| | |  | Comic books | Home » » Batman: The Dark Knight Returns | | | | | | | Description: | | If any comic has a claim to have truly reinvigorated the genre, then The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller--known also for his excellent Sin City series and his superb rendering of the blind superhero Daredevil--is probably the top contender. Batman represented all that was wrong in comics and Miller set himself a tough task taking on the camp crusader and turning this laughable, innocuous children's cartoon character into a hero for our times. The great Alan Moore (V for Vendetta, Swamp Thing, the arguably peerless Watchmen) argued that only someone of Miller's stature could have done this. Batman is a character known well beyond the confines of the comic world (as are his retinue) and so reinventing him, while keeping his limiting core essentials intact, was a huge task.Miller went far beyond the call of duty. The Dark Knight is a success on every level. Firstly it does keep the core elements of the Batman myth intact, with Robin, Alfred the butler, Commissioner Gordon, and the old roster of villains, present yet brilliantly subverted. Secondly the artwork is fantastic--detailed, sometimes claustrophobic, psychotic. Lastly it's a great story: Gotham City is a hell on earth, street gangs roam but there are no heroes. Decay is ubiquitous. Where is a hero to save Gotham? It is 10 years since the last recorded sighting of the Batman. And things have got worse than ever. Bruce Wayne is close to being a broken man but something is keeping him sane: the need to see change and the belief that he can orchestrate some of that change. Batman is back. The Dark Knight has returned. Awesome. --Mark Thwaite | | | Features: | |
• ISBN13: 9781563893421
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
| | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Frank Miller | | Paperback:
| 224 pages | | Publisher:
| DC Comics | | Publication Date:
| May 01, 1997 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 1563893428 | | Package Length:
| 10.0 inches | | Package Width:
| 6.6 inches | | Package Height:
| 0.6 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.9 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 374 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
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 I had high hopes, but it didn't deliverMar 08, 2010
Here's the book in a nutshell: Bruce Wayne, AKA Batman, is on the edge of sanity ...sleepwalking and drinking himself into oblivion because he's been in mind-numbing retirement for the last 10 years. But, Gotham gets SOOO bad that he's given his excuse to don the tights again. Bloody heads and mayhem follows.
Now, be warned this Batman is aged. So much so that throughout the book he huffs,puffs and growls about getting slower. I don't know what happened to the World's Greatest Detective...it's not evident that he even is a detective in this book. Oh sure, he dons a couple of disguises, but the clever deduction we've all come to expect from the character just isn't there in this book.
And the way Miller has the gang called the Mutants talking...I couldn't understand a thing that was written. Selina Kyle has picked up 30 pounds and Bruce is wickedly grey and wrinkled though he still fills out his uniform quite well. Joker by far and a reconstructed Harvey Dent, AKA Two-Face, are the best looking guys in the whole book. Commish Gordon is 70+ years and even he looks younger than our grizzled Batman!
It's a sad, pathetic, angry Bats in this book. His underlying fear of crossing THE LINE is once and forever crossed (SPOILER ALERT!!!!) because he FINALLY KILLS THE JOKER (who has had it coming for how many years now?!?!.) Even while doing that he's injured almost beyond repair (can we get a witness for the dedicated and longsuffering Alfred?).
That final act just didn't FEEL like the Batman. I expected more from this book. Miller's work on BATMAN YEAR ONE was impeccable!...a classic piece of LITERATURE. Yes, indeed it is.
The Robin in this book feels forced. SHE saves the hide of our aging Bat 3 or 4 times. And she does battle with a slingshot of all things. This book isn't at all what I though it could have been. It's not what it should have been. I'd spend my money on YEAR ONE and leave this one alone if I had to do it all over again.
 Way coolJan 09, 2010
It's a grippingly-told, amazingly-illustrated novel. If anyone thinks that Batman comics are just for kids, this is the one that will demolish that thought. It's a book that will make you re-examine beliefs and pose questions ... would you like to have a Batman in your town? In your life? Do the means justify the end? What problems can you solve with violence? And perhaps the most important one ... why can't everyone see that Batman is way cooler than Superman?
 A truly great comicDec 26, 2009
I'm sure there are people who can more elegantly, or more intelligently say why this is a good comic book; people who've been reading batman since its first incarnation ever, or who can point to those comics that have followed after, and say how The Dark Knight Returns affected them and brought deeper, more serious issues into batman comics.
But, even from the position of only a moderate comic reader (I never buy comics as 'comics'. I wait until they've been compiled and bound into more lengthy volumes and then shipped to the book stores) I still know enough to say that this is a truly great comic.
I've heard that it revolutionized batman, and made it darker and more serious; and it certainly is serious.
Set in a time after Batman has retired, following a government bill which has affected the ability of all superheroes to perform their vigilante duties, Gotham city is in the grip of crime once more, held sway beneath a terrible gang called 'The mutants'. Naturally, batman decides he's had enough, and once more begins his duties as the masked hero.
The stories are solid, but could have been ruined in lesser hands. As it was, Frank Miller penned a dark tale with issues aplenty to study. The biggest, overlying tale is the continual war with the russians raging on in the background; a war that takes an even darker turn towards the end. The tension is always building, and the great climactic end is a pleasure to read again and again.
As for the art, I've always lauded Frank Miller as one of my favorites. Nitty and gritty, Superman and Batman have never looked so tough before or since. The image of Gotham and everyone throughout it is constantly a dreary, gloomy colour, which breeds an atmosphere of just how far the city has fallen (though of course, Gotham was never exactly known for being a utopia).
With great storytelling and great art, this is a must-have for anyone who ever claims to be a batman fan.
As good as the hypeOct 24, 2009
I got this because everyone raves about it so I felt obligated as a comic fan. I was not a fan of Sin City or 300 and found Miller's Daredevil kind of slow. And its true, the story is driven by the writer not the artist so you have to read it at a different pace than modern comics but if you do you will be blown away. I was AMAZED at Miller's ability to write an action sequence. Don't expect the faster page turning of a Jeph Loeb Batman story and focus more on the writing than the art and you will find one of the most bad-ass comic stories ever.
2 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Glad I'm not the only oneOct 03, 2009
I'm glad I'm not the only one who didn't like this story. I read the numerous 5 starred reviews at the beginning and began doubting myself, but then I perused the 2 stars and under section and felt a lot better.
First off, I LIKE Batman comics, I really do. The only reason I'm not hardcore is because I'm a grad student, and let's face it, I simply just don't have the time (or money). I liked Batman: Year One, and I liked Batman: Hush, Vol. 1, along with Batman: The Man Who Laughs and Superman/Batman Vol. 1: Public Enemies, plus many more. I'm not a newbie to this world.
So when I got TDKR, I figured I'd like it too, right? NOPE. I have the same problem with this comic as I did with Batman: Arkham Asylum (15th Anniversary Edition), only worse. The art is too spastic; the design is too creative; my brain just isn't able to make the leaps in logic that are apparently required to make this all into a storyline that flows in some kind of understandable manner.
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