All Star Batman and Robin (comic)

Writer: Frank Miller
Artist: Jim Lee
Collects: All Star Batman & Robin #1-9

Frank Miller's at a point where he's not the surefire hit he used to be. Oh sure, he'll probably sell a lot of copies of whatever book he's putting out, but critically he's fallen pretty far. Kind of hard not to, though, when you put out shit like Holy Terror.

If Dark Knight Strikes Again was the book that made everyone realize he could, in fact, do wrong, All Star Batman is where people started to turn on him. The book is a love it or hate it affair among fans these days, but for a while there it was the joke of the internet for several reasons. The dark mirror of the universally beloved All Star Superman.

Its reputation is somewhat deserved. I've rarely seen a book filled with characters this unlikable. Wonder Woman is a radical misandrist - she calls a random passerby a "sperm bank" for no other reason than he had the misfortune of walking near her - Batman is the guy forching a freshly traumatized child to eat rats, Commissioner Gordon is a guy who chats on the phone with his former flame while his wife is in the other room and so on. If there's a single decent person in this book, it's Alfred.

Frank Millers typical traits are on full display. Everyones a slut, whore or at least dresses like one. First time we see Vicki Vale she's on the phone in her lingerie while inexplicably wearing high heels in the comfort of her penthouse. An ass shot follows within three panels, of course. The protagonist is a cackling, uber-violent maniac. It's like Miller never managed to dial things back after Sin City.

Worse still, it feels like it takes forever for the book to go anywhere. Only in the last issue or so do we get the idea that Miller may be going somewhere with this. Where that is, only he knows. After all, this volume collects nine of the ten issues released in the seven years since the book started. As it stands now, the book has vanished into the ether with the six issue conclusion wildly off schedule*. It's tempting to wonder if anyone will even care by the time this finishes.

Is there any merit to the story? I suppose. Millers Batman has always openly opined that his fight against crime is a war, which is taken to its absolute breaking point with Robins recruitment. Dick Grayson is practically drafted into this "war" and the parallel doesn't stop there. In the old days, part of the point of the training was to break you, to mold you into the killer the army wanted and needed. The effects were, frankly, real bad; we hear a lot about how utterly broken many soldiers were after wars**. The cruel treatment of Grayson seems a similar attempt to mold him and it seems just as likely to break him. It likely even explains the murderous psychopath he became by DKSA; like a soldier, it seems this treatment had ill effects that never truly went away and going by this book the blame can be laid entirely at Batmans feet.

The Batman Miller has been writing since DKSA is a hell of a lot less heroic - despite the good his actions inspire - and definitely more of an outright psycopath. I suppose that's a perfectly valid interpretation and there's certainly no harm in it existing as a contrast to the typical heroic Batman. Still, it leaves a sour taste in your mouth.

Using Jim Lee for the artwork is an odd choice, one I'm not sure paid off. We'll set aside the delays it caused for now; the problem is more that Lee does not seem to suit Millers world. When we think of Millers Dark Knight work, we visualize his artwork, faults and all. Lee, however, is much more mainstream with his art; it's cleaner, brighter, smoother and suited more to a regular depiction of Batman. The result is a man doing the best art of his career on a book that isn't quite suited to it.

Perhaps when the conclusion hits at some vague point in the future this book will hold up better, but as is it's a curiosity at best.

The Score: 6 out of 10

Lee's artwork is worth an eight, at least, but on the whole this book is a misfire. It has merit, but little I can really appreciate. I can understand why others like it - it can be funny at times if taken as a deliberate parody of Millers typical work - but I don't think it's for me. Not something I can recommend.

* Fitting, I suppose, given the books notorious delays. At one point there was something like a year between issues. All Star Batman truly is the Duke Nukem forever of the comic world. Ten to one it'll disappoint just as badly.

** My step-fathers father was a particularly bad case. His war was Nam. He came back an abusive, horrible man who had any good in him destroyed by the experience. Stories of my step-fathers childhood are pretty heartbreaking in regards to the abuse. I've also heard plenty about how his father would wake up from a dead sleep, dive for cover, flip the coffee table and scream about Charlie over the ridge. Chilling stuff to hear about.

Holy Terror (comics)

Writer/Artist: Frank Miller
Original Graphic Novel

Is there a single person who actually wanted this book to come out? I think this was the one project everyone came together and agreed should not happen. How or why was irrelevant.

Unfortunately, the book is finished and out in the wild. The world is just a little bit worse for it. It really is as racist and insulting as you expected.

It's a typical night in Empire City. A slow night, even. The Fixer chases Natalie Stack across rooftops, engaging in their usual flirtatious game. Suddenly, explosions. Suicide bombers. It's at this point that The Fixer decides that killing a bunch of terrorists is about as good a response as any. Stack tags along and guts a few dudes herself.

It's no secret that this book was originally meant to star Batman. Halfway through, Miller realized this probably wasn't a story that fits the Dark Knight. The remains of its original intent are still there. Even with the minor changes he made, Batman stand-in The Fixer and Faux-Catwoman are dead ringers for the originals. Fauxwoman even moves like her DC counterpart, with heavy emphasis on catlike poses and movements. So yeah, you can tell, but it's a good thing Miller decided to change it; I can't picture Batman shooting terrorists in the head and I get the impression Miller didn't want to settle for mere broken bones.

The ignorant racism on display here is the thing that sticks out the most. It's not like Miller is subtle with it. At one point late in the story Fauxwoman infiltrates a mosque; the only caption on the entire page is "the night wind blows away seven centuries". Fauxwoman declares that she's sent a man to his "seventy two virgins" in the afterlife. Everything is "infidel" this and "infidel" that. The Faker muses about how likely it is your random terrorist is named Mohammed. How could you miss it?

As expected, there's no flip side of the coin to be found. Anyone identified as a Muslim in this book is a terrorist. Not that I expected a fair and balanced portrayal. At some point in the last ten years Frank Miller morphed into something resembling a flag waving, government worshipping tool that would probably fit in working at Fox News. He's displayed ignorance of Islam in interviews and will look for any excuse to talk about what a major enemy we're at war with here and "wake up pond scum" and all that. He almost comes off like a parody of hardcore neo-Cons.

Which is an astounding turnaround, because this is the guy who wrote Batman inciting revolutions and the sequel to Robocop, the latter being one of the most anti-conservative films to ever hit the silver screen.

All for what? This piece of propaganda is about ten years too late. If this came out about a year or two after 9/11, maybe the anger would be understandable. Maybe the populace, as confused and easily led as we were, would've bought into it. As it is, we're currently a little over a decade removed from that day; in that time, we've fought several wars that destroyed our economy and even caught the head honcho of Al Queda. Said terrorist group was not even the focus for about seven of those years. The irrational hatred is still around - just the same as racism in general never truly dies - but the slow process of moving past it started a while ago.

So the question is, what the hell is this even for? Nowadays terrorism isn't much more than the boogeyman our government uses to take away our rights while claiming it's to keep us safe. What, do we wage war on Islam and all who practice it? Miller seems to think every one of them is a terrorist, so maybe that is indeed what he's suggesting. Regardless, it's stupid, mean-spirited and misguided in every way. Thanks man, the world really needs more fuel on the fire.

The art is... well, it's definitely Millers work. He's still a master, even if ignorance has taken root in his mind. It's far scratchier than I like. But that's me; I also felt the art kind of struggled to hold together in some scenes late in DKR, which is his magnum opus, so grain of salt. Regardless, he's still pushing boundaries. He works with the landscape format again - the one he used for 300 - and it suits his art well. It's a lot of real estate to draw on and Miller is not afraid to use all of it, whether we're talking four panels a page to eight to twenty four.

Such a shame his talent is wasted on such xenophobic garbage.

My Opinion: Burn It

This was a waste of time, space and energy. It's stupid, racist and embarrassingly wrongheaded. On top of that, the story is so basic that there's little worth here outside of the artwork, even if you're a big Miller fan. Scientists have yet to discern whether or not this book is brain crushingly stupid enough to cause a tumor, so play it safe and treat this book like radioactive sludge. Shit like this should not be encouraged.