All Star Batman and Robin #8

DC Comics

Writer: Frank Miller

Pencils: Jim Lee

Inker: Scott Williams

Colorist: Alex Sinclair

Bob, hold on...I kinda like that one.

I’m a pretty bleak guy. I read Nietzsche for fun. I find the end of Cowboy Bebop uplifting. John Calvin strikes me as hopelessly optimistic. So it says a lot that I’m disturbed by All Star Batman and Robin #8.

The parade of malignity continues in All Star B&R #8 as the reader is treated to a procession of bizarre sadism. The Joker murders an attorney, Dick Grayson picks his secret identity, and Catwoman’s costume gets more S&M than thought previously possible.

A critical aside: I’ve got nothing against the first amendment. I say enough inadvertently stupid things that, without it, I’d probably be in jail (or traction?) right now. What I do have something against is when a “first amendment champion” like Frank Miller uses freedom of speech to shield stupid, unnecessary violence, like the kind in this issue. The Joker murders an attorney, describes the process as he does it, and even narrates the sexual thrill he gets from the process. Is any of it necessary? Of course not. But Frank Miller doesn’t know the meaning of the word “necessary…” or “subtle,” or “tactful,” or many other fifth grade vocabulary words.

Also, let’s be honest-- yet another Frank Miller story that features a psychopath abusing and murdering a woman? Frank, buddy, find a shrink. For your sake. For my sake. For the sake of coming up with a different storyline.

Jim Lee is, as always, better than Frank Miller deserves. When Lee drew the Joker in Batman: Hush, the character looked messy and uninspiring. Five years and a lot of sketches later, Jim Lee’s Joker is a suave, chilling, flawlessly drawn menace. And of course, Lee’s Batman looks the way he should always look.

Worth the money? Sadly, no.