Just about everyone, from creators to readers to online pundits, has weighed in on the production error that led DC Comics to recall All-Star Batman & Robin #10. Everyone, that is, except writer Frank Miller.
But, thankfully, the LA Times’ Geoff Boucher gets Miller on the phone, only to discover he was unaware of the printing mistake that allowed some R-rated language to show through black bars designed to blot them out.
“This is the first I’ve heard of it,” Miller says. “I have no idea how this awful thing happened. It’s just one of those terrible and glorious things that happen time to time in publishing.”
Yes, just awful. However, Miller continues, “my first reaction is simple: I want at least three copies.”
Miller goes on to explain the practical reason behind including the actual curse words under the black bars, instead of, say, just leaving the space blank:
“I wrote the actual words in the script and had them put on the page so the black bars would be the right size on the page,” Miller explained. In this latest issue, the bars are there but on a few you can read right through them; they’re more gray than black. “It’s a simple printing error,” Miller said. “That’s what it is.”
September 11th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
WON’T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN????????
September 11th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
I’m surprised he did say “What’s the matter with that printer? Is he slow? Is he retarded? This is a copy of the Goddamned All Star Batman #10.”
September 12th, 2008 at 11:09 am
This still doesn’t explain why the words were there in the first place. If they were never intended for public consumption, then why actually have the letterer write them just to have them blacked out at the printer? That’s just unbelievably stupid and juvenile.
September 12th, 2008 at 11:43 am
If people don’t want to read it, don’t read it. It won’t rape your childhood or offend you if you’re not reading it.
Unless you’ve been exposed to Gamma rays…
September 12th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
Did you notice how he keeps saying ‘printing error’ over and over? Like he’s trying to emphasize that version of events over some other, less plausible theory. Hmmm….
September 12th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
Mithel, I think he’s being tongue in cheek.
September 13th, 2008 at 9:21 am
“If they were never intended for public consumption, then why actually have the letterer write them just to have them blacked out at the printer?”
Because having the words there create boxes of the correct length, and in some cases includes little bits of the correct letters beyond the black box, making it look like the correct thing was censored.