward to even read. Hearing you read out Miller's dialogue was most uncomfortable to listen to, especially given your championing of feminism and strong female characterisation in comics.
Normally I'm in the crowd who points out the double-standards that occasionally crop up in the "objectifying women" aspect, where the male characters are just as idealised as the females, but that scene with Vale was just inexusable. What woman actually wanders around her apartment in lacey lingerie, without the curtains or blinds drawn?
Miller time sounds interesting: some are obvious choices (Dark Knight Strikes Again, for instance), but a bit of iconoclasm wouldn't go amiss. Could even a sacred cow like 300 be on the cards?
I think it would have helped the book if Miller had given a foreword of his explanations on Batman's behaviour as he did in Amazing Heroes #102. Also here's a good Miller comment: http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=27218 "In his Dark Knight work, Miller has given readers a glimpse into the twilight years of Batman’s career. In Batman: Year One, he’s shared the beginning of the Batman saga. So where does All-Star Batman fall in his Batman time-table? “Year Three. Bats is feeling his oats—very young, maybe acting a little crazy, but he knows exactly what he's doing. He's just a bit sloppier about doing it than he's going to eventually get.”" So yeah there is character progression. With no human contact with him for 3 years now he's gone all crazy steve, and who wouldn't really? While thinking about this book i do now feel this serie should have been called "Miller's Robin the boy wonder" instead of the whole all-star batman and robin. This truly is RObin's origin in Miller's dark universe showing us what Bruce once was. =O Sure it's campy and over the top, but there is still the essence of Batman and his mission.
I hope you give good word on #10 which is the best of them all. It's a beatiful character study of Batman wanting to tell his feelings to Catwoman (oh yeah.. and him fucking her in sewers, oh the comedy!) or Gordon's fear for his wife and daughter. I do hope you agree the dialogue on Jim on #10 is good. :) I would also like if you can manage to get comic interview #31 where Miller explains the Batman in TDKR. Heh now that i mention these comics that give the idea about the different Batman personalitys i can see we could blame Miller for the lack of giving somesorts of forewords or whatnot i guess. =p
Oh i definatly agree that Batman does make Supes and others look lame beside him, but it's nearly not as bad as Bruce Timm's Batman fanwankery to show how cool he is every moments he gets. >_<
Tho i don't see how you see the story flawed, but we both agree the writing isn't the top notch here at all, oh and thanks by the way for replying. *thumbs up*
Linkara, man, I'm sorry but this is one of those instances where the review and the opinion of the book are totally up to opinion. I don't think you can definitely say for sure "this comic is awful" like you can with Sultry Teenage Super Foxes (a true example of awful comic writing)because other people can see All Star Batman different. As I said, I love it. And I'll give some examples why.
.Batman is insane here, and I like that. As another poster and I myself said, this is a younger, brash Batman that hasn't disciplined himself or gotten used to being Batman. He's like an unrefined sword that needs sharpening.
.This is not your regular Batman. It's a different version of Batman, and if he doesn't act exactly like how you want him to act, tough cookies. Ultimate Spider-man doesn't act like 616-verse Spider-man and sometimes he does brash and stupid things too because he's a younger hero.
.Characters are reinvented brilliantly. Case in point, the Joker who appears in #8, he was scary as all hell for me when he showed up. Miller did an awesome job of remaking this character.
See now it's not something you can just say "it sucks" and everyone will nod their head. Some people do like it for legitimate reasons so you can't just call it awful when it's not.
I'm not taking offense because you don't like one of my favorite comics out there. Not at all. I hear a lot of legitimate complaints about All Star Batman and legitimate reasons someone doesn't like it, but this review didn't seem to have many of them and it seems almost that you don't like it just because this isn't the Batman you know.
I will admit the timeline thing is screwy, but even that doesn't really bug me. I guess I just enjoy All Star Batman for the fun ride that it is and just enjoy a good thing rather then nitpick it to death.
Also dude, seems like you yourself just don't like Frank Miller rather then you don't like All Star Batman. I know everything he writes may not be to your tastes, but to call one of the most influential writers in the industry a hack is just wrong. He's a great writer who has inspired many others and I think to call him a hack is just ignoring all his greatness for a few works you don't like.
I guess by the end of this post you'll probably not be signing any shirts for me at cons ;) I'm not trying to come off as mean, I like your videos, but in this case I just can't see where you're coming from on why you dislike All star Batman and Miller so much.
Brilliant as always, Linkara! I hope Miller Time goes on long enough for you to tear into the rest of All-Star Crazy Steve and Robin, since it arguably just gets worse.
Also, since Crazy Steve has a five-o'clock shadow (which he didn't have when he was Bruce Wayne for some reason), isn't he technically a Bearded Idiot too? Shame the name's taken.
AaaaaaaAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGH, don't even get me started, I've got NaNoWriMo to do.
Let me just start out with the specific--his ridiculous way of drawing Batman's cowl as though Bruce's ears are about to explode through the material--and end with the generic--an over-reliance on that "grimfaced" expression (which always looked to me as though the character either just smelt it or dealt it); while he's gotten slightly better about that, he still uses it way too damn much--and round it all out with the cross-hatching.
Dear god, the cross-hatching. It's like the man never met a shadow that was meant to be filled in completely. It's practically compulsive on his end, and inspired too many of his Image comics compatriots. In the 90s, it was hard to find one of those guys who knew what hand-drawn equivalent of the "fill-tool" was for.
And now that I've spent too much time dwelling on his suck, I'm depressed.
i've been waiting for this review! I used to love asbr and defended it, but as i looked back sheesh what a crappy comic, the art is fantastic,but the writing, I mean year one is like my favorite batman book. look forward to dk2 review! oh and all star superman is one best stories I've ever read
The way I've grown to see it is that the Robin character is a tangible representation of Batman's relationship to Gotham City. The real Batman wants to protect Robin but also train him so he can follow in his footsteps and become a hero himself. That's exactly what he wants for Gotham City: to protect it until it no longer needs him. His relationship with his city is almost parental, and he expresses it through the boys he adopts.
Miller forgets all this because Crazy Steve, as you rightfully dub him, actually hates Gotham City, has total contempt for it. He wants to control it his own way, and doesn't want help, from the cops or anyone. Hence his relationship to Robin is just as abusive as his relationship to the City. Robin is part of his "mission," his "war," not someone for him to raise and care for.
Small wonder, really; look at The Dark Knight Strikes Again, which concludes with the super heroes determining that they can't trust us lousy little peons to rule ourselves and stand on our feet; we need to be ruled by a totalitarian force. I hate to point out the similarities to Frank Miller's far-right-to-the-point-of-fascism politics, but they're pretty blatant. "Heroism" to Miller is no longer protecting the weak and bringing out the best in all of us; it's about crushing the bad guys by whatever means necessary and ruling over the weak.
You can talk about character development etc., but this is really Miller completely re-imagining Batman into a killer, a dictator, someone he was never meant to be. There's "darker and edgier," and then there's character derailment. This is the latter.
Bravo Lewis! Bravo! Some of the best, if not THE BEST commentary on Miller's sub-par writing. I'm also surprised that you didn't comment on how fast Bruce's facial hair grew from the time he was in the circus tent to outside killing the shooter.
Truthfully I'd rather read Crazy Steve Adventures over ASBAR any day of the week.
The sad part is, like Rob Liefeld, some people actually like the unmitigated dreck he spews all over the page, and so he keeps getting work.
And really, I can see ASCSADGAT (All-Star Crazy Steve and Dick Grayson, Age Twelve) being in the same universe as Miller's other Batman books. Because they're all equally horrible, for the exact same reasons. Okay, maybe I'm being a bit harsh, here. Year One wasn't all bad. It was just mostly bad. In fact, if someone else had scripted it, and Catwoman had been removed entirely, it would actually have been fairly good. As evidence, I cite Batman Begins, which pretty much is exactly that.
I'm glad you're gonna do Strikes Again, because it was the worst comic I'd ever read until I read Countdown. But, I think perhaps you should also do a bit on Returns. I know, everybody says it was a masterpiece, a seminal work in the history of comic bookery, on par with Watchmen. But it's shit. If Watchmen came out today, it would be just as amazing, if a bit dated. If Dark Knight Returns came out today...well, it would be ASCSADGAT. A portrayal of Batman as an insane, murderous psychopath hell-bent on the destruction of all he doesn't like is groundbreaking in an age when Green Lantern is using giant green boxing gloves unironically (and, honestly, what Miller's Batman doesn't like just happens to coincide with society's views on what should and shouldn't be fought; if the same character were waging a war on tennis shoes, he'd be a weirdo villain instead of a superhero). In modern times, it's just a badly-written book that treats a beloved superhero about as non-heroically as possible.
Remember: there was a time when Rob Liefeld's "art" was considered groundbreaking.
tl;dr: Awesometastic vid, yo! Miller's comic books are terrible, and always have been. You should totally keep tearing them apart.
For me, the omen that this series was going to flop came before it was published, when we just had the solicitations of the covers; Dick Grayson back in the green panties. Since this was billed as an Ultimate-style reinvention ( and the Ultimate books at Marvel took full license to revamp character looks, such as the awesome Iron Man redesign by Bryan Hitch ), there had to be a reason that Dick was in panties. Either it was going to be super light-hearted nostalgia, or NAMBLA Batman. Since Frank Miller was writing...well, the rest is history.
Its a shame we won't get a sequel series to All-Star Superman.
As for this...I may be way out line here but when Frank Miller said this is in continuity with the "The Dark Knight Returns" universe...he was lying. I honestly believe he said that just so people would buy the da** thing.
Also I love how Frank makes Crazy Steve break his "one rule" in issue #2. I mean seriously. :/
Also, what do you think about Runaways? I bought volume 2 and I honestly don't get the appeal (same goes for The Walking Dead).
He isn't Batman, simple as that. Even Frank Miller realized halfway that the series was doomed. Also, an All-Star Superman sequel series would be awesome.
Also, will you be doing any videos about The Incredible Hulk or Runaways in the future?
Frank's run on DD was very good IMO. I don't think he's as bad as you make him out to be. He's literally insane to the bone yes, but he has some fair work at least. And Seriously Linkara, THANK YOU for mentioning Grant's "All star superman" I've been patiently waiting for someone other than Blair Butler to praise it ^_^
I'll admit first that I'm a Frank Miller fan. I loved his stuff on Daredevil, Dark Knight, and Sin City. Heck, I even enjoyed his take on The Spirit which everyone else seemed to hate.
But yeah, All Star Batman has been one of the most bizarre and befuddling reads in a while. With that said however, it is one of the more entertaining books to read in my opinion. I enjoy it not as an "ultimate" Batman tale but more like a parody. I mean there is no way to take this book seriously! It's got to be a joke, right?
I have an excellent way they can end this series as a matter of fact. In the final issue, Batman breaks the fourth wall and looks out into the audience and wonders what's going on? Why is he acting like this and who's making him talk like this? Surely his recent behavior betrays that something is wrong.
We then pull back and see that The Joker managed to get a job at DC comics and has been the one writing the comic like this all along in an attempt to make Batman look like an idiot - kind of like in those Bugs Bunny / Daffy Duck cartoons.
Wow! You really got something of your chest there, didn't you Lewis?
When I first read issue 1-5 of this, I didn't thought it was that bad, but that was a few years ago before I read your written reviews. I can understand what they were trying to do with the series but it's really quite a pain sometime. I like "ultimate Spider-Man", because it still feels like Spider-Man. Crazy Steve on the other had...
I also laughed out loud when I heard your idea for Miller Time. While I really liked (most of) Sin City, Year One and Dark Knight strikes back, some of his other stuff really freaked me out. DK2 started off interesting, but got really weird, really fast. Maybe I'm just too used to the DCAU stuff, to live with Bruce getting all, pardon the pun, bat shit crazy. A few weeks ago I reread "the Man without fear", Millers retelling of the Daredevil Origin story, which, in itself, is pretty good, though you can already see the stuff that would become standard for Frank. 2 years ago I tried to read "Ronin". I'd love to see you take on that one.
And one last thing: I love Jim Lee's artwork. "Hush" is my favourite Batman Comic (which, if I think about it, might very well be enough for most readers to ignore anything else I said. ^^).In my humble opinion, that man should do a lot more Batman comics, but then again, maybe it would loose its appeal.
Looking forward to the rest, at least this way I won't need to read it. XD
Yes! Linkara finally review a comic I've read. Too bad you aren't going to get to the later issues. Batman telling Robin to eat rats, Black Canary beings a slutty Irish bartender who beats up her patrons and makes out with Batman in the rain... oh the comedy.
On an unrelated note, someone else here mentioned Runaways. I suppose if you ever review a comic from Runaways Vol 3, it would be a dream come true.
AS I read people adamantly defending the portrayal of Batman here, I can see that maybe you might like his "Crazy Steve" incarnation - but you can't defend the writing for this. The script is awful. The constant repetition of lines, the bizarre choice of metaphors - it can't be defended by anything other than the occasionally-offered theories that Frank Miller is 1) doing a parody of himself or 2) trying hard as hell to get out of doing this project by making it suck.
I agree with 日本文化のマニアック: it's one thing to defend the reinterpretation of Batman as a sociopathic lunatic, that's at least defensible via the "DC Ultimates" explanation.
But what about the constant repetition? The needless and pointless exploitation? The frequent lapses in logic (such as how Robin could see the killer despite looking the opposite direction) and continuity within the exact issue (how could he wonder who killed his parents, when he claimed to see the killer earlier on the issue)? Heck, even if you accept it as working within the Year 1/DKR universe, how does one explain the continuity problems in that, like the aforementioned police corruption thread?
BTW, MC Tanuki, I do believe there's a world of difference between the Batman of DKR and Crazy Steve Here. One of the primary reasons is that, in a way, it isn't meant to be the young, healthy Batman we all know and love: he's an older, disgruntled, angry Batman, frustrated at what the ravages of time and crime-fighting have done to his old, battered body. I also note that while DKR Bats is obviously a bit mad, he's nowhere near as certifiable as Crazy Steve.
"I don't want people thinking you're like that nut in Gotham City."
Ha ha ha! That was great.
But still, wow. Those comics were horrible. I'm going to admit right now that I own Year One and I kind of liked it. It was a different take on Batman and that was okay.
But this? This is monstrous. This is insane. This is not Batman.
I'm just going to add Frank Miller to the list of people who get jobs writing specific comic books for no discernible reason. Like Joss Whedon.
Step away from the X-Men, Joss.
As for Batman done really well? I'd have to bring up the episode of Justice League Unlimited that directly tied the series to Batman Beyond.
Two scenes in particular:
The one where Batman; instead of killing a dying, telepathic little girl who could potentially wipe out a lot of people, sat with her until the end came.
And the one where Amanda Waller, despite spending a great deal of time at odds with the Justice League, admitted to Terry McGinnis that nobody cared about their fellow man as much as Bruce Wayne and a world without Batman was "intolerable".
That is how you write Batman. Accept no substitutes.
Nice review, Linkara. I can't wait to see you review more of the apparently coninuing adventures of All Star Crazy Steve and Dick Greyson, Age Twelve.
So mr Miller can't write women without making them into whores? But, wait, when he wrote Wonder Woman, didn't he write her as a compleate man-hating ultra straw-femenist who just randomly made-out with Superman... I forgot the point I was trying to make there.
Okay, I think I see what Miller was trying to do with this. Judging from these first two issues, it seems that he was sorta setting up an arc where young, angry, anti-heroic (and slightly stupid) Batman grows, through his adoption of Dick Grayson, into a wiser, more mature figure that can balance his demons and perhaps transcend them. Theoretically, it's a pretty good story. Morrison did something like it in Arkham Asylum: ASHOSE, though he cloaked it in so much mystic symbolism that you can barely tell what the hell was going on. The problem here, sadly, is that Miller doesn't seem to be able to tell the difference between a character who's undisciplined and arrogant, yet has qualities worth saving, and a total prick for whom the universe bends over backwards to placate. (For future reference, I have decided to refer to this as "Kirk09 Syndrome.")
Oh, and the hyper-noir narration has to go. Criminey, this makes Max Payne look restrained.
You barely touched thet things that made this comic bad, you mostly just talked about hw it touched upon taboo topics, and the fact that is not the same batman as always, wich I found pretty weak. you could have talked about the future telling carton of milk, or Black Cannary going shitless for no reason. I really find your complains about sexism in Miller comics very hipocrital, sure there are prostitutes in SIn CIty, but agaian is SIN city, not only there are whores there, the male characters go from pill addicted psychopaths to corrupts police officers and mafia mobsters, so Why would it be sexism against women? In to hell and Back, Esther is the main female and she is an actress who upon finding impossible to live in Sin CIty decently and due to lack of money making it impossible to get out of the hell hole tried to commit suicide but eneded up being rescued by Wallace. It's true that Frank Miller completely lost his mind after finishing Sin City, I found your complains about Spirit very poor, even though the movie is really bad you only seem to think so because of the taboo. not to mention that I read yor complains about 300 being historical inaccrate and misognistic, the fact that the Spartans are naked in the book should give you a hint that the story is suppossed to be told by a unreliable narrator that wanted to make it look more heroic and macho to inspire his fellow spartans to get in to battle, so the story is mostly biased on the ideals of such narrator. I expect your next review of this comcis to be better. but again who am I? just an anonymous vocie on the internet.
I haven't been able to watch the last couple of videos because they've been lagging ridiclously badly. It starts off ok, but i watched this one to the 8 minute mark, and found myself looking at images you had described a whole minute before. It makes them impossible to view, which sucks cos i really like your stuff. I think it could be because of the new widescreen format, since i never had ths problem before, but it's really frustrating.
Juan, while I can't claim to have read Sin City (and have no particularly strong desire to) I can tell you that the storyline you describe about the actress does not depict a strong female character. In fact, everything I've heard about Sin City indicates that all the women are Damsels In Distress, which is never a popular idea to bust out when surrounded by feminists. As for your claim that there isn't any sexism, you didn't seem to quite understand what Linkara was getting mad at. It wasn't that they wore skimpy clothing, it was that they wore skimpy clothing simply so that the male readers could get off on it and as a selling point. Furthermore, Miller's depiction of women as whores who care only about sex is tremendously offensive. While I have no issue with having your heroine be a prostitute, treating established female characters the way he treated Vicki Vale is inexcusable and disgusting and his notes to Jim Lee in the script are equally degrading. Finally, while there is sexism against men in comics and, alas, real life, most of that sexism springs from double standards, not laws or payment issues. What you described was an archetype used. Unlike the damsel in distress archetype, it wasn't an immediately insulting archetype to human beings in general or men in particular, which a damsel in distress can sometimes be.
so beig a damissel in distress is more offensive than being a pill adicted psichopat? and only when the women are depicted with skimpy outfits for fan service is sexist, but the male superheroes wearing tighs that don't let nothing to the imgination isn't? you know not only heterosexual males read comics. And what abotu Watchmen? Linkara seems to ignore that SIlk Spectre's outfit was pretty much a babydoll, which she wore for like half of the story. and you yourself said haven't read sin city Freya so you pretty much are getting to conclussions without checking it before. If a writer uses a female character as the person to save is sexist just because is a woman the one to rescue, how so? Miho (a female character form sin city) is able to kick and cut asses of people double the sze of her. and again is SIN city, not political correct city, or the family friendly city, or the Whore-free city, it has more things than whores, but because there is one negative depiction of a selected group of women it beats the whole "men screw this city up" and the various mentally unstable characters that go on killing sprees at the drop of a hat. Double standards, what would be life without them?
This was the funniest review to date. I've just gotten into American comics thanks to your show, so I knew absolutely nothing about any of the All-Star series, or about the "Goddamn Batman" beyond seeing it pop up in some sigs on DeviantART. I've been waiting for this review ever since watching the Top 15 WTF Moments a few weeks ago. You didn't disappoint.
Now, a question: What video software do you use for your special effects like the Magic Gun and stuff? (Apologies if you get asked this a lot. I skimmed a tonnage of comments looking for someone else who asked this question, but couldn't find one. Maybe *I* need new glasses.)
That script is bad. But it's still not the worst script I've ever read (Mark Millar's script for Kick-Ass #2, at last the part they put in the issue has to be some kind of joke if you ask me.)
"Furthermore, Miller's depiction of women as whores who care only about sex is tremendously offensive. While I have no issue with having your heroine be a prostitute, treating established female characters the way he treated Vicki Vale is inexcusable and disgusting and his notes to Jim Lee in the script are equally degrading."
Miller's treatment of Catwoman is even worse. In DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, she's an obese, pink-haired, easily victimized madam. Then in YEAR ONE, she's a buzz-cut hooker who becomes Catwoman because she wants a piece of Batman's press (and according to then-DC editor Bob Greenberger, was supposed to be having a lesbian romance with Holly Robinson). In Miller's world, Catwoman has been, always will be, and never will be anything other than, a hooker. Given how iconic Catwoman is, Miller's treatment of her is beyond degrading. I'd argue that, plus his turning Karen Page into a junkie porn star in DAREDEVIL, was what really solidified that Miller either can't or won't write women as anything other than whores, harpies, and bimbos.
Loved the review Linkara. Love all of your reviews. I'd love to see your take on my current favorite guilty pleasure, X-Men Forever. I love it, regardless of what some feel about it. The X-Men actually feel like the X-Men I read when I was a young man.
That said, wow.... glad I avoided All Star Batman & Robin and All Star Superman. I was originally going to get them, when it was rumored they'd be like Marvel's Ultimate line. But owww... that was just painful. People may complain about the series, but the current Batman: Brave and the Bold cartoon respects Batman more as a character than this trash.
As you're so fond of saying.... "This Comic Sucks!"
Juan said: "you could have talked about the future telling carton of milk, or Black Cannary going shitless for no reason."
That's because that hasn't happened yet. These are only issues #1 and 2. He's going to come back and do the later issues, where that insanity comes in, in another episode.
And yes, the portrayal of women in Sin City is pretty sexist, but I buy it as neo-noir, since they reflect heavily the female characters of the old film noir type. But that's the thing - it doesn't belong elsewhere. What happens in Sin City should stay in Sin City. Letting it spill over into Batman? Not a good idea.
I am not defending this comic, this thing is bad, I am just expressing my opinions on his missaimed criticism at Miller's earlier work because it isn't all about being politicaly correct. This two numbers aren't that bad in comparisson to the next ones.
"so beig a damissel in distress is more offensive than being a pill adicted psichopat? and only when the women are depicted with skimpy outfits for fan service is sexist, but the male superheroes wearing tighs that don't let nothing to the imgination isn't? you know not only heterosexual males read comics."
As I said in the episode, they ain't drawn to tittilate to the female readers or even the gay male readers. Not to mention wearing tights itself is a genre convention. If you'll recall 22 Brides #1, towels do no work like form-fitting spandex.
"And what abotu Watchmen? Linkara seems to ignore that SIlk Spectre's outfit was pretty much a babydoll, which she wore for like half of the story. and you yourself said haven't read sin city Freya so you pretty much are getting to conclussions without checking it before."
That's because THAT WAS THE FREAKING POINT OF HER OUTFIT. Alan Moore was giving commentary on the treatment of female superheroines - that they were heavily sexualized, both in their costumes and their depictions.
"and again is SIN city, not political correct city, or the family friendly city, or the Whore-free city, it has more things than whores, but because there is one negative depiction of a selected group of women it beats the whole "men screw this city up" and the various mentally unstable characters that go on killing sprees at the drop of a hat. Double standards, what would be life without them?"
Going by just the movie here, let's list off the women who are in Sin City: -Goldie, who gets killed after having sex with Marv and serves as the woman in refrigerator to start the story. Okay, fair enough. -Marv's lesbian cop buddy... who we first see after she's had sex with her girlfriend. -Goldie's sister Wendy, who really doesn't serve much purpose in the story other than to provide exposition and then later sleep with Marv. -Shellie, a damsel in distress. -Miho, Becky, and Gail - prostitutes, who do indeed kick ass, though Becky is in fact a traitor. -Nancy, a stripper and damsel in distress.
Other than the ass-kicking prostitutes (who need the assistance of a man to help them, partially giving them damsel-in-distress credits) all of the female characters are about sex in one way or another.
"and again is SIN city, not political correct city, or the family friendly city, or the Whore-free city, it has more things than whores, but because there is one negative depiction of a selected group of women it beats the whole "men screw this city up" and the various mentally unstable characters that go on killing sprees at the drop of a hat. Double standards, what would be life without them?"
More like an indication that Frank Miller can't write anything beyond that. When he tries, he ends up looking like a complete moron especially when he falls back into old habits.
"am not defending this comic, this thing is bad, I am just expressing my opinions on his missaimed criticism at Miller's earlier work because it isn't all about being politicaly correct. This two numbers aren't that bad in comparisson to the next ones. "
You'll notice none of us mentioned political correctness until you brought it up. We just think it's crap.
And these two issues are certainly crap. And yeah, it does get worse, but it doesn't make these two any better, it's just some are sucky and some are REALLY sucky.
"so beig a damissel in distress is more offensive than being a pill adicted psichopat? and only when the women are depicted with skimpy outfits for fan service is sexist, but the male superheroes wearing tighs that don't let nothing to the imgination isn't? you know not only heterosexual males read comics."
I don't think that's what Linkara was getting at: what Linkara (and other people) have a problem with is when Vickie is, basically, strutting around the apartment in lingerie for... no reason. The equivalent would be Bruce Wayne dancing in his y-fronts to "Do the Hustle" while he talks to Alfred. Yet, of course, that never happens.
Of course, heterosexual males aren't the only comic readers, but they're the great majority. To my mind, depicting Vickie as he does is not just offensive to girls, but to lads as well. It implies that we males are so sex-addled that we can't pay attention to a comic unless it has undressed girls in it.
Oddly enough, science(!) has proven that women in bikinis impede cognitive processes in the straight male brain. So every time a near-naked woman is depicted in the comic, it's scientifically proven that you are actually getting a bit stupider. Perhaps that's why poor comics rely on them so much: it warps a teen's brain so much they fail to fully appreciate how truly bad it is.
I'm starting to see how interconnected the fanbase is here, Linkara.
I've been boycotting Marvel for some time since they started suing their fans for reasons that can best be described as "acid trip induced".
However, out of deference to Chris Claremont (I got into comics with Classic X-Men), I started buying X-Men Forever like CBRBeast. It feels like old-style X-Men, though it does have jaw-droppingly bizarre plot devices in it.
Also, when I was on Xbox Live last night, I was talking to a friend and when the discussion turned to comic books, he started to bring you up and I'm like "Linkara!"
We ended up discussing your reviews and Spoony's reviews (as well as Nostalgia Critic's reviews) for awhile.
Who knows? You might end up with an Atop the Fourth Wall convention some day.
Hey lewis, was Miller trying to create a serious story or a parody of a Batman story. Because I'm confuse, the people who are fans of his work say this is parody, the others half who aren't fans of his work say it was trying to be a serious book, so which is it?
Well, if this really IS intended as a parody as spiderman1989 suggests (btw. it's spider-Man, with a -, just a heads up ;) ) then Frank Miller hasn't written anything except parodies since he finished Sin City. All-Star Crazy Steve might be on top of the pile, but he's been writing like this for quite some now. Hey, maybe he's trying that whole "commentary on the evolvement of comic book heroes" like Moore did with Watchmen. ^-^
Sin City, at last the stories that were adaptated into the movie is not as sexist like the rest of it - I'd once read tho short stories from later issues (I'm not sure if I remember their titles correctly) - "Blue Eyed" and "Daddy's Girl". Those two, especially "Daddy's Girl" are even worse.
Levis, I would like to aks what do you think about Miller's Daredevil. I'd heard it's very good, possibly the best thing he ever wrote. And I liked "Born Again", despite all what happened to Karen Page there.
Ok when I first read this I loved it. Not because I thought it was good, because I thought it was hilarious. Oh and the artwork is awesome. However from day one i viewed it as a parody. I'm not sure if that's what Miller had intended, but to me it's the funniest comic book ever. I mean for God sakes Batman kidnaps Dick Grayson, poisons a murderer, and goes on a cop killing rampage while flying a car. That's freaking hysterical, but yeah your review does make some great points on why the comic isn't that good. However I will always argue that it is a comedy, whether or not that was Frank Miller's original intention.
""I'm wondering if the Joker is gonna make an appearance in this series.
Wonder what Miller would do about him?"
He better not. I'll kill something."
He already has." NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooo
look, we all know that batman does well with a noir vibe, but that is because of his morals. He's something along the lines of Chandler's detective: Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. He is the hero, he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor, by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world."--"The Simple Art of Murder" instead, we get this throwback to the Dark Age
...Hold on... I just realized the hidden meaning to your Sega joke. Crazy Steve says bats love his sonics. You mentioned that you were partial to Knuckles. Rouge the Bat from Sonic Adventure 2 likes to flirt with Knuckles. So... that should mean bats should love Crazy Steve's knuckles? I dunno. I just found the joke funnier once I threw Rouge in there.
you know when i went to one of my regular book store i actually found a graphic novel of all 10 issue of Crazy Steve and robian all-star.i looked in it and i asw crazy steve putting dick grayson age 12 in the batcave to survive by eating rats and gets mad at alfred by giving him food.and you know i think Lewis youre going to have to give bats a new name.
Ya, know, I have only been a short term Linkara fan, most of his videos I watched on a lazy Sunday followed by Monday and a Tuesday when I had a cold, however I must say that this is the first time I have felt personally offended by the material that he rewied , sure you have ultra sexist shit like that teenage foxes comic, and borderline retarded stuff like the ultimate warrior comic, but hey lets face it, they are at least original creations, they are not pissing on old and beloved characters now are they? (PS: pardon the crude language, but this comic deserves it!)
Now, to be honest I have never read this book, but from Linkaras rewiev I can only despair, first of..why the hell make batman into a total psycho!? Sure he has always been a “driven” hero, in his earliest stories he even killed people, but he never kidnapped children and then smiled about it and verbally abused them when they objected! This is not the work of a hero, or even an anti hero, it’s the work of a pice of human garbage!
And really “I’m the god dam Batman”? Batman does NOT say things like that! Batman is a tortured and dark soul, way to serious and dark minded to even consider using vulgar language!
Oh, and lets not forget the sexism , Linkara already made a good point of why this is insulting to woman ( a point on witch I agree with all of my dead fish heart) however I want to say that it is also Kinda insulting towards men! I mean, Frank Miller say “make them Drool” and “make a but shot” So, Mr Miller, you actually consider every male out there to be at the mental level of the stereo type Hormone driven pubescent 13 year old boy!? I want to say a very bad word that begins with F and ends with K to you, but I wont, that would be descending down to your level.
Anyways, I don’t want to read this pice of shit, I’d rather remember batman as the good guy that took Robin in as an act of kindness and not as a pedo kidnapper.
PS: want to read a good yet different batman comic? Read “Arkham asylum a serious house on serious earth” its wonderfull! J
I cannot bring myself to believe that this book is written in anything but some sort of self aware parody of Miller's own work. It is too ridiculous to not be intentional and I end up laughing every single time I page through an issue.
To everyone who ever cried parody over this work...
Poe's Law.
Parody indistingushable from the geniune article to unbiased observers IS NOT PARODY.
This review actually made me borrow a couple issues of ASBAR to see if it's as bad as people say. It is. You can't read parody out of the comic. You just can't. I've tested this with a few people who wouldn't know Frank Miller from my dog, and aside from being convinced that Frank Miller probably is my dog now, they assume this is supposed to be taken completely straight because there's no indication it's supposed to be a parody. You can only bring the parody concept with you and read it INTO the comic.
(I'm currently trying to buy All-Star Superman, too, because I have faith in Linkara).
While i Agree with most of what you're saying and yes miller has lost gone off the deep end, you can't really say that there are no glimmer's of TDKR miller in this run (the joker choking the life out of that escort/ the final image of dick finally coming to terms with his folks dying and "crazy steve" realising that forcing Robin into being as cold and emotionless and borderline pyscho isn't the way to go). In short as a whole All star Batman and robin works well in spots, but in others.....ugh frank please try and get your spark back
What is your opinion regarding DC's decision to let Frank Miller wrap up All star Batman and Robin with 8 issues of "Dark Knight: Boy Wonder" in 2011? Also, will you consider reviewing the entire All-Star/Dark Knight issues if they get published?
When you point out that Robin wasn't facing the shooter when his parents were killed, and probably couldn't have seen him, you're forgetting something: He was on stage, in a spotlight. The houselights were (probably) down. If he'd been looking straight at the shooter, he wouldn't have seen him. He'd have seen a spotlight.
I liked Year One, but I'm no fan of Miller's work. For those who think of this as the 'Ultimate' version... I don't like Ultimate, either - for the same reason. It's so sleazy, I always feel like I need a shower after reading from it.
... wow.... glad I avoided All Star Batman & Robin and All Star Superman. I was originally going to get them, when it was rumored they'd be like Marvel's Ultimate line.
Nonononononono. All Star Superman is, as Linkara put it, FREAKING BRILLIANT. Yeah, the rest of the All-Star series didn't really come off that well, and ASBAR is the worst thing about the line, but if you want something as far from this tripe as possible, All Star Supes is a great choice. Don't avoid it!
I've got to say I laughed out loud when Vicki is walking around her apartment in undies with no curtains. It's obviously just cheesecake but I thought about my dad, because he is convinced that no one can see in the windows at night so he doesn't have curtains either. I was just wondering if Viki is under the same strange false impression.
I'm really excited now that you're going to be doing a review of #3 and 4. I never picked up these issues — I read some from a friend's collection, so I can't remember if #3 or #4 has the scene with Bruce making Dick eat rats or shoving Alfred around (!!!!!!!! :o), but seriously, I would love to see your reaction to those scenes.
You know, the real insane one is Grant Morrison and not because is his fault, NO Sir !
Straight out of the Bat (no pun intended) the Wachowski Brothers stolen all the ideas they had for The Matrix from The Invisibles and was around that time "Them" start to screwed Grant Morrison's mind.
But at least this review makes me laugh everytime i watch and i thank you for that even considering everything you said about those issues wrong.
It's a comic book, it's batshit insane, it's Frank Miller and who cares ? I enjoy it, i have fun with you and with Frank's writting, it's a win-win situation and unless any of you became a nazi all the sudden i'll still going to have fun with both.
I just hope at some point you became a better actor and not the kind of one depending exclusively on monologues.
this is just a theroy but is it possible that miller is satierizing(yes its spelled wrong) batman and robin in general i mean the diloge is so stupid that its funny in a bad way "i fly i fly" say something else darnit
Remember that the Ultimate Marvel Hulk was cannibalistic while the main universe one (almost) never killed anyone? I think this is the same idea. Also, Crazy Steve gets criticized in his own comic BY HIMSELF. He's supposed to be messed up, it's not a mistake. Also, I think they're aiming for more of a mystery plot here, so explaining the murder's motivations before it happens would not make sense. Granted, I've not read the book.
In general, the problem is that people will only read comics about people they've heard of, and that means characters designed to entertain the children of the 1930s. Authors, getting tired of writing the same old things, try to change the characters' personalities, or exaggerate them.
"I don't really mind the sexism. She's hot so who cares Am I right?"
Yeah, I'll let him get away with that one too I guess. She doesn't get injured too badly by comic book standards, and she does actually care about doing the right thing, even if her "journalism" is more of a blogging style. It would have worked if she was a blogger in this universe.
You know, when you say about 20 minutes long review, that everything in it is wrong, one would think you would give atleast one reason why. Something being enjoyable for how shitty it is, doesn't make it any less shitty, if that is what you mean.
Linkara seems to be reviewer in the first place and actor in the second one.
Ok,wow. Robin might actually be retarded the way he repeats his dialouge. I forgot, how old was he? To be fair he was better towards the end with his angsty "why did my parents die and live me with this psycho bit" and I guess he really had no choice but to go along with Crazy Steve (nice Drake and Josh reference by the way). The way Steve kept talking about the mission I though he was Skitzo or something, and Vicky was a waste of space. It's a shame with the great art too (Vicky and her ass aside).
Rebekah Squair, audience member, bearing the brunt of your righteous anger. How I see your "feminism", is that it's not really feminism. It's just common sense. ^u^ I do have to thank you for it though. It's SO refreshing. Also, thanks for the limitation on swearing. I, for one, really appreciate it.
so far this is my favorite review! hey if I can suggest a comic: Deadpool kills the marvel universe. mostly for the WHAT THE F!!! reaction you get while reading, that and deadpool is WAY to overpowered, or everyone else is way UNDERpowered. and a few other things. i wouldn't call it bad per se, but it would be better if a pro like you looked at it.
"The orchestra plays a lively air. The massive curtains part. A tall, handsome military figure strides on to the stage. He bows. This tall, handsome, military man bows. He is Prince Otto of Saxe-Pfennig, General of the Army of Germany. One of our conquerors. "He begins to speak. 'Ladies and gentlemen.' This man, this general, says, 'Ladies and gentlemen.' "But no more. No more. No more. Nothing more. No more. He says, 'Ladies and Gentlemen,' but no more. "And why does he say no more? Has he finished his turn? Is that all he does? Are his eight hundred and seventy-five pounds a week paid him for saying, 'Ladies and Gentlemen'? "No! "He would say more. He has more to say. This is only the beginning. This tall, handsome man has all his music still within him. "Why, then, does he say no more? Why does he say 'Ladies and Gentlemen,' but no more? No more. Only that. No more. Nothing more. No more. ... A tomato shatters itself on the Prince's right eye. An over-ripe tomato. "...Three eggs and a cat sail through the air. Falling short, they drop on to the orchestra. These eggs! This cat! They fall on the conductor and the second trombone. They fall like the gentle dew from Heaven upon the place beneath. That cat! Those eggs!"
The above was actually a satire (written in 1914) but it sounds EXACTLY like what Mr. Miller's writing here.
I agree with you. There is one thing though. I saw (not read) one issue where Crazy Steve and Dick Grayson, age twelve, confront the Green Lantern and to expose his weakness, they paint everything yellow. I found that kind of amusing.
ReplyDeleteAWW YEAH I've been waiting for this one!
ReplyDeleteA wonderful review of a horrible story. I usually have an instinct to try and figure out how a story can be made, in one's head, to make sense, but Crazy Steve is so unappealing, I find it hard to care.
ReplyDeleteThe one exception is the split car incident. I wonder if that was Jim Lee trying to work out how Dick Greyson, Age 12, could emerge unharmed from a car that was just destroyed by the Batmobile. A more realistic crash would have left him dead or severely injured. Or if it didn't, it would've made Mr. Steve seem like an idiot as well as a psychopath, risking killing the boy he desperately wanted to recruit (for platonic but still psychopathic reasons). It still makes no sense, but maybe Lee was trading one absurdity for another.
Is the Crazy Steve name based on something specific? I looked it up, but though I saw many versions of the Crazy Steve name used for people and characters, the one one that stood out was from a Nickelodeon live action show I'd never heard of before. Was that the origin or was it more personal or, perhaps, random?
Nah, nothing specific - just that he's crazy and that Steve is a very funny name.
ReplyDeleteCrazy Steve= best name for BINO ever. Also Miller Time is an AWESOME idea.
ReplyDelete-kayla
I admit I only watch the Sin City movie but...Why does this comic give me the impression Frank Miller was merely patched together ideas not used in Sin City and simply replaced the characters' names?
ReplyDeletei think im gonna really enjoy this miller time
ReplyDeletehahah great review!
ReplyDeleteI always find it funny when you review the bad batman books ,
Hope to see more sometime!
take care linkara =D
I had to stop the video when the Christian Bale montage started. I totally cracked up on that one, although I have no problems with the Batman voice.
ReplyDeleteDear lord, hard to belief that this was written by the author of "The Dark Knight returns".
I'm really looking forward to the next Miller time (BTW. Miller time still reminds me of Venkmans quote from Ghostbusters after they neutronized the female Gozer, right before she returns as Stay Puft)
ugh its a shame this book has four or five stars on amazon.com
ReplyDeleteHooray! I've been looking forward to this one being made into a video.
ReplyDelete-I wish that they'd gotten someone a little less, you know, completely rat-crazy to write this. It could have been really cool. Why couldn't they get... I dunno... Paul Dini, or someone like that? Anybody but rat-crazy Miller.
-AUGH! I'd ALMOST managed to completely forget Sin City Part Two, and you brought it back up. *fist shake!* I refuse to dignify it by calling it "The Spirit," because it's NOT!
-THE FREAKIN' SEXISM. It's part of what I despise most about Frank Miller's works. Thank you, Linkara, you wonderful, wonderful fellow, for openly denouncing the sexism, instead of praising it or letting it slip past without words.
-Things that Frank Miller has taught me about writing #1: More swearing makes things more edgy and EXTREEEEEME! (*facepalm* Urgh.)
-#2: Everybody in the world talks like a Humphrey Bogart movie and has a noir haiku monologue going on in their heads at any moment of the day.
-#3: And if they're not having a noir haiku monologue, they're Torgoizing.
-I've always wondered: What's up with the Bat-stubble in this comic?
-Crazy Steve is not only enormously crazy, he's also enormously creepy. HOW DOES THIS TRANSLATE INTO BEING A GOOD, PURE HERO? WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN-- Heroes shouldn't be creepy. It kind of hinders the idea of "I'm gonna help people!"
Anyway, your review was brilliant as usual. Keep up the good work!
Love the review, though I'm kind of confused you used the name "Crazy Steve." There's a guy called Crazy Steve on Drake and Josh and he's all sorts of Crazy Awesome and that hobo calling himself Batman could never in his lifetime ever come close to matching his awesome.
ReplyDeleteYou've got your sights set on Millers less than stellar work? Going as far as to take Strikes again apart in the near future...
ReplyDeleteWell I was willing to defend the guy, until I saw the Sprit. Then I thought he can't direct a movie for spit. Now that I've seen your review of this festering carbuncle latched on the side of Batman's mythos I have to ask what was he (Miller) thinking.
I mean there has always been a certain overtone with batman's relation with Dick but my god. I think the only reason Vale was in the comic was to hook heterosexual males.
great work and looking forward to more... Maybe a movie review?
I'd been eagerly awaiting this review, and it did NOT disappoint. And I'm definitely looking forward to seeing you rip into "The Dark Knight Strikes Again".
ReplyDeleteHah, it's kind of funny, I just read the text reviews of ASBAR yesterday, and was wondering if you were ever going to make them into video reviews.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely looking forward for more Miller time.
WOOT! SHORTPACKED REFERENCES!
ReplyDeleteWow. You were not kidding about Schumacher's films compared to this.
ReplyDeleteGah just hearing the dialogue is pretty painful, I can't even imagine how it must feel to even read that book.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree that Frank Miller is terribly overrated. What bugs me the most about him, however, is his decision to depict the Persian antagonists in his "300" as black? Persia is not in Africa, so why make the Persians look African if not to make them look like his idea of "evil"?
ReplyDeleteThe script on Vicki Vale's titilating appereance... Makes most men in the world look very decent when you compare them to... that... I was traumatized. By the script. By the goddamn script.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering if the Joker is gonna make an appearance in this series.
ReplyDeleteWonder what Miller would do about him?
"Somewhere, Bob Kane and Bill Finger are weeping."
ReplyDeleteI'd say they were doing that with DARK KNIGHT RETURNS and YEAR ONE already, but thank, thank, THANK you for giving Finger his props as Batman's co-creator. So many fans are quick to belittle and/or disregard his work (usually to pimp Miller as Batman's "real" creator), and the fantastic work he did make Batman such a special character gets nothing but neglect, hatred, or both. So kudos for reminding everyone who really made the Bat the icon he is.
It's worth noting that Lee is the second Image artist whose fine work got wasted on an awful Batman story by Miller. Todd McFarlane also wasted his considerable talent on another Miller stinker, SPAWN BATMAN. But at least that trash was just one issue long, whereas this is drawn-out agony at its worst.
Uh...excuse my noob-ness when it comes to comics, but who's Vicki Vale? I don't remember her from the original animated series (unless she was in an episode I missed) and I don't remember her being even mentioned in the Arkham Asylum game, and that provided quite a bit of info on the series provided you did the sidequests.
ReplyDeleteWhere did you find the script? Curious
ReplyDelete...did you noticr that at one point in the review you refered yourself by your ACTUAL name (Louis Lovhaug)? Just saying.
ReplyDeleteWhat, you didn't call him "Hooded Idiot" as opposed to Superman: At Earth's End's "Bearded Idiot?"
ReplyDeleteExcellent review, as always.
Several things kept me from picking up this series...
ReplyDeleteIncluding the writing, the introduction of Wonder Woman really peeved me. Although the encounter with Green Lantern gave me a chuckle, especially the jab to the throat. Aww yeah! The comics suck, but I still get a laugh out of "GD Batman!"
Are you leaving the comics at that or will you also show the craziness from the further issues? And if not would you show some general moments of crap such as Wonder Woman and Green Lantern?
I gotta completely disagree with you, Linkara.
ReplyDeleteJim Lee sucks.
Great review! I can't wait to see you review the rest of Crazy Steve and Robin.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that I liked Sin City, and I agree that the morals of Sin City "heroes" should not be applied to Batman, ever.
I think Crazy Steve should team up with Bearded Idiot. They could form "World's Stupidest!" :D
ReplyDeleteThis was a fantastic review. I'd read the text one before, so I already knew that I was in for a good time when I saw these issues come up!
ReplyDeleteAlso, Linkara, your Batman voice sounds remarkably like Nathan Explosion from Metalocalypse. You'd get away with mimicking him, should you ever review the Metalocalypse comic. There's only one issue, as far as I know, but then again, it's good, and very faithful to the series in its delivery, so I guess it's not review-worthy after all. :-P
Guess I get to the be the one person who didn't like this review. Fun.
ReplyDeleteOkay first off I want to say I respect your opinion if you don't like this book.
Though I love this comic, it's one of my all time favorite series' out there. Granted it needs to come out. But you get the point. I like it a lot. It's fun, it's crazy, it's over the top and it's a lot of fun.
This is a young brash and inexperienced Batman that isn't the refined warrior he would become as the years go on. He's overly violent and hasn't fully disciplined himself. I'm not making excuses, it's how I see the story was meant to be told and how Miller meant to tell it.
Also you do a lot of nitpicking here on things that never bugged me, like why Dick didn't have safety net under him.
I do agree that Miller's narration had some annoying moments.
But all in all, if you don't like All Star Batman I have no problem with that, and you do make some valid points, but in the long run I don't think it's anywhere near as awful as you paint it and it seems to be something totally of opinion, rather then other comics like Youngblood that are definitely awful.
"I gotta completely disagree with you, Linkara.
ReplyDeleteJim Lee sucks."
Okay.
...Why?
I read this from the library a month ago. For some reason I thought Grant Morrison was the writer (probably because I had already read All Star Superman) and I couldn't figure out why Morrison was doing a bad Frank Miller pastiche. When I finally realized that Frank Miller was writing bad Frank Miller, it suddenly became much funnier.
ReplyDeleteThe comic treats the character of Batman brutally. It treats him brutally. It was Brutal.
ReplyDeleteWas Millar trying to write this as a serious book or was he going for a parody?
ReplyDeleteAww man. I was hoping to see Clark Kent crushing the milk carton with Dick's picture on it.
ReplyDelete"Who the hell do you think I am? When people talk of Gotham's heroes, they are referring to me their awesome leader! Lord Batman!!"
ReplyDeleteYou forgot that Batman fought countless knife, gun and electric baton wielding thug, several mutants, an enhanced Bane, Scarecrow's fear gas, Harley Quinn, the Joker, Poison Ivy, giant plants, Killer Croc, a mutant Joker, and solved all of the Riddler's manyfold riddles. All in the same night.
Man, Batman: Arkham Asylum was an awesome game. Unlike this crap! And that whole repeating thing reminds me of something....
*GACK*
Hey? Who turned out the lights?
Hey? Who turned out the lights?
Hey? Who turned out the lights?
Hey? Who turned out the lights?
P.S. You know what else this repetitive Torgo-Speak reminds me of?
ReplyDeleteSuperdictionary.
Ah! I was wondering when you'd get around to reviewing this particular pile of excrement.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely cannot believe that the dialogue and narration featured here actually exist.
I wonder if Crazy Steve and Bearded Idiot ever met?
Liked the review, but Linkara, I caught you saying "and viki could care less".
ReplyDeleteThe saying is "couldn't care less". This is an important distinction to make, since "couldn't care less" means "is unable to care less", whereas "could care less" is the opposite of this. People who care a great deal could care less.
Remember, poor literacy is kewl!
@EcchiOtaku: Vicky Vale is a journalist and an important charakter within the whole Batmanstory.
ReplyDeleteI would recommend watching the Movie "Batman" from 1989, directed by Tim Burton. There she is, played by Kim Basinger, in full detail.
I actually think that Miller wrote this as a self-parody. Well, maybe I'm giving too much credit to hi and it's a Parody Retcon.
ReplyDeleteAs a long time watcher i was rather disappointed by this review. Sure you point out the laughable and repetive dialogue but it seems you miss alot of points from Miller's TDK universe and the most important fact about Batman and Humans: We change.
ReplyDeleteIn Year One we have a novice vigilante whos highly optimistic about his crusade. How do you think a man would be effected after 2-3 years (i can't recall was All Star Batman on his 2nd or 3rd year, i guess 3rd?) fightning lunatics such as the Joker and who else. Not to mention the *main* reason Batman became Batman was because he didn't believe in the justice system & the fact Gotham _has_ corrupted cops, hence he *fought* them, but you seem to find this totally non-Batman? It also seems you completely ignore Jim Gordon who does appear later in this serie and even *helps* Batman, why? Because he *isn't* one of the corrupted cops.
My main factor with all the critism on All-Star Batman, and thus disappointed you got the masses Linkara is that people forget that people *change*. This Batman's gone near insane and his behaviour to Richard Grayson surely explains his fate of who he becames in TDKSA, surely doesn't it? Sure now we go to the problem how All-Star Batman ended up being Miller-universe instead of something like "Ultimate Batman", but this is why you should acknowledge this is in the Miller universe. Not trying to modernize the mainstream comic story. Infact i guess we could agree Morrison's take on Batman has pretty much ultimized him since Morrison made Batman's career 15 years long and making loads of Silver Age stuff canon. ^^
Oh well besides all this derailment: disappointing review, i think you we're too harsh on the Miller universe and ignoring some aspects of Batman in the Miller-universe for the sake of complaining about it and fooling the non-comic readers. =/
Miller's take on Batman is not of a being that changes, but rather a psychotic madman who would subject children to eating rats and that kidnapping a boy to lead him into an insane battle against crime is somehow acceptable behavior.
ReplyDeleteThis is not some deep take on the character that Miller has cleverly constructed to match with his other works - this is an example of pretty much every writing flaw that Frank Miller has. In the hands of a good writer, you could probably argue what you're talking about - that Frank is cleverly showing the weakening of Batman's grip on reality as he fights a desperate, losing battle in a harsh and cruel world.
But that's not what we see. In the canon of ASBAR itself, we see a lunatic running around beating up criminals, a skewered time scale, every other hero made to look impotent or flawed as opposed to the awesome manliness of Batman - it's something I'll get into in future Miller Time segments, but the fact is that Frank Miller has written the same characters over and over and over and over. He's a hack and it was finally with this story that people began to stop and realize that the guy's a hack.
Nothing of what you have said is indicated in the book. The only way you're able to derive that from this book is from the filmsy statement of Miller that this is supposed to take place in the same continuity as his Year One and Dark Knight Returns stories. As a story itself it is flawed, porrly written, and just plain bad.
Man, this one really made me laugh out loud. Probably your best so far, Linkara. Crazy Steve and Bearded Idiot combining forces would make the best/worst comic ever! I don't get why you would hate DKSA, maybe cause I haven't read the comic but the premise seems pretty good. With the reviews I saw with it so far, it seems to be either a hate it or love it kind of thing.
ReplyDeleteWow, the sheer number of redundancies in the dialogue is astonishing. Redundant redundancies are redundant. Redundant. Redundant. They are redundant.
ReplyDeleteThe Vicki Vale portions were tremendously awkward to even read. Hearing you read out Miller's dialogue was most uncomfortable to listen to, especially given your championing of feminism and strong female characterisation in comics.
Normally I'm in the crowd who points out the double-standards that occasionally crop up in the "objectifying women" aspect, where the male characters are just as idealised as the females, but that scene with Vale was just inexusable. What woman actually wanders around her apartment in lacey lingerie, without the curtains or blinds drawn?
Miller time sounds interesting: some are obvious choices (Dark Knight Strikes Again, for instance), but a bit of iconoclasm wouldn't go amiss. Could even a sacred cow like 300 be on the cards?
I think it would have helped the book if Miller had given a foreword of his explanations on Batman's behaviour as he did in Amazing Heroes #102. Also here's a good Miller comment: http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=27218 "In his Dark Knight work, Miller has given readers a glimpse into the twilight years of Batman’s career. In Batman: Year One, he’s shared the beginning of the Batman saga. So where does All-Star Batman fall in his Batman time-table? “Year Three. Bats is feeling his oats—very young, maybe acting a little crazy, but he knows exactly what he's doing. He's just a bit sloppier about doing it than he's going to eventually get.”" So yeah there is character progression. With no human contact with him for 3 years now he's gone all crazy steve, and who wouldn't really? While thinking about this book i do now feel this serie should have been called "Miller's Robin the boy wonder" instead of the whole all-star batman and robin. This truly is RObin's origin in Miller's dark universe showing us what Bruce once was. =O Sure it's campy and over the top, but there is still the essence of Batman and his mission.
ReplyDeleteI hope you give good word on #10 which is the best of them all. It's a beatiful character study of Batman wanting to tell his feelings to Catwoman (oh yeah.. and him fucking her in sewers, oh the comedy!) or Gordon's fear for his wife and daughter. I do hope you agree the dialogue on Jim on #10 is good. :) I would also like if you can manage to get comic interview #31 where Miller explains the Batman in TDKR. Heh now that i mention these comics that give the idea about the different Batman personalitys i can see we could blame Miller for the lack of giving somesorts of forewords or whatnot i guess. =p
Oh i definatly agree that Batman does make Supes and others look lame beside him, but it's nearly not as bad as Bruce Timm's Batman fanwankery to show how cool he is every moments he gets. >_<
Tho i don't see how you see the story flawed, but we both agree the writing isn't the top notch here at all, oh and thanks by the way for replying. *thumbs up*
Linkara, man, I'm sorry but this is one of those instances where the review and the opinion of the book are totally up to opinion. I don't think you can definitely say for sure "this comic is awful" like you can with Sultry Teenage Super Foxes (a true example of awful comic writing)because other people can see All Star Batman different. As I said, I love it. And I'll give some examples why.
ReplyDelete.Batman is insane here, and I like that. As another poster and I myself said, this is a younger, brash Batman that hasn't disciplined himself or gotten used to being Batman. He's like an unrefined sword that needs sharpening.
.This is not your regular Batman. It's a different version of Batman, and if he doesn't act exactly like how you want him to act, tough cookies. Ultimate Spider-man doesn't act like 616-verse Spider-man and sometimes he does brash and stupid things too because he's a younger hero.
.Characters are reinvented brilliantly. Case in point, the Joker who appears in #8, he was scary as all hell for me when he showed up. Miller did an awesome job of remaking this character.
See now it's not something you can just say "it sucks" and everyone will nod their head. Some people do like it for legitimate reasons so you can't just call it awful when it's not.
I'm not taking offense because you don't like one of my favorite comics out there. Not at all. I hear a lot of legitimate complaints about All Star Batman and legitimate reasons someone doesn't like it, but this review didn't seem to have many of them and it seems almost that you don't like it just because this isn't the Batman you know.
I will admit the timeline thing is screwy, but even that doesn't really bug me. I guess I just enjoy All Star Batman for the fun ride that it is and just enjoy a good thing rather then nitpick it to death.
Also dude, seems like you yourself just don't like Frank Miller rather then you don't like All Star Batman. I know everything he writes may not be to your tastes, but to call one of the most influential writers in the industry a hack is just wrong. He's a great writer who has inspired many others and I think to call him a hack is just ignoring all his greatness for a few works you don't like.
I guess by the end of this post you'll probably not be signing any shirts for me at cons ;) I'm not trying to come off as mean, I like your videos, but in this case I just can't see where you're coming from on why you dislike All star Batman and Miller so much.
LOL @ Crazy Steve.
ReplyDeleteJudy: beyond thunder squishy :p
ReplyDeleteBrilliant as always, Linkara! I hope Miller Time goes on long enough for you to tear into the rest of All-Star Crazy Steve and Robin, since it arguably just gets worse.
ReplyDeleteAlso, since Crazy Steve has a five-o'clock shadow (which he didn't have when he was Bruce Wayne for some reason), isn't he technically a Bearded Idiot too? Shame the name's taken.
"Okay
ReplyDelete...why?"
AaaaaaaAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGH, don't even get me started, I've got NaNoWriMo to do.
Let me just start out with the specific--his ridiculous way of drawing Batman's cowl as though Bruce's ears are about to explode through the material--and end with the generic--an over-reliance on that "grimfaced" expression (which always looked to me as though the character either just smelt it or dealt it); while he's gotten slightly better about that, he still uses it way too damn much--and round it all out with the cross-hatching.
Dear god, the cross-hatching. It's like the man never met a shadow that was meant to be filled in completely. It's practically compulsive on his end, and inspired too many of his Image comics compatriots. In the 90s, it was hard to find one of those guys who knew what hand-drawn equivalent of the "fill-tool" was for.
And now that I've spent too much time dwelling on his suck, I'm depressed.
i've been waiting for this review!
ReplyDeleteI used to love asbr and defended it, but as i looked back sheesh what a crappy comic, the art is fantastic,but the writing, I mean year one is like my favorite batman book. look forward to dk2 review!
oh and all star superman is one best stories I've ever read
The way I've grown to see it is that the Robin character is a tangible representation of Batman's relationship to Gotham City. The real Batman wants to protect Robin but also train him so he can follow in his footsteps and become a hero himself. That's exactly what he wants for Gotham City: to protect it until it no longer needs him. His relationship with his city is almost parental, and he expresses it through the boys he adopts.
ReplyDeleteMiller forgets all this because Crazy Steve, as you rightfully dub him, actually hates Gotham City, has total contempt for it. He wants to control it his own way, and doesn't want help, from the cops or anyone. Hence his relationship to Robin is just as abusive as his relationship to the City. Robin is part of his "mission," his "war," not someone for him to raise and care for.
Small wonder, really; look at The Dark Knight Strikes Again, which concludes with the super heroes determining that they can't trust us lousy little peons to rule ourselves and stand on our feet; we need to be ruled by a totalitarian force. I hate to point out the similarities to Frank Miller's far-right-to-the-point-of-fascism politics, but they're pretty blatant. "Heroism" to Miller is no longer protecting the weak and bringing out the best in all of us; it's about crushing the bad guys by whatever means necessary and ruling over the weak.
You can talk about character development etc., but this is really Miller completely re-imagining Batman into a killer, a dictator, someone he was never meant to be. There's "darker and edgier," and then there's character derailment. This is the latter.
"The House of C.R.P"'s comment reminded me, Lewis have you played Arkham Asylum?
ReplyDeleteBravo Lewis! Bravo!
ReplyDeleteSome of the best, if not THE BEST commentary on Miller's sub-par writing. I'm also surprised that you didn't comment on how fast Bruce's facial hair grew from the time he was in the circus tent to outside killing the shooter.
Truthfully I'd rather read Crazy Steve Adventures over ASBAR any day of the week.
I look forward to more!
- R
Man, Miller sucks.
ReplyDeleteThe sad part is, like Rob Liefeld, some people actually like the unmitigated dreck he spews all over the page, and so he keeps getting work.
And really, I can see ASCSADGAT (All-Star Crazy Steve and Dick Grayson, Age Twelve) being in the same universe as Miller's other Batman books. Because they're all equally horrible, for the exact same reasons. Okay, maybe I'm being a bit harsh, here. Year One wasn't all bad. It was just mostly bad. In fact, if someone else had scripted it, and Catwoman had been removed entirely, it would actually have been fairly good. As evidence, I cite Batman Begins, which pretty much is exactly that.
I'm glad you're gonna do Strikes Again, because it was the worst comic I'd ever read until I read Countdown. But, I think perhaps you should also do a bit on Returns. I know, everybody says it was a masterpiece, a seminal work in the history of comic bookery, on par with Watchmen. But it's shit. If Watchmen came out today, it would be just as amazing, if a bit dated. If Dark Knight Returns came out today...well, it would be ASCSADGAT. A portrayal of Batman as an insane, murderous psychopath hell-bent on the destruction of all he doesn't like is groundbreaking in an age when Green Lantern is using giant green boxing gloves unironically (and, honestly, what Miller's Batman doesn't like just happens to coincide with society's views on what should and shouldn't be fought; if the same character were waging a war on tennis shoes, he'd be a weirdo villain instead of a superhero). In modern times, it's just a badly-written book that treats a beloved superhero about as non-heroically as possible.
Remember: there was a time when Rob Liefeld's "art" was considered groundbreaking.
tl;dr: Awesometastic vid, yo! Miller's comic books are terrible, and always have been. You should totally keep tearing them apart.
Haha! Great review Linkara! I actually didn't know where that meme came from...well, now I know.
ReplyDeleteWell, now I know.
...now I know...
well...now I know.
For me, the omen that this series was going to flop came before it was published, when we just had the solicitations of the covers; Dick Grayson back in the green panties. Since this was billed as an Ultimate-style reinvention ( and the Ultimate books at Marvel took full license to revamp character looks, such as the awesome Iron Man redesign by Bryan Hitch ), there had to be a reason that Dick was in panties. Either it was going to be super light-hearted nostalgia, or NAMBLA Batman. Since Frank Miller was writing...well, the rest is history.
ReplyDeleteCRAZY STEVE! Ha! I have a friend name Steve and we always think up nicknames like that for him. This just made my day. I gotta show him this review.
ReplyDeleteIts a shame we won't get a sequel series to All-Star Superman.
ReplyDeleteAs for this...I may be way out line here but when Frank Miller said this is in continuity with the "The Dark Knight Returns" universe...he was lying. I honestly believe he said that just so people would buy the da** thing.
Also I love how Frank makes Crazy Steve break his "one rule" in issue #2. I mean seriously. :/
Also, what do you think about Runaways? I bought volume 2 and I honestly don't get the appeal (same goes for The Walking Dead).
Anyway, I'm a fan of Batman and he isn't Batman.
He isn't Batman, simple as that. Even Frank Miller realized halfway that the series was doomed. Also, an All-Star Superman sequel series would be awesome.
ReplyDeleteAlso, will you be doing any videos about The Incredible Hulk or Runaways in the future?
Oh! And I got your reference to "Bruce Wayne: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D" reference there. XP
ReplyDeleteFrank's run on DD was very good IMO. I don't think he's as bad as you make him out to be. He's literally insane to the bone yes, but he has some fair work at least. And Seriously Linkara, THANK YOU for mentioning Grant's "All star superman" I've been patiently waiting for someone other than Blair Butler to praise it ^_^
ReplyDelete(28:16) A razorblade stuck between his teeth, eh? Looks more like a telephone cord if you ask me...
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised you didn't point out the fact that Batman and Robin were driving in the Batmobile for the entire issue.
ReplyDeleteI'll admit first that I'm a Frank Miller fan. I loved his stuff on Daredevil, Dark Knight, and Sin City. Heck, I even enjoyed his take on The Spirit which everyone else seemed to hate.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, All Star Batman has been one of the most bizarre and befuddling reads in a while. With that said however, it is one of the more entertaining books to read in my opinion. I enjoy it not as an "ultimate" Batman tale but more like a parody. I mean there is no way to take this book seriously! It's got to be a joke, right?
I have an excellent way they can end this series as a matter of fact. In the final issue, Batman breaks the fourth wall and looks out into the audience and wonders what's going on? Why is he acting like this and who's making him talk like this? Surely his recent behavior betrays that something is wrong.
We then pull back and see that The Joker managed to get a job at DC comics and has been the one writing the comic like this all along in an attempt to make Batman look like an idiot - kind of like in those Bugs Bunny / Daffy Duck cartoons.
What do you think?
Wow! You really got something of your chest there, didn't you Lewis?
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read issue 1-5 of this, I didn't thought it was that bad, but that was a few years ago before I read your written reviews. I can understand what they were trying to do with the series but it's really quite a pain sometime. I like "ultimate Spider-Man", because it still feels like Spider-Man. Crazy Steve on the other had...
I also laughed out loud when I heard your idea for Miller Time. While I really liked (most of) Sin City, Year One and Dark Knight strikes back, some of his other stuff really freaked me out. DK2 started off interesting, but got really weird, really fast. Maybe I'm just too used to the DCAU stuff, to live with Bruce getting all, pardon the pun, bat shit crazy.
A few weeks ago I reread "the Man without fear", Millers retelling of the Daredevil Origin story, which, in itself, is pretty good, though you can already see the stuff that would become standard for Frank.
2 years ago I tried to read "Ronin". I'd love to see you take on that one.
And one last thing: I love Jim Lee's artwork. "Hush" is my favourite Batman Comic (which, if I think about it, might very well be enough for most readers to ignore anything else I said. ^^).In my humble opinion, that man should do a lot more Batman comics, but then again, maybe it would loose its appeal.
Looking forward to the rest, at least this way I won't need to read it. XD
This is not Batman I don't know who the funk this is supposed to be.
ReplyDeleteYes! Linkara finally review a comic I've read.
ReplyDeleteToo bad you aren't going to get to the later issues. Batman telling Robin to eat rats, Black Canary beings a slutty Irish bartender who beats up her patrons and makes out with Batman in the rain... oh the comedy.
On an unrelated note, someone else here mentioned Runaways. I suppose if you ever review a comic from Runaways Vol 3, it would be a dream come true.
AS I read people adamantly defending the portrayal of Batman here, I can see that maybe you might like his "Crazy Steve" incarnation - but you can't defend the writing for this. The script is awful. The constant repetition of lines, the bizarre choice of metaphors - it can't be defended by anything other than the occasionally-offered theories that Frank Miller is 1) doing a parody of himself or 2) trying hard as hell to get out of doing this project by making it suck.
ReplyDeleteI agree with 日本文化のマニアック: it's one thing to defend the reinterpretation of Batman as a sociopathic lunatic, that's at least defensible via the "DC Ultimates" explanation.
ReplyDeleteBut what about the constant repetition? The needless and pointless exploitation? The frequent lapses in logic (such as how Robin could see the killer despite looking the opposite direction) and continuity within the exact issue (how could he wonder who killed his parents, when he claimed to see the killer earlier on the issue)? Heck, even if you accept it as working within the Year 1/DKR universe, how does one explain the continuity problems in that, like the aforementioned police corruption thread?
BTW, MC Tanuki, I do believe there's a world of difference between the Batman of DKR and Crazy Steve Here. One of the primary reasons is that, in a way, it isn't meant to be the young, healthy Batman we all know and love: he's an older, disgruntled, angry Batman, frustrated at what the ravages of time and crime-fighting have done to his old, battered body. I also note that while DKR Bats is obviously a bit mad, he's nowhere near as certifiable as Crazy Steve.
Accidentally rejected Green Ninja's post. Here it was:
ReplyDelete"I liked DK1. The old Batman was cool then, but he went insane in DK2. It's so different to the Bruce Wayne from Batman Beyond.
Man, I wish there was a way to combine Jim Lee's art with Kevin Conroy's voice. ^_^ "
So I was talkingtalking
ReplyDeleteto Deadpool artist Shawn Crystal and he mentioned that US-1 will be making a reappearance in the Marvel universe.
"I don't want people thinking you're like that nut in Gotham City."
ReplyDeleteHa ha ha! That was great.
But still, wow. Those comics were horrible. I'm going to admit right now that I own Year One and I kind of liked it. It was a different take on Batman and that was okay.
But this? This is monstrous. This is insane. This is not Batman.
I'm just going to add Frank Miller to the list of people who get jobs writing specific comic books for no discernible reason. Like Joss Whedon.
Step away from the X-Men, Joss.
As for Batman done really well? I'd have to bring up the episode of Justice League Unlimited that directly tied the series to Batman Beyond.
Two scenes in particular:
The one where Batman; instead of killing a dying, telepathic little girl who could potentially wipe out a lot of people, sat with her until the end came.
And the one where Amanda Waller, despite spending a great deal of time at odds with the Justice League, admitted to Terry McGinnis that nobody cared about their fellow man as much as Bruce Wayne and a world without Batman was "intolerable".
That is how you write Batman. Accept no substitutes.
Nice review, Linkara. I can't wait to see you review more of the apparently coninuing adventures of All Star Crazy Steve and Dick Greyson, Age Twelve.
ReplyDeleteSo mr Miller can't write women without making them into whores? But, wait, when he wrote Wonder Woman, didn't he write her as a compleate man-hating ultra straw-femenist who just randomly made-out with Superman... I forgot the point I was trying to make there.
Okay, I think I see what Miller was trying to do with this. Judging from these first two issues, it seems that he was sorta setting up an arc where young, angry, anti-heroic (and slightly stupid) Batman grows, through his adoption of Dick Grayson, into a wiser, more mature figure that can balance his demons and perhaps transcend them. Theoretically, it's a pretty good story. Morrison did something like it in Arkham Asylum: ASHOSE, though he cloaked it in so much mystic symbolism that you can barely tell what the hell was going on. The problem here, sadly, is that Miller doesn't seem to be able to tell the difference between a character who's undisciplined and arrogant, yet has qualities worth saving, and a total prick for whom the universe bends over backwards to placate. (For future reference, I have decided to refer to this as "Kirk09 Syndrome.")
ReplyDeleteOh, and the hyper-noir narration has to go. Criminey, this makes Max Payne look restrained.
Wow, one hell of a birthday present for me indeed, to see an awesome and downright hilarious review!
ReplyDeleteSo until the next Miller time, MAKE MINE LINKARA!
This is one of those comics I want to like because of the art, but can't because of the story.
ReplyDeleteMan. I liked Year One.
You barely touched thet things that made this comic bad, you mostly just talked about hw it touched upon taboo topics, and the fact that is not the same batman as always, wich I found pretty weak. you could have talked about the future telling carton of milk, or Black Cannary going shitless for no reason.
ReplyDeleteI really find your complains about sexism in Miller comics very hipocrital, sure there are prostitutes in SIn CIty, but agaian is SIN city, not only there are whores there, the male characters go from pill addicted psychopaths to corrupts police officers and mafia mobsters, so Why would it be sexism against women? In to hell and Back, Esther is the main female and she is an actress who upon finding impossible to live in Sin CIty decently and due to lack of money making it impossible to get out of the hell hole tried to commit suicide but eneded up being rescued by Wallace.
It's true that Frank Miller completely lost his mind after finishing Sin City, I found your complains about Spirit very poor, even though the movie is really bad you only seem to think so because of the taboo. not to mention that I read yor complains about 300 being historical inaccrate and misognistic, the fact that the Spartans are naked in the book should give you a hint that the story is suppossed to be told by a unreliable narrator that wanted to make it look more heroic and macho to inspire his fellow spartans to get in to battle, so the story is mostly biased on the ideals of such narrator.
I expect your next review of this comcis to be better. but again who am I? just an anonymous vocie on the internet.
Notice how Bruce magically grows about an inch of facial hair when he turns into Batman.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been able to watch the last couple of videos because they've been lagging ridiclously badly. It starts off ok, but i watched this one to the 8 minute mark, and found myself looking at images you had described a whole minute before. It makes them impossible to view, which sucks cos i really like your stuff. I think it could be because of the new widescreen format, since i never had ths problem before, but it's really frustrating.
ReplyDelete"Notice how Bruce magically grows about an inch of facial hair when he turns into Batman."
ReplyDeleteActually, I didn't. But it's quite hilarious now that you mention it. :D
Juan, while I can't claim to have read Sin City (and have no particularly strong desire to) I can tell you that the storyline you describe about the actress does not depict a strong female character. In fact, everything I've heard about Sin City indicates that all the women are Damsels In Distress, which is never a popular idea to bust out when surrounded by feminists.
ReplyDeleteAs for your claim that there isn't any sexism, you didn't seem to quite understand what Linkara was getting mad at. It wasn't that they wore skimpy clothing, it was that they wore skimpy clothing simply so that the male readers could get off on it and as a selling point.
Furthermore, Miller's depiction of women as whores who care only about sex is tremendously offensive. While I have no issue with having your heroine be a prostitute, treating established female characters the way he treated Vicki Vale is inexcusable and disgusting and his notes to Jim Lee in the script are equally degrading.
Finally, while there is sexism against men in comics and, alas, real life, most of that sexism springs from double standards, not laws or payment issues. What you described was an archetype used. Unlike the damsel in distress archetype, it wasn't an immediately insulting archetype to human beings in general or men in particular, which a damsel in distress can sometimes be.
so beig a damissel in distress is more offensive than being a pill adicted psichopat? and only when the women are depicted with skimpy outfits for fan service is sexist, but the male superheroes wearing tighs that don't let nothing to the imgination isn't? you know not only heterosexual males read comics.
ReplyDeleteAnd what abotu Watchmen? Linkara seems to ignore that SIlk Spectre's outfit was pretty much a babydoll, which she wore for like half of the story.
and you yourself said haven't read sin city Freya so you pretty much are getting to conclussions without checking it before.
If a writer uses a female character as the person to save is sexist just because is a woman the one to rescue, how so? Miho (a female character form sin city) is able to kick and cut asses of people double the sze of her.
and again is SIN city, not political correct city, or the family friendly city, or the Whore-free city, it has more things than whores, but because there is one negative depiction of a selected group of women it beats the whole "men screw this city up" and the various mentally unstable characters that go on killing sprees at the drop of a hat. Double standards, what would be life without them?
This was the funniest review to date. I've just gotten into American comics thanks to your show, so I knew absolutely nothing about any of the All-Star series, or about the "Goddamn Batman" beyond seeing it pop up in some sigs on DeviantART. I've been waiting for this review ever since watching the Top 15 WTF Moments a few weeks ago. You didn't disappoint.
ReplyDeleteNow, a question: What video software do you use for your special effects like the Magic Gun and stuff? (Apologies if you get asked this a lot. I skimmed a tonnage of comments looking for someone else who asked this question, but couldn't find one. Maybe *I* need new glasses.)
That script is bad. But it's still not the worst script I've ever read (Mark Millar's script for Kick-Ass #2, at last the part they put in the issue has to be some kind of joke if you ask me.)
ReplyDelete"Furthermore, Miller's depiction of women as whores who care only about sex is tremendously offensive. While I have no issue with having your heroine be a prostitute, treating established female characters the way he treated Vicki Vale is inexcusable and disgusting and his notes to Jim Lee in the script are equally degrading."
ReplyDeleteMiller's treatment of Catwoman is even worse. In DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, she's an obese, pink-haired, easily victimized madam. Then in YEAR ONE, she's a buzz-cut hooker who becomes Catwoman because she wants a piece of Batman's press (and according to then-DC editor Bob Greenberger, was supposed to be having a lesbian romance with Holly Robinson). In Miller's world, Catwoman has been, always will be, and never will be anything other than, a hooker. Given how iconic Catwoman is, Miller's treatment of her is beyond degrading. I'd argue that, plus his turning Karen Page into a junkie porn star in DAREDEVIL, was what really solidified that Miller either can't or won't write women as anything other than whores, harpies, and bimbos.
Loved the review Linkara. Love all of your reviews. I'd love to see your take on my current favorite guilty pleasure, X-Men Forever. I love it, regardless of what some feel about it. The X-Men actually feel like the X-Men I read when I was a young man.
ReplyDeleteThat said, wow.... glad I avoided All Star Batman & Robin and All Star Superman. I was originally going to get them, when it was rumored they'd be like Marvel's Ultimate line. But owww... that was just painful. People may complain about the series, but the current Batman: Brave and the Bold cartoon respects Batman more as a character than this trash.
As you're so fond of saying.... "This Comic Sucks!"
Keep up the good work.
Juan said:
ReplyDelete"you could have talked about the future telling carton of milk, or Black Cannary going shitless for no reason."
That's because that hasn't happened yet. These are only issues #1 and 2. He's going to come back and do the later issues, where that insanity comes in, in another episode.
And yes, the portrayal of women in Sin City is pretty sexist, but I buy it as neo-noir, since they reflect heavily the female characters of the old film noir type. But that's the thing - it doesn't belong elsewhere. What happens in Sin City should stay in Sin City. Letting it spill over into Batman? Not a good idea.
I am not defending this comic, this thing is bad, I am just expressing my opinions on his missaimed criticism at Miller's earlier work because it isn't all about being politicaly correct.
ReplyDeleteThis two numbers aren't that bad in comparisson to the next ones.
"so beig a damissel in distress is more offensive than being a pill adicted psichopat? and only when the women are depicted with skimpy outfits for fan service is sexist, but the male superheroes wearing tighs that don't let nothing to the imgination isn't? you know not only heterosexual males read comics."
ReplyDeleteAs I said in the episode, they ain't drawn to tittilate to the female readers or even the gay male readers. Not to mention wearing tights itself is a genre convention. If you'll recall 22 Brides #1, towels do no work like form-fitting spandex.
"And what abotu Watchmen? Linkara seems to ignore that SIlk Spectre's outfit was pretty much a babydoll, which she wore for like half of the story.
and you yourself said haven't read sin city Freya so you pretty much are getting to conclussions without checking it before."
That's because THAT WAS THE FREAKING POINT OF HER OUTFIT. Alan Moore was giving commentary on the treatment of female superheroines - that they were heavily sexualized, both in their costumes and their depictions.
"and again is SIN city, not political correct city, or the family friendly city, or the Whore-free city, it has more things than whores, but because there is one negative depiction of a selected group of women it beats the whole "men screw this city up" and the various mentally unstable characters that go on killing sprees at the drop of a hat. Double standards, what would be life without them?"
Going by just the movie here, let's list off the women who are in Sin City:
-Goldie, who gets killed after having sex with Marv and serves as the woman in refrigerator to start the story. Okay, fair enough.
-Marv's lesbian cop buddy... who we first see after she's had sex with her girlfriend.
-Goldie's sister Wendy, who really doesn't serve much purpose in the story other than to provide exposition and then later sleep with Marv.
-Shellie, a damsel in distress.
-Miho, Becky, and Gail - prostitutes, who do indeed kick ass, though Becky is in fact a traitor.
-Nancy, a stripper and damsel in distress.
Other than the ass-kicking prostitutes (who need the assistance of a man to help them, partially giving them damsel-in-distress credits) all of the female characters are about sex in one way or another.
"and again is SIN city, not political correct city, or the family friendly city, or the Whore-free city, it has more things than whores, but because there is one negative depiction of a selected group of women it beats the whole "men screw this city up" and the various mentally unstable characters that go on killing sprees at the drop of a hat. Double standards, what would be life without them?"
More like an indication that Frank Miller can't write anything beyond that. When he tries, he ends up looking like a complete moron especially when he falls back into old habits.
"am not defending this comic, this thing is bad, I am just expressing my opinions on his missaimed criticism at Miller's earlier work because it isn't all about being politicaly correct.
This two numbers aren't that bad in comparisson to the next ones. "
You'll notice none of us mentioned political correctness until you brought it up. We just think it's crap.
And these two issues are certainly crap. And yeah, it does get worse, but it doesn't make these two any better, it's just some are sucky and some are REALLY sucky.
"so beig a damissel in distress is more offensive than being a pill adicted psichopat? and only when the women are depicted with skimpy outfits for fan service is sexist, but the male superheroes wearing tighs that don't let nothing to the imgination isn't? you know not only heterosexual males read comics."
ReplyDeleteI don't think that's what Linkara was getting at: what Linkara (and other people) have a problem with is when Vickie is, basically, strutting around the apartment in lingerie for... no reason. The equivalent would be Bruce Wayne dancing in his y-fronts to "Do the Hustle" while he talks to Alfred. Yet, of course, that never happens.
Of course, heterosexual males aren't the only comic readers, but they're the great majority. To my mind, depicting Vickie as he does is not just offensive to girls, but to lads as well. It implies that we males are so sex-addled that we can't pay attention to a comic unless it has undressed girls in it.
Oddly enough, science(!) has proven that women in bikinis impede cognitive processes in the straight male brain. So every time a near-naked woman is depicted in the comic, it's scientifically proven that you are actually getting a bit stupider. Perhaps that's why poor comics rely on them so much: it warps a teen's brain so much they fail to fully appreciate how truly bad it is.
I'm starting to see how interconnected the fanbase is here, Linkara.
ReplyDeleteI've been boycotting Marvel for some time since they started suing their fans for reasons that can best be described as "acid trip induced".
However, out of deference to Chris Claremont (I got into comics with Classic X-Men), I started buying X-Men Forever like CBRBeast. It feels like old-style X-Men, though it does have jaw-droppingly bizarre plot devices in it.
Also, when I was on Xbox Live last night, I was talking to a friend and when the discussion turned to comic books, he started to bring you up and I'm like "Linkara!"
We ended up discussing your reviews and Spoony's reviews (as well as Nostalgia Critic's reviews) for awhile.
Who knows? You might end up with an Atop the Fourth Wall convention some day.
Hey lewis, was Miller trying to create a serious story or a parody of a Batman story. Because I'm confuse, the people who are fans of his work say this is parody, the others half who aren't fans of his work say it was trying to be a serious book, so which is it?
ReplyDeleteWell, if this really IS intended as a parody as spiderman1989 suggests (btw. it's spider-Man, with a -, just a heads up ;) ) then Frank Miller hasn't written anything except parodies since he finished Sin City. All-Star Crazy Steve might be on top of the pile, but he's been writing like this for quite some now.
ReplyDeleteHey, maybe he's trying that whole "commentary on the evolvement of comic book heroes" like Moore did with Watchmen. ^-^
Sin City, at last the stories that were adaptated into the movie is not as sexist like the rest of it - I'd once read tho short stories from later issues (I'm not sure if I remember their titles correctly) - "Blue Eyed" and "Daddy's Girl". Those two, especially "Daddy's Girl" are even worse.
ReplyDeleteLevis, I would like to aks what do you think about Miller's Daredevil. I'd heard it's very good, possibly the best thing he ever wrote. And I liked "Born Again", despite all what happened to Karen Page there.
" (btw. it's spider-Man, with a -, just a heads up ;) )"
ReplyDeleteNo, no, see, it's his name: Spiderman. Irving Spiderman, actually. Totally unrelated.
Heh. Love the Sonic reference.
ReplyDeleteWow what an awful comic... As you said, great art, but garbage dialouge...
Ok when I first read this I loved it. Not because I thought it was good, because I thought it was hilarious. Oh and the artwork is awesome. However from day one i viewed it as a parody. I'm not sure if that's what Miller had intended, but to me it's the funniest comic book ever. I mean for God sakes Batman kidnaps Dick Grayson, poisons a murderer, and goes on a cop killing rampage while flying a car. That's freaking hysterical, but yeah your review does make some great points on why the comic isn't that good. However I will always argue that it is a comedy, whether or not that was Frank Miller's original intention.
ReplyDelete"I'm wondering if the Joker is gonna make an appearance in this series.
ReplyDeleteWonder what Miller would do about him?"
He better not. I'll kill something.
""I'm wondering if the Joker is gonna make an appearance in this series.
ReplyDeleteWonder what Miller would do about him?"
He better not. I'll kill something."
He already has.
""I'm wondering if the Joker is gonna make an appearance in this series.
ReplyDeleteWonder what Miller would do about him?"
He better not. I'll kill something."
He already has."
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooo
look, we all know that batman does well with a noir vibe, but that is because of his morals. He's something along the lines of Chandler's detective: Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. He is the hero, he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor, by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world."--"The Simple Art of Murder"
instead, we get this throwback to the Dark Age
...Hold on... I just realized the hidden meaning to your Sega joke. Crazy Steve says bats love his sonics. You mentioned that you were partial to Knuckles. Rouge the Bat from Sonic Adventure 2 likes to flirt with Knuckles. So... that should mean bats should love Crazy Steve's knuckles? I dunno. I just found the joke funnier once I threw Rouge in there.
ReplyDeleteLOL nice vid.
ReplyDeleteI don't really mind the sexism. She's hot so who cares Am I right?
um.... no
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's a definite Negativo, there, tj.
ReplyDeleteyou know when i went to one of my regular book store i actually found a graphic novel of all 10 issue of Crazy Steve and robian all-star.i looked in it and i asw crazy steve putting dick grayson age 12 in the batcave to survive by eating rats and gets mad at alfred by giving him food.and you know i think Lewis youre going to have to give bats a new name.
ReplyDeleteHa ha, "Crazy Steve". That is exactly what this Batman in this comic is: Crazy & Creepy.
ReplyDeleteHow could Frank Miller mess Batman up, into a violent and cruel creep?
I guess he was "Dense or Retarded".
Ya, know, I have only been a short term Linkara fan, most of his videos I watched on a lazy Sunday
ReplyDeletefollowed by Monday and a Tuesday when I had a cold, however I must say that this is the first time I have felt personally offended by the material that he rewied , sure you have ultra sexist shit like that teenage foxes comic, and borderline retarded stuff like the ultimate warrior comic, but hey lets face it, they are at least original creations, they are not pissing on old and beloved characters now are they?
(PS: pardon the crude language, but this comic deserves it!)
Now, to be honest I have never read this book, but from Linkaras rewiev I can only despair, first of..why the hell make batman into a total psycho!? Sure he has always been a “driven” hero, in his earliest stories he even killed people, but he never kidnapped children and then smiled about it and verbally abused them when they objected! This is not the work of a hero, or even an anti hero, it’s the work of a pice of human garbage!
And really “I’m the god dam Batman”? Batman does NOT say things like that! Batman is a tortured and dark soul, way to serious and dark minded to even consider using vulgar language!
Oh, and lets not forget the sexism , Linkara already made a good point of why this is insulting to woman ( a point on witch I agree with all of my dead fish heart) however I want to say that it is also
Kinda insulting towards men! I mean, Frank Miller say “make them Drool” and “make a but shot”
So, Mr Miller, you actually consider every male out there to be at the mental level of the stereo type
Hormone driven pubescent 13 year old boy!? I want to say a very bad word that begins with F and ends with K to you, but I wont, that would be descending down to your level.
Anyways, I don’t want to read this pice of shit, I’d rather remember batman as the good guy that took Robin in as an act of kindness and not as a pedo kidnapper.
PS: want to read a good yet different batman comic? Read “Arkham asylum a serious house on serious earth” its wonderfull! J
Ok, rant over (thank the gods)
Stian
I cannot bring myself to believe that this book is written in anything but some sort of self aware parody of Miller's own work. It is too ridiculous to not be intentional and I end up laughing every single time I page through an issue.
ReplyDeleteTo everyone who ever cried parody over this work...
ReplyDeletePoe's Law.
Parody indistingushable from the geniune article to unbiased observers IS NOT PARODY.
This review actually made me borrow a couple issues of ASBAR to see if it's as bad as people say. It is. You can't read parody out of the comic. You just can't. I've tested this with a few people who wouldn't know Frank Miller from my dog, and aside from being convinced that Frank Miller probably is my dog now, they assume this is supposed to be taken completely straight because there's no indication it's supposed to be a parody. You can only bring the parody concept with you and read it INTO the comic.
(I'm currently trying to buy All-Star Superman, too, because I have faith in Linkara).
While i Agree with most of what you're saying and yes miller has lost gone off the deep end, you can't really say that there are no glimmer's of TDKR miller in this run (the joker choking the life out of that escort/ the final image of dick finally coming to terms with his folks dying and "crazy steve" realising that forcing Robin into being as cold and emotionless and borderline pyscho isn't the way to go). In short as a whole All star Batman and robin works well in spots, but in others.....ugh frank please try and get your spark back
ReplyDeleteLinkara,
ReplyDeleteWhat is your opinion regarding DC's decision to let Frank Miller wrap up All star Batman and Robin with 8 issues of "Dark Knight: Boy Wonder" in 2011? Also, will you consider reviewing the entire All-Star/Dark Knight issues if they get published?
When you point out that Robin wasn't facing the shooter when his parents were killed, and probably couldn't have seen him, you're forgetting something:
ReplyDeleteHe was on stage, in a spotlight. The houselights were (probably) down. If he'd been looking straight at the shooter, he wouldn't have seen him. He'd have seen a spotlight.
I liked Year One, but I'm no fan of Miller's work. For those who think of this as the 'Ultimate' version... I don't like Ultimate, either - for the same reason. It's so sleazy, I always feel like I need a shower after reading from it.
- Mik
So is there a volume 2 to all star Batman and robin?? And what about some sequel miller is working on?
ReplyDeleteCBRBeast said...
ReplyDelete... wow.... glad I avoided All Star Batman & Robin and All Star Superman. I was originally going to get them, when it was rumored they'd be like Marvel's Ultimate line.
Nonononononono. All Star Superman is, as Linkara put it, FREAKING BRILLIANT. Yeah, the rest of the All-Star series didn't really come off that well, and ASBAR is the worst thing about the line, but if you want something as far from this tripe as possible, All Star Supes is a great choice. Don't avoid it!
I've got to say I laughed out loud when Vicki is walking around her apartment in undies with no curtains. It's obviously just cheesecake but I thought about my dad, because he is convinced that no one can see in the windows at night so he doesn't have curtains either. I was just wondering if Viki is under the same strange false impression.
ReplyDeleteI'm really excited now that you're going to be doing a review of #3 and 4. I never picked up these issues — I read some from a friend's collection, so I can't remember if #3 or #4 has the scene with Bruce making Dick eat rats or shoving Alfred around (!!!!!!!! :o), but seriously, I would love to see your reaction to those scenes.
ReplyDeleteYou know, the real insane one is Grant Morrison and not because is his fault, NO Sir !
ReplyDeleteStraight out of the Bat (no pun intended) the Wachowski Brothers stolen all the ideas they had for The Matrix from The Invisibles and was around that time "Them" start to screwed Grant Morrison's mind.
But at least this review makes me laugh everytime i watch and i thank you for that even considering everything you said about those issues wrong.
It's a comic book, it's batshit insane, it's Frank Miller and who cares ? I enjoy it, i have fun with you and with Frank's writting, it's a win-win situation and unless any of you became a nazi all the sudden i'll still going to have fun with both.
I just hope at some point you became a better actor and not the kind of one depending exclusively on monologues.
this is just a theroy but is it possible that miller is satierizing(yes its spelled wrong) batman and robin in general i mean the diloge is so stupid that its funny in a bad way "i fly i fly" say something else darnit
ReplyDeleteRemember that the Ultimate Marvel Hulk was cannibalistic while the main universe one (almost) never killed anyone? I think this is the same idea. Also, Crazy Steve gets criticized in his own comic BY HIMSELF. He's supposed to be messed up, it's not a mistake. Also, I think they're aiming for more of a mystery plot here, so explaining the murder's motivations before it happens would not make sense. Granted, I've not read the book.
ReplyDeleteIn general, the problem is that people will only read comics about people they've heard of, and that means characters designed to entertain the children of the 1930s. Authors, getting tired of writing the same old things, try to change the characters' personalities, or exaggerate them.
"I don't really mind the sexism. She's hot so who cares Am I right?"
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'll let him get away with that one too I guess. She doesn't get injured too badly by comic book standards, and she does actually care about doing the right thing, even if her "journalism" is more of a blogging style. It would have worked if she was a blogger in this universe.
@Sake Mangusto
ReplyDeleteYou know, when you say about 20 minutes long review, that everything in it is wrong, one would think you would give atleast one reason why. Something being enjoyable for how shitty it is, doesn't make it any less shitty, if that is what you mean.
Linkara seems to be reviewer in the first place and actor in the second one.
Ok,wow. Robin might actually be retarded the way he repeats his dialouge. I forgot, how old was he? To be fair he was better towards the end with his angsty "why did my parents die and live me with this psycho bit" and I guess he really had no choice but to go along with Crazy Steve (nice Drake and Josh reference by the way). The way Steve kept talking about the mission I though he was Skitzo or something, and Vicky was a waste of space. It's a shame with the great art too (Vicky and her ass aside).
ReplyDeleteRebekah Squair, audience member, bearing the brunt of your righteous anger.
ReplyDeleteHow I see your "feminism", is that it's not really feminism. It's just common sense. ^u^ I do have to thank you for it though. It's SO refreshing.
Also, thanks for the limitation on swearing. I, for one, really appreciate it.
so far this is my favorite review! hey if I can suggest a comic: Deadpool kills the marvel universe.
ReplyDeletemostly for the WHAT THE F!!! reaction you get while reading, that and deadpool is WAY to overpowered, or everyone else is way UNDERpowered. and a few other things. i wouldn't call it bad per se, but it would be better if a pro like you looked at it.
"Who the hell do you think I am?"
ReplyDeleteYou're definitely no Kamina, Bat-Steve, that's for sure.
Ok, I have to post part of a passage from a book.
ReplyDelete"The orchestra plays a lively air. The massive curtains part. A tall, handsome military figure strides on to the stage. He bows. This tall, handsome, military man bows. He is Prince Otto of Saxe-Pfennig, General of the Army of Germany. One of our conquerors.
"He begins to speak. 'Ladies and gentlemen.' This man, this general, says, 'Ladies and gentlemen.'
"But no more. No more. No more. Nothing more. No more. He says, 'Ladies and Gentlemen,' but no more.
"And why does he say no more? Has he finished his turn? Is that all he does? Are his eight hundred and seventy-five pounds a week paid him for saying, 'Ladies and Gentlemen'?
"No!
"He would say more. He has more to say. This is only the beginning.
This tall, handsome man has all his music still within him.
"Why, then, does he say no more? Why does he say 'Ladies and Gentlemen,' but no more? No more. Only that. No more. Nothing more. No more.
...
A tomato shatters itself on the Prince's right eye. An over-ripe tomato.
"...Three eggs and a cat sail through the air. Falling short, they drop on to the orchestra. These eggs! This cat! They fall on the conductor and the second trombone. They fall like the gentle dew from Heaven upon the place beneath. That cat! Those eggs!"
The above was actually a satire (written in 1914) but it sounds EXACTLY like what Mr. Miller's writing here.