The Bendis Board just wants to know the truth!:

All Star Batman and Robin: Why did DC lie about what it was going to be….? When the All Star line was announced, DC (and Dan Didio, specifically), told us that the All Star line was to give us ‘iconic’ versions of these characters.

[Didio said] ‘Frank was instrumental in redefining Bruce Wayne as Batman for a new generation, and I for one, can’t wait to see him bring that same level of clarity and interpretation to Dick Grayson and Robin. With the teams now set for the two All Star books, Batman and Superman, I think every will agree that they meet the expectations set for these series. All Star creators working on iconic versions of our All Star characters - it doesn’ t get much better than this!’

[and the original Newsarama story announced] ‘the idea behind the All-Star line isn’t to spin the characters into a new timeline, a new universe, or a new continuity,[ rather, the creators are telling stories set in a contemporary period that both builds on the histories of the respective characters, while remaining fresh and as timeless as possible. These are books that DC hopes, will pull people in who maybe haven’t read a Batman or Superman story in a while – if ever. These versions and stories, while not “dumbed down” at all, will bring to the page what’s pure about the character – the iconic characteristics.’

…I think the problem that many have with the book isn’t that it is written as an over the top story…..but, rather, that DC sold/billed/announced it as a great book for people who normally don’t read DC/Batman and Robin to get into for the first time. They wanted an ‘iconic’ story, that shows (with clarity), and iconic interpretation of the character that wouldn’t feel ‘old’ or ‘new’, but could be a timeless, iconic portrayal of the character, Robin. Weren’t we also supposed to get that type of portrayal of Batman?

The other fans are equally impressed:

“Apparently, Frank Miller invented ‘gritty’ writing and now he thinks that fans of that style should be mocked. Personally, I think the whole thing is sour grapes from a guy who had it, then lost it. And DC just wanted it to appeal to all kinds of people. I see no problem with the marketing.”

“As someone who never bought a Batman single before ASB, I gotta say that I agree. I went into it thinking it was going to be what DC announced it as, and was genuinely disappointed. I got 3 issues in and dropped it. If I had known it was what Miller has made it, I probably wouldn’t have bought any issues.”

“i dunno, didio lies all the time? i guess that’s been proven to be true.”

“There’s probably nothing malicious about it. It may very well just be the books were announced before they were written and as what they were intended to be, and then the end result of ABMAR was either Miller not following through with what they wanted or with what he wanted. If it’s not what they wanted, who tells him no? No matter the quality, he’s the goddamn frank miller and he generated and generates more money for them than few other people. If Miller’s not following through with what he wanted, the book may just have gotten away from him and he fell back on his Millerisms. Maybe he wanted to do something or was asked to do something that wasn’t within his voice. I doubt there was any lying and suspect intentions were for one thing but something came out of the process.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 17th, 2007 at 9:13 am and is filed under DC Comics, Fandom, News & Views. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.