What’s Next for Jim Lee and Frank Miller?

The biggest Bombshell from Wonder Con So Far? The future of Allstar Batman and Robin.

The King is dead! Long live the King!

Let me shed some more light on what was just announced at WonderCon
today: ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN, THE BOY WONDER — the landmark hit
series from the superstar team of writer Frank Miller and artist Jim
Lee — has ceased publication.

But that’s not the news here. The epic partnership of Miller and Lee is far from done:

“The first Chapter of the story of how Batman and Robin came to be
has been told in issues 1-10 of ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN,” said ALL
STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN artist Jim Lee. “Frank and I sat down just
recently to have a long talk about how best to finish this very
‘deadline challenged’ project and give the loyal fans the second part
of this epic storyline they have been patiently waiting for. Moreover,
we wanted fans to know that this story is part of the overall Batman
mythos and DARK KNIGHT RETURNS universe which Frank [Miller] started
back in 1986.”

Out of this meeting came the decision to rebrand the series DARK
KNIGHT: BOY WONDER. It will fit into the library of Frank Miller Batman
titles: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, BATMAN: YEAR ONE and THE DARK KNIGHT
STRIKES AGAIN. Beginning in February, 2011, you will see the remaining
six issues ship on time, every month, culminating in the conclusion of
the storyline started years ago.

“I feel terrible about how late the book fell behind,” added Lee.
“100 percent of the blame falls upon my shoulders, so one of the
reasons we chose the February, 2011, start date was to ensure that DARK
KNIGHT: BOY WONDER would ship regularly and on-time. There are a number
of reasons for it’s incredible delay but rather than focus on what
cannot be changed, I want to promise fans that they will see cool
snippets and exclusive previews on this very blog in the coming months
to whet their appetites for the the next chapter of the story of the
Dark Knight and Robin, the Boy Wonder.”

Okay, this pisses me off. Instead of finishing the goddamned thing, they are goddamned changing it, goddamned shortening it and goddamned shoehorning it into something goddamn else.