It’s like an Adam Sandler movie. They tell me they’re jokes, I hear the laugh track, but all I see is a crass attitude and crude behavior.

Admittedly the only Adam Sandler films I’ve seen are The Wedding Singer and 50 First Dates, but neither of those were crass or crude. They were both quite sweet romantic comedies.

All-Star Batman reads to me like the comics equivalent of a reunion tour of a once-great rock band who’s playing all their crowd-pleasers through gritted teeth because they have bills to pay.

I see it as two rock stars from different bands forming their own band and having a great time just playing music for the fun of it.

The only gritted teeth are from the ‘fans’ who can’t stand to see ‘their’ character treated this way – I’m sure there were plenty when Denny O’Neil changed Bats direction, when Miller did it in the 80′s etc

Playing crowd pleasers through gritted teeth was Alan Moore writing Wildcats and Spawn in the 90′s, and this is much better than that.

It looks more to me like the fun is coming from seeing how naughty they can be, screwing around with the presentation, than from the actual STORY. (This smirky episode with the cussing is just the latest example, as far as I’m concerned.

But that doesn’t make sense Greg – no one was up in arms about this before, and they have been censoring swearing like that throughout the book.
It was a printing error which allowed the words underneath to be seen, and a recall was issued.
Where’s the smirkiness in it?

Are people honestly upset about a stylistic choice for the dialogue, now that we know there are words under the bars?

All over the net I see this “it’s not supposed to be good, that’s the joke!” defense and it looks pretty thin to me.

Well, it’s not a joke, it’s just not serious.
It’s a fun book.
Treat it like Kill Bill or The Dark Knight. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Lots and lots of dumb.

It’s like an Adam Sandler movie. They tell me they’re jokes, I hear the laugh track, but all I see is a crass attitude and crude behavior.

Or maybe disappointed?

I’m not sure.

Now, I don’t know how the trades are performing. It’s possible the book is connecting with people via bookstores or that there’s a very significant wait-for-trade contingent given the erratic shipping schedule of the singles. The latter strikes me as very possible, the former not so much.

And that implies to me a certain contempt for the audience, that confidence that this sort of pandering-to-the-worst approach will sell big.

I should add that they’re not wrong, either. Which I find a bit depressing. But, obviously, I’m in the minority on this assessment judging from sales.

It’s Miller indulging his (and Lee’s) worst excesses, but that’s a lot different than the old band that gets back together to play the old hits through gritted teeth. Those guys aren’t having fun. Miller seems to be having a fucking awesome time.

If you guys are enjoying it, more power to you. But, again, “indulging his worst excesses” to me is saying essentially the same thing as “playing the crowd-pleasers through gritted teeth.” It looks more to me like the fun is coming from seeing how naughty they can be, screwing around with the presentation, than from the actual STORY. (This smirky episode with the cussing is just the latest example, as far as I’m concerned.) And that implies to me a certain contempt for the audience, that confidence that this sort of pandering-to-the-worst approach will sell big.

Obviously, your mileage may vary. But to me it’s about on a level with the sophomoric humor of putting a whoopie cushion on the teacher’s chair. It’s frat-boy stuff. All over the net I see this “it’s not supposed to be good, that’s the joke!” defense and it looks pretty thin to me.

How in the Hayull do you get ‘contempt for his audience’ from this?

It’s a different, blatantly goofy version of Bataman, sure.

But I’m missing the logical leaps (and there must be plenty of ‘em) that get me from point (A) too “Fanboys are the idiotzors and I hates them, precious.”

Actually, it reeks of giving fans what they want – an over the top overly violent book about a psychopath, written by him and drawn by Jim Lee. Everyone had a whinge about Dark Knight Strikes Back, because instead of continuing with Return’s path of destruction, he decided to show the Silver Age characters as cool, so this time he’s giving people what they thought they wanted.

You might be right, but that doesn’t actually provide a defense against ‘contempt for the audience.’ To my mind, it tends to confirm it.

I didn’t actually mind Dark Knight Strikes Again as much as some people, though really I thought THAT one was the one that was a product of Miller thinking that he was “giving fans what they wanted.”

Honestly? I can sort of sympathize with him. Some days *I* have contempt for a lot of the superhero audience. (Like, say, when the reaction to the Siegel and Shuster lawsuit was horror that the flow of Superman comics might somehow be interrupted.) But my idea of a good artist is the guy who shakes off the fit of disgust and still tries to put out work that demands better of the audience, instead of pandering to the worst in them. All-Star Batman reads to me like the comics equivalent of a reunion tour of a once-great rock band who’s playing all their crowd-pleasers through gritted teeth because they have bills to pay.

I’ll grant you I haven’t been keeping up; I jumped ship after #3. But nothing I’ve seen of the scans that have been posted the last couple of days is persuading me to change my mind.

Seeing the people who dislike this comic slagging off Sin City and TDKSA just encourages me to think that I’ll probably enjoy ASB+RTBW when I get around to reading it.

Most probably.

You’ll be reading it and remember the stuff that set everyone off, like ‘Goddamn Batman’ or his mistreatment of Robin, and you’ll just shrug and ask ‘really?’.
Most of the complaints people had are addressed in the book (like the chap complaining earlier about Batman telling Robin to eat a rat), and stuff like ‘The goddamn Batman’ is mocked in the book.
I honestly think most people can’t get over their anger at seeing ‘their’ Batman treated with contempt, to step back and see the book for what it is.

You know, I keep hearing the “It’s a joke!” defense of the book. I tend to agree that it is one but I think the joke is the one Frank Miller is having on all of us and the industry. It’s like he’s trying to see how rotten a book he can put out and still be treated as Frank Miller, Comics Visionary. The entire project just reeks of contempt for his employers and his fans.

Actually, it reeks of giving fans what they want – an over the top overly violent book about a psychopath, written by him and drawn by Jim Lee.
Everyone had a whinge about Dark Knight Strikes Back, because instead of continuing with Returns path of destruction, he decided to show the Silver Age characters as cool, so this time he’s giving people what they thought they wanted.
It reminds me of Thomas Harris’ Hannibal in that sense – it was exactly what the public had been saying they wanted – more Hannibal, more disgusting etc – but he gave it to them in a way that showed them they didn’t really want it.

That said, I think ASBAR is a hoot of a read.
I waited till it’s trade release and it read fine.
I think way too many people have gotten their panties in a bunch over this series.
It’s a Miller and Lee Batman book…. did you honestly expect high art?

I agree with you that Miller’s stuff is a lot like Tarantino’s. Repetitive, predictable, dependent on pastiche, and desperately trying to seem cool.