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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2018 17:27:17 GMT -5
A controversial series. A series that was never finished. Only 10 issues came out spread out over a 3 year period from summer 2005 thru the summer of 2008. Two big name creators telling their version of Dick Grayson's origin. Frank Miller was the writer and this was his version of Batman from Dark Knight Returns.
I will recap each issue then give you my thoughts on it. It's been 10 years since I read it.
Every issue written by Frank Miller. Art and cover by Jim Lee & Scott Williams. |
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2018 17:47:15 GMT -5
 
#1. Sept 2005.
Starts with a beautiful splash page of Dick Grayson high above the ground performing on the trapeze with his parents. Then we switch to Vicki Vale in her underwear getting ready for a date with Bruce Wayne. Alfred picks her up to take her to the circus. In this version the Flying Graysons complete their act & get shot in the head while taking their bows. Dick Grayson is taken by the police. Vale & Alfred follow them. The police are corrupt. They decide to rough up Dick since he saw the shooter. Batman arrives in time to save Dick or does he? Because he "drafts" Dick into a war...
Wow That was bad! I felt like it was written by a horny 13 year old boy. The bad dialog. The gratuitous underwear scenes. The crude and abrasive behavior of Batman. In some ways it wasn't as bad as the other "mature readers" books that were around at that time. After all we had read more violent & over the top stuff in The Authority, The Ultimates, ClassWar...
The first two pages are amazing. Then the issue rapidly goes downhill with 5 pages of Vicki in her underwear with close up shots of her butt...
Everyone was unlikable in this issue. So why did I buy issue 2? I hoped this story would ultimately "soften" Bruce & be a story of redemption.
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Post by sabongero on May 22, 2018 20:13:32 GMT -5
Finally! Someone's going to review THE...  |
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2018 20:30:32 GMT -5
And I know it was a different time but Robin's origin was told in 12 pages back in Detective Comics #38 (1940) & it was much better than this decompressed mess of a series.
Oh and we get the first "Goddamn Batman" in this issue uttered by Vicki Vale.
See what I mean about the dialog? Terrible.
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2018 20:50:53 GMT -5
This is going to be quite interesting thread ... @md62 !!!
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2018 20:56:46 GMT -5
Finally! Someone's going to review THE... I hope you didn't like it because it was just terrible. I just skimmed thru the rest of the issues and realized it gets worse...
2 words. Love chunks.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 9,533 
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Post by Confessor on May 22, 2018 21:58:48 GMT -5
I've never read this series, but I've heard plenty about the cringe-worthy dialogue in it.
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Post by hondobrode on May 22, 2018 23:05:29 GMT -5
I wanted to see how it ended.
That really gets me when they don't even publish the end.
It couldn't have sold that badly.
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Post by rberman on May 22, 2018 23:32:40 GMT -5
I've never read this series, but I've heard plenty about the cringe-worthy dialogue in it. I wasn't planning on reading it; in fact, I was planning on not reading it. So I'm delighted for someone else to briefly show me the highlights, such as they are. |
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2018 6:10:34 GMT -5
I wanted to see how it ended. That really gets me when they don't even publish the end. It couldn't have sold that badly. I don't remember how long the series was supposed to be. I do know Miller proposed a 6 issue mini to wrap it up around 2010. Obviously this never happened.
It wasn't due to sales. It was one of DC's top sellers every issue that came out.
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Post by bdk91939 on May 23, 2018 7:14:41 GMT -5
Oooh! This is going to be a ggod review topic. I remember when this title came out... or when it was supposed to and never came out and it burned up the forums back then. I don't knownis Frank was "off his rocker" or if he just deiberately did this on purpose.
Jim Lee probably said let's just leave Frank alone and kept drawing.
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Post by sabongero on May 23, 2018 11:48:45 GMT -5
Finally! Someone's going to review THE... I hope you didn't like it because it was just terrible. I just skimmed thru the rest of the issues and realized it gets worse...
2 words. Love chunks.
It does get worse. And it's so terrible that I LOVE IT! It's like a car crash, you know it's bad, but you just can't help but look and see what happened. Plus it sold very well, thanks to Jim Lee's art. A lot of the panels could have been utilized as posters they were so nice to look at. |
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Post by sabongero on May 23, 2018 11:53:37 GMT -5
 You know what. Forget about the dialogue. Even the long internal monologues were horrendous. After a while, it grows on you. And I don't mean it becomes tolerable. I mean it grows on your like a fungus. |
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Post by sabongero on May 23, 2018 12:07:34 GMT -5
I can't wait until you cover this ridiculous issue below. Reading it gave me YELLOW FEVER!  |
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Post by badwolf on May 23, 2018 13:44:46 GMT -5
I can't wait until you cover this ridiculous issue below. Reading it gave me YELLOW FEVER! That's so Silver Age! |
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