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iesikaMan oh man, does Frank Miller have issues. 1-9, in fact, of All Star Batman and Robin The Boy Wonder. Probably the rest is nearly as bad, but I've only read the first collection. I just finished it a little while ago and O.o I had to put my reactions down because (I repeat) O.o!!!
The title is so goofy and innocent. Kind of campy. Like the Golden Age feeling of the all-too-appropriate icon I made last night (I must have seen it coming). Miller's Batman (The Goddamn Batman, as he calls himself) is fucking insane. O.o I mean, even by the standards with which I measure Batmans. All Star retells the Robin origin story. It fits into Miller's Dark Knight universe (Universe 31, apparently), which includes Batman: Year One (the only one of his Batman books to be considered part of the canon proper, thank the lord). Ooooh I'm so glad they had Dixon do Robin: Year One instead of letting Miller do it. They must have seen it coming, too.
In the traditional, Pre-Crisis origin story, Dick Grayson of the Flying Graysons (of Haley's Circus) overheard his employer being threatened by a mobster, but doesn't mention it to his parents before the show, and then the ropes snap, and he watches his parents die, and he blames himself for not telling anyone, and swears to get the guy responsible. Bruce witnesses the whole thing and has traumatic flashbacks (and Tim witnessed everything, too, we find out later). Dick goes into foster care, and has a horrible time of it. He runs away. Eventually he gets taken in by Bruce Wayne, who he doesn't like very much, and who isn't ever around. It isn't until Dick catches up with the guy who killed his parents that Bruce lets him in on the secret.
In All Star, Bruce is at the circus casing Dick. He's already picked him as a protegee, though he intends to wait at least until he's "old enough to shave". Then, the Graysons are shot (splattering brains all over poor Dick's feet). And some crooked cops grab Dick and drag him off to a gully somewhere (and Vicki Vale makes some comments about exactly what she expects they do with little boys), where The Goddamn Batman shows up, does some major and probably permanent harm to the cops, and, kidnaps Dick. He deliberately scares the shit out of him (and gets furious at how hard he's having to work at it), absolutely destroys some more cops, takes Dick back to the cave and leaves him, alone, frightened, cold, hungry, freshly orphaned, with his parent's brains still on his shoes. Leaves him. Tells him to eat rats, if he can catch them. Wanders off to blackmail Superman and fuck the original Black Canary.
Alfred, being the awesome, cleans Dick up, puts him in pajamas, and brings him something to eat. The Goddamn Batman? Is furious. At both of them (because, you know, Dick was inciting insubordination, by being, you know, cold, alone, frightened, hungry, and 12). Meanwhile, The Goddamn Batman has a running internal monologue about how much he loves being The Goddamn Batman, and how he's got to break Dick to make him a good little soldier. Cut to Dick in the cave, killing rats and eating them raw. Then Bruce brings him the man who shot his parents and stands back. He watches Dick beat the shit out of him, obviously enjoying himself (just like he watched Canary beat the shit out of some guys earlier...before he fucked her in the mud. Miller is not subtle).
Meanwhile, the newly formed, Batmanless JLA is aware that Batman has kidnapped some kid, and even though (blackmailed, furious) Superman doesn't go after him, Hal Jordan does. The only part of of the book I liked, other than the drawings of little Dick at the circus, follows. Batman makes Robin (who he is now) paint the entire interior of a safehouse yellow, including them. He agrees to meet Hal there (after a subtle hint of more secret identity blackmail), and offers him lemonade. This cracked me up. Also, Robin lifted THE RING, made me laugh very, very hard, right up until Batman encourages him to kick the shit out of Hal while he's defenseless (he ends up needing an emergency trache). O.o Batman claims Robin has been in training for a long time (made more believable by the asskicking, I'm sure), and that Dick Grayson, who he was merely protecting from the crooked cops, has been returned to the authorities. The end.
I...I can't even begin to discuss how...weird I feel after reading that. As someone said in a comment to a story I read last night (comment is what prompted me to go looking for All Star), "Unlike Miller, I prefer my Robin consenting." I'd like to dismiss the whole thing out of hand, but it's made me think.
Bruce and Dick are supposed to be at odds with each other. They always have been. They represent completely different things. I would even call it canon that Bruce was an abusive and neglectful 'parent' figure - though I don't think he was (often) physically abusive. We've seen him punch Nightwing in the face when he was upset about something else. They probably sparred too rough when Bruce was mad about other things. We know Dick all but ran away to New York (and occasionally Metropolis, which is why I like Clark/Dick so much) when he was too young to be on his own and still searching for somewhere to belong. We know he demanded his emancipation, and we know how hurt he was when Bruce replaced him with Jason. We know how fucked up Dick is emotionally, if we read between the lines (or read him as Marv Wolfman writes him). It's sort of fanon that Dick is in love with Bruce and measures everyone in his life against him. And he's definitely angry at him, all the time, even when he loves him. A lot of people (including me) believe Dick kind of hates Bruce, deep down, though he doesn't know it himself. The people who make canon say it's all about adolescence and growing up and becoming your own person, but there's a lot more to it than that, and Bruce is nobody's happy father figure.
What's scary about All Star is that it makes a weird kind of sense. It brings all those nasty undercurrents to the surface. I'm still not sure how I feel about that.
I can't find a way to wrap this up coherently. Fandom with multiple, incompatible canons is weird.
Also, I made a couple of new icons last night, with comic scans. I don't know why...I only ever use the bookrat icon. Except today, because Robin being spanked was...entirely too appropriate.
The title is so goofy and innocent. Kind of campy. Like the Golden Age feeling of the all-too-appropriate icon I made last night (I must have seen it coming). Miller's Batman (The Goddamn Batman, as he calls himself) is fucking insane. O.o I mean, even by the standards with which I measure Batmans. All Star retells the Robin origin story. It fits into Miller's Dark Knight universe (Universe 31, apparently), which includes Batman: Year One (the only one of his Batman books to be considered part of the canon proper, thank the lord). Ooooh I'm so glad they had Dixon do Robin: Year One instead of letting Miller do it. They must have seen it coming, too.
In the traditional, Pre-Crisis origin story, Dick Grayson of the Flying Graysons (of Haley's Circus) overheard his employer being threatened by a mobster, but doesn't mention it to his parents before the show, and then the ropes snap, and he watches his parents die, and he blames himself for not telling anyone, and swears to get the guy responsible. Bruce witnesses the whole thing and has traumatic flashbacks (and Tim witnessed everything, too, we find out later). Dick goes into foster care, and has a horrible time of it. He runs away. Eventually he gets taken in by Bruce Wayne, who he doesn't like very much, and who isn't ever around. It isn't until Dick catches up with the guy who killed his parents that Bruce lets him in on the secret.
In All Star, Bruce is at the circus casing Dick. He's already picked him as a protegee, though he intends to wait at least until he's "old enough to shave". Then, the Graysons are shot (splattering brains all over poor Dick's feet). And some crooked cops grab Dick and drag him off to a gully somewhere (and Vicki Vale makes some comments about exactly what she expects they do with little boys), where The Goddamn Batman shows up, does some major and probably permanent harm to the cops, and, kidnaps Dick. He deliberately scares the shit out of him (and gets furious at how hard he's having to work at it), absolutely destroys some more cops, takes Dick back to the cave and leaves him, alone, frightened, cold, hungry, freshly orphaned, with his parent's brains still on his shoes. Leaves him. Tells him to eat rats, if he can catch them. Wanders off to blackmail Superman and fuck the original Black Canary.
Alfred, being the awesome, cleans Dick up, puts him in pajamas, and brings him something to eat. The Goddamn Batman? Is furious. At both of them (because, you know, Dick was inciting insubordination, by being, you know, cold, alone, frightened, hungry, and 12). Meanwhile, The Goddamn Batman has a running internal monologue about how much he loves being The Goddamn Batman, and how he's got to break Dick to make him a good little soldier. Cut to Dick in the cave, killing rats and eating them raw. Then Bruce brings him the man who shot his parents and stands back. He watches Dick beat the shit out of him, obviously enjoying himself (just like he watched Canary beat the shit out of some guys earlier...before he fucked her in the mud. Miller is not subtle).
Meanwhile, the newly formed, Batmanless JLA is aware that Batman has kidnapped some kid, and even though (blackmailed, furious) Superman doesn't go after him, Hal Jordan does. The only part of of the book I liked, other than the drawings of little Dick at the circus, follows. Batman makes Robin (who he is now) paint the entire interior of a safehouse yellow, including them. He agrees to meet Hal there (after a subtle hint of more secret identity blackmail), and offers him lemonade. This cracked me up. Also, Robin lifted THE RING, made me laugh very, very hard, right up until Batman encourages him to kick the shit out of Hal while he's defenseless (he ends up needing an emergency trache). O.o Batman claims Robin has been in training for a long time (made more believable by the asskicking, I'm sure), and that Dick Grayson, who he was merely protecting from the crooked cops, has been returned to the authorities. The end.
I...I can't even begin to discuss how...weird I feel after reading that. As someone said in a comment to a story I read last night (comment is what prompted me to go looking for All Star), "Unlike Miller, I prefer my Robin consenting." I'd like to dismiss the whole thing out of hand, but it's made me think.
Bruce and Dick are supposed to be at odds with each other. They always have been. They represent completely different things. I would even call it canon that Bruce was an abusive and neglectful 'parent' figure - though I don't think he was (often) physically abusive. We've seen him punch Nightwing in the face when he was upset about something else. They probably sparred too rough when Bruce was mad about other things. We know Dick all but ran away to New York (and occasionally Metropolis, which is why I like Clark/Dick so much) when he was too young to be on his own and still searching for somewhere to belong. We know he demanded his emancipation, and we know how hurt he was when Bruce replaced him with Jason. We know how fucked up Dick is emotionally, if we read between the lines (or read him as Marv Wolfman writes him). It's sort of fanon that Dick is in love with Bruce and measures everyone in his life against him. And he's definitely angry at him, all the time, even when he loves him. A lot of people (including me) believe Dick kind of hates Bruce, deep down, though he doesn't know it himself. The people who make canon say it's all about adolescence and growing up and becoming your own person, but there's a lot more to it than that, and Bruce is nobody's happy father figure.
What's scary about All Star is that it makes a weird kind of sense. It brings all those nasty undercurrents to the surface. I'm still not sure how I feel about that.
I can't find a way to wrap this up coherently. Fandom with multiple, incompatible canons is weird.
Also, I made a couple of new icons last night, with comic scans. I don't know why...I only ever use the bookrat icon. Except today, because Robin being spanked was...entirely too appropriate.
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Date: 2008-10-27 05:18 am (UTC)