Reviews - Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

814 reviews for:

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

This is probably the greatest Batman story I've ever read. It beats Year One in my opinion.

Truly incredible writing by Frank Miller. He seems to understand the Batman character like no other writer out there.

Seeing this great character struggle with old age as he takes on his old enemies as well as allies is fantastic and realized incredibly well.

Cannot recommend this graphic novel enough!

dragonknight48's review against another edition

5.0

Es una gran novela gráfica , sin duda es una de mis historias favoritas de todos los tiempos.

La recomiendo pero no para gente que esté iniciando en el mundo del cómic o de Batman.

ceciibunnii's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

leviathandreamer's review against another edition

4.0

The impact and legendary status of this book is undeniable, and it's a marvelous piece of art. That being said, it's 36 years old. 36 years old.

That's absolutely wild, and unfortunately, it shows. Now, I can't say I'm biased against older comic books - after all, Miller's Year One (35 years old) is my favourite Batman comics and one of my favourite comic books ever. But the artstyle just didn't age well, and I don't think it fit the story all that well, to be honest. I don't mind a lot of text at all, but I'm a sucker for dark, noir Batman, and the colour palette in this was just way too... light. It isn't bright by any means, but I suppose I just expected something really dark and brutal.

Of course, the story itself is dark enough. Batman is my favourite superhero (the only one I like, actually), because he isn't one, not really. He's just a sad, messed-up, traumatised human being with a ton of issues and insane amount of courage, tenacity and determination (and money, of course). Some writers make him less so, but Miller is great at humanising Batman/digging deeper into Bruce's psychology, and the way he writes this old, tired man who's still unable to let go of everything after all these years, is brilliant.

It felt kind of random to see Superman in this at first, but I enjoyed Miller's almost sarcastic spun on his character, and their interaction is fun to see since they're just so different. It was also a little surreal to read about an in-universe nuclear war between Russia and the US given the current political climate almost 40 years later.

The ending was pretty solid all things considered, but it was a little disappointing to me personally.

Spoiler

I enjoy bad endings, so I kind of wanted to see Batman die a sad, mundane, meaningless death. It is what it is, okay?

Not enough to stop me from appreciating the story as a whole, though.

sizrobe's review against another edition

5.0

I can see why this book is held in such high regard. It tells the tale of a borderline geriatric, brutal, amoral Batman newly returned to costumed crimefighting after a 20 year hiatus. Grimdark Batman seems a little goofy, but it works. This, however, is not one for the kids.

I did have a few issues with it, though. All of the Mutant Gang are portrayed as subhuman, dressing in ridiculous Day-Glo costumes with glasses like Bebop from the Ninja Turtles and spouting ridiculous strained slang vernacular. Also, Robin felt way out of place using a slingshot and wearing her brightly colored costume while dealing with dead serious murderous gangsters.