This actually came out last week. I read it in the comic store and was quite tempted to buy it then, but a lack of funds stopped me. Today, I had the money so I decided to buy it anyway. Last week if you had asked me I would have described it as ‘one of the best single issues of a comic I’ve ever read”(with very specific brackets around that statement that I’ll get into in a bit). This week? We’ll see….
Firstly, some various bits and pieces. Frank Miller used to be a very good comics writer. He put out some extremely good books but in recent times he’s become somewhat of a parody of himself (I remember Warren Ellis saying that ’9/11 had given Frank brain damage’ and I’d be inclined to agree). This book reads very strangely and it’s an odd mix in the story. Jim Lee’s art is good but not so good that it should have taken him a year to do this issue – if you make Frank Quitely look fast you’re in trouble. Finally and returning to Quitely and Grant Morrison of ‘All Star Superman’ fame ‘All Star Batman’ is a failure simply in comparison to ‘Superman’. Why? Because the idea of the ‘All Star’ line is top creators producing material that should be accessible to all. Compare it to ‘All Star Superman’ where yes, Grant Morrison’s fingerprints are all over the place (the Superman from the 365th century, Kal-El’s eventual fate as a ‘golden god’ etc.) but it is done in an accessible way. The great strength of the Superman title is that while yes, the details change Morrison has tapped into a ‘general Superman’ that any Superman reader could pick up and enjoy. Miller and Lee haven’t. This Batman acts quite different to any version of the character that I have seen outside of Miller’s books. Even at that, he acts only like the version that appeared in parts of ‘Dark Knight Returns’ (what I mean is the versions are similar) and the version of ‘Dark Knight Strikes Again’. He is not the same as the ‘Batman: Year One’ version. So, even in Miller’s ‘version’ there is inconsistency.
As for the issue itself. Well, on your first reading it is … striking I guess is as good a word as any. The sheer craziness and energy of it strikes you the first time (hence the ‘best issue of the year’ comment earlier) yet as soon as you start looking at it seriously the flaws begin to become apparent. I mean, the issue feels ‘padded’, nothing really happens and the main character appears for 10 pages, one of which is two half panels of him laughing, two of which are him running, one of which is him jumping with the moon on his back and the rest have him talking like a lunatic. This is the main bit of the issue which stands out (beyond Wonder Woman) – Batman says ‘cool’, does maniacal laughter and does his best to hurt people as badly as possible. This is definitely an unusual version of the character. The Alfred scenes in the issue don’t really bother me – I mean, versions of the character had him being a fighting the Nazi’s in his youth, so whatever. Considering that his name is on the title Robin gets no real moment in this issue – he’s there for two pages, nothing happens, the end. And why does Batman have an armory of swords?
The most notable part of the issue (and probably the most striking part) is the appearance of the Justice League. Wonder Woman is a man-hating lunatic, Plastic Man is insane, Green Lantern’s just there and Superman is … Different. The Superman/Wonder Woman romance/whatever the fuck is the most odd scene of the issue. Taking 8 pages for characters who aren’t in the title at all is a bit much and when they behave in a way that will have any casual fan confused your definitely (in my opinion anyway) moving away from the ‘All Star can be read by anyone, these are timeless versions idea’ that its supposed to be. These versions of the characters are Miller’s versions and only make sense in Miller’s own Batman books. And while we’re at it, the tiara being changed into something that resembles Armour aside, why would a version of Wonder Woman who so obviously hates men wear things like revealing tops and high heels and wear the American flag as a costume?
Personally, I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone,if you want to see a train-wreck from talented creators this is your book but if you want an easily gotten into story with few continuity problems featuring iconic characters – get All Star Superman instead…