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All-Star Batman and Robin #10

At4w all star batman and robin 10-768x339

Released
February 15th, 2016
Running time
29:04
Previous review
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Tagline
All-Star Batman and Robin is FINALLY OVER! Unfortunately, no one in the comic seems to be aware of that...
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Linkara: Hello, and welcome to Atop the Fourth Wall, where bad comics burn. (suddenly looks up in thought) Say... (takes out a pocket watch and looks at it) It's Miller Time!

("Miller Time" title is shown)

Linkara: Welcome back again to "Miller Time", (holds up index finger) and a very special "Miller Time" at that. (excitedly) It's the conclusion to "All-Star Batman and Robin"! (suddenly scowling) And no, I don't believe it's ever coming back! Shut up and don't jinx it! But, since this is the finale to this long-running series, let's take a look back at those "great" moments from this book. (smiles)

(Cut to black briefly – then cut back to Linkara)

Linkara: Yeah, I know I didn't show anything. (scowls) That's because there weren't any!

(Shots are shown of the "ASBAR" series as a whole overall)

Linkara (v/o): "All-Star Batman and Robin" is one of the worst books ever to bear the Dark Knight's name on it, standing alongside such dreck as "Batman: Odyssey", "Fortunate Son", and, well, let's face it, pretty much any terrible crossover event he's forced to do a tie-in issue for. The name was so tainted by association with this that I don't even call him that in this book, preferring my theory that it is instead some homeless person suffering from homicidal delusions that he is Batman, whom I referred to as "Crazy Steve". The best praise anyone could give to it is that it's so bad that it's hilarious, damning it with faint praise, since in order for you to have that "hilarious" part, you have to remember it's still really bad: bad characterization, bad dialogue, bad pacing, bad fight scenes, and most especially, bad scheduling! Ten issues over the course of a few YEARS!!

Linkara: (sarcastically) And oh so much happened in those ten issues! Why, it took them a whole nine issues to actually have Robin in it, and not just Dick Grayson, age twelve!

Linkara (v/o): It has been eight years since this issue came out, and yet, DC is still trying to get it going again. They've been talking about bringing it back as "Dark Knight, Boy Wonder" since 2011. Still nothing released in another five years! Here's an idea: don't announce something unless it's done! And yet, according to Wikipedia, Frank Miller said at New York Comic-Con in October 2015 that he had just started working on making a sequel series to this with Jim Lee.

Linkara: (sarcastically) Oh, great! A sequel to a series (scowls) that was never even finished!

Linkara (v/o): Want a plot synopsis? Too bad! It's Issue 10, and there still isn't any sign of a plot! Crazy person abducts child, calls things retarded to show how mature he is, laughs as he beats up people; the Joker doesn't smile; Batman's more worried about having a pissing contest with Green Lantern; and I'm pretty sure, with all the bizarre timestamps on this thing, that Dick Grayson was kidnapped several hours before his parents were murdered.

Linkara: But hey, at least I'll never have to read another Frank Miller-penned Batman story, and we can finally move on to some of his other works and– (The cover of "DK: The Master Race" is superimposed) OH, FOR THE LOVE OF...!

Linkara (v/o): And yeah, I'll get to that one eventually, although, amusingly, even Frank Miller has admitted that he barely wrote the damn thing, that Brian Azzarello pretty much did all of it, meaning that it's actually better than "The Dark Knight Strikes Again", but that's not saying much.

Linkara: And even though it took them three years to release this book, it's taken me seven years to review all of it. Longer, if you count the original text reviews. So let's dig into (holds up today's comic) "All-Star Batman and Robin #10" and finally put this series to rest!

(AT4W title theme plays, and the title card has "One Week" by Barenaked Ladies playing in the background. Cut to a closeup of the comic's cover)

Linkara (v/o): Our cover is boring: Batman and Robin stare at us. I'll give it credit that in terms of coloring, it's exactly the way it should be: Batman obscured half in the shadows, while Robin is bright and colorful, but as a cover, it's just basically poster fodder. You could've put this cover on any other issues, and it would've fit. Sure, he wasn't Robin for the first several, but that didn't stop him from appearing in some of the variants. And maybe this is actually an homage to another cover like the last issues turned out to be... except I don't care, because all that suggests is that they cared more about homaging something than actually crafting something unique for this comic.

(The comic opens to the first page)

Linkara (v/o): We open...

Text: One Week Later...

Linkara: (singing to "One Week") It's been one week since Robin almost killed a man... (stops singing) Can't wait to see the fallout and consequences from that! Oh, wait, there aren't any, (scowls) since why would there be?!

Narrator: A FOG settles, made for lonely walks and stolen kisses.

(Cut to a clip of Silent Hill 2, showing a character wandering through a hilly landscape obscured by fog. Then cut back to the comic)

Narrator: Gotham floats, a cloud city...

Linkara: Considering Billy Dee Williams was also Harvey Dent once, I can believe it's a cloud city.

Linkara (v/o): Anyway, blah, blah, neo-noir narration about Gotham. The point is that Jim Gordon is sitting on the dock, smoking a cigarette.

Gordon: You know, I've been reading a lot about that Superman they've got over in Metropolis. Lane's been eating up every front page of the Planet with that exclusive interview she got out of him.

(Cut to a clip of Superman IV, showing a newspaper whose headline screams "SUPERMAN SAYS 'DROP DEAD' TO KID!" Then back to the comic again)

Linkara (v/o): Gordon talks more about Superman, about how, in the interview, he talked about the Fortress of Solitude, which Gordon likes.

Gordon: I think we all-- or a lot of us, anyway-- have our own places like that. Maybe we'd go crazy if we didn't. It might be the corner saloon. Or a spot in the woods that nobody else visits. Or a forgotten stretch of timeless waterfront, like this one... When I walked the night beat back in my Chicago days, there was this stretch of nothing a few blocks away from the Cabrini Green projects. I'd hit that stretch at two AM sharp. There was nothing there, nobody, just one boarded-up storefront after another, just me and a whole lot of nothing...

Linkara: (sarcastically) Yeah, I can't imagine what a whole lot of nothing feels like in relation to this comic.

Linkara (v/o): I joke, but this monologue? I actually think it's really damn good. It really does bring to mind the neo-noir success that Frank Miller had when he created Sin City; this kind of nihilism and poetry about the human condition or, hell, any kind of humanity that's been sorely lacking in this book. There's no stupid repetition of phrases, just a cop talking, finding an all-too-human idea from a superhuman source. And Lord knows it's very much needed from a book that thinks rampant violence, both physical and emotional, is the solution to all of life's problems. Buuut, here's the problem...

Linkara: Gordon is here to drop off a note for Batman, (holds up index finger) one that sounds like it's, you know, critical and important, (scowling) and he's too busy navel-gazing to get the job done!

Linkara (v/o): Even the narration says...

Narrator: It's about goddamn TIME...

Linkara (v/o): ...like Crazy Steve himself is sick of Gordon's rambling. He talks about a police officer who found Catwoman in an alley, beaten up badly, and saying she needed to get a message to Steve.

Gordon: She refused help. She was, he noted in his report, pointedly rude to young Officer Stavros.

Linkara (v/o): Well, maybe that's because Officer Stavros was reaching for his gun against the bleeding rambling woman in a purple cat costume!

Gordon: This cat-woman handed a wad of crumpled-up cardboard to young Stavros. She seemed to fall backward. But that was a trick. She'd slipped into the shadows, like another costumed nutcase I know makes a habit of doing.

Linkara: Yeah, but Batman usually waits for people to stop looking at him before he does that. Catwoman in this is apparently Shadowcat!

Linkara (v/o): Oh, never mind, the panel clearly shows a trail of blood leading into an open manhole. Stavros is just really bad at his job.

Gordon: I took Stavros' report and looked the piece of cardboard over.

Linkara: (as Gordon, pretending to look at cardboard) Corrugated, just as I suspected. (the Dragnet sting plays)

Gordon: It was a note. Written in blood. It didn't make any sense.

(Cut to a clip of an episode of Red Dwarf)

Arnold Rimmer: Who would do that?

Lister: Someone who badly needed a pen.

(Back to the comic again)

Gordon: Just one lunatic in tights writing to another. Not worth my time or a nickel of taxpayer money. Not worth a damn to anybody.

Linkara: (as Gordon) Anyway, thanks for listening, fish. You're the only one who understands me.

Linkara (v/o): Crazy Steve and Dick Grayson, age twelve, are of course underneath the pier and catch the note, which simply says "The First Time", in remarkably good penmanship for something scrawled in blood.

Batman: You said it, cop. Not worth your time. Not worth a damn to anybody. But us lunatics in tights, we've got a way of looking out for each other.

Linkara: (as Batman, wearing his mask) That's why I continually insult, belittle and humiliate the Justice League. I have people skills! I am good at dealing with people!

Linkara (v/o): Gordon returns to his car.

Gordon: (narrating) And does Mister Goddamn Batman say so much as "Thanks"? Of COURSE not. That'd hardly be GRIM AND GRITTY, would it? The jerk...

Linkara: Hardly anything in this comic has been (makes an "air quote" while rolling the upcoming R sound in...) "gritty". Grim, certainly, but only in the sense of "Oh, dear Lord, he's serious, isn't he?"

Linkara (v/o): Gordon's wife has been calling, but she's been drinking, and she hangs up on him when he asks about that.

Gordon: (narrating) Barbara. Dear Barbara. Nothing's been the same since... since SARA. Since SARA. Sweet SARA.

Linkara (v/o): Aww, there's the repetitive, awful dialogue of Miller. I was worried someone else took over for this and was trying to do a better job than him, but I guess he fought whoever that was off so he could get back in his chair to continue. Next up is a splash page of Steve and Robin falling down a manhole, presumably the same one Catwoman went down, although Gordon never mentioned which alleyway she was found in, but I'm just wondering how wide this thing is, or why they felt the need to leap down, since I would assume there would be a ladder. Otherwise, what purpose does the manhole serve if it's not an entranceway to a part of the sewer?

Batman: (narrating) Take an AIRPLANE over Gotham at night and she looks like DIAMONDS against BLACK VELVET, a promise of love, a paradise.

Linkara: Okay, Frank, the buildings have filed a restraining order against you. Get a new fetish!

Batman: (narrating) Walk her STREETS and you'll JUMP at her every SHADOW...

Linkara: (confused) Why?

Batman: (narrating) ...and every scurrying RAT sounds like SATAN'S claws, just behind you...

Linkara: Nah, that's just Chapel, whom the narrator thinks is Satan.

Batman: (narrating) And HERE, below, her street sounds surrender to wet SILENCE and marrow-deep COLD. The SMELLS take over, OLD smells, smells USED and used AGAIN, FESTERING smells, the kind that carry the throat-deep taste of yesterday's VOMIT.

Linkara: That's because it's a SEWER!! (looks disgusted)

Linkara (v/o): Frank Miller, the man who tries desperately to make human waste seem poetic and exciting. The next little paragraph...

Linkara: (holds up index finger) Oh, by the way, most comic-writing guides recommend reducing the amount of words per panel – or splash page, in this case – as much as possible. Things like that can be bent or broken by people who know what they're doing, like Frank here, because heaven forbid we cut (scowls) any of this!

Linkara (v/o): The next little paragraph is basically (as Batman) "My parents are dead!" (normal) Although, thankfully lacking any references to touching his mother's breast. You know, people have tried to defend that line as being nonsexual, which, sorry, kind of hard to do that with the writer who explicitly put in his script for the first issue, "Make them drool. I'm shameless. Let's go with an ASS SHOT. Balloons from above. She's got one fine ass!"

Linkara: Quite appropriate, considering Frank Miller himself is one fine ass.

Linkara (v/o): Oh, I'm sure the intent was not sexual, but Frank Miller is the guy who, even when he's trying to make a racist screed, can't help himself but sexualize women. He is the creepy pervert who walks around with mirrors on his shoes to try to look up women's skirts.

(Cut to a clip of Cho Dengeki Stryker)

Linkara (v/o): The only reason he isn't the dog from Cho Dengeki Stryker is because I'm pretty sure he's not a pedophile.

(Cut to a shot of the transcript of an interview Miller had with Playboy Magazine)

Linkara (v/o): This is the guy who gave an interview with Playboy Magazine in 2014, where he pretty explicitly said that gender roles should be the way they were in the 1940s, although I'm assuming he meant 1950s, and not wartime, when women took up the same jobs as guys, since he then directly said that men have a "biological function" to be protective of women and then insulted the idea that a man and woman in a relationship be friends with one another!

Linkara: (putting his finger to his ear, as if trying to listen) What's that? I've made my point? Well, obviously, I haven't, because we are on Issue (slaps comic) 10 of this series, AND PEOPLE ARE STILL TRYING TO DEFEND IT!!

Linkara (v/o): But whatever. Let's get back to the "story".

Batman: (narrating) ...this one a twelve-year-old DYNAMO, dances like a PIXIE across a filthy ROOM and makes a BULLET of his fist and CRUSHES a good man's TRACHEA-- like it's a stalk of CELERY, he crushes it, crushes it, crushes it... almost KILLING that good man...

Linkara: Ah, yes, a (makes an "air quote") "good man". You always felt that Hal Jordan was a "good man". Say, how did you describe him in Issue 8 again?

(A montage of shots, from Issue 8, of Batman talking about Green Lantern is shown)

Batman: ...not THAT moron. / I've got a retarded DEMIGOD to take care of. / He's just a CLOWN with more POWER than he knows what to DO with. / What an IDIOT. / He's worse than KENT.

Linkara: Truly, Steve has nothing but respect and admiration for this "good man".

Batman: (narrating) Wet SOUNDS. Marrow-deep COLD. Used SMELLS. They're all wiped out with a ROAD* and a shudder and a BLAST of SOOT and DIRT and coughed-up COAL DUST that lets you know how old-time MINERS felt in their last choking, dizzying, living instant.

  • NOTE: Batman actually says, "ROAR", not "ROAD".

(Cut to a clip of an episode of Scrubs)

Dr. Cox: Here, that's interesting. Of course, it's gibberish, but it's-it's interesting nonetheless.

(Cut back to the comic)

Batman: (narrating) The air CRACKLES and SPARKS and fifty-year-old metal SCREAMS as a JUGGERNAUT they call a LOCAL reminds the rats and worms and beetles and termites that our invasion never ends.

Linkara: Buy war bonds today to support our efforts against rodents, insects, and all other associated creatures.

Linkara (v/o): They also hitch a ride on top of a subway train... which I guess is directly connected to the sewers? What? Gotham's architecture confuses me. The next page is another splash page where they find Catwoman. By the way, it's a splash page after two two-page spreads and another splash page! It's been said that the holdup for new issues was not Frank's fault, but rather Jim Lee's, which, fair enough, art takes time. But apparently, his shortcut to getting the book out in a timely fashion is to just make more and more splashes and spreads! Oh, and it turns out that the two knew where to find her, because the note, "The First Time", is a reference to where Batman and Catwoman first had sex together: in a subway tunnel. Or possibly a sewer.

Linkara: So which option do you think was more romantic for them? The loud screech and wind of subway cars passing by, or the smell of feces?

Linkara (v/o): Although, don't discount the smells in the subway, either. There seems to be green smoke emanating from the pipes. Plus, it's a big city, so I assume many people have probably urinated around here. Also, gotta love how, even though Catwoman is not a professional dominatrix, like Frank wrote her as in "Batman: Year One", and in a story where she has been abused to near death, that'd still end up being about sex.

Linkara: You guys ever hear of the virgin/whore dichotomy? I'm pretty sure, with Frank Miller, it's only the latter.

Linkara (v/o): Oh, and by the way, it is at this point in Issue 10, with Crazy Steve cradling Catwoman in his arms and talking about how much he loves her and wants to keep her safe – ignoring that, like, two weeks ago, he had sex with Black Canary in the rain – and that she'll be okay, and Dick Grayson, age twelve, signaling Alfred for a helicopter to pick them up, that we say farewell to these two. Yeah, I'm not even kidding, the rest of the comic does not feature them. So this is the last we shall see of the psychopathic hobo who stole Batman's outfit and the traumatized youth of indeterminate age.

Linkara: (making a saluting motion) Farewell, people who kinda sorta resembled heroes if you squinted at them enough. I hope you both get the help you so desperately need.

Man: Hey-- you little (bleep!)--

Linkara: (holding up index finger) Aaand it's now time to explain why this issue in particular is so infamous. I mean, most of these issues have a unique quirk to them that makes them so remembered. But this one got the book recalled.

Linkara (v/o): You see, due to a printing error, these censor bars you're seeing? Yeah, somehow, the ink on all the swear words for them got screwed up, displaying the cussing in bright gray ink on top of the bars. Now, I do not have scans of that version, and the prices demanded for copies of that version are outrageous, sometimes over a hundred bucks, so there was no way in Hell I was getting it for this review. But what I do have is an uncensored version entirely, without any bars, either because someone demanded it or someone went to the effort of removing the bars and restoring the text. What's funny to me is that they actually bothered to do it like this to begin with, or to even have any actual swear words there. It was said at the time that it was done so the words could have the appropriate spacing, but they intended to cover them up anyway, so why even do that? Or hell, just make substitute words. The poor letterer had to bother to put it all in there for nothing but what I presume is supposed to be a gag, since while they understandably didn't want to have the C-word in a Batman comic intended for a general audience – yeah, seriously – but they also cover up "ass" and "asshole", even though both have been used already in the damn book! Oh, and this takes place "less than an hour ago".

Linkara: Now, you might be thinking, "Well, that's the first time the timestamp actually makes sense, since Gordon's wife was calling him about Barbara." (laughs) Well, that's because you're not a stupid person, but I think we've established already that Frank is, since, uh... yeah, the call was unrelated.

Linkara (v/o): So, now, we've finally caught up again with Barbara as Batgirl again. What's she up to? Well, she's gone to a local entertainment area for kids that has been turned into a hot spot for drug dealers. She steals a skateboard from a dealer, who keeps calling her a certain word you sure as hell will never hear me say, not even in a movie. (speaking in a posh voice) But soft, let us enjoy more of the Shakespearean wordsmithing that Frank Miller has to offer.

Drug dealer 1: ...Little jailbait (bleep!)'s making us look bad... We cut her come on...

Linkara (v/o): And no comma in "We cut her come on". But wait, there's more!

Drug dealer 2: ...Sweet piece in sweet slices... Tasty sliced booty the little (bleep!)...

Linkara: (looking visibly uncomfortable) Are... Are these two cannibals??

Linkara (v/o): What the hell is with that sentence, even? "Sweet piece in sweet slices... Tasty sliced booty the little (bleep!)".

(Cut to a shot of a skull)

Man: They need to put each and every one of these words in their correct order!

(Back to the comic again)

Linkara (v/o): So yeah, she knocks out some drug dealers and... for some reason, a crowd starts attacking the drug dealers, too? But enough of that scene. Over to Black Canary, where she gives a lengthy friggin' monologue in narrative captions about walking into a bar or warehouse or something, full of pimps and loan sharks and... possibly human traffickers? She suddenly gets into that later on, but just goes on and on, beating them all up, stealing all their money... aaand then setting fire to the place so they'll all burn to death. Oh, and for some reason, Frank decided to inform us that it was seven minutes between her setting the place ablaze and her getting on a motorcycle and onto a conveniently-placed ramp.

(Cut to a clip of Half-Life: Full-Life Consequences)

Narrator: John Freeman ramped off the building and did a backflip and landed.

(Cut back to the comic)

Linkara (v/o): And what a coinkydink! Gordon and his partner are driving by!

Merkel: Name me a law that nutcase broad isn't breaking!

Linkara: Well, I'm pretty sure she's not committing perjury right now, so she's got that going for her.

Linkara (v/o): But Gordon tells him to ignore her, since we soon discover why his wife was calling. She got into a car accident and managed to crawl half a mile away, despite bleeding and a head wound.

Officer Stavros: An ambulance has her on the way to St. Rosalyn's.

Gordon: No. Reroute them to St. Marilyn's. It's only two blocks further and they've got a better shock-trauma unit. We'll meet them there.

(Cut to a shot of the skull again)

Man: Finally, a human who isn't stupid as that watercolors! It's about time!

(Back to the comic again)

Linkara (v/o): Back over to Batgirl, turns out that when you start a riot... a riot starts! So it's likely people are going to get killed, which she objects to. She ends up getting knocked down by one of the rioters, but quickly is picked up by arriving police and arrested. And hey, one of the final timestamps of this series is shown, as we cut over to the hospital.

Text: Soon Enough...

Linkara: Wow! It's almost like all of those earlier timestamps were completely unnecessary and could've just had vague indicators of the passage of time if you really needed them at all! Which you didn't. (slaps himself on the head in frustration)

Linkara (v/o): The doctor is talking to Gordon about his wife's condition. She's okay for now, but her alcoholism has gotten severely dangerous, and not just in terms of her crashing cars. To make matters worse, another cop informs him of how his daughter has been arrested. Well, to be accurate, they parrot the myth of "she only has one phone call," but I'll grant narrative license for that one. She's telling him that she doesn't want him to use his position to help her. She'll plead guilty to the charges and accept whatever punishment is given. She also gets to hear about her mom's drunken driving and hospital stay... which she's fairly okay with. So, on top of his daughter getting arrested for a variety of serious charges, his wife in the hospital with severe alcoholism, a damaged car from wife's drunk driving – that'll be fun for the insurance, one vigilante kidnapping people and beating other people to death, another vigilante setting things on fire, and him wanting to talk to the woman whom he apparently is having an affair with, but trying not to, to save his marriage that seems to be falling apart, what with all this crap... it seems like this is the night that the universe decided that Jim Gordon needed to be screwed over.

(Cut to a clip of another episode of Scrubs)

Dr. Cox: Well, in our defense, you're overly cheery and we were bored.

Linkara (v/o): And so, our comic ends with Barbara telling Gordon to call Sara, that it should help, and... he does so, the narration actually subtly... I know, right? Actual subtlety. I was as surprised as you... calling back to the beginning about needing a place where one can get away from all the noise and problems for a little while. "All-Star Batman and Robin" ends with a scene that is actually okay and bringing to mind actual drama and humanity.

Linkara: The only downside is that it's about a man who wants to cheat on his wife, so it's not all great. But I'll take the victories where I can get them, (snaps comic shut and holds it up angrily) because this comic sucks, (holds up the other nine issues in his other hand) and this entire series has sucked!

Linkara (v/o): The "All-Star" line was meant to be an entry point to new fans, similar to the "Ultimate" line of books, by creating iconic, definitive stories for heroes, with top-tier talent working on them. However, only "All-Star Superman" and "All-Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder" were ever released. While "All-Star Superman" has its flaws, it is recognized as a massive success in how it showed the best parts of Superman: his kindness, decency, and everything great about the character that made him so beloved an icon. It was so critically lauded that it got an animated, straight-to-DVD adaptation written by the late, great Dwayne McDuffie. Conversely, "All-Star Batman and Robin" feels like a sick joke, a parody at best of the characters, lacking any of the elements that made Batman such an enduring character. Critique him for realism or how his mission is self-defeating or how he could be more constructive if he used his money in other ways, which he does, but never mind that. But I see Batman as a figure ultimately of how one can rise above tragedy to do good in the world and improve yourself. He is brusque, yes, but not heartless; aggressive, but not unethical. He drives himself to the extremes he does, sacrifices himself and his happiness at times for one goal: so that no other eight-year-old child will ever have to go through what he did. Sometimes he goes too far, and sometimes he makes mistakes, but that's because he's not a god, nor should he be. He is human. If Superman represents the hope and compassion that humanity is capable of, Batman represents the determination and intellect we are also capable of. Superman's worst foe is Lex Luthor, a wealthy genius who uses his power for evil. But Superman's best friend is Batman, a wealthy genius who uses his power for good. The Batman of this story, however, is not any of those things. He is violent, judgmental, immature, manipulative, self-important, and most disgusting of all, cruel. He is cruel to the people who love him, equally cruel to those he fights against, and he is cruel to the one person he should know better than to be cruel to: a young boy who lost his parents like he did. I finally figured out why we have all those other superheroes in this when this should straight-up be about Batman. And the answer is... because it is still about Batman! These other heroes are supposed to be here to be compared to Batman. In this universe, if you don't follow Batman, obey his rules and his methods, you are ineffectual, naïve, foolish, unprepared, or driven for the wrong reasons. And as I said back in the review of Issue 8, this Batman is reflective of Frank Miller's own ideologies. Thus, the only way he can prop up his viewpoints, his terrible ideas of what makes a hero, is to make other heroes, other ideologies look bad by comparison. "All-Star Wonder Woman" and "All-Star Batgirl" were both in the works around the time this was coming out – unconnected to this book, of course – but sadly, both projects were never made, nor do I expect to see them come, especially since DC has pretty much revised the All-Star line in favor of the "Earth One" graphic novels, none of which I have read.

Linkara: Hopefully, we will never have to see this series be continued again, despite claims to the contrary. Next time, we'll hopefully have something more fun, as we celebrate the twentieth anniversary of "Pokemon". (throws down comic, gets up and leaves)

(End credits roll)

All-Star Batman and Robin ends with neither character in the ending, and all the better for it.

And yes, if Dark Knight: Boy Wonder DOES end up getting made, I will of course review it. Why wouldn't I?

(Stinger: Cut to a shot of the final panel)

Text: To Be Continued...

Linkara: (laughs uproariously, then scowls) Oh, dear Lord, I hope not!

(end)

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