Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
Ratings134
Average rating4.1
15
Ratings134
Average rating4.1
Writer/artist Frank Miller completely reinvents the legend of Batman in this saga of a near-future Gotham City gone to rot, 10 years after the Dark Knight’s retirement. Forced to take action, the Dark Knight returns in a blaze of fury, taking on a whole new generation of criminals and matching their level of violence. He is soon joined by a new Robin—a girl named Carrie Kelley, who proves to be just as invaluable as her predecessors.
Can Batman and Robin deal with the threat posed by their deadliest enemies, after years of incarceration have turned them into perfect psychopaths? And more important, can anyone survive the coming fallout from an undeclared war between the superpowers—or the clash of what were once the world’s greatest heroes?
Hailed as a comics masterpiece, The Dark Knight Returns is Frank Miller’s (300 and Sin City) reinvention of Gotham’s legendary protector. It remains one of the most influential stories ever told in comics, with its echoes felt in all media forms of DC’s storytelling. Collects issues #1-4.
Featured Series
4 primary books5 released booksThe Dark Knight Saga is a 5-book series with 4 primary works first released in 1986 with contributions by Frank Miller and Brian Azzarello.
Featured Series
1 primary bookBatman: The Dark Knight Returns is a 0-book series first released in 1986 with contributions by Frank Miller.
Reviews with the most likes.
I don't like the ending and couple of panels (The art sometimes sucks) but other than that, I really enjoyed the book.
Read a comic after 15-16 years. Strange feeling. They're a little hard to read now, or maybe I need to get used to them.
This is one where the message of the story appealed more to me than the story itself. As far as the story goes, I like the idea of an aging Batman trying to carry on his mission in his older years. Probably what bothered me most about the story was the profanity used. I realize people talk like this, and this is not Adam West's Batman, but the number of times the name of God or Jesus was used as an expression of excitement or despair was disappointing.
As for the message, I liked that the story shows that crime isn't cured simply through behavior modification. As a Christian, I believe the world and its inhabitants suffer from the sin disease. No amount of legislation or treatment can cure this. Only a heart changed by God. Batman realizes he cannot cure the evil himself and this resonates with my perspective. (I do not believe this story is meant to convey a Christian message, only that what I got out of the story reflects my perspective.)
I was a bit disappointed in this story. I think it is because I have heard and read many comments about this being the best Batman story written. Taste is subjective, but I think I came in with expectations that were too high. Overall, I think I would choose Year One over this one, but that's just my opinion.
StoryI'm not sure if it's the hype, the amount of time since it's publication, the artwork or something else, but I find myself a bit underwhelmed. I originally gave this 4 stars intending to declare it a 3.5 star rounded up, but as I was thinking about my review I decided to just give it a 3.There was some really interesting parts of the story, but some pages I just found bogged down and confusing. This might be more a product of the layout, I'm not really sure.I'm intrigued by the notion of an old Batman no longer in peak physical condition despite his best efforts. The idea of a female Robin is cool too, although not really explained. She's just a Batman groupie that he decides to take under his wing after proving herself useful.It's certainly a darker story as things are falling apart around Batman and the law is closing in on him. Commissioner Gordan is even older and being forced into retirement and the new Commissioner elect has it out for him.This is a lot to like, but I found it slow in places that overall brought it down for me. ArtworkI didn't like the artwork at all. What worse was the layout. The pages felt cramped. The text was badly placed making it confusing which panel it went with at times. I wondered if the art was a result of having so many tiny panels crammed into a single page, but I found even the larger panels and some of the full page to be lacking.I didn't read comics in the 80s as I was too young. The Marvel stuff I read in the 90s looked better than this based on my recollections at least, and I've grown accustomed to the digital art of the last 10 years or so. I found it distracting in places which didn't help when the story felt confusing or slow.Maybe I'm not a good judge of it having nothing from that time period to really compare it to save [b:Watchmen 472331 Watchmen Alan Moore https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327866860s/472331.jpg 4358649] which to me looks much better despite only a year older.
