Don't forget "Ace" appeared on Batman Beyond as the elderly Bruce Wayne's rather cantankerous guard dog. So there's always ways to make formerly goofy concepts work.
Yeah, that was pretty funny stuff, with the dog. The dog can WORK; just give a dog a personality. Alan Moore did the best hero dog in SUPREME, by recognizing that dogs have all sorts of extremely heroic qualities: single-minded heroism, devotion, and so on.
If that Scots git, Morrison, can make Bat-Mite work, more power to him, though I'll believe it when I see it.
As for Frank Miller's Bat-Stuff...he didn't work on Batman long enough to really "jump the shark" the way he eventually did on DAREDEVIL, with the introduction of the Ninja-centered plots, and Daredevil's blind master that tells him a radar sense is for wusses.
For the longest time, I didn't like DARK KNIGHT RETURNS because Batman was so...well...DERANGED: experiencing Rambo-style flashbacks while machine-gunning children and delivering Schwartzenegger-style monosyllibisms ("I believe you" while making a street punk look like swiss cheese with a BFG). I hated the excessive brutality, and the way Batman was presented as being someone whose primary motivation is psychological compulsion and vengeance instead of a legitimate instinct to heroism and the desire to protect the weak.
"This isn't smart comics," I said to myself, oh-so-iconoclastically, "this is one big Sylvester Stallione flick, crossed with an archconservative's revenge wet dream." Hell, they even give what's coming to an obvious doppleganger of that wicked Jewess, Dr. Ruth - if this book was made today, I'm POSITIVE it would involve Batman punching in the face Bill, Hillary, and Socks the Cat in that order. I have no idea where some people say Miller is a liberal; then again, maybe Miller intentionally designed DKR so it would piss off everyone of every political orientation.
It didn't help that Miller's work was praised as being a return to the "pulp roots of the character," a statement only true if Adams, Englehart, and O'Neil are ignored.
But utimately, I lightened up on DKR and actually started to like it because, while YES, Batman doesn't really use his detective skills, and YES, Batman is presented as being rather psychotic, the thing is, that's not supposed to be "our" Batman. It's an older, nuttier Batman who has gone slightly bonkers. It's easier to appreciate if you divorce this from "our" Batman.
That's why people not "getting" DKR is so frustrating; it's not SUPPOSED to be how Batman should be written; that's the whole point. It ISN'T Batman, and can't be pointed to as his correct characterization.
I haven't read Miller's recent stuff, but from what I hear, his creative instincts have pretty much died. Then again, you never know; I said the same thing about Englehart circa MILLENNIUM and NEW GUARDIANS, but he's rebounded since with AVENGERS: CELESTIAL QUEST, STRANGERS, and NIGHTMAN.
Commandment #1: Thou shalt not criticize Dan Didio, for he is the word and the way -- the was, the is, the yet-to-be. As it has ever been, so shall it ever be, until UberGod (secret identity: Richard Parsons) says otherwise.
If you don't like someone's work, and you both get your paycheck from the same place, you don't want to find out through the press.
Isn't there supposed to be a rule of professional behavior that you're not supposed to be critical of other people's work? This makes passive-aggressiveness rise to an all-time high.
This can actually be made into a game: find the most dodgy answer in an interview
INTERVIEWER: What do you think of Todd MacFarlane's writing?
PROFESSIONAL: Todd MacFarlane is a very gifted artist.[/list]
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