All Star Batman TPB and Issue Count

[Elayis]

So I've been mildly interested in this series, and after reading several previews, I've decided to take the plunge and buy the HC. Does anyone know what issues it collects, and if there are any that it doesn't collect?

Also, is there any news about when the series will restart?

[ScottyQuick]

Just out of curiosity, why are you interested? It's boring and pretty awful.

[Elayis]

Just out of curiosity, why are you interested? It's boring and pretty awful.

I like Frank Miller and Jim Lee. I also liked DKR and Year One, and from what I've heard this series takes place in the same continuity as those.

And from what I've read so far (in previews) as well as critical reactions and reviews, it sounds like something Mark Millar might do, and I'm as big a Millar fan as they com; I think Millar just might be my favorite writer.

So, that's why. Plus, I also have some loose change that I'm anxious to spend, and this has interested me for a while, so I though I'd give it a go.

I also just read on DC's site that the HC includes the first 9 issues. 9 issues for $25? Sweet! Plus, I'm going to get it through Barnes & Noble, and I have a coupon that expires soon, so I want to use it; with it I could get the HC for $14.

Even if it sucks, I'm saving $13, and I still have Lee's art, so it won't be a total loss if I hate it.

Just a quick question: does it have any similarities to anything Loeb has done with Batman? I can't stand Loeb, so if it is anything like that I think I'll pass.

[jgiannantoni05]

I also liked DKR and Year One, and from what I've heard this series takes place in the same continuity as those.

It may be, but it doesn't feel like it is in continuity with DKR or Year One (both of which I love as well).

Hope you loved DKSA, but it is more like that (and yet worse than DKSA).

All-Star Batman just sucks, it is not even sure whether it is a satire or serious. Read the amazon reviews for the HC.

My advice: Get anything else but All-Star Batman. Not even Lee can save it.
________
JUGGALO

[Sean Whitmore]

I like Frank Miller and Jim Lee. I also liked DKR and Year One, and from what I've heard this series takes place in the same continuity as those.

I wouldn't put any stock in that. Any nebulous continuity connection doesn't say anything about the quality of the work. I mean, that story where Captain America turned into a werewolf is in continuity with the current series too.

And from what I've read so far (in previews) as well as critical reactions and reviews, it sounds like something Mark Millar might do, and I'm as big a Millar fan as they com; I think Millar just might be my favorite writer.

That's a way to put it, sure. I like ASBAR in the same way I like Millar's stuff: dumb but fun.

Just a quick question: does it have any similarities to anything Loeb has done with Batman? I can't stand Loeb, so if it is anything like that I think I'll pass.

Not really. Although I could see a comparison to Loeb's Hulk book being made. Again: dumb but fun.


SEAN

[Warpsters]

The HC has the 1st nine issues. I don't care what anyone else says......All Star Batman and Robin is F'n awesome. Amazing art and super-crazy hard boiled over the top dialogue. I dig this book so much.

Other than the Dini run on Detective,ASBAR is best Batman I've read in years.

[Gitaroo_Dude]

All-Star Batman and Robin is awesome. It feels nothing like Year One, but it's a more unrestrained version of DKR imo, and it's great because of it.

There's only ten issues out so far, and the trade collects the first 9.

It's nothing at all like Loeb's Batman stuff btw. It's definitely a Miller-written book, for better or worse. Just imagine a marriage of DKR and Sin City and that's kind of what ASBAR is.

I'm not sure if it's really similar to any of Mark Millar's work, but it does share a disdain for continuity that I like. ASBAR kind of takes a collective dump on DC's history if you're really into that, but that's what I enjoyed. It walks a tight line between the absurd and the serious, and I think it pulls it off.

[T Hedge Coke]

It may be, but it doesn't feel like it is in continuity with DKR or Year One (both of which I love as well).

Maybe not to you, but there seems a pretty solid through-line to me. I think accusations of satire or parody are missing the mark in a very precise way. This isn't satire, it's hyperbole. DKR was just as hyperbolic or parodic (Reagan, mints and lozenges; the violent cult gang SoBs), or at least, I think it's clear that it is meant to be so on the creative end. Fun, loud, melodramatic and hyperbolic.

The "just like Sin City" or whatever business... I don't see it. Or, I don't see it as strongly as some other people. It's "just like Frank Miller" is what it is. Or, like other Miller comics. But, no, Batman laughing or criminals and cops being beat up - the word "goddamn" - does not make this Sin City in Bat-drag. Just like Star Trek exploded with the "goddamn"s once it was on the big screen, you get the feeling Miller would have been dropping certain words and phrases into his comics from twenty years ago if he had then had the chance.

[BurningStarIV]

I never knew there was so much hate towards All-Star Batman and Robin. Massive issue delays aside, I think the series has been absolutely awesome. And the hardcover, especially. It contains issues 1-9, and it's totally rare for DC to put that many issues into a single hardcover. I mean, the All-Star Superman HCs are six issues each.

Seriously, especially with that price, get it. It's so awesome.

Don't listen to naysayers. Get it, read it, and make your own opinion. If you don't like it, you can always sell the hc.

[Chachi]

No new issues as of July's solicits. Last issue (#10), shipped in I believe Sept 08.Supposedly Miller and Lee are "working" on the series again(?). I actually would be surprised to see an issue this year.

[Gitaroo_Dude]

Maybe not to you, but there seems a pretty solid through-line to me. I think accusations of satire or parody are missing the mark in a very precise way. This isn't satire, it's hyperbole. DKR was just as hyperbolic or parodic (Reagan, mints and lozenges; the violent cult gang SoBs), or at least, I think it's clear that it is meant to be so on the creative end. Fun, loud, melodramatic and hyperbolic.

The "just like Sin City" or whatever business... I don't see it. Or, I don't see it as strongly as some other people. It's "just like Frank Miller" is what it is. Or, like other Miller comics. But, no, Batman laughing or criminals and cops being beat up - the word "goddamn" - does not make this Sin City in Bat-drag. Just like Star Trek exploded with the "goddamn"s once it was on the big screen, you get the feeling Miller would have been dropping certain words and phrases into his comics from twenty years ago if he had then had the chance.

Who said it was the "goddamn" element that made it similar to Sin City? I think the overlaps lean more towards the portrayal of women, the police force, etc. Now a lot of that is just typical Miller maybe, but there are parallels. Gotham City feels a lot like Basin City in the series. We're talking about snuff film rings and crazed serial killers running around while cops beat up reporters and the town's vigilante is slightly unhinged when he starts off.

[Sean Whitmore]

I never knew there was so much hate towards All-Star Batman and Robin.

Yes, well, it's been a while since we've had a thread about a new issue.


SEAN

[mr. december]

I also see clear connections to Year One and DKR. Besides the concrete examples, like the same Bat-Tank in the cave in All Star that we see in DKR, there are definitely similarities in the character across Miller's timeline. You just need to look for them.

I think any apparent differences between ASBAR and DKR are due largely to changes in the conventions of the medium, and changes in Miller's sensibilities and style. You can't expect the guy's writing to remain unchanged for 20 years.

I also think ASBAR takes place in a strange period of Bats' life, where his identity is a little nebulous and turbulent. As he says, he spent a long time living in sewers to prove to himself that he could function without Bruce Wayne's comforts. As a result, there's much less "Man" than there is "Bat" at this point. I think bringing in Dick Grayson will end up being what shifts that ratio back to something a little more stable.

And I'm tired of people saying Batman in All Star is all crazy and no detective work. It's there if you pay attention.

[Elayis]

Thanks for all the comments! Especially Warpsters; I've noticed in past posts that we share similar tastes, so hearing that you like it has really garnered my interest more.

So the tp collects the first 9 issues and there are 10 out right now? Is #10 $3 or $4?

[mr. december]

Who said it was the "goddamn" element that made it similar to Sin City? I think the overlaps lean more towards the portrayal of women, the police force, etc. Now a lot of that is just typical Miller maybe, but there are parallels. Gotham City feels a lot like Basin City in the series. We're talking about snuff film rings and crazed serial killers running around while cops beat up reporters and the town's vigilante is slightly unhinged when he starts off.

Even if ASBAR is similar to Sin City, so what? I don't hear Morrison fans complaining that most of his work is whacky and mind-bending.