All Star Batman and Robin - Frank Miller & Jim Lee

The All Star ranges of comics that have been released by DC on a monthly basis are something completely different to that of the normal comic run that DC publishes. These are totally separate to the normal line of monthly publications from DC and are giving some well known characters a little bit of a reboot and re-programming.

They are also treated in a manner that some would say that they take place in a parallel universe or some ...
...His style of build for all the male characters are tall and muscular with the obligatory quaffed hair style, in fact all the male heroes look big, the females are drawn as sexy and curvy and are on a equal footing with their male counterpart when it comes to fighting. The look suits the characters well and get the point across that Batman is a determined man with what he does.

In my mind All Star Batman and Robin is a very good example ... more

The All Star ranges of comics that have been released by DC on a monthly basis are something completely different to that of the normal comic run that DC publishes. These are totally separate to the normal line of monthly publications from DC and are giving some well known characters a little bit of a reboot and re-programming.

They are also treated in a manner that some would say that they take place in a parallel universe or some would say that these could be classified as a "What if..." story. Well for me the reasoning behind the different universe fits perfectly well as this gives a fresh start and an even playing field to tell a story with well known names, but with off focus characterisations.

The story is told as the origin of Dick Grayson who as a child who has not reached his teenage years is part of a circus act called The Flying Grayson's who perform nightly to wow audiences with their trapeze work. At one of the evening performances in Gotham City, in attendance in the audience at this particular performance is millionaire businessman Bruce Wayne accompanied by Vicky Vale. As the Grayson's perform in front of a sold out audience, Dick's parent are murdered in front of him. The manner in which the book handles this really does bring out the scale of the tragedy that occurred as feelings of anger and hate are shown as Grayson as no idea why this has happened and more importantly why this has happened to him. This is the catalyst for the story as we follow Grayson's steps to become the sidekick to Batman.

The whole focal point and gravity is really from Grayson's point of view, this adds a new dimension as throughout the book the view points of other characters are raised at various places in which they play a part in the story and you get to read how they are thinking and what they are saying to the people they are addressing, curiously these two conversations don't necessarily add up to the same point and this makes you realise that the level of trust between some of the characters are lower than the reader would expect them to be. This again is a good example of how the story is taken to a different level. The story also brings to forefront how easy it is for someone, who is still discovering who they actually are can cross the line from defender, can get so much sadistic joy in the level of violence that they can project towards someone, in some cases for no good reason at all.

The opportunities to break the mould have been taken to the extreme and we see a different type of Batman than what has come before in comic terms. This Batman starts off working alone and has a deviant attitude that can only be described as thrill seeking and with a complete disrespect for anyone else but himself showing a level of arrogance that at times far exceeds the expectations of the people he is in combat against, he refers to the role of Batman as a soldier in a war, which gives some idea as to how far he is willing to go. Appearance wise the costume is the same as what we expect to see Batman wearing, with the exception that he is unshaven and has at least a day's growth. This really does give him a total vigilante look and takes the character off to a place that we very rarely see him go to as Batman lets rip with everything when he feels it is necessary. Usually the character is an intelligent, self contained person while showing a calm exterior, this one is different in every way in fact the character is out of control with his own agenda to deal with crime.

Other characters from the DC world are present in the story as well, this allows a fine balance to be upheld against the main characters and the rest which are really a supporting cast but have an important part to perform. For example Superman is given "orders" by Batman to do things, Superman complies with this out of the urgency but deep down detests the methods that are being used against him. Wonder Woman is totally different in character and seems to have a permanent rage throughout; she also uses her sexuality to get what she wants! Surprisingly it is Green Lantern also attempts to act as mediator on behalf of the Justice League and not one of the usual heroes such as Superman.

Totally every thing is outside its normal "comfort zone" and you can see that as you read the book, writer Frank Miller who also wrote the graphic novels 300 and Sin City has taken everything and played against type throughout. Immediately you see that people have a different persona and that different methods are used to address certain issues. For example Batman using the weight of the Batmobile to crush cars and using a high level of brute force on Robin. In fact for me this was one of the more frightening aspects to the story as Grayson adapts to his role of sidekick, Batman does emit a high level of violence towards the child. In some cases leaving him to hunt for food himself by capturing a rat inside the Batcave rather than starve and telling him what he will be doing rather in an aggressive manner that genuinely scares the young Grayson. To give the full picture at one point Grayson does ask Batman why he speaks like Clint Eastwood when he talks. This for me completes the vigilante portrait as this confirms that he is more of a Dirty Harry type character and I interpret that as a very good thing. Dialogue is also upped in level as there are a lot of more colourful metaphors and swearing being added to the way in which the characters speak to each other. Batman refers to himself in places as "the goddamn Batman" to emphasise a point.

In the end you realise that both Batman and Robin are very similar, okay they are different in age and experience, but the fact is that they have both had their parents taken away by the most violent means possible by separate events that they witnessed themselves, this has given their vigour and hunger, bottom line is they are still looking for closure to their issues and both can easily be considered to be tortured souls.

Now whether Miller, as writer, has started to kick off events that lead to another one of his graphic novels, The Dark Knight Returns, is another good question, Miller has stated that this is in the same universe before Dark Knight Returns but after Batman: Year One took place. There are easily a number of traits in this that can be seen in the others and vice versa. It is safe to say that the grittier and far darker versions of Batman and Robin do tend to hold the imagination longer and does make you ask a lot more questions about the story. In fact this aspect made me want to read the book again for a second time to which I picked up on more of the sub plots the second time around.

Now don't worry if you think I have given so much away that this wouldn't be worth reading, I haven't. There is a lot happening in this book and there are a number of well planned, orchestrated and clever sub plots that do tend to get answered by the last page, however some don't and that for me was the best thing as this can then be said that this is to be continued. Naturally I won't say which ones do and which ones don't as I think that would be totally unfair. The build up of story arcs across the monthly editions not only preserve the longevity of the title but also means that the story can be lifted to other places knowing that there are some unanswered questions that will keep me interested long enough to see these answered. A good example that utilises this to the full is the TV series Lost, in fact it could be said that this is probably the first Batman soap opera to be published.

The artwork by renowned artist Jim Lee really adds to the storytelling, the angles and colours not only makes the pictures stand out and effectively leap out in front of you, but also build's up the tension sufficiently to think that you are reading a film based script rather than an individual piece of work. Lee's work previous to this included Batman: Hush and Superman: For Tomorrow. His close up work on character faces is superb and through just one frame of someone's face you understand what is being implied just from the look on their face with minimal dialogue being spoken, absolutely priceless. His style of build for all the male characters are tall and muscular with the obligatory quaffed hair style, in fact all the male heroes look big, the females are drawn as sexy and curvy and are on a equal footing with their male counterpart when it comes to fighting. The look suits the characters well and get the point across that Batman is a determined man with what he does.

In my mind All Star Batman and Robin is a very good example of how the comic books should be and how gritty and dark the off focus characterisations can be without damaging any of the characters legacy or back history. There is a high level of violence and blood, but this is not meant for a ten year old child to read this is more relevantly aimed at adults rather than children. The book contains the collected editions of All Star Batman and Robin Editions 1 to 9, with the book being labelled as Volume One. Personally I cannot wait for Volume Two as this will continue the high standard which has been achieved here. I have to say that the final pane that on the final page of the story is very moving indeed and very poignant to the story as a whole and whilst I don't own a Batman or Robin costume what takes place in this picture alone is something that we can all relate to in some way at some point in our lives.

I paid £16.99 from Waterstones for this as a Hardback edition with dust cover and thought that this was worth every penny. 

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