Why so much hate for All star Batman & Robin?

[RumpusMagoo]

1) The release schedule was garbage, sending out 10 issues over the course of 4 years when it should have taken 2 years to finish the 12 issue series.
2) Miller has Vicki Vale in a bra and panties for multiple pages simply to entice the reader (excerpts from the script prove this)
3) Batman calls Robin retarded hours after he witnesses his parents' deaths
4) All of the misogynistic writing
5) The worst Joker I've ever seen, not even having him smile
6) Black Canary's origin makes no sense, and is rather idiotic overall
7) Batman and Black Canary have sex in the rain after only just met and beat up some people
8) The time stamps that make the entire comic a confusing time warp
9) Batman hinting that he would have taken Dick Grayson eventually, even if the murders didn't happen
10) The horrible treatment Dick Grayson gets such as being forced to eat cave rats
11) For a book called Batman and Robin, there is very little Robin
12) The horrible pacing
13) The extremely repetitive dialogue!

Couldn't have said it better myself. The folks who try to retcon the whole thing and say ASBAR was always intended as a parody remind me of when that movie "Mommy Dearest" was rereleased in theaters as high camp.

[M L A]

no sense of humor or understanding of high art when it's right in front of them, clearly

[t hedge coke]

My problem isn't mainly with her being scantily clad, but with the script saying Miller is only writing her like that to titillate the men reading.

I didn't mean to imply he wasn't. That scene is structured for a very specific male audience he's just assuming on. But, really, the only reason it's notable is that we saw it in the script. The actual methodology and unnecessary butt shots are not a great rarity in bat-comics.

Miller, himself, has recently reconsidered his tendency in this direction of objectification. That's disappointing, considering his talent and his age, but, I guess, better late than never? It's not an uncommon willingness among many artists, and very, very common in comics/superhero artists. But, it is annoying. It is pretty dumb.

That said, Miller and Lee probably do it less than Robert Crumb or Mike Deodato. I was just so derailed by an unnecessary panty-shot in a Hellblazer story, the other week, it became my article for the week. It's a pervasive, and unfortunately systemic issue.

[ed2962]

It's simply poorly written. Miller tried to walk a fine line between satirizing superheroes and making Batman look cool and he dropped the ball. Miller has done satire before...Dark Knight Returns, Electra: Assassin, Dark Knight Strikes Again. But this time he didn't seem to have much to say and what he did say was poorly executed.

Also..."love chunks"

[zep81]

Does the TPB include those fold out pages that were in one of the issues, too?

[Truman Burbank]

It wasn't good...but it was better than DK2.

[SicariiDC]

I hadn't even heard of it until a few days ago. So I read all 10 issues over the last couple of days.

I've read some real hate for it on the forums here and I'm not sure why? I really enjoyed it. I'm a bit puzzled by the fact there's no issue 11... But that aside, I thought it was a well written, well drawn, a bit too mysogenistic for my liking (but most superhero comics are tbf). I thought it showed a new side to Bats that kind of linked Millers year one with DKR. Unhinged, pissed off, jaded, angry, bitter, resentful, rude. Pretty much an else worlds Batman - What if... batman was more like the Joker?

Anyway. I'm sure I'll get a kicking for this but I am genuinely interested to understand what's going on with this one..

It seemed a little bugged out at first but the cinematic art and hardcore Bats sucked me in.

I really like it. And that mega splash Bat Cave is amazing. F the haters Jim Lee>>>>

[SicariiDC]

I like Vicki vales butt, hope summers had to eat rats too get over it, people have casual sex even superheroes, and the repetitive dialogue is funny, also is, wonder woman saying "out of my way sperm bank" lmfaooo

I guess different people have different worldviews that influence what they object to and so on. Other people are eclectic and multi layered individuals who enjoy things on opposite ends of the spectrum. I have no delusion where ASBAR lies on that spectrum but I enjoy the hell out of it anyway. Jim Lee's art helps a lot tho. But some people hate that too lol.

[SicariiDC]

Does the TPB include those fold out pages that were in one of the issues, too?

Yes it sure does

[EmeraldGladiator]

my being a Green Lantern fan hated the Hal issue, not only was he punked but nearly taken out by a near feral Robin. Jobbing is on thing especially in another characters book but it made Hal look less than useless and Robin like a kid sociopath and Batman the creepy adult that keeps him in a cage and feeds him raw meet, it got every single character in that issues 'voice' completely wrong.

[GigiFusc]

I like Vicki vales butt, hope summers had to eat rats too get over it, people have casual sex even superheroes, and the repetitive dialogue is funny, also is, wonder woman saying "out of my way sperm bank" lmfaooo

I guess different people have different worldviews that influence what they object to and so on. Other people are eclectic and multi layered individuals who enjoy things on opposite ends of the spectrum. I have no delusion where ASBAR lies on that spectrum but I enjoy the hell out of it anyway. Jim Lee's art helps a lot tho. But some people hate that too lol.

That's a good point.

[GigiFusc]

my being a Green Lantern fan hated the Hal issue, not only was he punked but nearly taken out by a near feral Robin. Jobbing is on thing especially in another characters book but it made Hal look less than useless and Robin like a kid sociopath and Batman the creepy adult that keeps him in a cage and feeds him raw meet, it got every single character in that issues 'voice' completely wrong.

I think this is what I'm most perplexed about. This idea that he wrote the characters 'wrong'. He re-wrote the characters. These are not the canon continuity characters. They are from a different universe - a 'what if' universe. How can he get the characters voice wrong when he has just created new characters with new voices??

I think that, because I don't have a fixed love or perception of what one character should be, I didn't really care that GL, WW etc were portrayed not as perfect as they're usual selves. Ironically, that's one of the reasons we all fell in love DKR back in the 80's.

[seusilva]

The scene with the golden Batman is hilarious, but the series is not really good... nothing really new or inovative. Sometimes there's too much text in a panel, not in a Sin City way, but just in excess. DKSA at least is punk, chaotic, the colours are really diferent from everything else... ASBAR is just strange and the art doesn't fit. BUUUUT it's a funny story if you just don't think too much.

[Judge Dredd]

I very much enjoy it, it is a fun over the top take on Batman with him just being an insane man with a lot of money. Yes it is not anything close to the normal Batman, but it was a fun alternate take of the character and the DCU.

[RumpusMagoo]

It's simply poorly written. Miller tried to walk a fine line between satirizing superheroes and making Batman look cool and he dropped the ball. Miller has done satire before...Dark Knight Returns, Electra: Assassin, Dark Knight Strikes Again. But this time he didn't seem to have much to say and what he did say was poorly executed.

Also..."love chunks"

OMG. I almost forgot that; "Love chunks" Two words that neatly define what ASBAR is at the core.