All-Star (Or "Ultimate") Batman & Robin *SPOILERS*

[Tight-Pants Jack]

Didn't care for it.

Batman seemed a bit too smug for me in his narrative, and I certainly don't like how he seems to be forcing Dick Grayson into becoming Robin . . . the very night the boy's parents are murdered.

And, Jesus, did he MURDER those cops at the end?!

Vicki Vale seems to be a pretty one-dimensional character, only able to provide T&A to the book . . . playing the role of "Dame Reporter-Babe" who has little more to contribute than swooning over Bruce Wayne, and talking about how much "bats suck" in almost the same sentence. We get it, Vale; Bruce Wayne good, Batman bad. It's terribly ironic that they're the same person, we know. Stop setting it up already.

There are dirty cops, and there are cops who are absolutley murderous. The cops here would've been fine had the story taken place during the prohibition-era or something of the like. But, I find it hard to believe that any modern officer of the law could get away with smacking a well-known gossip-columnist in the middle of a crowd with his billy-club , no matter HOW crooked the system was. These days, something like that would gain national attention. Having them drag Dick out to the woods in order to beat him senseless seems like an excessive attempt to establish just how slanted the law is in Gotham.

I think this is Frank Miller's attempt at trying to combine Batman with Sin City . . . only with poor results.

[KenKRK]

Yeah, a lot of it just didn't make sense to me. And it was incredibly repetitive.

[Ichbin Der Ausgang]

Having them drag Dick out to the woods in order to beat him senseless seems like an excessive attempt to establish just how slanted the law is in Gotham.

Did that really happen? Why?

[Tight-Pants Jack]

Did that really happen? Why?

It was GOING to, but Batman put an end to it. They were doing it to keep Dick's mouth shut about his parents being killed. As for why, we don't know yet.

[Carter]

You know, I was really under the impression that Dick was going to get an ass pounding, not an ass beating.

Anyway, I guess I liked it better than you did, but it wasn't amazing or anything. Frank Miller's short, punchy, repetative narration works great in Sin City, but it doesn't mesh well with Jim Lee's art (which is pretty rad).

I was also under the impression that this was going to take the ball and run with your average Joe's impression of what Batman and Robin are, so I'm not sure if I like the focus on Robin's origin, even though I like the idea of the story focusing on him.

Anyhoo, I'm going to stick it out for a while, at least for the art's sake and to check out the character designs of the upcoming baddies, but it's definitely a B- effort for what could have been a great project. I hope All Star Superman turns out better.

I can't believe that you take for granted that a dude can run around in tights and a cape with invincible ninja skills, but you're hung up on crooked cops.

[Knigge]

At first it was extremely repetitive, but towards the second half, it got a lot better. I'll check out the next issue and maybe the one after that, but it better pick up a lot more to keep me hooked.

[Art of Drowning]

I agree with carter about the ass pounding instead of beating. I liked it, didnt really pop out but I okay for a first issue. If you ask me, I was kinda pumped about the "you've been drafted. into a war." who knows dicks feelings better then batman? lets just see how this reveals.

[Bruce]

I was really happy with it.
That last panel and page of the book was awsome. No one writes bat's better than Miller for my buck.
the first half was the start. didn't care to much for it but what ever.
I hate, I hate, I HATE robin. always have.
Miller may really change my mind about the character.

[misfitX]

well it certainly wasn't impressive, even Lee said this wasn't his best art. but the art is supposed to improve over the course of the book. I'm still trying to figure out if i like the way Williams is inking this. I'll give it another issue or two.

[Popninja]

It's way too early to judge this series, for me anyway.

I thought it flowed pretty well and Lee's art was leaps and bounds more inspiring than his previous Superman work. As far as the actual story, it was definitely Miller. But I can't even try to pass judgment on it from just this issue. I'll have to agree with Carter's assessment, a B- effort for sure. It could have been so much better, but it really wasn't that bad. I'm hoping they have much better in store.

My only real gripe was that I wanted to buy this comic at the San Diego Con and ALL of the vendors were trying to rip people off by raising the price to $5 or more a mere day after the comic was released. I had to find someone willing to haggle, and I did, before I bought it.