Published Sep 2005 by DC
Written by Frank Miller
Art and cover by Jim Lee & Scott Williams
32 pg, Full Color

The all-new saga of Batman and Robin begins here!

The people responsible for some of comicdom's greatest tales, Frank Miller (BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, Sin City) and Jim Lee (BATMAN: HUSH) team up for the first time to bring you Batman and Robin like you've never seen them before in this imaginative reinvention of these classic characters that will have your eyes popping and your head spinning!

All hell breaks loose at the circus as millionaire Bruce Wayne and gal pal Vicki Vale witness a young boy's life shattered before their eyes. Orphaned, Dick Grayson has nowhere to go and no one to turn to - no one but Bruce Wayne and the shadow of the bat! Expect action, adventure, guest-stars and the unexpected as Miller and Lee deliver the ultimate tales of the Dynamic Duo!

Frank Miller entered comics in the mid-1970s, but by the end of that decade was one of the rising stars of comics due to his work on ‘Daredevil’.  By reinventing DD as a tortured ninja, living in the filthy streets of Hell’s Kitchen and fighting armies of undead ninjas, he somehow got a reputation for “realism.”

Jim Lee was nearly his college graduation when Miller’s ‘Batman: The Dark Knight Returns’ was being published in 1986, causing him to give up on medical school in order to make his fortune as an artist.  It was a successful bid, as his X-Men #1 sold literally millions of copies.  He left Marvel to found Image Comics with his friends, but eventually sold his chunk of image to DC Comics.

All Star Batman and Robin portrays Batman at an early period during his crime fighting career, in which he is already actively seeking a suitable sidekick to train as his eventual successor. Undercover as Bruce Wayne, Batman has been keeping a watchful eye on young Dick Grayson, who performs with his family in an acrobatic act called “The Flying Graysons.” Of course, all of this is very familiar to even the laziest of fans, but the fact remains that outside of Bruce Wayne taking Grayson as his ward for the very first time during the Golden Age of comics, not much besides the ensuing events is very well explained. Bruce trains Dick, Dick becomes Robin, they fight crime, etcetera, etcetera. There are plenty of comics that delve into Batman’s psyche and the relationship between Batman and Robin (all of them), but what was it really like for young Dick Grayson in those early days?

What Miller is attempting to convey in some of the interactions between Batman and Dick Grayson in All Star Batman and Robin is that there exists a distinct possibility that young Grayson was afraid of Batman. Here we have this young boy who’s parents were just murdered before his eyes, without a moment to process the events, being literally kidnapped by a man who illegally stalks criminals dressed as a giant bat. Putting that into perspective, I think it’s safe to say that almost anyone would be confused and fearing for their life at that point. When considering this, it’s fair to say that perhaps some of the infamous dialogue during those scenes was meant to be taken somewhat figuratively. Batman’s initial cruelty towards Grayson may in fact be Graysons’s own interpretation of what is happening, especially in light of the traumatic event he has just witnessed.

The language in All Star Batman and Robin is, for lack of a better word, odd. Personally, I don’t believe I’ve ever heard a crime fighter address his enemy as “boy of mine,” and while humorous, we must first take a few things into consideration. The story that is being told during the events of All Star Batman and Robin is a reinterpretation of Robin’s origins during the Golden Age of comics. Back in April of 1940, Robin made his debut in Detective Comics No. 38, and for those of you that haven’t read that particular issue, I advise you to do so.  I think you will be surprised at how similar it really is to the overall tone of All Star Batman and Robin.