All Star Batman #10 Preview/Discussion

[RedBird]

Preview

Interview with Synder


This may be the first All Star Batman that I actually really enjoyed. May just jump into this arc.

[JBatmanFan05]

What a preview. Miami Vice, Batman style. Rafael Albuquerque...amazing.

[Rakzo]

This was a pretty solid read. Once again, Snyder is able to deliver an exciting tale while using Batvillains in a solid manner.

Great art as well.

[millernumber1]

I really, really loathe the way Snyder's been pushing Alfred explicitly calling Bruce his son. I firmly believe that it is a father/son relationship, but I do not believe that Alfred would ever make it explicit. It feel lazy, using quick narration and dialogue to get an emotional reaction, instead of showing the relationship the way it has in the past, so that the readers understand without having to be hit over the head with "My son, Batman, is so precious to me, I worry about my son."

[rev516]

Bruce was awesome as always. And Alfred as well.

Vik is pretty interesting too.

Overall this is an issue of All Star that I actually enjoyed.

[Maxpower00044]

I've been excited about this since Scott told me about it at the Post Office!

[Maxpower00044]

I really, really loathe the way Snyder's been pushing Alfred explicitly calling Bruce his son. I firmly believe that it is a father/son relationship, but I do not believe that Alfred would ever make it explicit. It feel lazy, using quick narration and dialogue to get an emotional reaction, instead of showing the relationship the way it has in the past, so that the readers understand without having to be hit over the head with "My son, Batman, is so precious to me, I worry about my son."

For me, he's way more of a Father to Bruce, than Bruce is to Cass, Tim, Steph, Jason, and Dick. I see nothing wrong with this. There's been over 50+ issues where the relationship has been shown numerous times, and very well, too.

I'll always seen the boys as more of Bruce's brothers than his sons.

[JBatmanFan05]

I really, really loathe the way Snyder's been pushing Alfred explicitly calling Bruce his son. I firmly believe that it is a father/son relationship, but I do not believe that Alfred would ever make it explicit. It feel lazy, using quick narration and dialogue to get an emotional reaction, instead of showing the relationship the way it has in the past, so that the readers understand without having to be hit over the head with "My son, Batman, is so precious to me, I worry about my son."

I never quite noticed it much, but this is a fair point that I think I agree with. I agree that the father/son thing should be more show than tell, because, yeah, it does not have a comic or non-comic history of being so overt. I think the same of Bruce/Dick, where they have a father/son relationship but not too overtly to the point of using "son" & etc.

That being said, it was Alfred's private narration, and I don't recall how many times Snyder has been so overt. But I could counter that point by saying I myself don't think Alfred even quite privately thinks about it like that too consciously.

[millernumber1]

For me, he's way more of a Father to Bruce, than Bruce is to Cass, Tim, Steph, Jason, and Dick. I see nothing wrong with this. There's been over 50+ issues where the relationship has been shown numerous times, and very well, too.

I'll always seen the boys as more of Bruce's brothers than his sons.

I'm not at all against Alfred feeling that way about Bruce, or acting that way. I'm against him saying it, because he's a British servant with a very ingrained sense of class and position in society.

I disagree with your points about Bruce's kids, but that's tangential to this issue.

I never quite noticed it much, but this is a fair point that I think I agree with. I agree that the father/son thing should be more show than tell, because, yeah, it does not have a comic or non-comic history of being so overt. I think the same of Bruce/Dick, where they have a father/son relationship but not too overtly to the point of using "son" & etc.

That being said, it was Alfred's private narration, and I don't recall how many times Snyder has been so overt. But I could counter that point by saying I myself don't think Alfred even quite privately thinks about it like that too consciously.

Yeah - good point about Bruce and the non-Damian Robins. I really wish DC was interested in having Bruce adopt Cass again, since I think that would be a solid relationship to explore more.

Snyder did this at least once before, in the finale of Superheavy, where Bruce is breaking into the Batcave and Alfred begs him to not be Batman again. I hated it then, and I hate it here. It's too cheap - it disrespects the complexity of Alfred's character and relationship with Bruce, and doesn't do the work of showing that love (which I agree is there) without just using the words.

[K. Jones]

This was pretty fun. I get the sense it might pick up on that one dropped off backup from like the second issue of Zero Year, "Where the hell did he learn to drive?" or whatever it was called. Feels like that, in a big way.

Some key notes here that I think are relevant not just to this story, and to subtle shifts in Snyder's long game, and to how this ties to even generally longer-game Batman storytelling (like, Batman-Since-New Gotham Era, or Batman-Since-OYL). But I mean, come on, we're dealing with Vandal Savage here, am I right? Blackbeard was explicitly a character in The Return of Bruce Wayne, but was NOT explicitly named as another alias of Vandal Savage ... but Vandal was all over that series, circling around, in the caveman days fighting the demon bat, in the cowboy days, being allied with Doctor Hurt in demonic life-prolonging evil, gambling, and mucking about with Gotham. The only reason he wasn't also possibly at Vanishing Point at the very end is because Morrison already killed him in DC One Million.

So now we get a proper pirate adventure and a Thatch descendant who is killed dead and has their blood stolen somewhat, but somebody who looks like that descendant talks using a computer screen, finds Gotham villains pointless and trite and too Pop/noticeable. Could be wrong, but calling this one for Vandal.

Rock & Roll art and some okay Alfred focus make this one great. And ties back to KGBeast, "private island villain bases", and all that make this run feel cohesive. Even Hush's use feels good here.

[Frontier]

Bruce was pretty belligerent with Alfred in this issue. He also was in the last issue, though I guess that was Catwoman and not Batman...

I'm actually kind of wondering why Bruce hasn't just orchestrated or found a way to restore Hush's face. Better that then leaving him running around looking like Bruce Wayne.

Going to be interesting to see more of Alfred's backstory in this. Should've figured he started out a punk...

I feel like Bruce's thing for female crimainls is going to be his undoing in the new backup stories. I mean, she's a "princess," a tough-as-nails head of a Russian crime family, and he even called her a "knockout." She's totally his type .

[JBatmanFan05]

This one review articulated a great point about what makes All Star work so well:

The key power behind All Star Batman is the fluidity in Scott Snyder and his collaborators’ approach to each issue — from the breathless pace of the opening arc with John Romita Jr to the dreamy, poetic Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy stories with Jock and Tula Lotay. The last two issues represent the biggest shift in tone and emphasis, going from a desaturated, gloomy Washington DC story tied together with sly allegory to a slick, neon bathed adventure in Miami.

[SicariiDC]

I liked this issue. I like Alfred calling Bruce his son (in narration or not). And I really like Albuquerque's art...I gotta check out American Vampire at some point.

Continuity and side characters aside, I love Bruce under Snyder. He gets his voice imo.

And it's cool to see BATMAN do cool stuff after getting crapped on over in Tec this arc

[millernumber1]

I liked this issue. I like Alfred calling Bruce his son (in narration or not). And I really like Albuquerque's art...I gotta check out American Vampire at some point.

Continuity and side characters aside, I love Bruce under Snyder. He gets his voice imo.

And it's cool to see BATMAN do cool stuff after getting crapped on over in Tec this arc

American Vampire is really strong, though at this point I've stopped reading because it's going on for a very long time without any resolution.

(Tec Batman is great!)

[The Whovian]

I didn't like this issue as much as everyone else seems to. I like Rafael's art, but the stories in this book have been so much less interesting than those in Batman and 'Tec.