All-Stars: In Children and in Comics

Tonight, my son will engage in his first ever "All-Star" baseball tournament. I'm proud of course. He was selected from a pool of 15 boys on his regular season team to represent the city's Boy's Club in an area wide competition. He was selected because, at the age of 5 years, he listens well and generally does what he's asked to do. He's not a phenomenal ball player, he strikes out as much as he hits, and he can barely throw a baseball 20 feet. (Long story there). But he does listen.

I've been gobbling up issues of the "All Star" DC Comics line-up since they started printing them a little over a year ago. I've had two very unique and very different experiences with the titles.

1st up to bat: All-Star Superman.

I'd like to just go on record as witnessing a home-run comic book. Morrison and Quietly have given us truly something to cheer about in the fan section. The stories have been stellar... they've been one-shots that all sort of loosely tie together, so new readers don't feel like they are playing "catch-up." Each story has been unique and very meaningful as Clark deals with dying, his secret identity, and the death of his father. I highly recommend grabbing up back-issues, or the compilation which I think just hit shelves in a prestige hardback form.

2nd hitter to approach the plate: All-Star Batman and Robin

I'd like to go on record as witnessing a train-wreck. As much as I loved Frank Miller's 300 and Sin City, I'm just not caring much for anything he's doing in the DC Comics Universe. I suppose to be fair, he's writing in a universe of his own. As the stories stand, they are first and foremost late-- I mean major league late. If you like waiting a year between your comics, then by all means take up collecting All-Star Batman and Robin. They aren't bad stories they are just hardly worth it and by the time you get your copy, you've forgotten why you were reading in the first place.

My complaint is minor for sure. It's mostly just that I don't dig his take. Miller's Batman is more than just dark, his character is uber-creepy. Batman has all but tortured the young Robin-In-Waiting in the first five installments of this title. From kidnapping him, to slapping him around, to driving at top speeds and scaring the kid to death, I'm just not liking this title at all. Miller's Batman is an ego-manic who doesn't just struggle with the death of his parents, he is illogically consumed by it. It's hard to see anywhere in Miller's work the intelligent Batman, who has been dubbed, "The World's Greatest Detective."

We started this affair with my son's All-Star game this evening.

Will my son step up to the plate and knock one out of the park? I highly doubt it. You see, he wasn't chosen for All-Stars because he is such a great ball player. He was chosen because he listens and follows instructions. As it relates to comics, we have two world class series at play: one that listens to the history of the character and creates; another that has pretty much ignored the history and has taken off writing his own instruction manual. It's obvious which type of All-Star I prefer.

As much as I loved so many different Frank Miller creations, I am ready for him to take his hands of "The Bat."