All Star Batman and Robin Review
I’m goddamn conflicted. I was expecting this goddamn book to be goddamn terrible after all the goddamn hatred against it. And yet despite the goddamn overuse of the word “goddamn”, the constant repetition of random lines. Constant repetition of random lines. Constant. Reptition. Of. Random. Lines. And Batman telling other characters to Shut up all the time, Frank Miller’s All-Star Batman & Robin was actually quite entertaining. … Shut up.
It’s easy to see what makes this book so controversial, because it’s not a Batman story. Not really. It’s a Sin City story; another opportunity for Frank Miller to live out his darkest fantasies through a collection of author-inserted fantasy personas. If you like to see the victimisation of scantily-clad women or scantily-clad costumed women victimising men, scenes of crippling torture and constant foul and juvenile language, this is the book for you. But parents with young children, don’t fall for the happy smiling picture of Robin on the front cover. You don’t want your children asking you why Robin was forced to eat rats in the Batcave and sliced a crook’s mouth open bloodily with an axe.
But let’s get to the meat of this collection; the Batman and Robin characters. Batman’s character, despite being completely amoral (and often juvenile), was actually well characterised. Miller did a good job of explaining not only how and why Bruce Wayne went completely off the rails, but his position against crime and the authorities. Batman now sees his vigilantism as a literal war on crime, and he initiates Dick Grayson as a soldier in that war. He treats Dick Grayson barbarically because that is what he believes will toughen Dick up for fighting as Robin. Dick’s character is not as believably written as Batman, though. There’s no real sense of vulnerability to Batman’s manipulations, and it’s thus difficult to understand what actually clicks in Dick’s mind to make him want to become Robin. That said, there was enough trauma for Dick that the transformation into Robin was believable on a peripheral level. It didn’t remove me from the experience.
Compared to Batman & Robin, the other peripheral characters were underwhelming. They were all made to fit one-dimensional stereotypes, except for Vicki Vale, who seemed to switch from a completely self-obsessed character to an overly caring, concerned character without reason. So Batman and Robin pretty much carry the book by themselves, and the story lives and dies by how the readers react to them. Since most people do not read a Batman book to be discomforted by scenes of brutality, it’s safe to say that the book is inappropriate for the character’s usual audience. But since I came prepared for the character shift into Sin City territory, I was able to appreciate All-Star Batman & Robin on its own merits. I personally appreciated the feeling of horror and discomfort more than the more apathetic reactions I have felt towards a lot of traditional Batman stories.
That said, there is no excuse for the glaring juvenility of the character dialogue. I pointed this out in the introduction, but it seriously lets the entire book down. What could have been a serious read and, dare I say it, perhaps even a good companion piece to The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One, is ruined by a terrible pretence at “cool”. Thanks to that alone, it looks like All-Star Batman & Robin is going to be held up as the book that signalled the collapse of Frank Miller, alongside his movie, The Spirit.
Thankfully, Jim Lee’s stunning artwork looks to be untouched by Miller’s comedown. Even when the writing is at its very worst, the panels are always enjoyable to look at. So is this a book to buy? It’s at least a book to read once. Get it cheap.
Review by James Hurvid
