Frank Miller’s ‘Holy Terror, Batman!’ Coming Out In September. Sans Batman.

Back when Frank Miller announced  Holy Terror, Batman!, it seemed like it was too ludicrous of an idea to exist. Impossible, even. Time passed, nothing was said, and that only concretized that notion. Eventually Frank Miller announced it was going to happen, just without the Batman part of it. Which made it infinitely less cool, since Batman fighting Al Qaeda…without Batman is just some dude whupping terrorist ass. Even after that, not much was said regarding the title.

Like the One Ring, years passed and it was largely forgotten.

Until now. This pig is coming out in September.

Comics Alliance:

To say that Miller’s “Batman vs. Al-Qaeda” story has been controversial from the start is underselling things quite a bit. The premise alone raised eyebrows from the moment it was announced, and the involvement of Miller, whose work on The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City and 300 was famously filled with gloriously over-the-top tough guy moments, sparked discussion of just what on Earth this thing could possibly turn out to be.

Grant Morrison, who was taking over as the lead writer of the Batman books at the time Holy Terror was originally announced, was extremely vocal in criticizing the very idea of the book in an interview with Newsarama:

“Batman vs. Al Qaeda! It might as well be Bin Laden vs. King Kong! Or how about the sinister Al Qaeda mastermind up against a hungry Hannibal Lecter! For all the good it’s likely to do. Cheering on a fictional character as he beats up fictionalized terrorists seems like a decadent indulgence when real terrorists are killing real people in the real world. I’d be so much more impressed if Frank Miller gave up all this graphic novel nonsense, joined the Army and, with a howl of undying hate, rushed headlong onto the front lines with the young soldiers who are actually risking life and limb ‘vs’ Al Qaeda.”

Miller, however, raised what I have to admit is a good point:

“Superman punched out Hitler. So did Captain America. That’s one of the things they’re there for.”

If this was still featuring Batman, and I thought Miller could still pen a mean tale, I’d be excited by this. Without Batman, and Miller having given me nothing to hang my hat on for  good amount of years, I’m not particularly excited for the title. Morbid curiosity will have me (or perhaps more correctly Rendar) purchasing the title, not some unyielding desire to finally get this tale.