You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
leviathandreamer 's review for:
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
by Frank Miller
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. Not enough to stop me from appreciating the story as a whole, though.
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.