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Post by sabongero on May 24, 2018 10:19:31 GMT -5
Yup! And you notice my comments about this series gets more sarcastic as I post opinions on this. I'm thinking Miller did this on purpose. Batman was SO OUT OF CHARACTER and the dialogue and monologue was so horrendous, that you can't help but just watch this pile up of a highway car crash get bigger and bigger. Plus Jim Lee's art is fantastic. That's what sold the book at the time it was released... the Jim Lee art kept the book in the top sellers list. I thought Jim Lee was the weak link. Lee had turned into a decent artist sometime around the year 2000 - before that I thought both his panel and page composition chops were weak, his stuff had too many lines, and a lot of it just looked like mush - but he vastly improved around the time he did Hush with Jeph Loeb. But he was an incredibly limited artist. He couldn't really do anything except for suspense and action. And All Star Batman wasn't comedy and it wasn't parody (as I've heard some people say) but it was incredibly -purposefully - over the top and definitely tongue in cheek. So they needed an artist who could draw funny, who had more expressive characters with a wider range of emotion, who had the comedic chops to understand set-up and pay-off. All Star Bats isn't a joke per se but it would have worked much better with with an artist like Stuart Immomen who can do one-panel-leads-to-the-next- style cartooning. And I maaaay be reaching here but I thought there was actually some depth to the way Miller talked about how abuse and trauma affects interpersonal relations - which would have required quite a bit of subtlety in facial expressions and body language to pull off the intended character dynamics. Jim Lee is as good at "subtle" as I am at giving birth. I really do think he's a decent to good superhero artist, and I quite enjoyed Hush and his recent Justice League run. But he was not the right artist for this book. He can draw "Superhero looks mad" "Superhero looks broody" "Superhero in motion" and "Superhero doing violence" but that is the total extent of his capabilities.. Anything that requires subtlety, emotional range beyond "YAAARG!", or comedy is beyond his skills. SIDENOTE: I've seen Jim Lee work in non-superhero genres - he did some dark suspense stuff for Vertigo - and it was much more nuanced and, frankly, quite a bit better than his straight capes 'n tights. I'm really only criticizing his superhero work. And All Star Bats was really rooted in crime noir more than superheroes - Miller's Bats feels much closer to a Mickey Spillane character than a JLA member, complete with running internal monologue - and Lee didn't seem to change his style AT ALL to match the change in tone... hell the change in genre. This isn't just Batman as Detective but this is Batman as detective story. I still kinda like All Star Bats. I'm all about novelty and it is - at least -different in tone and structure than any of the other 14,000,000 capes and tights books I've read. But it woulda been vastly more effective with a different artist. Jim Lee's art is not for everyone. Those that like his art usually love when panels can be blown up and make good posters, for those that like his art. |
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Post by sabongero on May 24, 2018 10:37:18 GMT -5
Man, I can't believe DC Editorial green lit this series. What the heck were these two guys ( Brandon Montclare and Bob Schreck) thinking? They were the editors for this series. I guess it was okay with them as long as each issue was a best-seller and was near the top of the sales charts for any comic book that was released that month, or in this series' case, that year. By the way the issue #1 came out on September 2005. And the final issue, which was issue #10 came out on August 2008. Talk about taking decompressed storytelling to another level. They decompressed the entire series to three years which was like three issues per year, and to top it all of, there was NO ENDING!I understand what you said to me ... but, I'm picking up old copies of this TEN issues and see it for myself! It's also available on trade. You'd be able to find it on your local library too. For some reason it's a popular library book here in NYC. |
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Post by Deleted on May 24, 2018 11:25:40 GMT -5
I understand what you said to me ... but, I'm picking up old copies of this TEN issues and see it for myself! It's also available on trade. You'd be able to find it on your local library too. For some reason it's a popular library book here in NYC. Good thinking ... thanks for the tip! |
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Post by badwolf on May 24, 2018 13:21:00 GMT -5
Found my review on Goodreads...apparently I found it "somewhat unpleasant yet also entertaining."
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,220 
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Post by Confessor on May 24, 2018 13:58:45 GMT -5
Found my review on Goodreads...apparently I found it "somewhat unpleasant yet also entertaining." Faint praise? |
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Post by Hoosier X on May 24, 2018 15:35:28 GMT -5
I have never read All Star Batman and Robin. But I FEEL like I've read it because of the review from Linkara at Atop the Fourth Wall.
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Post by rberman on May 24, 2018 16:21:36 GMT -5
I have never read All Star Batman and Robin. But I FEEL like I've read it because of the review from Linkara at Atop the Fourth Wall. Wow, that guy needs some podcasting tutoring. I couldn't make it more than halfway. He needs some in-ear monitors to prevent him from shouting his whole spiel like a carnival barker. He needs a microphone right in front of him. He needs to stop reading dialogue in a nasal voice as a cue that he doesn't like it. |
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on May 24, 2018 16:39:43 GMT -5
Found my review on Goodreads...apparently I found it "somewhat unpleasant yet also entertaining." Kind of like how drinking is fun, but the hangover is unpleasant. Even at that this is the Natty Light of Batman, and just like the beer, I couldn't make it past four. |
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Post by badwolf on May 24, 2018 21:23:07 GMT -5
I dunno, I gave it three stars, which is okay-to-good on my scale. Maybe I enjoyed it in a cheesy b-movie way.
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on May 24, 2018 21:56:31 GMT -5
For me there's a fine line between gritty Batman and dick Batman. Outside of Year One Miller is good with "dick" Batman like in this.
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Post by String on May 25, 2018 13:44:57 GMT -5
Jim Lee's art is not for everyone. Those that like his art usually love when panels can be blown up and make good posters, for those that like his art. Y'know, I can't help but read this in a negative way. I do love Lee's art, yes I do have posters of his work hanging in my home, and I love seeing the small details he employs in the backgrounds of such scenes, truly an amazing artist thank you. As for this series, yes, Lee would be the biggest reason I would choose to read it. Alas, I have not. The only thing I know about this series is from TBBT. In a season 2 episode, Sheldon and Howard end up squabbling over a copy of #8 (variant cover A). Oddly enough, Sheldon needs it for his Robin collection while Howard needs it for his Batman collection. Sheldon wins naturally. |
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Post by Icctrombone on May 25, 2018 18:40:41 GMT -5
A Golden (totally wacky) Batman -- this Comic Book Series is got to be the strangest series that DC Comics ever done! I'm stopping at my LCS this Friday to pick up this craziness! Man, I can't believe DC Editorial green lit this series. What the heck were these two guys ( Brandon Montclare and Bob Schreck) thinking? They were the editors for this series. I guess it was okay with them as long as each issue was a best-seller and was near the top of the sales charts for any comic book that was released that month, or in this series' case, that year. No one at DC says no to Frank Miller. |
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2018 21:20:26 GMT -5
 #2. Nov 2005.AS Batman drives Dick back to the Batcave, Alfred helps stabilize Vicki Vale after their accident last issue caused by Batman's fight with the police. Despite her injuries Vicki remembers Batman kidnapping Dick Grayson. Then the rest of the issue is Batman out running the police with insipid dialog between Batman & Dick & their inner thoughts.  Thoughts: This issue sinks even lower into lunacy. Terrible writing "Welcome to my world, Dick Grayson. Bats & rats & warts & all. You poor boy. You poor little bastard. Welcome to hell. Hell. Or the next best thing." Or "He sucks air & for a second it looks like he has a razor blade stuck between his teeth..." And of course the infamous "I'm the goddamned Batman" line. Thru the whole issue Batman acts like a crazy 12 year old. Trying to impress Dick. Acting like a maniac. Laughing at violence. And Dick is NOT impressed. Dick is the sane one. And his parents just died. Maybe he is in shock but Miller goes way over the top to show how strong Dick is. The art is beautiful. Worthy of being posters like others have said. But the worst is yet to come when they finally arrive in the Batcave... |
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2018 22:12:33 GMT -5
Art Error:A clean shaven Bruce Wayne at the circus with Vicki:  A few hours later as Batman with stubble:  I guess the goddamned Batman grows 2 days of facial hair in 2 hrs....
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2018 22:23:05 GMT -5
Art Error:A clean shaven Bruce Wayne at the circus with Vicki: A few hours later as Batman with stubble: I guess the goddamned Batman grows 2 days of facial hair in 2 hrs.... I saw that too ... I just got my Paperback from my LCS in the mail that contains all ten issues ... this is pretty obvious error that they didn't catch in the first place. I just read #1 and #2 ... the rest in the next 2-3 days.  The art is very good / excellent in the most part of it and I think it would done better if they did a better job of editing it and catch the error that you've shared here. |
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