The All New, All Star Batman & Robin Thread!

[squeekness]

Hiatus? As in forever?

 

[Punisher RULES]

What do you all think are the chances of there being another collected edition of ASBAR?

The first HC collected nine issues and well, could they really just put out the three last issues?..

 

[CrimsonMist]

What do you all think are the chances of there being another collected edition of ASBAR?

The first HC collected nine issues and well, could they really just put out the three last issues?..

Chances are good, but only when the series is finished. I believe Miller said he has up to issue 14 scripted. Who knows when Jim Lee will pencil them. Miller has also said that the series will go to atleast issue 17.

 

[squeekness]

When will that happen? 2011?

 

[SheldonLevene]

Yeah, its just building it at a -very- slow pace, and that isn't a remark about the delays.

I agree, I just picked them up via online means, and the artwork is fantastic, and the writing is decent. It's just that everything takes so long to develop.

 

[theMan-Bat]

the problem is that batman does this crazy things FOR YEARS now. even in morrison's run he takes a big pleasure out of beating people to a pulp. the difference is that batman has done this already in so many better written storylines. that's why all-star bats reads like a big shame. it takes forever to move on and what you get to read in the end is just not satisfying, at all.

Speak for yourself. All-Star Batman & Robin might read like a big shame to you, but it doesn't to others of us, and it may not be fun and satisfying for you, but it certainly is for others of us.

 

[margon]

batman has done this already in so many better written storylines.

interesting. can you name a few for me?

 

[Ipodman]

Jimm lee is just busy with his 'DC Universe Online' thingy... the upcoming MMORPG...
... which will be launched late this year...
so i hope by next year AllStar Batman can go back into full swing...
(although "full swing" would not remotely describe wat it was before... XD)

 

[terry78]

Regardless of anyone's stance, Miller's run on this Batman will be one that's remembered years down the line for the way he portrayed him. That infamous internet meme is already being used in the mainstream.

 

[Mogwai]

didn't miller say the series was going to be finished and not cancelled though? i'm a completist.

 

[theMan-Bat]

didn't miller say the series was going to be finished and not cancelled though? i'm a completist.

That's right. And Dan DiDio has said, "The All Star books, as they exist now, are really built for the people who built them. When Grant stopped writing All Star Superman, we stopped producing All Star Superman. When Frank and Jim Lee stop with All Star Batman and Robin, we will stop with All Star Batman and Robin as well."
http://www.newsarama.com/comics/110826-Didio3.html

And "on hiatus" simply means that it's on a break for a period of time in the normal schedule of the series, and it will return from hiatus eventually. Jim Lee has admitted that working on the DC Universe Online game "was really slowing me down on drawing comics so I got behind the 8-Ball on my All-Star Batman & Robin schedule." And Frank Miller has stated, "I've written up through issue No. 13. There will be just four more after that. Or maybe five. My plan is in the end we find out where that robot tyrannosaurs in the Batcave comes from. We finally find out. That's the plan." So we know that the upcoming issues are already written, heck even covers for the next two issues are already finished.
Cover for All-Star Batman & Robin #11 by Jim Lee:

Description: Frank Miller and Jim Lee gun the All-Star engine into the red! The Dark Knight’s hand exacts a heavy price from the trash of Gotham City – and now, with the Boy Wonder by his side, fines will be doubled!

Variant cover for All-Star Batman & Robin #12 by Bill Sienkiewicz:

Description: Batman and Robin crack the stone-cold psychopath known as The Joker!

Covers are often finished in advance. The interiors just need to be drawn and inked and colored. We just have to give Jim Lee time to catch up.

 

[CaptainClown]

gah I want to see the robot tyrannosaur do something amazingly awesome

 

[terry78]

Doesn't the robot come from Dinosaur Island? But I guess it was never made clear in the original story.

 

[Ipodman]

i was hoping All star batman would say something more about that T-rex....
but Batman just asked Robin to "shut up" or something rude like that...

 

[theMan-Bat]

Doesn't the robot come from Dinosaur Island? But I guess it was never made clear in the original story.

In the original story (Batman #35, 1946) the robot dinosaur came from an island amusement park called Dinosaur Island filled with robot cavemen and gigantic robot dinosaurs. But this was Jack Schiff's Adam West-esque deputized public servant Batman with a badge participating in a friendly game at the amusement park called Dinosaur Island in the middle of the day for charity and was given one of the robot dinosaurs. The history behind the robot dinosaur the mysterious outlaw Batman has is definitely different because he would never participate in a friendly game at the amusement park in the middle of the day. He loses a great deal of his effectiveness once the public realizes he's just a man in a costume. He would stick to the shadows. He needs to maintain a degree of mystery. There is fear in the unknown and this Batman wants to be feared, which is the whole point of dressing in a bat costume and lurking in the shadows. The whole point of him becoming Batman is to create that edge.

 

[kguillou]

You know, i've always wondered how he actually got the dinosaur in the cave. That and the giant Coin that he always keeps in there. How the heck did batman even get those things in the cave without anyone noticing? Lol

 

[SheldonLevene]

That's right. And Dan DiDio has said, "The All Star books, as they exist now, are really built for the people who built them. When Grant stopped writing All Star Superman, we stopped producing All Star Superman. When Frank and Jim Lee stop with All Star Batman and Robin, we will stop with All Star Batman and Robin as well."
http://www.newsarama.com/comics/110826-Didio3.html

And "on hiatus" simply means that it's on a break for a period of time in the normal schedule of the series, and it will return from hiatus eventually. Jim Lee has admitted that working on the DC Universe Online game "was really slowing me down on drawing comics so I got behind the 8-Ball on my All-Star Batman & Robin schedule." And Frank Miller has stated, "I've written up through issue No. 13. There will be just four more after that. Or maybe five. My plan is in the end we find out where that robot tyrannosaurs in the Batcave comes from. We finally find out. That's the plan." So we know that the upcoming issues are already written, heck even covers for the next two issues are already finished.
Cover for All-Star Batman & Robin #11 by Jim Lee:

Description: Frank Miller and Jim Lee gun the All-Star engine into the red! The Dark Knight’s hand exacts a heavy price from the trash of Gotham City – and now, with the Boy Wonder by his side, fines will be doubled!

Variant cover for All-Star Batman & Robin #12 by Bill Sienkiewicz:


We just have to give Jim Lee time to catch up.

I love Jim Lee so much...that is all.

 

[Ipodman]

i just hope more villains will make an appearance... wanna see how Jim Lee does it...

 

[CaptainClown]

well if you wanna see him do villains read hush,but with a frank miller twist then ya I am waiting for that also.

 

[theMan-Bat]

Thanks to all for your curiosity regarding ASB&R--which I prefer to call ROBIN, because that's who it's about.

ROBIN seems to be back on track, via Wildstorm. Jim's keeping me informed. I'm very glad to report this, since the story involves a seminal journey for Dick Grayson, and for Batman himself.

By the way, Jim's delays on the project have nothing to do a lack of diligence. He's an industrious man. Let's give his time: it'll be worth it.

FM

http://www.moebiusgraphics.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1726

 

[CrimsonMist]

So Wildstorm will now be putting the book out, or am i misinterpreting?

Also, a user's post says that this was the second bit of good news that day for him, the first being something about Holy Terror. Did i miss something or this guy just excited over old news?

 

[squeekness]

It would be nice if Wildstorm would make this book so we'd actually have it but I think that fellow was just saying that Robin was going to have a Wildstorm book of his own, not All Star.

 

[theMan-Bat]

So Wildstorm will now be putting the book out, or am i misinterpreting?

I think you are misinterpreting. Since WildStorm is also the name of Jim Lee's studio, Frank is likely just referring to Jim getting back on track on All-Star Batman & Robin, at his WildStorm studio.

It would be nice if Wildstorm would make this book so we'd actually have it but I think that fellow was just saying that Robin was going to have a Wildstorm book of his own, not All Star.

That fellow is Frank Miller, he and his girlfriend post on moebiusgraphics.com for fans, his user name is FM, and he was just saying that he prefers to call All-Star Batman & Robin just Robin, because that's who it's about. He started posting there in '07. This was his first post:

A friend recently introduced me to this site, so it seems a good idea to get acquainted. I'm very impressed: you seem like a very smart group. Impressed, and, of course, flattered that my work is your subject.

Just to catch you up, I'm plowing my way through drawing what will be hundreds of storyboards for the SPIRIT movie, and preparing for the move to New Mexico, where we will start shooting October 7. The cast is almost all chosen, and things are looking good for this labor of love to be one I'll be proud to put my name on. I'll resume my long-delayed HOLY TERROR graphic novel early next year, and can't wait to show you the new places my art is going. Somewhere in all of this I'll enjoy a vacation somewhere.

I'm grateful for the concern expressed about my health. I did, in fact, suffer a very rough patch last year and looked it. Happily, that crisis is long past, and I'm enjoying that wonderful period where friends welcome me with a "you look great!".

Also, I'd like to clear one thing up. I'm not a Ditko-style hermit. My Green Mountain background just makes me quite reticent to discuss personal issues in any public forum. That hardly stops me from having a big mouth, as many of you know.

I look forward to checking in on this site from time to time, and will be happy to answer questions and argue points.

Thanks for being here,

FM

http://www.moebiusgraphics.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1533&p=3994#p3994

And I'm certain it's really him because he posted this message on there on April 25 '08, a month before he made it into a blog on the official Lionsgate Spirit site on May 30 '08:

TO MY READERS

Much has been the fuss in the comics’ blogosphere about my SPIRIT movie—much justified, much hoped for, and much to my delight, that there has been a fuss at all. Some comics readers are terrified that THE SPIRIT will be a retread of my SIN CITY. Others quarrel over the change of the SPIRIT’S traditional blue hat, mask, and jacket, to black. These are understandable concerns for any lover of Will Eisner’s masterpiece. I take this opportunity to address these concerns. With glee, I take this opportunity.

THE SPIRIT is, with every effort I give it, not a rusty, dusty old monument to the work of my beloved Mentor, so much as it is an extension of what I know to have been Eisner’s central intent: to create something new, witty, and exploratory. That’s what he did. That’s what I’m doing.

It only resembles SIN CITY in that I am its director, and, well, yes, I have my ways and my proclivities. Luckily, I was able to discern three important proclivities I share with the Master. We both love good stories. We both love New York City. And we both love beautiful women.

(Please forgive my constant present-tense references to my dear friend. His creative force, and his force of personality, remain so strong in my mind that I can’t often think of Will Eisner as a man who has left us.)

Now, about that blue suit.

Comic books have long traditions based on the limitations of pre-digital printing. Among these are traditions from the old newsprint-run-through-letterpress approach (yes, comics have been—and still do--follow tradition that dates all the way back to Gutenberg!). Bad printing on pulp paper is why it was necessary for every superhero to have his emblem printed on his chest, and that everything that’s black be printed in blue. Hence Superman’s preposterous blue hair. And the Spirit’s blue hat, mask, and suit.

In tests—and we did several—the blue made the Spirit look like an unfortunate guest at a Halloween party. Going to black brings back his essential mystery, his Zorro-like sexiness. It also makes that red tie of his look very, very cool. So I made the call, with all respect to Eisner’s creation, and most importantly, to what I perceived as his underlying intention. It was an easy call for me to make. The Spirit dresses in black, and looks much the better for it. As I said, my desire was never to slavishly follow the rules of ‘40s printing into campy oblivion, but to reintroduce Eisner’s creation, via modern technology, to our brave new world.

And THE SPIRIT as some sort of SIN CITY REDUX? No, SIN CITY, that one’s my own baby, folks, and it looks the way it does for its own reasons. THE SPIRIT is, and will always be, Eisner’s SPIRIT. Anybody watching me on the set could attest that I very frequently drew a storyboard for a given shot first as I saw it, then as Will might’ve seen in—and, in every case, went with what I saw as Will’s version.

To drive the point home, THE SPIRIT, despite any accidental impression left by that kickass teaser-trailer, is a full-color movie. SIN CITY—and I hope to make of it a movie trilogy all its own, come Hell and high water—is, visually, a playhouse for black and white.

THE SPIRIT’s been one hell of an adventure, one that’s made me love the world of comics more than ever.

I’m confident that it’s going to be one hell of a good movie.

FM

http://www.moebiusgraphics.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1609

http://www.superherohype.com/news/spiritnews.php?id=7278

Also, a user's post says that this was the second bit of good news that day for him, the first being something about Holy Terror. Did i miss something or this guy just excited over old news?

That guy is excited because Frank's girlfriend Kimberly Cox, she is Elsa: a Damsel in Distress in The Spirit, her user name on moebiusgraphics.com is StewiePickleEgg, named after their cat, said, "he's focusing on HOLY TERROR now because he already has the conclusion for the second half of ASBR written."

http://www.moebiusgraphics.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1721

And Frank said: I have no idea when you'll see it, but the revisions are a *****! Back at the drawing board..

FM

http://www.moebiusgraphics.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1651&start=15

And Frank also said: I've got a whopper of a Superman story I'd love to tell--a third DK, in fact, and it'd involve Wonder Woman and Lara--but I think I've already pushed DC to their limit. These are multibillion-dollar franchises, after all--they have to protect them from pirates like me.

But who knows? ANYTHING can happen.

FM

http://www.moebiusgraphics.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1726

 

[Mogwai]

a third DK about supes? anyone interested??

 

[CrimsonMist]

http://www.moebiusgraphics.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1721

And Frank said: I have no idea when you'll see it, but the revisions are a *****! Back at the drawing board..

FM

Makes me wonder if DC made him tone it down. Ridiculous if that's the case.

http://www.moebiusgraphics.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1651&start=15

And Frank also said: I've got a whopper of a Superman story I'd love to tell--a third DK, in fact, and it'd involve Wonder Woman and Lara--but I think I've already pushed DC to their limit. These are multibillion-dollar franchises, after all--they have to protect them from pirates like me.

But who knows? ANYTHING can happen.

FM

http://www.moebiusgraphics.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1726

Actually, i'd love to see this. When Frank doesn't write Superman as a government tool, it's some great writing. Not that his writing him as a government tool isn't good either. It's just when Frank writes him as a hero, his writing is awesome.