Frank Miller

There's a new creative team.

Do you think people are going to dig it? Do you think people are going to come over? Do you think people are going to drop it? There's some things that are no-brainers, like if a certain hot artist is going to start up a run, if Frank Miller is going to start a new Batman series, or there's a big event that they call them in comic book land, some sort of crossover-heavy Marvel Universe event is starting up.

You have to go with what you think the clientele is going to have an interest in and order accordingly.

Wow, that's amazing.

The superhero concept had officially been around for about 50 years by the time the 80s rolled around, so the concept was ripe for reinvention.

And I think Alan Moore, as well as Frank Miller and a few others, they were absolutely the right creators to rise to that moment.

You know, Moore is this guy who grew up loving this stuff, to an obsessive degree, but also branched out and found hundreds of other influences.

and was able to bring all of that along with him when he starts writing these characters.

I'm your host, Anthony Desiato.

Joining me to discuss All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder, by Frank Miller and Jim Lee is the assistant editor on the title, a comic book creator in his own right, and my old comic shop boss, Brandon Montclare.

Welcome.

Hello, and, uh, yeah, it's good to be here, and thank you very much for asking.

I take...

I, I of course take because I could never take any credit for any of the creative direction or story stuff that went on, uh, in that book.

You know, uh, even if I was a seasoned Hall of Fame editor, uh, a, a good editor doesn't tell Frank Miller how to write or, uh, Jim Lee how to draw.

But again, I was a, a genuine fan, which, uh, and, and I, I don't know that I would've gotten the job because All Star Batman was kind of at the top of the list when I joined DC if, uh, I, I didn't have what might also be a controversial opinion that Dark Knight Strikes Again is better than Dark Knight Returns, which I don't know if I really believe, but I like to say it because I love Dark Knight Strikes Again that much.

I'm your host, Anthony Desiato.

Joining me to discuss All-Star Batman and Robin, The Boy Wonder, by Frank Miller and Jim Lee, is the assistant editor on the title, a comic book creator in his own right, and my old comic shop boss, Brandon Monclair.

Welcome.

Hello, and yeah, it's good to be here, and thank you very much for asking.

I, and we'll get through this when I go into it.

I take, I, I of course take, because I could never take any credit for any of the creative direction or story stuff that went on in that book.

You know, even if I was a seasoned hall of fame editor, a good editor doesn't tell Frank Miller how to write or, uh, Jim Lee had a draw.

But again, I was a genuine fan, which and I don't know that I would have gotten the job because All-Star Batman was kind of at the top of the list when I joined DC.

... swinging through the city right next to Carrie Kelly Robin.

Uh, it's, they, they've completely changed the per- perspective and position of them rel- relative to each other for this, but it's very much evocative of that one full-page image that Frank Miller did of the two of them jumping across rooftops together, probably in the third issue of that series.

Uh, and he just knocks it out of the park, and Carrie looks gorgeous.

It's an amazing job on this cover.

Yeah, I think this is just some good comics.

And then-

In fact, no, if I can real quick, that particular panel of the two of them facing off for the first time, that also just has a little bit of a Frank Miller Dark Knight feel to it too somehow.

I think that's what they're going for.

I have been diving deep into the Batman canon, going through what are sort of heralded as the best Batman runs and also the ones that are the most foundational to his mythology.

I started with Batman Year One by Frank Miller, which is regarded as kind of like the best origin story in comics.

I really agree.

You get...

man liking wolverine thinking wolverine's cool fucking fucking shocking

yeah original anyway um so yeah and john burn um after his he you know he was kind of one of the standout guys him and frank miller were uh the standout guys at marvel in the early 80s as artists and then it was kind of like a coup when it was like oh uh guess who's rebooting uh batman uh frank miller And guess who's rebooting Superman? John Byrne, right? And that's, of course, The Dark Knight Returns, and then Superman the Man of Steel comic book.

Frank Miller also does Batman Year One later.

That's a little more iffy in terms of...

Not in terms of the quality of that comic, but in terms of how that played out.

There's a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff where Frank Miller was kind of tricked into rebooting Batman.

That's a whole story.

But...

He has a really good organic feel to his art.

He's definitely got some Frank Miller early work, but he's very good on the technical side.

They're in the Savage Land, just to say.

Ratchet is in the Savage Land, which is a little bit of a tie-in to the regular Marvel Universe here.