# Frank Miller's latest Batman - Wow... just wow! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 3, 2006, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-latest-batman-wow-just-wow/359253 "2006-06-03T03:44:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-latest-batman-wow-just-wow/359253/21 "2006-06-05T04:07:41Z")
[QUOTE=Big Bad Voodoo Lou] How well is it selling, by the way? This seems like the kind of thing Wizard would hype as the best comic ever, and one you’ll surely be able to stockpile and pay for your kid’s college education with. [/QUOTE] Yeah, so everyone goes out and buys 50 #1s, then they get mad 10 years later when they find out they’re now retailing at three bucks apiece. It sells quite well, sadly. ---
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-latest-batman-wow-just-wow/359253/22 "2006-06-05T04:16:49Z")
[QUOTE=cbawlmer] Yeah, so everyone goes out and buys 50 #1s, then they get mad 10 years later when they find out they’re now retailing at three bucks apiece. It sells quite well, sadly. [/QUOTE] Frank Miller’s still hot from the Sin City movie, the Dark Knight Returns is on everbody’s short list of “Best Comic Ever”, the book got some attention from the mainstream media, and Jim Lee’s a real crowd pleaser himself. So it’s no surprise that the first issue, at least, sold well. What’s surprising is that people are coming back. ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-latest-batman-wow-just-wow/359253/23 "2006-06-05T04:40:01Z")
I agree. We bought the first issue, read it, loathed it, and got rid of it. The fact that it \*\*still \*\*sells and apparently has legitimate fans is just sad, sad, sad. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-latest-batman-wow-just-wow/359253/24 "2006-06-05T04:59:19Z")
Does anybody else sense an uncanny resemblance between Miller’s Batman and [the Doom guy](http://www.doomworld.com/10years/doomcomic/comic.php)? “Rip and tear!” ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-latest-batman-wow-just-wow/359253/25 "2006-06-05T05:02:24Z")
Not nearly so much as the resemblance between ASBAR Batman and the typical deviant who inhabits Basin City. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-latest-batman-wow-just-wow/359253/26 "2006-06-05T05:18:19Z")
I… I think I might need to buy this comic now for MST3K value. I know a shop back home which sells older (at least four-six months old) back issues for a buck each so I might need to look for “All Star” Bats when I stop in next week. Between cheesecake-arific Black Canary flipping out ninja style “the goddamn Batman”'s emo face I think I’m in love. Not to mention the random Supes bashing. Frank Miller is making good on the All Star line. He’s returning the fun of the Golden Age to the modern age. Unfortunately the fun is in the [Superdickery](http://www.superdickery.com/other/163.html) vein. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-latest-batman-wow-just-wow/359253/27 "2006-06-05T22:00:05Z")
> [@](#): > > I mean, Frank’s written some stinkers in his day (see the issue of Spawn he wrote), but he’s always done good by Batman. Now that’s a funny line. Nice to know “Protoclown” never read DKSA. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2006, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-latest-batman-wow-just-wow/359253/28 "2006-06-08T21:56:54Z")
I haven’t read the comic and I admit it looks jaw droppingly bad, but…I almost think I can see where he’s coming from with it. Bear with me for a second: There’s two different views of Batman that writers seem to go with on a continuum. On one end is the guy who’s a dark and determined (but basically sane, reasonable, and noble) genius, with all sorts of technology to aid him in his cause, much of which is of his own design. This guy more or less does what he does for the right reasons: to make sure that the terrible things that have happened to him never happen to others. He works alone, but he can be a team player. He’s fighting the good fight. The defining point of this Batman is being saved by his father in the well; he’s his fathers son, and he saves people. I think of this as the “Night Owl” side of Batman. The other Batman is a scary, borderline psychopath, crippled by childhood trauma. The defining moment in his life was the murder of his parents He lives to exact revenge on his parent’s murderers by proxy, over and over. He’s a moderately deranged and violent loner, doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. I think of this as the “Rorschach” side of Batman. Miller’s view of Batman is interesting at least because it seems like it’s departing from these two views. We have Batman as a genius, but not exactly a violent psychopath. He’s creepy, immature, and vaguely pathetic…the “Bobby Fischer” Batman. His parent’s death hasn’t so much turned him into a psycho as it has stunted his mental growth. The first two views of Batman had at least one thing in common: neither one gave a shit what anyone thought about them. They knew they were in complete control and knew exactly what they were doing, and they made you respect it. This Batman kidnaps a twelve year old he thinks he sees as a kindred spirit and is desperate to impress him as an equal, and he _still_ lacks the social skills to keep up with him. Usually writers have assumed that the role of Robin in the Batman mythos is to humanize him, to make him less dark and more noble. Here he seems to have a different function…to make Batman grow up and stop being an immature dickhead. Or maybe I’m reading too much into it and it really does suck. ---
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2006, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-latest-batman-wow-just-wow/359253/29 "2006-06-08T22:52:11Z")
I think the idea is that Robin will humanize Batman. See Alfred’s dressing down of him, and how Batman obviously cares what Dick thinks of him. Eventually Robin will break through to him, and turn him more sane and likeable. The problem is that Batman’s too far gone. He’s not just cold, removed, and slightly dangerous, he’s obviously deranged and hateful in his actions and attitudes. It’s hard to believe anyone could redeem this character. If I had to choose between this Batman and Marv from Sin City to babysit my kid, I’d go with Marv. At least he’d feed him! Then, of course, you’ve got the pacing, the internal continuity problems, the asides to Sin City Black Canary and Superretard… Yeah, I think it just sucks… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frank-millers-latest-batman-wow-just-wow/359253.md?page=1)