Geoff Klock and friend on All-Star Batman #10
September 26th, 2008 by david brothers | Tags: all-star batman, Batman, DC comics, frank miller, jim leeI really dig Geoff’s blog. It’s one of my must reads for a variety of reasons. We have similar tastes, except when they are almost polar opposites, he’s a great writer, and he’s smarter than I am. Below is an excerpt from his post about ASBAR #10, which is an overall great read. Scott, one of his co-bloggers (is there a word for that?), absolutely nails a lot of what I like about ASBAR #10. Also, Miller/Lee Barb Gordon rules, from the Miller-style dangly earrings (scope the logos) to the entire demeanor. She’s a teenager.
Now I just need to get back to posting in Geoff’s comments and conversating about all this. I’ve been too busy to do so lately. I’m done with a big project, though, so I can come back with a bang.
Remarkable: Comics Out September 24, 2008 (All Star Batman)
First of all, Miller is acknowledging his own part in what would become the “Grim and Gritty” era of comics while simultaneously ridiculing it by having Gordon dismiss it by calling Batman a ‘Jerk.’ It’s also important to note that Gordon’s assessment of Batman as a ‘Jerk’ is important for how Miller views Batman; he has always felt that Batman should NOT be your buddy. He’s supposed to be scary, he’s not your friend but he’s the first guy you’d want to have your back in a dark alley. This informs so much of the way that Miller has portrayed the character, particularly in this series.
Miller gives us an interesting bit of background on Batman and Catwoman: they knew each other and were romantically involved in their adolescence. Hmmm, two people who share a young romance and grow up to be on opposite sides of the law? Sound familiar to anyone?
Batgirl is back in this issue and I get the feeling that Miller likes her a lot more than Robin and is using her as a sort of Carrie Kelly stand in. I also love that she is the ‘Fucking Batgirl’. I love the contrast of this with ‘The Goddamned Batman”. “Goddamned” is a very adult swear; it is a blasphemy and, as such, it carries weight. “Fucking” is a child’s curse word; it is shocking for the sake of shock and exactly the kind of thing that a rebellious youth would say to rail against the world.
I also like how, later in the issue, Gordon decides not to come down hard on his daughter because, as far as he’s concerned, she’s being hard enough on herself but, just a few issues earlier, you’ll remember that she was boasting about how great she was at bullshitting her dad. She’s playing him like a violin.
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Maybe it’s just me, but I think I’d rather have a buddy at my back in a dark alley. At least I’d know I could trust him.
I don’t know about the analysis of the swears, goddamn is just an average swear. I image most who use it aren’t religious so they don’t give a good goddamn about the blasphemy. To me it’s a very generic weak swear.
I tend to side with Scott there– I’ve personally never said the word, and I think it does carry more weight than the usual curse, if only because of its origins. For someone who isn’t religious, I figure it’s no different than anything else. For those who are anti-religion, it’s probably punctuation 🙂
The thing about a buddy vs a jerk is that you might not be sure the buddy is competent enough to have your back, or to even survive.
@david brothers: But a jerk may stab you in the back. That’s why I feel Batman should be written in a way where if you’re not doing anything wrong you know you’re in no danger.
I find the assignments to the swear words here to be quite interesting, especially the assignment of “fuck” to children and “damn” to adults. Growing up, I never heard the f-bomb from my parents, but heard damn quite often, although never in a “Goddamn Batman capacity.” Now that I’m older though, I hear it quite often, especially from my Mother.
If “damn” is a word that is in some regard acceptable to expose to children, I can only imagine that in some sense, “fuck” is a word you inherit as you mature and almost through playing Mad Libs, learn its uses. You “fuck” a one night stand, firing a rifle was “fucking awesome,” or you hurt yourself and simply yell, “Fuck!”
I don’t have my copies in front of me, but through ASBR, we see Batgirl as someone who wants to act older than she is, getting into situations that are much bigger than her. Her debut in issue ten as a crime fighter is then marked with “the fucking Batgirl” because she believes she needs to portray an experienced or perhaps more mature visage for the character she wants to become.
Meanwhile the “Goddamn Batman” comes at a time of Bruce’s purest immaturity, when we see him reckless and unthinking, moving under pure instinct and will.
I hope this makes sense to someone, I had my train of thought broken a number of times by customers, but wanted to put this down in some fashion to try and work through it.