TALES FROM THE LONGBOX: All Suck Batman & Robin!

[mburbank]

Good job Proto.

I also am loving this run. It's like bad Star Trek, every bit as good as good Star Trek and sometimes better. Sure "City on the edge of forever" rocks, but "Spocks Brain" still makes me laugh just thinking about it.

I don't object to everything you did (I actually liked "That is so queer" "Shut up".) and I think it's one of the moments that shows some of what Miller meant to do in ths comic and has failed at so memorably.

This is a very messed up Batman, and not just in the ways you'd think of immediately. A man who's spent his whole life in training and masquerading is socially retarded. He wants to appeal to Robin and everything he does is ridiculous and awkward. Up close, the 'Batman' charade doesn't work, he doesn't have it down yet.

I've always thought that writing Batman and dealing directly with the fact that he's a nutjob is fun. I just think Miller is really screwing up. The sad mesage here, is that like any other type of writing, almost nobody writes well forever. Almost all good writers have a period of good work, and then, sadly, a lot of mediocre work to keep paying the bills.

Not me, though. I'm always awesome.

You too Proto.