Batman: The Dark Knight Returns is one of most important comics in history. This 1986 four-issue comic book miniseries starring Batman, written by Frank Miller, illustrated by Miller and Klaus Janson, and published by DC Comics helped turn the Batman franchise back into a gritty, dark, noirish story and has inspired countless comicbook writers as well as film makers (especially Tim Burton, Christopher Nolan, and Zack Synder). The Dark Knight Returns tells an alternative story of Bruce Wayne, who at 55 years old returns from retirement to fight crime and faces opposition from the Gotham City police force and the United States government. The story introduces Carrie Kelley as the new Robin and the hyper-violent street gang known as the Mutants. The story also features the return of classic foes such as Two-Face and The Joker, and culminates with a confrontation against Superman, who works on behalf of the government.

While the gritty tone of TDKR ushered in the Modern Age of comics, and while it is a thrilling adventure, it is not without its problems (hence the four stars). For one, I was not a fan of how the series employed a 16-panel grid for its pages. Each page was composed of either a combination of 16 panels, or anywhere between sixteen and one panel per page. This gave the story a claustrophobic feel and it was often hard to follow who was speaking/who the action was referring to. I actually think Miller and company employ this style much better in Batman: Year One. Additionally, the plot is a bit convoluted and is neatly wrapped up in the Batman vs. Superman climax.

However, if you're a superhero fan or a comic book fan, this remains a must read, if for anything, for the impact it has had on pop culture.
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B+ (Very good). Inconsistent. Book 1 (of 4) is remarkably great. But it's hard to get past the fascism - unavoidable in any Batman story, but Miller really leans into it.

(Sep. 2023) ( )

I liked the high quality of the comic panels and the well thought through story line.

I'm not familiar with Batman comics, so maybe there was stuff here that would've held more meaning if I knew, say, what happened to Jason (I'm familiar with the broad strokes but haven't read the comic, itself) or what Oliver was spouting off about (yeah, I have no context for this at all). But most of this just seemed nonsensical.

Why return to crime-fighting at all, Bruce? Is it PTSD? If so, the deployment of that motivation needed to be a lot more consistent. Are you suffering from dementia? That would certainly be in keeping with all the harping on about how old and slow you've gotten, but you seem a little too sharp to be struggling with an age-eaten brain. Am I just supposed to assume you've lost your effing mind? Because there needed to be more Killing and Maiming (instead of navel-gaze-y philosophizing about it), if so.

Without any of this to go on, this entire comic feels like an excuse to plunge the Batman into DARKNESS. (No, really. Like DARK DARKNESS. Like we're not messing around. Like fighting crime means the ABYSS will STARE BACK. And shit.) Maybe I'm too old or have read too much Profiler!Mulder fanfiction or remember too clearly how it felt to read Watchmen early on in my comics-reading life, but this didn't feel like a fresh, startling take on crime-fighting or superheroes or violence or chaos or the corruption of power or...anything. It felt mostly like a treatise on how growing old in your career will make you bad at it.

...Which. I appreciate. Because there are way too many old-guard authors still writing books who need to be told to either stop writing or get a better editor. But this seems an odd focus for a Batman comic, let alone a legendary Batman comic. And the momentary glimpses of Bruce's realization that he kinda sucks at his job don't make for compelling literature.

And all that other stuff? The navel-gaze-y bits about how killing the killers might be the only way to stop the cycle of violence...or how the world only makes sense if you make it! (what? is that a serious existential question or just poor traumatized Bruce trying to sound tough?)...or how vigilantism is, like, too big to judge in crime-ridden Gotham. All of that seems so narrow in scope, so petulant and childish.

Reading this, I had the exact opposite experience that I had whilst reading Superman: Red Son. That book asks some serious and terrifying questions about power and how we justify its use and where those ideas originate from and how little control we might have over their formation. This book, on the other hand, was akin to being stuck with That Asshole at a cocktail party, ranting about his childhood and his therapy and how everyone who disagrees with him is automatically wrong. No big questions, no insights into the greater world...just a guy reveling in the muck so people will think he's edgy and gritty and, like, DARK. (And shit.) ( )

maybe the most overrated comic of all time? miller takes the idea of ":what if batman was darker", and people really love it. some of the ideas are cool... the storyline with the other superheroes is cool. but its REALLY not that good, and its telling that the sequel to this sucked. i think people realized that the whole thing stinks, and this is coming from someone who can handle dark comics or themes. now that comic book writers have more freedom to do what they want, i think the dark knight returns is more important for its impact on comics and movies than actually, being good

The Killing Joke would be my gold standard for a darker Batman comic. ( )