4 issue test #32 - All Star Batman

I’m still trying to erase Frank Miller’s All-Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder from my memory. Fortunately, despite the similar title, this title has nothing to do with that. All Star Batman

Now, a quick proviso on writer Scott Snyder. He has a lot of well-acclaimed work and most of it is well-deserved but… I think he might be a tad overrated. His Court of Owls work is fantastic and his run with Dick Grayson’s Batman is second to none. But then I have to look at the previously reviewed Batman Annual #1 (plug) and his two Joker arcs, neither of which are that great in my opinion. Not horrible, just not great. I honestly think Snyder is at his best dealing with villains that don’t have a tonne of backstory and character. He can remodel lesser villains but when dealing with the mainstream villains, and yes I’m counting Mr Freeze, his work is less than stellar.

So, yes, it does worry me that his first arc is focused on Two-Face, one of the more high-profile Batman villains. Plus, this title promises to be a villain palooza with villains being chucked in left and right. Batman: Eternal had this but it was a 52-issue mini-series with a number of different writers, this is a 5-issue arc.

John Romita Jr does the artwork for this series. Whilst I do like the artwork of Greg Capullo in Scott’s previous Batman run, John Romita Jr did some great work back during his Dick Grayson run, so I’m looking forward to seeing what he has up his sleeve.

All Star Batman is longer than most of DC comics’ offerings and sports a $4.99 price tag, nearly double what DC is offering for everything else. Padding it out is backup feature. I’ll cover the backup story separately as part of the review but I’ll be judging each issue as a whole when I come to scores.

#1 opens at Auggie Macs Diner where there’s a black and white shot for no reason (get used to these). It’s all fine and dandy until Firefly and oh Killer Moth, what have they done to you? Anyway, until they crash Batman through the window. Firefly threatens to kill everyone in diner if Batman doesn’t reveal where ‘he’ is. Batman wraps Firefly’s gun in his cape and burns him somehow. He easily defeats Killer Moth.

Some of the patrons tell Batman they shouldn’t have taken ‘him’ out of Gotham, Batman is dragged outside by 2 metal arms. 22 minutes ago there’s a pointless scene with Batman with a guy in a white hood with only one, red eye visible. Since it’s revealed who it is in the next scene I’ll tell you it’s Two Face and he thinks Batman threw his coin away.

2 hours ago, Batman talks with Gordon after Two Face was caught after making Gotham’s rainwater acidic or something. A story I would like to read for the record. They caught him but they did it thanks to the help of several crime bosses. They could throw him in Arkham but since he has something on everyone, it won’t last. Duke is in this scene too, I can’t even remember what he goes by.

The Harvey personality of Two Face tells Bruce via recorded message that they need to take him to the ‘house’ and burn out his Two Face personality once and for all. Question, is Two Face’s personality usually like this? From what I understand they’re at least usually aware of what each other’s doing so there’s no way Harvey could’ve sent this without Two Face knowing. Of course Snyder will proceed to rewrite everything we know about Two Face's character to suit the whims of the story.

We cut to 20 minutes ago… Much like that other title whose name I shan’t mention, the time-line can get a little overwhelming. Is it really all that necessary to jump around like this? We could’ve done this straight and linear without an issue. Anyway, Two Face and Batman continue talking. As Harvey Dent, he put mechanisms in to track criminal behaviour, apparently and now as Two Face, he’s exploiting them to squeeze crime bosses and make crime easier for normal people, leading to crime rises every time he’s in town.

Anyway, the news decides to be complete dipsh*ts and broadcast a message from Two-Face to the entire state. A warning that if he makes it to the house, all the dirt he has will be unleashed, and a reward for his rescue being the funds from the 3 biggest Gotham crime lords. Alfred detects an incoming projectile, they’re cloaked so that shouldn’t happen but someone has the codes.

Back to the present and Black Spider is revealed to be the guy with the Doc Ock claws, he shoots at what he thinks is Batman but turns out to be some wood and Batman uses a chainsaw he got from the plot convenience fairy to detach his doc ock arms. Firefly comes back but upon seeing Batman’s growly face, he runs off.

He heads to the crashed bat-plane but finds Two Face is missing. The chef from the bar thanks him, then apologises as she and several others draw guns on him. Including some police by the looks of things. One of the shoots Batman in the back but Batman shrugs that off and drags Dent down, he wakes up as Batman has dragged him into a truck. Two Face warns that everyone’s coming for him, good guys wanting to be bad, bad guys wanting to be worse and he’s sure Cobblepot will send someone out for them.

Batman tells Alfred he’s cutting communication as someone close must be in on this to get the codes to shoot down the Batplane. It’s revealed that Alfred and NO! NO! YOU DO NOT PULL THIS KIND OF CR*P. Go sit in the corner comic!

Batman tosses the coin out the window and we conclude seeing an armed Gentleman Ghost is holding onto the back.

#2 starts 2 days from now. Are you f*cking kidding me with this sh*t, by setting it two days from now, you’re insuring that this entire sequence has no bearing on the plot at all. So it’s pointless. Anyway, Harvey Bullock and Jim Gordon are about to make a move on Wayne Manor, Dent has dirt on them too, but first they need to work out what filter they want to use.

Back in the Present Killer Croc has arrived to try and take Two Face, he’s brought King Shark as his muscle (for some reason) and he (again, for some reason) has brought Amygdala as his muscle. Batman fires some smoke stuff at Killer Shark so he and Amygdala are knocked off the train. Thank you for their wasted cameos. Croc is using a log as a weapon (for some reason) so Batman uses a Batarang thing to make sure he doesn’t let go as the train heads through the tunnel.

But if you think it’s over, nope, as Cheshire and Copperhead (making her debut since Arkham Origins) arrive, and use their trademark poisons on Batman. Batman ropes he and Harvey together, then poisons Harvey too and blows the carriages of the train, then dives over into the river below with Two Face in tow.

We cut to 20 hours ago where Cobblepot (looking noticeably pastier than normal), Great White and Black Mask, talk to a retired Mr Knyazev aka KG Beast, or The Beast in this comic for some reason. His face is kept hidden for some reason. He’s a very expensive contract killer that the three had to band together to hire. He accepts under the condition that he can be loud about it, as most of his other jobs have needed to be covert. They accept.

We cut to the batcave, also 20 hours ago. We find out how this comic is interpreting Two Face in a scene which doesn’t have Two Face in it. Indeed we find out that contrary to previous depictions of the character I’m familiar. Harvey and Two Face are not aware of each other’s actions. Also, he knows Bruce is Batman. Duke notices something in some chemical compound and knows Bruce is walking into a trap and heads off to stop him.

Batman and Two Face emerge on the shore but some corrupt cops find them and knock Batman out. We see a Flashback of Bruce giving Harvey back his coin. I’ll admit the alternate art style looks very good. Batman awakens a truck handcuffed to the wall. One of the cops tosses the coin and it lands bad side up, he thinks that means Batman dies but because he had the gall to guess Two Face, he’s the one that dies instead. Before long though KG Beast arrives to shoot up the van.

#3 opens ‘then’ where Harvey and Bruce as children are talking. We cut to now, where KG Beast kills off all the corrupt cops as the narration tells us what his abilities are. Batman tackles him with his Bat knucks and the background more or less disappears for a few shots. Two Face tries to shoot him but gets some shurikens in the eye for his trouble. Before KGBeast can finish the job, Duke arrives and runs him down. They get in and escape. They Royal Flush gang arrive but KG Beast blows up they’re flying card and kills them.

Black Mask, the Penguin and Great White are worried about recent events, they can’t even pay him what they promised. Two idiots tease the Penguin because they don’t recognise one of Gotham’s most notorious crime lords, they get burnt alive for their troubles. They drive to a famous Batcave where Harold, professional gadget manufacturer and medic and mute patches them up. I guess he has some kind of computer talk for him or something.

Duke tells Bruce that Gordon thinks a file’s about to decrypt that links Bruce Wayne to Batman. He also sees that the cure Harvey was working on contains an ingredient used in joker antidote that never took. Bruce insists on keeping going. He explains to Duke about his past. After his parent’s death, there was a time where he was thinking of nothing but killing them, so Alfred sent him to summer camp and that’s where he met Harvey. Harvey was the son of an abusive father. One night, he surprised his father, tied him up and left him there for days so the law sent him to that camp… WHAT?

OK, first off, I know it’s terrible that Dent had an abusive father but if the law did see it in his father’s favour, summer camp is a bit of a slap on the wrist, isn’t it? Also, how does someone with that substantial a black mark on their criminal record end up becoming DA!

20 minutes later Duke and Batman are piloting a jet ski through the tunnel, the reflectors in the tunnel look a bit like eyes in the dark (hint hint) and they’re pretty old so guess who show up next. It’s the Court of Owls, straight from being pretty much completely wiped out over in Nightwing. Two Face says he sugar-coated the story a little and suggests that maybe the cure is about turning all of him Two Face, they’re both inside each other after all. He ends the issue by pouring acid into Batman’s visor.

We open at a house where someone is screaming for help, it’s clearly been a while and finds his nails have grown through his skin. I could make a guess what this is supposed to be but it’s not covered again making this scene...

The acid begins pouring through Batman’s visor and affecting his eyes, but Batman manages to knock them back with things in his chest plate. The talons attack but Batman has a plan. He and Duke activate speakers so they can use echo-location in the fight. Batman also has those things in his gloves and he uses them to stun the talons so he can fight. Two Face floods the tunnel and Duke’s visor is cracked. Two Face escapes but Batman tells Duke to load up his music and exploit the weakness of the Talons’ ears. They manage to knock Two Face out again. Batman comments about how “Rock and Roll will never die” is that… is that a reference to Batman: Fortunate Son and his infamous hatred of Rock and Roll in that book? OK, you get one point

There’s an airport nearby with a biplane they can use, Batman should be able to see by the time they need to land. Good luck surviving the flight! In a flashback, Harvey has received something in a mysterious package whilst they were at summer camp.

Bruce explains to Duke that at the camp they made a pact. Bruce would kill Harvey’s father if Harvey killed Joe Chill but the arrival of that package, a melted down and reformed coin convinced Harvey to give his father another chance despite all the misgivings. KG Beast lands on the plane, having jumped from another and knocks Batman out, again…

They’re taken to a casino where KG Beast tells Batman he plans to take him to his private island and use him as hunting practice. The trio of big bads arrive and reveal that Harvey had used them as a backup plan and placed a tracker in Two Face. You realise that makes no sense right. I can’t imagine you didn’t realise Two Face could pull off this plan, giving people who have ample reason to stop the journey succeeding the tools to do so is f*cking stupid!

Suddenly the building is blown open, KG Beast protects his employers, Batman and Duke escape and free Two Face but it turns out the attacks are just ordinary people.

OK, let’s move onto the backup features, featuring artwork from Declan Shavley in what looks to be his first at DC

#1 opens with Batman and Duke breaking into a fabrics warehouse and finding several dead bodies, they all have cuts on them, a torture style known as stilling. Zsasz’s handiwork. OK, question, isn’t Zsasz purportedly obsessed with killing people and making a mark for each death? Why would he leave his victims in a state they may be able to survive?

2 days earlier, Duke is looking at “The cursed wheel” a condensed version of every part of his training, that will help shape whether he’ll become a hero or a villain. Duke questions if he means Jason but no, he means someone else. OK…  Anyway, there are various colours in the wheel that represent characteristics his allies tend to favour. Nightwing Blue, Barbara Purple, Damian Green, presumably Jason Red and Tim…I have no clue, bets on Duke being yellow given his costume? Black is about evil or something. Anyway, they find one living victim begging for death.

#2 opens at a mental hospital. Duke is talking to his mother who was affected by Joker toxin or something. He tells her about who she was but she’s completely lost it and insults him saying she’s disappointed, calling him a rotten nothing and even breaking the glass.

Batman tells Duke that Zsasz saves his most painful tortures for the ones that survive. One of the victims had even more painful cuts and was likely the intended target. Alfred is checking the database to verify and is also checking up on the woman they found alive. They head to the house of Ms. Boone to check for evidence. Most of the others in the warehouse were under investigation from transporting drugs. They split up and Duke finds a photo, which reminds him of his own family. He deduces that Ms. Boone was actually the intended target, given how she was pleading for death. Alfred’s checks had verified this.

Batman says it’s probably a bad idea to bring his parents to the grounds now. He’ll move them to Gotham Pres. But he thinks they’ll be disruptive to his journey to finding out what kind of hero he’ll become. As Batman leaves, Zsasz reveals himself and attacks.

#3 opens with a flashback. Duke’s mother’s home from jury duty or something. Duke asks about the case, the trial of a boy accused of murdering over a dozen people. She eventually tells him he was innocent and gets him to bed.

In the present Duke wakes up. Want to know how he escaped that? F*ck knows. Bruce tells him that on the night, Rita Noles, the victim with the painful death was wearing clothes made from the coral Ms. Boone had used, so it was likely just luck that Zsasz mistook her for his survivor. Duke isn’t convinced and heads out. He realises Ms. Boone wasn’t wearing the coral clothes she’d usually wear, she must’ve known something.

Back in the flashback, Duke’s mother reveals that actually the boy was found guilty and she knew it, she just didn’t want him to think that way.

#4 opens with Duke confronting Ms Boone. She’d changed her name and face to try and throw Zsasz off her tail and had made contact with him to aim him at her competition, but he arrived early and likely knew who she was. Zsasz attacks, slashing into Ms Boone but Duke knocks him out the window, with Duke hanging on by a thread, he’s rescued by Batman.

Back at the mental hospital, Bruce tells Duke that Two Face is in town and he was likely the medium between Ms Boone and Zsasz. Duke says he doesn’t want his parents moved and the reason is kinda head scratching. And it’s really why I’m not a fan of how Snyder portrays the Joker. Batman believes Joker to be pure evil whilst Duke says he just attacks what he loves and by that twisted logic any time his parents insult him they’re actually showing their love for him. He asks what’s next in the training.

OK, so that was All-Star Batman #1-4, what did I think, let’s take a closer look.

For the main feature, I like idea conceptionally and I honestly most characters’ voices are well-captured. However, and this is a big problem, this story is insanely rushed. Plot points are introduced and dropped ad-nauseum. What happened to the Gentleman Ghost? How did they lose the truck and end up on a train? How do these villains, who are not all working for the crime lord trio, keep finding them? What about Gordon storming Wayne Manor? What about Alfred’s betrayal! Also, you’re not forgiven for that. One character you don’t mess with is Alfred!

This story is ripe for a much longer run, featuring villains from across the DC universe, maybe the occasional team-up and a lot of fun action. As it is the action scenes seem non-stop. Yeah, there are brief character moments but usually it sums to the gaps between them getting a vehicle and getting attacked again. They are cramming a lot into 4 issues and it massively hurts the story Snyder’s trying to tell.

In art, John Romita Jr does a good job, there are 2 points I wish to raise. One, the design of Black Mask is one of the worst I’ve ever seen for the character and 2, the black and white bookmarks are incredibly obnoxious.

With the co-feature, I can be far more positive as the story is largely well told and appropriate for the length. It’s a nice character study for Duke and sets up some strings for things to happen later down the line. Zsasz was probably the best handled villain in the entire run. And the artwork is also pretty serviceable.

Ratings

#1 5/10 (for the record, this would’ve been 7 without the Alfred betrayal)

#2 6.5/10

#3 6.5/10

#4 6.5/10

Overall – 6.125/10

Recommendation – I honestly do plan to drop this comic, I’m not enjoying it as much as I’d hope to for something with Scott Snyder’s name on it and there are 2 better Batman titles I could be spending my money on. 

Images/clips used in this review are from All Star Batman and the Nostalgia Critic and belong to their respective owners. All images in this review are subject to fair use