Barbelith Underground > Comic Books > Frank Miller, Jim Lee: The Goddamn Batman

Anyone who's ever had a thirty-two cent burrito at a flea market has probably been chomping on carne de rato. And, really, did we not think that at some point - almost no matter which version you pick - Bats wasn't a little bit fucked in the head. There are versions that remained nuts, and those where he's healed himself and become a healthy, functional person (my preference being the latter), but somewhere in his history there has to have been a lapse, and many times, Robin has been excused because he supposedly put Batman out of that insanity and into some sort of functional, human role.

I liked the new issue, even if I still can't manage a workable time-table for that milk carton. And I really like that the uber-toughguy Batspeak isn't working on Robin at all. It only works on paranoid nutcases and low-rent criminals... or guys who're getting their legs broken while he talks. Any sane, rational person, presented with the Bat-persona for an extended period (say, the length of a normal conversation), sees right through it to the damaged pretense.

This would be harder to buy if we hadn't had the post-Miller angsty-mean Batasshole... and the supercompetent science ninja. Miller's playing the initial loudly, and mockingly, but there's obviously the potential for the second type. Anyone who could manage that cave could find a way to heat it, and so on.

And, as with the Larry Hama Bats, the Grant and the Collins Bats, of years past, this is obviously being written with kids in mind to a degree certain other Batwriters aren't even attempting. Is it worthwhile to try, now, when common sense and statistics show kids don't really buy/read comics much? Except for online comics? Should Batman be written in the style of a first-year-college-student webcomic instead of big fucked up trial-daddy tamed by the rational Boy Wonder and his 'dude, your so gay for me' pithy dialogues?

If there's no hint of development by the time the second arc's rolling around, then I'll give in and admit this is just spinning its wheels. Right now, things seem to be developing at a decent enough pace and I think the splash and multi-page panels are actually worth it. That Batcave thing is the best I've seen that handled that did not just redo the original diagram-the-cave drawing everyone seems to just copy. It's like seeing Galactus from any angle Kirby didn't do... such a simple thing, but surprisingly rare.

What's hilarious is reading both All-Star books as complimentary. Morrison's Superman's ultimate confidence and capacity versus Miller's full-of-himself and forced-suffering Batman. When both get to guest in the other's book for an extended bit, an actual encounter... Well, I think it'll be fun. It's the goddammed Batman for crying out loud! As long as he's big and loud and childish... he's a frightened kid's version of the ultimate parent revenge figure. And since this is a retro book, the version here works for me... in contemporary book's, in stuff where it's the Batman of today, I'd like a little more maturity and recognition in my hairychested lovegod science ninja leatherdaddy with the pointy ears.