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From:Frank Miller , DC Comics ,
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User Rating: Amazon Sales Rank:#352 |
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1 of 1 customers found the following review helpful:
 Miller's Best Work, 2008-08-15
I got the four part series several years ago before I sold off all my comics in the late 80's. I recently decided to renew my aquaintance with the series upon seeing Christian Bale in "The Dark Knight".
It is sometime in a dystopian future. Batman has disappeared. Batgirl is in a wheelchair somewhere. Robin is dead. Superman defends a corrupt government.
In book I 50 something Bruce Wayne is disturbed by what he sees happening in Gotham City and decides to resurrect The Batman to combat Punk street gangs who have taked over the streets. In the course of fighting he is rescued by Geek Girl Carey Kelley Who becomes the new Robin. In the end he is victorius and finds many imitators among former gang members.
In Book II Harvey Dent is released from Arkham Asylym. Supposably he is cured and has had plastic surgery to restore his face. In the end of what is a great psychological tour de force he reverts to being two face.
In book III The Joker is cured and released from Arkham and his appearance on a certain late night talk show might presage what Leno has in mind for its host. We see retired Selina Kyle put in danger in this one and Batman and the Joker have their final confrontation.
In book IV Batman and Green Arrow team to fight Superman and a corrupt US Government(since this was the late 80's it is Reagan but we're used to comics only showing GOP administrations as corrupt). In the end he loses or does he????
This is a fine set of stories and I agree with someone who said earlier it is like Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven". I could sorta see Clint play the part if it was made into a movie.
I'd reccomend it for batman and Frank Miller fans.
The Re-Defining of An Icon, 2008-08-04
Frank Miller returned Batman to his gritty glory with this piece. For so long in the 60's and 70's the Batman had become tame and cartoony. However Batman returned to his dark roots, and Gotham became the concrete jungle it should've been once more. This story also re-defines the relationship between Batman and Superman. The World's Finest Superheroes would never really get along in real life, and this story brought that out in wonderful fashion.
2 of 4 customers found the following review helpful:
 A Disappointing Introduction, 2008-08-04
Let me begin by saying that I'm not a dedicated reader of comics. After seeing Sin City and 300 I gained an interest in Frank Miller so I decided to check out some of his work. I just read 300 and really enjoyed it, but I was not a fan of the Batman: TDK Returns.
My biggest complaint was a cause of constant annoyance while reading the series; the style. It is often difficult to follow the story because it skips around so much and because the animation is often incomprehensible. Some of the slang used throughout the story also makes it unnecessarily difficult to follow. There were several times where it was difficult for me to distinguish what was happening in the story. The story itself is decent enough, but nothing special. I enjoyed a bit of the political commentary, but it was a bit over the top.
I also didn't really like the fact that the reason given for Batman retiring a decade ago was because of Robin dying, but then accepts a 13-year old girl to be his new Robin with barely no explanation. This may just be ignorance on my part since she may be a character from earlier in the series or something (never read any other Batman comics), but I'm assuming since he retired 10 years ago and she is only like 13 that this is not the case. At several times throughout the story Batman also uses guns and rockets, but then preaches to the Sons of Batman group that he leads at the end that they shouldn't use guns.
Batman is a complete hypocrite throughout the story, but it does not seem to be intended. To me, this signifies poor writing. Some of the dialogue is all right, and I did enjoy some of the Frank Miller style narration, but other than that there isn't much I enjoyed about it.
6 of 7 customers found the following review helpful:
 Chasing the Dragon, 2008-07-27
At this writing there are 321 customer reviews about this book. The overwhelming majority of them rating it with 5 stars. It's very likely this review will never be read, but I just had to have my say.
This book is so good it will almost ruin your comic reading life. I guess I was 12 or 13 when I first read this and I've reread it maybe a couple dozen times over the years. I've come to regard the book in the way that the first dose of heroin is commonly described. No matter how many graphic novels and how may collected editions I read by any writer or artist about any protagonist nothing has ever made an impression on me like The Dark Knight Returns. The very best of any other comic has only ever been a shadow of this Batman tale.
Frank Miller should get a cut of every dollar I spend on comics, since this is the dragon that I'm really chasing.
2 of 2 customers found the following review helpful:
THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS by Frank Miller, Klaus Janson and Lynn Varley, 2008-07-22
The Dark Knight Returns was written and drawn by Frank Miller, inked by Klaus Janson, and colored by Lynn Varley. It was originally published as a four-part series in 1986.
Here, Bruce Wayne is in his fifties, and he hasn't been Batman in ten years. A massive crime wave drives him back into action. There's a lot going on here: crime is out of control, Commissioner Gordon is retiring, superheroes have been done away with, the Cold War is escalating, several of the old, classic Batman villains are on the loose, and Batman's not what he used to be.
The story here is so multi-layered, so complex, and Miller does an excellent job of keeping hold of all the threads. He also does a great job of blending old, classic characters with new ones. Miller's one-page vignettes with crime victims make the story personal.
Miller likes to give us characters' internal narration of events. This works most of the time, but once in a while it's just too much ("I get sick of the arm...and kill it below the elbow."). Miller typically does this when the artwork doesn't show us all he wants it to, and he feels compelled to tell us the rest. This is the most obvious weakness in Miller's work.
Miller's art isn't pretty. It's dark, it's sloppy at times, and it's often downright ugly. But it fits the story, and it, along with Janson's inks and Varley's colors, really sets the mood. Even the layout of the panels, which are often cramped and crowded together, add to the story's smothering feel.
There's so much here, and Miller gives the reader a lot to think about. All told, The Dark Knight Returns has held up over time, and is one of the two or three greatest comic works ever created, hands down.
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