Dick Grayson Fan Club: All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder #1-10: May 24 - June 20

looking forward to finishing this. I think I fell off around issue 3 a while back. Thats awesome we are getting such a good window of time to go over this one, thanks it’s appreciated!

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No problem! I’d like to thank everyone that’s participated so far! This is turning out to be a really great discussion!

With Issue #3, I think we see the big problem that this book has, one that very few people mention because they’re hung up on “I’m the gosh-darn Batman” and all that jazz.

The problem is the pacing, and the meandering the book can take. This is a sequence I rather like – it’s got great tension and dark humor. Jim Lee isn’t an artist often praised for his storytelling from panel to panel, but I think he does very well at it, as well as facial expressions and the memorable pop art of the dynamite.

It’s also possible I just like seeing buxom girls in fishnet stockings kicking the crap out of people. I can live with that.

The problem is that this sequence takes up an out two-thirds of the issue. This extended sequence would be great if this was Black Canary #1, but this is All-Star Batman and Robin #3, and the story largely hasn’t moved from the previous issue – or even the first issue, for that matter.

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Those images just really show off Jim Lee’s Image roots, don’t they?

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I think he’s definitely grown and refined his work over the years, but yeah, his roots definitely show in pages like this. And really, nothing wrong with a little bit of bombastic style, especially for these kinds of stories. :smiley:

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Man what an interesting version of Batman and Robin. Obviously I’m not a fan of Dick being abused, but it seems a lot more realistic for Frank Millers batman to treat him this way. I think this universe’s version Nightwing would probably really similar to the one we see in the Titans tv show on DCU. Bummed that this was never finished, would love to see Miller and Lee come back to this and find out how they end it.

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The thing is, they did announce a continuation/finish to the story back in 2010, a six issue mini called “Dark Knight: Boy Wonder.” Jim Lee talked about it on CBR and had some interesting things to say about the behind the scenes of the book.

CBR News reached out to Lee for further comment on what brought the series to this point, and the recently promoted DC Co-Publisher stressed that the long delays (the last “All Star” issue to ship was #10 in August of 2008) experienced by the series “had nothing to do with Frank. He’s been a prince through this entire process, and I’ve never had to wait on him. I was swamped with several projects at the same time that went longer than anticipated, and the original intent of ‘ASBR’ was that it was only to be six issues. But as we got rolling, the story got bigger and grander, so I’m happy we took the time to develop the relationship between Batman in his prime and his new sidekick. Work then hit a logjam, and I was continually playing catch up. Frank told me in our last meeting that I need to stop, take a deep breath, collect myself and set a realistic date where we could come back out on a regular basis, and that’s what we decided to do.”

As for why now is the time to start talking about getting “Dark Knight: Boy Wonder” off the ground, Lee said, “My work on the DCU Online game has been winding down, freeing up a chunk of time. I’ve also tried to become better at telling others ‘no’ when asked if I could do a cover here and there. The covers add up over time, and each can take a day or two or three. Days better spent drawing ‘Dark Knight: Boy Wonder’ pages. I still have a backlist of work I need to do that I committed to, but after that - no more side gigs. I prefer doing interiors and telling stories than doing just cover work. That said, some projects, like doing the ‘American Vampire’ variant cover, were impossible to turn down. It’s the toughest aspect of the freelance part of my job.”

Sadly, no other issues of it actually came out. While I hold out hope that the story might finish now that Miller is kind of back on his feet and doing better, they might finish it up, but it’s sadly dead in the water, most likely.

Here’s the full article for anyone curious:

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With Issue #4, you have some interesting ideas…with a mix of some rather over the top and probably too out-there ideas.

First you get the idea that Bruce was always planning on recruiting Dick Grayson as his successor, but had to move up his time table due to the death of Dick’s parents. It’s an interesting development, though odd.

I get Bruce thinking far enough in advance, even at this early, raw, stage about his future, but…why a circus performer? I mean, sure, they’re definitely athletic enough to do the job, but why not a soldier or a cop? Maybe because they’re already committed to a specific call of justice? How would Bruce know that Dick would be willing to step into those shoes when he was old enough?

It’s possible it was there well before all the delays, but I feel like it really speaks to the issue of delays and pacing with this story.

…And then you get amazing shots like this and you realize why this one might have taken a little longer to finish. If any of you haven’t read this in print, this part is really cool, with several pages to pull out. It helps you identify with Dick as you exclaim and just what’s on the page and how this splash keeps going and going.

Here I think really speaks to what @AlexanderKnox was saying about Bruce wanting just as much some sort of younger brother to show off his cool toys with as he does a partner.

And then we get to another part that always gets mentioned, this one for pretty good reason. It’s one thing to train Dick hard and push him to his limits physically to make him ready for the field, but forcing him to stay in the cave and eat rats to survive, especially just after everything that has happened, it’s truly cruel.

But it’s a good thing that Dick has Alfred there to give him some sort of comfort. And it’s also good that Bruce has Alfred there to call him out on his ■■■■.

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I was wondering about this too. Even if you consider Bruce wanting a circus performer, why Dick? And why wait years just for him? What about other acrobats that are already adults?

But honestly, just why? Why would Dick join his crusade as an adult? Especially if his parents were still alive by that point?

I don’t think we’re ever going to get answers to these questions, which is a little frustrating.