REVIEW: ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN #1
Author: Jett
Monday, December 19, 2005

I’ll be brutally honest with you all - I haven’t read regular “monthly” comic book titles since ‘97. Now I’ll pick up the graphic novels and so forth, but I haven’t purchased a regular comic book in years.

Until this past week.

It seems that BATMAN BEGINS has had the same affect on me that BATMAN did back in 1989 -- it rekindled the comic book geek within me. So after several months of thinking about it, I headed into a local comic book shop across the street from my gym in Houston, Texas.

I picked up several titles that I had read about and had peaked my interest. One of which I will review for you all today -- the Frank Miller (writer), Jim Lee (penciled), Scott Williams (inker), and Alex Sinclair (colorist) ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN #1.

Now this thing came out this past summer, so I am going to assume that many of you reading this right now have read the thing already. If you haven’t, please note that this review may include a few SPOILERS. So if you don’t want to read them, stop reading right now. But before you go, I’ll cut to the chase: I liked this first issue, thought it was fairly well done (especially the artwork), and recommend it to all of you readers.

ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN #1 is not set in the current DC COMICS Batman continuity. It isn’t an “Elseworld” Batman tale either. It is basically a Batman story that stays true to the Batman mythos, but isn’t held back or restricted to comic book continuity. This story features an established Batman who has been fighting crime in Gotham City for a while now -- although it is clearly early in The Batman's career. In fact, Vicki Vale -- depicted as a Gotham City newspaper columnist -- is bitching in the beginning that Metropolis “has a Man of Steel,” while Gotham only has “a damn flying rodent…who doesn’t even fly.” Oh by the way, Ms. Vale is drawn particularly hot by the great Jim Lee.

Speaking of Lee, his artwork here is tremendous. Big panels. Very dramatic. Good stuff here by Lee, so a big thumbs-up for the artwork team that included Scott Williams and Alex Sinclair.

The story opens with the young Dick Grayson doing his thing in the circus as part of The Flying Graysons. Bruce Wayne and his date, Ms. Vale, are in attendance at the circus. And I’m sure you can guess what happens here (I must mention that the deaths of the two elder Graysons are different than it is in established continuity). Fate has brought Bruce and young Grayson together. “The boy has entered MY world,” says Wayne, “And he’ll never leave it.”

To make a long story short, the killer gets away -- briefly -- until The Batman shows up. He enters the story that is, but we don’t actually see him yet. The Batman nails the killer with a dart laced with snake poison -- he seems to enjoy the side effects that the poison will bring to the guy.

If you have been a longtime reader of BOF, you know that I’m not the biggest fan of Robin. I prefer the solo Batman myself. But this The Batman of this story is one dark, mean, and it seems one ruthless SOB. The fact that Robin -- well, Dick Grayson in #1 -- did not lighten up the story or The Batman (now this doesn‘t mean I want to see him in the cinematic world of Batman).

The point of view of Miller’s story changes throughout the story. At different times, the reader gets the story from the POV of Dick, Vicki, and of course, The Batman himself. If you are a fan of Frank Miller’s Batman work, it is different here with ALL-STAR B&R than say, YEAR ONE or THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS. Not as much dialogue as his previous dabbles into the Bat-universe. And frankly (on pun intended), ALL STAR is not in the same league as those classic Bat-stories.

As issue #1 comes to a close -- and it is obviously a cliffhanger -- we’ve got Vicki (with Alfred) chasing the corrupt police officers who have captured the recently orphaned Richard until The Batman “and friends” save the day. It is at this point that Dick meets The Batman for the first time. “On your feet soldier,” The Batman orders Dick, “You’ve just been drafted. Into a War.”

OK, overall I liked BATMAN AND ROBIN #1. As mentioned previously, I thought the artwork of this comic book was tremendous and gets a solid A. As far as the storyline, it was alright, but I’m not sure I like where this is heading. The Batman is not all that likable -- Bruce comes off as, well, a bit of an ass. I don’t know if I really dig the way Miller writes how Dick entered Bruce’s world. I’ve always favored the idea that it was pure chance that Bruce was at the circus the night of the Grayson murders. But it seems that Miller is changing that aspect in this Batman story.

I’m giving ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN #1 a B. I’m anxious to read the future installments and see if I’m going to really like the series as it progresses, or not.

I’m hoping for the former.