It takes little effort to see that Batman has no shortage of great installments in his lore/mythos across every medium the character has featured. In regard to comics, there have been a number of truly iconic entries, including Year One, The Dark Knight Returns, The Killing Joke, The Long Halloween, A Death in the Family, and Knightfall.
However, like any character that's been around for even half as long as Batman, there are some infamous ones as well. Two of these are The Dark Knight Strikes Again and All-Star Batman & Robin. Ironically, these are both by the legendary Frank Miller of Year One and TDKR. The author has earned his reverence along with his work on Daredevil with The Man Without Fear and Born Again, but these later Batman works were famously panned. Here are five reasons All-Star is the most infamous comic and five why The Dark Knight Strikes Again is.
10 All-Star: "The Goddamn Batman"... Among Other Things
Without a doubt, this the most meme'd line/moment from All-Star Batman & Robin and in the character's history. Unfortunately, it largely wasn't spread across the Internet out of fondness. Here, Batman needlessly and aggressively "introduces" himself to the freshly-orphaned Dick Grayson as "the goddamn Batman" and the line/sentiment is peppered throughout the story.
While Bruce Wayne certainly suffers from a degree of narcissism in some of the most beloved continuities, here it comes off as borderline-psychotic and maniacally egotistical. This level of self-obsession is out of character even for Batman normally. Amazingly, this isn't the most aggressive dialogue he berates Grayson with.
9 DK2: Batman Kills Dick Grayson
One thing in common with these two comic books is Miller's brutal treatment of the initial Robin, Dick Grayson, and the argument could be made as either interpretation being crueler. The case in The Dark Knight Strikes Again is that Grayson is written in a way that Batman is allowed to kill him for being too criminally insane/dangerous. But Grayson becomes what he is from Batman's relentless abuse, yet the latter mocks/taunts him about firing him for being weak and incompetent.
Batman launches Grayson into a pit of lava, killing him. The whole thing is baffling as the comic presents Batman as the righteous one despite him creating this "new Joker." At least All-Star is consistent with how Bruce repeatedly traumatizes an already-traumatized child, even if it's not digestible.
8 All-Star: Basically Kidnapping Dick Grayson
The early part of All-Star is Dick Grayson witnessing first-hand the murders of his parents at the Flying Graysons event at the circus. Bruce, also witnessing this there, subdues the hitman as Batman. After taking Dick away from corrupt police officers, Bruce does no better by essentially kidnapping the 12-year-old, hauling him up, and 'drafting him into a war' on crime without consent.
All the while injuring his own date, Vicki Vale, by ramming the car she and Alfred are in. Like a lot of things about this comic, this is crazily over-the-top. Meanwhile, The Animated Series and Dark Victory tackled this in much more empathetic ways.
7 DK2: The Art Style
The art department is the clearest arena in which All-Star squashes DK2. While All-Star was clearly and understandably panned as well, it at least had the immensely talented Jim Lee to handle the artwork. It was by far the best thing about it. Meanwhile, the art in DK2 was downright tough to look at in any positive way.
In a way, it's similar to the art in Year 100. Meaning, the artist isn't bad at what he/she does, but they purposefully adopted an unappealing art style. Granted, the art in DK2 isn't as aggressively grotesque as Year 100, but the intentional grossly-proportioned body parts, disturbing facial features, and (at times) rudimentary-looking designs don't help make this infamous story any easier to stomach.
6 All-Star: Dick Grayson's Blatant Abuse
As mentioned earlier, both of these comic books share the common theme of the unapologetic abuse, physically/mentally, of the original Boy Wonder. But since All-Star takes place during a freshly orphaned and kidnapped Grayson as well as forceful conversion into Robin, the abuse is far more blatant here as the young ward isn't intended to be a supervillain.
As if the trauma from witnessing his parents' murders and the verbal berating from Batman wasn't enough, this "Dark Knight" literally beats Dick and locks him in the Batcave. Bruce even suggests to Dick that he can hunt rats when he gets hungry. He also degrades Alfred when the butler sneaks Dick a burger.
5 DK2: Catgirl
Taking a break for the Grayson-specific faults in both of these books, it is worth discussing the treatment of Batman's -- as of DK2 -- former Robin from the preceding entry, Carrie Kelley. Instead of having her continue being Robin or even have her just retire from being a superhero all-together (at least momentarily), Miller opted to have her don a new persona.
Kelley decides to become "Catgirl," presumably as this continuity's new incarnation of Catwoman. It came off as cheap/creepy and satirical (not in a good way), especially when coupled with the chosen art style and her leopard-print leotard.
4 All-Star: Robin Nearly Killing Green Lantern
In a fight against Green Lantern, Batman and Robin coat themselves and a room yellow to beat down the Emerald Knight for terrible reasons. During the fight, Robin strikes Green Lantern in the throat, nearly killing him.
On top of the fact that this would suit Jason Todd better than Dick Grayson, Batman verbally and physically punishes Robin right there, sending him crashing into a wall. It's bewildering because it's as if Batman doesn't realize that this mentally scarred 12-year-old that he continues to scar and improperly train would do something erratic in an extreme situation.
3 DK2: Minimal Batman
Despite its title and the fact this is a direct sequel to another Batman book, the titular hero is hardly present. The story focuses more on other superheroes like Superman. However, Superman is treated as a tool for greater political powers by this book, and he is not written in a satisfying way like in The Dark Knight Returns.
Batman is closer to being a guest star/cameo rather than the main attraction. Not that more of this Batman would likely help, as what readers got was a more sadistic, irredeemable old man incapable of learning from his mistakes.
2 All-Star: Over-The-Top To The Point Of Parody
While briefly touched upon, the aggressive over-the-top nature of the story and dialogue from All-Star comes off as bewildering in the worst ways. Perhaps this should have been expected given what DK2 turned out to be and how brutally it was received, but this story feels like it was meant to be some sort of hateful parody of the superhero genre.
It's hilariously uber-macho and the vulgarity of the dialogue makes it sound like an angst-filled teenager writing what he/she thinks sounds cool in a superhero comic book. It's as if this was written to be (practically) universally reviled.
1 DK2: (In A Way) Reverses The Good Of Year One/TDKR
Perhaps the worst part of the aftermath from both books is that they were made to be in the same continuity of Miller's previous two critically acclaimed Batman works. While both Year One and The Dark Knight Returns revolutionized how the character would largely be adapted in future works, DK2 (arguably) reverses the good previously done in the aforementioned gold-standard arcs.
Somehow, the Batman in Year One and even in TDKR is supposed to quickly turn into this irreversibly-broken antihero-at-best/supervillain-at-worst of a man.