Posts: 1099 Location: Cheektowaga, NY Joined: 29.07.05
Posted on 25-07-2007 19:10
ALL STAR BATMAN & ROBIN, THE BOY WONDER #6
Written by Frank Miller
Art and cover by Jim Lee and Scott Williams
Variant cover by Miller
Edited by Bob Schreck
PLOT:
Batman and Black Canary get down to business — the business of criminal skull-cracking! Things heat up on a storm-tossed shipyard as the pair hunts down the mystery man behind the murder of Dick Grayson's parents. Plus, Black Canary isn't the only one of Gotham's fairer sex to be aroused into action by the Dark Knight's war on crime!
REVIEW:
So we had to wait for the next issue of All Star Batman & Robin for.....two months? Wait a minute, (double checking), two months? Two months between #5 and now #6? Wow, am’ I dreaming? Pinch me! I guess the All Star Batman & Robin book is finally back on tr--wait, don't want to jinx it. Anyway, it’s been two months (a dream?) since #5. Looking back on #5, I remember how I had nothing wrong with the book and others agreed. The big talk was Wonder Woman in the All Star Batman timeline. Look back at my review to see why if you didn't. But anyway, here is (surprisingly) #6:
Issue 6 offers set up and some introductions. As the Miller and Lee covers show, it introduces the ASB&R version of Batgirl. And in the book, along with her, the ASB&R versions of James Gordon, Barbara Gordon (Gordon's wife), and Jimmy Olsen. Black Canary returns and she and Batman share a scene, and later on a fight. So I got the same feeling here as I got in the previous issue. I think Miller & Lee are fixing what the negatives were from the first three-four issues. So I liked this.
I remember an interview where Frank Miller, along with saying that this takes in the Dark Knight Universe (DKR, DKSA), that he said this took place after the only canon storyline; Batman: Year One. Up to before this issue, there wasn't anything that said so on it taking place after Year One. That changes with this. When Barbara returns from school, Gordon talks to Sarah Essen. Also from Year One, and Gordon's wife in DKR. And in his phone call to her, he mentions police officers Rafferty & Flass, and Gordon taking a baseball bat from Flass. All from Year One. So not only does Year One serve as both a canon story and a story in the DKU, but ASB&R serves as a sequel (this would be considered a semi-sequel) to Year One. So now what Miller said on that story is true.
So now, Batgirl appears in ASB&R. Before this issue and Jim Lee's artwork, we only had Miller's cover. I, like many, don't care for Miller's artwork (except for his art on Daredevil and DKR, which was fine). But despite this, what fans were bothered by Batgirl was in her wearing alot of earrings in costume. One of the questions I heard was "how in the hell is she suppose to fight with those on?" But let's face it, its not canon for one, and two you have to for this, like movies, have to suspend disbelief. But moving on with the character in ASB&R; she represents what a teenage girl would be, and you know what, I find her and why she is Batgirl similar to the Batgirl from the show The Batman.
In the show, one of the reasons why she became Batgirl was because she was living in a city where it was protected by a hero, a cool hero I should say. Same thing here. In fact, that's the only problem Gordon has with the " Batman". Yes, he says it, and everyone in this series says it. His problem with Batman is that he is, while not doing it himself, inspiring others to wear costumes and go out fighting crime, and it seems most are girls and women (I said both because Barbara is technically a girl and Canary is a woman respectively). So with that in mind, not only is ti because Barbara is Batgirl, but it might be the main reason why Black Canary became who she is here.
The last thing to mention is Jimmy Olsen, and the return of Vicki Vale. In ASB&R, Jimmy has a crush on Vicki. And there is a scene where she undresses herself, with Jimmy not trying to look, which makes be reminded of Jimmy's Earth-3 counterpart a little. But the reason why she is undressing herself, in the hospital, was because she still wants to get the story, which is why Jimmy brought what she needed (the flying graysons, batman, etc), because she is a top reporter. Now that and the Superman/Wonder Woman scene in the previous issue has one thing in my mind: where is Lois Lane? Lois is a top reporter, which is admired by Jimmy Olsen, and Superman's girlfriend. In ASB&R, it seems she doesn't exist and this one woman has been replaced by two others. With that in mind, it kinda questions this being part of the DKU. Because Lois is mentioned in DKSA (isn't she?), so where is she? Thought to point that out.
Overall, this issue was good. Art always gets points by Lee, and it seems Miller is fixing things. Batgirl is introduced, so is Gordon, and Jimmy Olsen. Black Canary and Vicki Vale return, and we get confirmation that this follows Year One (as a semi-sequel). Although, the question of Lois Lane's existence in the series is up in the air. But I enjoyed this issue. Too bad, Wonder Woman wasn't in this. I wanted to see the ASB&R version of her again. But Black Canary makes up for that.
RATING: 3.5/5
Next Issue: Who is behind the murder of the Flying Graysons?
You don't get it, boy... this isn't a mudhole... it's an operating table.
(crack!)
And I'm the surgeon.
- Batman - The Dark Knight Returns
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