Frank Miller: Ranking His Comics From Worst To Best

15. All Star Batman & Robin, The Boy Wonder (2005-08)

A collaboration between Frank Miller and Jim Lee is not something to miss; especially teaming up on a Batman book is a very exciting prospect for fanboys disappointed by The Dark Knight Strikes Again. Maybe this will be a return to form for Miller's Caped Crusader? Only slightly. If anything, All Star Batman is an amplified version of the insulting, rude, crass and maniacal version seen in Strikes Again and Spawn/Batman. The characterisation is unlike any other iteration of the Bat before or since - we see him laughing as he pounds criminals, mocking Alfred and anyone else he crosses paths with, and uttering the most infamous line in Batman history as he derides young Robin: "Who the hell do you think I am? I'm the goddamn Batman." He throws molotov cocktails. He attacks cops. He suggests that Dick Grayson eats rats if he is hungry... yeah, this isn't your dad's Batman. And yet, despite this jarring characterisation of a usually noble hero, All Star Batman is still noteworthy. Jim Lee brings something to the table that no other Miller book has. While other Miller creations exude mystery from behind the moody paintings of Bill Sienkiewicz, the noir drawings of David Mazzuchelli or the rain-soaked illustrations of Miller himself, Lee details every glance and gesture. Batman is a categorical maniac, and there's no hiding it.