zorak163's Full Review: Frank Miller, John Costanza, Lynn Varley, Klaus Ja...
Heavily hyped and full of praise, The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller (with Klaus Janson and Lynn Varley) was a comic book phenomenon that I passed on time and again. I missed it’s original release (I was nine at the time but I was already very familiar with the wonderful world of comic books). I passed up on the Tenth Anniversary Edition again and again. Then, 14 years after readers first laid down their hard earned cash for this new vision of Batman I finally had an offer I couldn’t refuse: a copy of the anniversary edition for free. Seemed like a win-win situation. Unfortunately, life doesn’t give refunds on wasted time.
Although Batman was never my favorite superhero, he is by far the coolest thing to ever come out of DC Comics. Vigilante crime fighter by night, millionaire bachelor Bruce Wayne by day, Batman earned my respect at a young age. His powers didn’t come from a mutation or from the sun. His “powers” came from within. Batman’s number one asset has always been his brain. It enabled him (with the help of Alfred, everyone’s favorite “butler”, of course) to come up with all of his cool gadgets. Of course his riches enabled him to make his fantasies become a reality. I have a special place in my heart for a hero who fights because he has to just as much as because he wants to. Just like with Spiderman, Batman’s crusade began due to the death of someone near to him. In Batman’s case, it was his parents. He made a vow to himself that no one would ever have to live through that much pain again and he donned the cape and mask that he hoped would strike fear into the hearts of his enemies.
Batman made a very important promise to himself once, a long time ago. He decided that no matter what happened, he would never willingly let another man die. When he made this decision, it also changed the fate of the arsenal of weapons that he would keep at his side. All of them were useful and could immobilize a person, but none of them could ever kill someone. Until now. In Miller’s crazed vision, Batman wields guns as if it were second nature. This strange Batman also has a thing for putting his opponents into full body casts. But perhaps I’m getting ahead of my self here.
There is an introduction to this book that explains to us how one man’s mid-life crisis came about, how it involved Batman and, subsequently, how this book came to be. It seems that Miller couldn’t stand the fact that his childhood idol was going to be younger than him as of his next birthday and he decided to write a story that would age the Bat by several years. Not a bad idea, altogether, even if it does seem like an extremely big ego trip.
The book begins in a time frame that pretends to be set in the 80’s in Gotham City (it features Ronald Reagan as president, but aside from that the look and feel is more of some unspecified future time frame). All is not well. Crime is at an all time high, Police Commissioner James Gordon is being forced into an early retirement and, speaking of retirements, Batman has been retired for ten years. We come to find out later on in the book that the reasons for this are many, chief amongst them is the fact that the world no longer wanted to be “hindered” by “costumed vigilantes” any longer. The only superhero who even still exists as such is Superman and he is on the very short leash of the President. When Batman decides to come out of retirement at a very inopportune time, it quickly becomes Superman’s job to try and keep him in line and out of the limelight.
I liked the fact that Batman was allowed to age and that his age and long years of retirement left him with slower reflexes. I thought it was a realistic touch and it helped the story stay afloat. But only for a little while. As soon as he starts making some very un-Batman like decisions regarding his new Robin (and no, I’m not referring to the fact that he chose a girl because I personally thought that was cool...if only she’d been a better character...) and the very style in which he fights crime, things go quickly downhill. A lot of the sequences are flat out confusing and I refuse to accept a Batman who is willing to kill. It is refreshing to see that at a very crucial point he is unable to go through with it completely, but it still seems like retirement wouldn’t almost completely change a person’s morals.
A major problem that I had with this book was the artwork. I don’t know why everyone raves about it so much because it was horrid. I have suffered through many bad artists with some of my favorite comics but the fact that the story wasn’t much better made this inexcusable. The format was also very unpleasing to the eye in several sections. On a one to ten scale, the artwork and presentation of the overall collection earns a 3 (and just barely at that).
Although mildly entertaining, this book is only good as a curiosity piece. It is always interesting to see a different take on an old character and for that I will give it credit. Long time readers will either be thrilled or appalled by the fact that there is actually some closure given to the tumultuous relationship between Batman and the Joker. The numerous references to former superhero’s adds a bit of much needed humor into the tense mix that is likely to become a long time fan’s favorite aspect of this endeavor. All in all, though, I can’t honestly recommend this book to anyone and the only redeeming value in it whatsoever for a new reader is the fact that Batman’s origin story is retold. Do yourself a favor, find it somewhere else.
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