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So I finally got around to reading All Star Batman and Robin which ...
Well.
My.
It may just be that I really haven't read mainline DC all that much in years, and I never read either Millar's Dark Knight stuff or Batman: Year One, which this is clearly a direct sequel to.
I know Batman has had, over the years, what we might call his little moments. And that there are reasons (many, many, MANY reasons) to doubt the sanity of a man who is obsessed in the way he is, and who does the pointlessly cruel things that he does to his sidekicks. (Well, OK, they look pointlessly cruel to everyone else, but they make sense to him. Poor little Timmay and Dick... But anyway.)
This is the first time I can remember him being depicted as actively psychotic. And deliberately handling Dick in such a way as to include him as an enabler of and partner in said psychosis. In fact, handling Dick in a way so as to induce a similar psychosis in him. Mind, the Bat is functionally psychotic -- but then, so are most of the villains that have been attracted to Gotham by his presence. Again, it may just be that my lack of familiarity with Miller's work has blinded me to the shades of Batman's various psychoses ... but still. Man.
An actively psychotic Bat, a seriously and SEVERELY traumatized Dick (whose trauma is being encouraged and enhanced by the Bat because if Dick starts grieving, he'll stop being traumatized) in an irredeemably hostile Gotham. Well, that'll be an interesting setup.
I realize that Dick was actually quite young when Batman got hold of him, back in the classic traditional storyline ... but he's really rather surpsingly ... wee in All Star, isn't he?
Sleeper: The Long Way Home
And so it ends.
Sort of.
I have to admit, the ending actually shocked me, in a way that the ending to exactly one other thing has. Except that it's even more downbeat than that (which I won't mention, because that would give away the ending of this one) because of the way it's put together.
The ending is right, I think, even if it does go thud a bit. And Brubaker managed to pull in Point Blank characters. I have to admit, if he does continue with that series, I'm going to be fascinated to see how he manages it. (From what he says in the afterword, I kind of think he won't, but you never know.)
EDIT: Oh, yes, two other things regarding All Star Batman and Robin:
(1) Alfred ... is a hunk. Seriously.
A surprisingly young looking hunk, actually. Somehow, I always think of him as being somewhere around 60, balding and gray but eternally slim. Alfred with black (I think) hair and, like, muscles is seriously disconcerting.
(2) Vicki Vale should get at least an Honorable Mention in Sequential Tart's Bizarre Breasts Hall of Infamy. Or she could, if they still ran the column.
OK, those of you who have the comic, turn to page 8, where Ms Vale is swounding (or swooning, for those of you not Shakespeareanly inclined) delicately (and somewhat bloodily) in those brawny arms. (That frame really ought to be on the cover of a romance novel somewhere, it really should. But I digress.) Now look at that chest. (Yes, I know, drooling fanboys everywhere never stopped looking at it. Just stick a bunch of cotton balls in their mouths and move on.) First, as the love interest of the main character, Ms V has, per union requirements, what are officially known as Golden Gazongas. She is a full figured gal. Jane Russell might be impressed. This is not, in and of itself, necessarily objectionable.
Now examine her (slightly tattered about the skirt) evening gown. That dress is strapless and, shall we say, excitingly low-cut. On a normal woman in that position, with a figure quite that full ... we ought to at least be seeing auriole. In fact, I'm pretty sure we ought to be seeing nipple. Ms Vale is nipple-free! Oh, no!
Now, look at the position itself. Turned to the side, body sorta kinda sagging toward the ground. (We'll ignore the fact that she'd likely have just sagged straight down, collapsing at the knees, shall we? Let's shall.) Now I know that the drooling fanboys will hate to hear this ... but breasts are actually masses of flesh. NO, really, they are! And as masses of flesh, breasts are normally subject to the laws of gravity. In other words, when you put large bosoms in certain positions, they kind of sag. Ms Vale's bosoms should be sagging sharply to her right. However, not only are they not sagging, they're standing strong and tall and pointing straight ahead! Ms Vale has what would be called, in porno parlance, "bolt-ons" -- like bad implants, her breasts don't move, they ignore gravity, they point straight ahead no matter what she's doing. (In fact, given her dress, the law of gravity would likely be taking a sharp look at her left breast and saying, "You realize that side's completely coming out of the dress, right? Your top is low cut, it's got that slit in between, so unless you glued that thing in, it's coming out." But All Star B&R is a family comic, so bare bosoms are just not happening, and I think we're all glad of that, aren't we?)
Well.
My.
It may just be that I really haven't read mainline DC all that much in years, and I never read either Millar's Dark Knight stuff or Batman: Year One, which this is clearly a direct sequel to.
I know Batman has had, over the years, what we might call his little moments. And that there are reasons (many, many, MANY reasons) to doubt the sanity of a man who is obsessed in the way he is, and who does the pointlessly cruel things that he does to his sidekicks. (Well, OK, they look pointlessly cruel to everyone else, but they make sense to him. Poor little Timmay and Dick... But anyway.)
This is the first time I can remember him being depicted as actively psychotic. And deliberately handling Dick in such a way as to include him as an enabler of and partner in said psychosis. In fact, handling Dick in a way so as to induce a similar psychosis in him. Mind, the Bat is functionally psychotic -- but then, so are most of the villains that have been attracted to Gotham by his presence. Again, it may just be that my lack of familiarity with Miller's work has blinded me to the shades of Batman's various psychoses ... but still. Man.
An actively psychotic Bat, a seriously and SEVERELY traumatized Dick (whose trauma is being encouraged and enhanced by the Bat because if Dick starts grieving, he'll stop being traumatized) in an irredeemably hostile Gotham. Well, that'll be an interesting setup.
I realize that Dick was actually quite young when Batman got hold of him, back in the classic traditional storyline ... but he's really rather surpsingly ... wee in All Star, isn't he?
Sleeper: The Long Way Home
And so it ends.
Sort of.
I have to admit, the ending actually shocked me, in a way that the ending to exactly one other thing has. Except that it's even more downbeat than that (which I won't mention, because that would give away the ending of this one) because of the way it's put together.
The ending is right, I think, even if it does go thud a bit. And Brubaker managed to pull in Point Blank characters. I have to admit, if he does continue with that series, I'm going to be fascinated to see how he manages it. (From what he says in the afterword, I kind of think he won't, but you never know.)
EDIT: Oh, yes, two other things regarding All Star Batman and Robin:
(1) Alfred ... is a hunk. Seriously.
A surprisingly young looking hunk, actually. Somehow, I always think of him as being somewhere around 60, balding and gray but eternally slim. Alfred with black (I think) hair and, like, muscles is seriously disconcerting.
(2) Vicki Vale should get at least an Honorable Mention in Sequential Tart's Bizarre Breasts Hall of Infamy. Or she could, if they still ran the column.
OK, those of you who have the comic, turn to page 8, where Ms Vale is swounding (or swooning, for those of you not Shakespeareanly inclined) delicately (and somewhat bloodily) in those brawny arms. (That frame really ought to be on the cover of a romance novel somewhere, it really should. But I digress.) Now look at that chest. (Yes, I know, drooling fanboys everywhere never stopped looking at it. Just stick a bunch of cotton balls in their mouths and move on.) First, as the love interest of the main character, Ms V has, per union requirements, what are officially known as Golden Gazongas. She is a full figured gal. Jane Russell might be impressed. This is not, in and of itself, necessarily objectionable.
Now examine her (slightly tattered about the skirt) evening gown. That dress is strapless and, shall we say, excitingly low-cut. On a normal woman in that position, with a figure quite that full ... we ought to at least be seeing auriole. In fact, I'm pretty sure we ought to be seeing nipple. Ms Vale is nipple-free! Oh, no!
Now, look at the position itself. Turned to the side, body sorta kinda sagging toward the ground. (We'll ignore the fact that she'd likely have just sagged straight down, collapsing at the knees, shall we? Let's shall.) Now I know that the drooling fanboys will hate to hear this ... but breasts are actually masses of flesh. NO, really, they are! And as masses of flesh, breasts are normally subject to the laws of gravity. In other words, when you put large bosoms in certain positions, they kind of sag. Ms Vale's bosoms should be sagging sharply to her right. However, not only are they not sagging, they're standing strong and tall and pointing straight ahead! Ms Vale has what would be called, in porno parlance, "bolt-ons" -- like bad implants, her breasts don't move, they ignore gravity, they point straight ahead no matter what she's doing. (In fact, given her dress, the law of gravity would likely be taking a sharp look at her left breast and saying, "You realize that side's completely coming out of the dress, right? Your top is low cut, it's got that slit in between, so unless you glued that thing in, it's coming out." But All Star B&R is a family comic, so bare bosoms are just not happening, and I think we're all glad of that, aren't we?)