capricious nerd / nerd teacher [books] reviewed Batman: Year One by Frank Miller (Batman (1940-2011), ##404-407)
Frank Miller is garbage.
1 star
This book is boring, and the issues it brings up? It doesn't even address them. It's strange because this is one of those books (or collections) that is held up as being part of 'the best' of Batman.
It makes me wonder if anyone could even conceive of an interesting Batman, if that's the case.
Like, here are some issues brought up:
-
Adultery and figuring out how to deal with emotions and relationships. It's not really addressed. Only handled as a "This was going to be a secret, but I had to tell my wife because someone threatened to out my cheating." Vague mentions of the marriage counsellor. The other half -- dealing with it -- isn't even done at all; it's just the typical Men Writing Men Who Think of All Attractive Women As Objects of Sexual Desire (and not quite as people). Even by the mid-1980s, this ... …
This book is boring, and the issues it brings up? It doesn't even address them. It's strange because this is one of those books (or collections) that is held up as being part of 'the best' of Batman.
It makes me wonder if anyone could even conceive of an interesting Batman, if that's the case.
Like, here are some issues brought up:
-
Adultery and figuring out how to deal with emotions and relationships. It's not really addressed. Only handled as a "This was going to be a secret, but I had to tell my wife because someone threatened to out my cheating." Vague mentions of the marriage counsellor. The other half -- dealing with it -- isn't even done at all; it's just the typical Men Writing Men Who Think of All Attractive Women As Objects of Sexual Desire (and not quite as people). Even by the mid-1980s, this ... plot device? Had found its way into being a trope, particularly since people refuse to actually DISCUSS how relationships evolve and change.
-
Lots of weird things like "growl from Africa." Like, what? Why would you even SAY this?
-
Scripty writing. Who let someone choose this? Granted, I recognise that disabled people were overlooked (as we still are today), but scripty writing should be avoided because HELLO, DYSLEXIC PEOPLE READ, TOO. For future reference.
