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The Dark Knight Saga #2
Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again
It's been three years since the events of The Dark Knight Returns, and everything is just fine. At least on the surface. What the world at large doesn't know is that it's a total sham. A perfectly choreographed, pretty little world where everything that's ugly, or even potentially disturbing, is all nicely wrapped up with neat little ribbons and swept under the carpet. Only he knows better. He's watched it fester to near-breaking point, and it's time for the only free man left who can effect any real change to bring it all down around their ears once and for all.
The Dark Knight returns once again with a vitality unseen since the first years of his war on crime. Together with his army of Bat-soldiers, including Carrie Kelley—formerly Robin, and now the new Catgirl—the Dark Knight wages a new war on a diseased world that's become completely lost.
The Dark Knight Strikes Again features appearances by such DC icons as Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter, the Atom, the Question and more. But are they still the World's Greatest Heroes or part of the conspiracy?
This incredible volume, designed by multiple award-winner Chipp Kidd, features a new introduction by Miller commenting on returning to the world he created fifteen years ago. The book includes the complete 3-part story, plus numerous sketches and other never-before-seen material.
The Dark Knight returns once again with a vitality unseen since the first years of his war on crime. Together with his army of Bat-soldiers, including Carrie Kelley—formerly Robin, and now the new Catgirl—the Dark Knight wages a new war on a diseased world that's become completely lost.
The Dark Knight Strikes Again features appearances by such DC icons as Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter, the Atom, the Question and more. But are they still the World's Greatest Heroes or part of the conspiracy?
This incredible volume, designed by multiple award-winner Chipp Kidd, features a new introduction by Miller commenting on returning to the world he created fifteen years ago. The book includes the complete 3-part story, plus numerous sketches and other never-before-seen material.
248 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
About the author
Frank Miller
1,329 books4,804 followersFrank Miller is an American writer, artist and film director best known for his film noir-style comic book stories. He is one of the most widely-recognized and popular creators in comics, and is one of the most influential comics creators of his generation. His most notable works include Sin City, The Dark Knight Returns, Batman Year One and 300.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 924 reviews
August 6, 2023
I feel like throwing up. I realized the fundamental problem with this comic is that it's not even about Batman. Seriously. Batman is barely even here. This is basically a JL/JLA/JLI/JL-whatever-else-you-can-think of comic. And this comic has nothing to do with The Dark Knight Returns except that Batman and Carrie Kelley are in it. Which makes me feel like smashing Frank Miller repeatedly in the face.
Let's begin shall we? Like any Justice League comic there are a zillion characters. I listed just the major ones for your convenience. There were so many I probably missed one:
Batman. Catgirl. The Question. The Atom. Barry Allen as The Flash. Green Lantern. Wonder Woman. Captain Marvel. Green Arrow. Elongated Man. Plastic Man. Martian Manhunter. Supergirl. Guardian. Creeper. Hawk and Dove. Hawkman. Saturn Girl. Genetically modified Dick Grayson. Lex Luthor. Brainiac. Thanagarians? Rush Limbaugh. Donald Rumsfeld.
Why in Robin's name are there this many characters in a Batman comic? That never happens. It's no wonder Batman barely makes an appearance. He's playing 34th fiddle to all these other characters. For as much as Miller obviously definitely totally hates Superman he sure wrote 250 pages all about him. The villains? Superman's. The people in danger? Superman's. He's the main character in a Batman comic, which means this isn't a Batman comic at all. No grit, no Gotham, and zero Batman villains.
Then there's the plot, which makes absolutely no sense. Here's my understanding...
Three years following the events of The Dark Knight Returns, The Atom fights a sea monster in a petri dish. Enter Carrie Kelley aka Catgirl, who looks exactly like Chester Cheetah on roller skates. They escape together. Enter Superman who's pissed. News in the nude (?). A warhead knocks an asteroid toward Earth. The President is a hologram (?). Enter The Question. Enter Batman (finally!) and the war begins. (What war?) The heroes assemble. Lex Luthor and Brainiac task Superman, Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel to capture the heroes. (Wait, why?) The heroes beat the shit out of Superman. (What is happening?) Then Superman and Wonder Woman fight. (What the fuck is happening?) Lex Luthor yells. Batman, Catgirl and Elastic Man go to Arkham to rescue hostages that have been there for five years. (Wait, what?) That's right, kids. There were hostages in Arkham during The Dark Knight Returns which Batman apparently forgot about. And that's when I stopped caring.
Themes that were screamed in my face: Corporate/consumer America. Fascism. Martial law. Freedom FROM information act. Response to Bush and post 9/11? Censorship. Corporate oligarchy. Secretary of state Robert RUGER EXXON, i.e. gun and oil lobbyist/four star General Starbucks. We get it, Miller. You hate corporations/government/dictators/the wealthy/America/consumers/women/gays. But wait, don't you need corporations to publish and distribute your book? Government to ensure the freedom of speech you're so blatantly parading? Consumers to buy this stuff?
Problems I found with this book...
Miller was sexist as hell in this comic, which I didn't notice in TDKR. In the first few pages Catgirl says swallow two or three times, something like "Uh oh I swallowed, I think I'm gonna puke." Most women are either dumb, whorish, or submissive, and very exposed, especially the whole News in the Nude thing and the Euphoric (sp?) investment ads. Even Wonder Woman, the embodiment of women's rights, talks about herself as a prize to be taken, which she is, because she does Superman, immediately gets pregnant (faster than a speeding bullet after all), and then she's pregnant hungry. That's right. Now get in the kitchen and make me a sandwich.
This comic is filled with horrible cliches. Asteroid headed for earth. Sea monster. A giant monster destroying the city. That's it? 20 years and that's what you come up with? Then there's Lex Luthor trying to control the world, assisted by Brainiac who does I don't even know what. Those are the villains. Seriously. And Batman has little to nothing to do with them.
The dialog is okay to downright horrible, generic, and irrelevant. You know in TDKR how there was some random civilian social commentary? Well it's on every page, sometimes pages long, usually right in the middle of what's happening. It's like Miller continued the TV idea and injected the idiotic couch commentary right there in the action. It was so stupid and distracting and repetitive. It was lazy. Write goddamn it! Give me some exposition, some inner monologue to move the story along.
Bruce Wayne, the corporate, independently wealthy, trust fund billionaire, apparently has a problem with oligarchy. How's that for idiotic writing? Then there were dinosaurs in South America. Plastic Man yells "Rodney King!" Those creepy genetically engineered orphans. Dick Grayson who can't die and looks like The Joker. And the artwork. Oh my god the art was so damn bad. There were a few splash pages that were normal and reminded me of TDKR. The cover art is deceiving because it's the size of a large postage stamp and does not represent the artwork. There's a blurb inside that says this comic does for comics what The Ramones did for music. Well, The Ramones suck. And this isn't punk rock. It's Limp Bizkit meets Spice Girls. It's messy millennial digital wallpaper blasted with sharpies. It's fucking neon diarrhea. It's brain-blasting, seizure-inducing maximalism.
If this is what happens when Frank Miller waits 20 years I'm afraid to see what DK3, Batman Master Race looks like (update: it’s not good). TDKR was satirical, dark, weird, but plausible. But here he threw in the Justice League, son of a bitch Superman and Wonder Woman, every back alley DC hero he could find, disappointment, tie dye, extra fat sharpies, and his hatred for basically everything, and then you have The Book That Comes After But In No Way Resembles The Dark Knight Returns. And good night.
Let's begin shall we? Like any Justice League comic there are a zillion characters. I listed just the major ones for your convenience. There were so many I probably missed one:
Batman. Catgirl. The Question. The Atom. Barry Allen as The Flash. Green Lantern. Wonder Woman. Captain Marvel. Green Arrow. Elongated Man. Plastic Man. Martian Manhunter. Supergirl. Guardian. Creeper. Hawk and Dove. Hawkman. Saturn Girl. Genetically modified Dick Grayson. Lex Luthor. Brainiac. Thanagarians? Rush Limbaugh. Donald Rumsfeld.
Why in Robin's name are there this many characters in a Batman comic? That never happens. It's no wonder Batman barely makes an appearance. He's playing 34th fiddle to all these other characters. For as much as Miller obviously definitely totally hates Superman he sure wrote 250 pages all about him. The villains? Superman's. The people in danger? Superman's. He's the main character in a Batman comic, which means this isn't a Batman comic at all. No grit, no Gotham, and zero Batman villains.
Then there's the plot, which makes absolutely no sense. Here's my understanding...
Three years following the events of The Dark Knight Returns, The Atom fights a sea monster in a petri dish. Enter Carrie Kelley aka Catgirl, who looks exactly like Chester Cheetah on roller skates. They escape together. Enter Superman who's pissed. News in the nude (?). A warhead knocks an asteroid toward Earth. The President is a hologram (?). Enter The Question. Enter Batman (finally!) and the war begins. (What war?) The heroes assemble. Lex Luthor and Brainiac task Superman, Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel to capture the heroes. (Wait, why?) The heroes beat the shit out of Superman. (What is happening?) Then Superman and Wonder Woman fight. (What the fuck is happening?) Lex Luthor yells. Batman, Catgirl and Elastic Man go to Arkham to rescue hostages that have been there for five years. (Wait, what?) That's right, kids. There were hostages in Arkham during The Dark Knight Returns which Batman apparently forgot about. And that's when I stopped caring.
Themes that were screamed in my face: Corporate/consumer America. Fascism. Martial law. Freedom FROM information act. Response to Bush and post 9/11? Censorship. Corporate oligarchy. Secretary of state Robert RUGER EXXON, i.e. gun and oil lobbyist/four star General Starbucks. We get it, Miller. You hate corporations/government/dictators/the wealthy/America/consumers/women/gays. But wait, don't you need corporations to publish and distribute your book? Government to ensure the freedom of speech you're so blatantly parading? Consumers to buy this stuff?
Problems I found with this book...
Miller was sexist as hell in this comic, which I didn't notice in TDKR. In the first few pages Catgirl says swallow two or three times, something like "Uh oh I swallowed, I think I'm gonna puke." Most women are either dumb, whorish, or submissive, and very exposed, especially the whole News in the Nude thing and the Euphoric (sp?) investment ads. Even Wonder Woman, the embodiment of women's rights, talks about herself as a prize to be taken, which she is, because she does Superman, immediately gets pregnant (faster than a speeding bullet after all), and then she's pregnant hungry. That's right. Now get in the kitchen and make me a sandwich.
This comic is filled with horrible cliches. Asteroid headed for earth. Sea monster. A giant monster destroying the city. That's it? 20 years and that's what you come up with? Then there's Lex Luthor trying to control the world, assisted by Brainiac who does I don't even know what. Those are the villains. Seriously. And Batman has little to nothing to do with them.
The dialog is okay to downright horrible, generic, and irrelevant. You know in TDKR how there was some random civilian social commentary? Well it's on every page, sometimes pages long, usually right in the middle of what's happening. It's like Miller continued the TV idea and injected the idiotic couch commentary right there in the action. It was so stupid and distracting and repetitive. It was lazy. Write goddamn it! Give me some exposition, some inner monologue to move the story along.
Bruce Wayne, the corporate, independently wealthy, trust fund billionaire, apparently has a problem with oligarchy. How's that for idiotic writing? Then there were dinosaurs in South America. Plastic Man yells "Rodney King!" Those creepy genetically engineered orphans. Dick Grayson who can't die and looks like The Joker. And the artwork. Oh my god the art was so damn bad. There were a few splash pages that were normal and reminded me of TDKR. The cover art is deceiving because it's the size of a large postage stamp and does not represent the artwork. There's a blurb inside that says this comic does for comics what The Ramones did for music. Well, The Ramones suck. And this isn't punk rock. It's Limp Bizkit meets Spice Girls. It's messy millennial digital wallpaper blasted with sharpies. It's fucking neon diarrhea. It's brain-blasting, seizure-inducing maximalism.
If this is what happens when Frank Miller waits 20 years I'm afraid to see what DK3, Batman Master Race looks like (update: it’s not good). TDKR was satirical, dark, weird, but plausible. But here he threw in the Justice League, son of a bitch Superman and Wonder Woman, every back alley DC hero he could find, disappointment, tie dye, extra fat sharpies, and his hatred for basically everything, and then you have The Book That Comes After But In No Way Resembles The Dark Knight Returns. And good night.
February 22, 2023
The more convoluted and much much less critically acclaimed sequel to the work of genius that is 'Batman: The Dark Knight Returns'. In this sequel the Dark Knight wages war on anyone and everyone that is part of the Lex Luthor / Brainiac conspiracy ruining a lot of this future DC reality. We get to see Frank Miller's future Flash, Atom, Wonder Woman, Plastic Man etc. Pretty good, but looks just adequate when compared to the first instalment. 7 out of 12, Three Stars for this impossible to attain the heights of the first volume sequel.
2011 read
2011 read
September 24, 2013
Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again is rightly reviled by all Batman fans because of how terrible the book is on every level but made doubly damning because Frank Miller wrote two of the most acclaimed Batman books - The Dark Knight Returns and Year One.
The plot is a paranoid maniac's delight: the President of the United States is a hologram created by Lex Luthor and Brainiac who're essentially in control of America behind the scenes. Superman is still their lapdog because they hold Kandor, the shrunken Kryptonian city in a jar, captive, blackmailing him into doing whatever they want. And various other superheroes are imprisoned somehow - Flash is made to constantly run on a hamster wheel-like contraption that gives the US free, unlimited power, while The Atom is held in a petri dish. The only holdout is Batman - the book takes place a few years after The Dark Knight Returns and people still believe Bruce Wayne, revealed as Batman, is dead while he's actually been secretly working underground to build a Bat-army from the former Mutant gang. And with Carrie Kelly, who in this book has discarded the Robin outfit for a ridiculous leopard-like skin tight thing with rollerskates, calling herself Catgirl, by his side, the Dark Knight is ready to strike - again!
The worst thing about this book by far is easily the art. The character designs are absolute garbage. Lex looks like a melange of Miller's Sin City characters Yellow Bastard and Marv, ie. ridiculously warped with gi-normous hands and a thick, grotesquely wide body that goes beyond cartoonish, while Brainiac looks essentially like a cybernetic frog! These are definitely the most awful visual depictions of these characters I've ever seen. Carrie Kelly's outfit is awful: a skin tight leopard outfit complete with cat-head ears and whiskers - with rollerskates?! Those are the worst offenders but going beyond character design, the pages are so poorly drawn, you won't believe this is the same guy who gave us some truly iconic panels from the 80s for characters like Wolverine, Daredevil and Batman.
Miller's still using the television pundit trope to explain plot points but whereas they were arranged in grid-like fashion in The Dark Knight Returns and said things that were relevant to the plot, in Strikes Again they panels are scattered haphazardly around the page and none of them are worth reading - they're just random idiots saying gibberish like "woah baby!" and "hubba hubba" around revealing shots of Black Canary and Wonder Woman. Women are going to hate this book the most as Miller presents every single woman here as an object. Hips jutting to the side, super-pouty lips, bum poking outwards - in every panel they're in! It's just so derivative, it's unbelievable - but there it is!
If the art is messy as hell, the story is handled just as poorly. Ideas are thrown in undeveloped and just left there. Black Canary hosts some kind of sex call in show on TV? The Joker is somehow alive but turns out to be someone from Batman's past who has, for some reason, chosen to dress like the Joker? Not to mention the plot is a libertarian's dream: Batman literally goes to war against the US government! Superman is presented once more as a one-dimensional boy scout while Wonder Woman is little more than an aggressive Superman groupie. I didn't know what to make of Green Lantern as he's just floating in space silently for most of the book while Elongated Man is a super-crazy nutball. The only consistent character was Barry Allen who remains as white bread as an old man as he was when he was a younger Flash. Why are Lex and Brainiac working together again? Why is Carrie Kelly Catgirl instead of Robin - and aren't rollerskates kind of useless if you're swinging everywhere on ropes?
And then amidst all of the chaos, 9/11 happened as he was creating the book and Miller decided to shoehorn that into the story too! So we literally have a 9/11 scene of citywide devastation, massive buildings falling down, that sits completely out of place with the rest of the story. It's just there because it happened and Miller thought he'd put it in his book. Because. Years later he would go on to make an even more polemical and nonsensical book with terrible art - which DC would see sense and deny him the use of their characters Batman and Catwoman - called Holy Terror, but that's another (godawful) story.
The Dark Knight Strikes Again is a remarkable book only for it being the product of a writer/artist who brought so much to the character only to return years later and produce such a terrible book for that same character - I don't think there exists a comic book where the original and its sequel are so directly opposite one another in terms of quality. When a book that's unreadable at best is also 250 pages long, it's an utter chore to get through, let alone make any sense out of. The Dark Knight Strikes Again is a book that, if you read it, you're going to wish hadn't struck again.
The plot is a paranoid maniac's delight: the President of the United States is a hologram created by Lex Luthor and Brainiac who're essentially in control of America behind the scenes. Superman is still their lapdog because they hold Kandor, the shrunken Kryptonian city in a jar, captive, blackmailing him into doing whatever they want. And various other superheroes are imprisoned somehow - Flash is made to constantly run on a hamster wheel-like contraption that gives the US free, unlimited power, while The Atom is held in a petri dish. The only holdout is Batman - the book takes place a few years after The Dark Knight Returns and people still believe Bruce Wayne, revealed as Batman, is dead while he's actually been secretly working underground to build a Bat-army from the former Mutant gang. And with Carrie Kelly, who in this book has discarded the Robin outfit for a ridiculous leopard-like skin tight thing with rollerskates, calling herself Catgirl, by his side, the Dark Knight is ready to strike - again!
The worst thing about this book by far is easily the art. The character designs are absolute garbage. Lex looks like a melange of Miller's Sin City characters Yellow Bastard and Marv, ie. ridiculously warped with gi-normous hands and a thick, grotesquely wide body that goes beyond cartoonish, while Brainiac looks essentially like a cybernetic frog! These are definitely the most awful visual depictions of these characters I've ever seen. Carrie Kelly's outfit is awful: a skin tight leopard outfit complete with cat-head ears and whiskers - with rollerskates?! Those are the worst offenders but going beyond character design, the pages are so poorly drawn, you won't believe this is the same guy who gave us some truly iconic panels from the 80s for characters like Wolverine, Daredevil and Batman.
Miller's still using the television pundit trope to explain plot points but whereas they were arranged in grid-like fashion in The Dark Knight Returns and said things that were relevant to the plot, in Strikes Again they panels are scattered haphazardly around the page and none of them are worth reading - they're just random idiots saying gibberish like "woah baby!" and "hubba hubba" around revealing shots of Black Canary and Wonder Woman. Women are going to hate this book the most as Miller presents every single woman here as an object. Hips jutting to the side, super-pouty lips, bum poking outwards - in every panel they're in! It's just so derivative, it's unbelievable - but there it is!
If the art is messy as hell, the story is handled just as poorly. Ideas are thrown in undeveloped and just left there. Black Canary hosts some kind of sex call in show on TV? The Joker is somehow alive but turns out to be someone from Batman's past who has, for some reason, chosen to dress like the Joker? Not to mention the plot is a libertarian's dream: Batman literally goes to war against the US government! Superman is presented once more as a one-dimensional boy scout while Wonder Woman is little more than an aggressive Superman groupie. I didn't know what to make of Green Lantern as he's just floating in space silently for most of the book while Elongated Man is a super-crazy nutball. The only consistent character was Barry Allen who remains as white bread as an old man as he was when he was a younger Flash. Why are Lex and Brainiac working together again? Why is Carrie Kelly Catgirl instead of Robin - and aren't rollerskates kind of useless if you're swinging everywhere on ropes?
And then amidst all of the chaos, 9/11 happened as he was creating the book and Miller decided to shoehorn that into the story too! So we literally have a 9/11 scene of citywide devastation, massive buildings falling down, that sits completely out of place with the rest of the story. It's just there because it happened and Miller thought he'd put it in his book. Because. Years later he would go on to make an even more polemical and nonsensical book with terrible art - which DC would see sense and deny him the use of their characters Batman and Catwoman - called Holy Terror, but that's another (godawful) story.
The Dark Knight Strikes Again is a remarkable book only for it being the product of a writer/artist who brought so much to the character only to return years later and produce such a terrible book for that same character - I don't think there exists a comic book where the original and its sequel are so directly opposite one another in terms of quality. When a book that's unreadable at best is also 250 pages long, it's an utter chore to get through, let alone make any sense out of. The Dark Knight Strikes Again is a book that, if you read it, you're going to wish hadn't struck again.
December 5, 2011
I can't even begin to list all the things that went wrong with this. If there was ever a case to be made against making sequels, Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again would be the poster child. It just boggles the mind that the same creative team of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns did this one.
Where DKR1 was tight and on the money, DKR2 is nothing short of a chaotic mess. There are so many other Superheroes populating DKR2 that it really doesn't feel anything at all like a Batman story. He comes off as a minor character prone to showing up occasionally.
The art that made DKR1 such a joy to look at is nowhere to be found within the pages of DKR2. I lost count of how many times Frank's interpretation of characters from panel to panel looked goofy or just downright atrocious. His style was constantly changing and really became a thorn in my side while reading. The story itself was pretty lame and a complete waste of time. I should have known this was going to suck the minute I saw that Robin (Carrie) was now Catgirl. Her wearing the classic "Boy-Wonder" costume went a long way to adding to the charm of DKR1.
So, if this book is so bad then how did it even get a 1 Star rating? The only thing that saves this from having 0 Stars is the twist at the end, where the "Joker" is revealed to be that of Dick Grayson, the original Robin. The fight that ensues between him and Batman was pretty cool. But even with this twist at the end, I still have a problem. Visually the story would have worked and played so much better if Carrie was still Robin herself when she is getting her ass kicked by Grayson. And overall, I really believe the story itself would have been much better to know that "Joker" and Grayson were one and the same from the beginning. It would have made for a far better read, especially during the rest of the story that was taking place which was a chore to get through.
I can not and will not recommend this one to anyone. There is a reason why this sequel was not included in The Complete Frank Miller Batman - Leather bound Hardcover Edition. It's that bad.
You can find more of my Book, DVD, TV and Movie reviews at my Forum (Penny Can) at...
http://pennycan.createaforum.com/inde...
Feel free to stop by and contribute your 2 cents.
Where DKR1 was tight and on the money, DKR2 is nothing short of a chaotic mess. There are so many other Superheroes populating DKR2 that it really doesn't feel anything at all like a Batman story. He comes off as a minor character prone to showing up occasionally.
The art that made DKR1 such a joy to look at is nowhere to be found within the pages of DKR2. I lost count of how many times Frank's interpretation of characters from panel to panel looked goofy or just downright atrocious. His style was constantly changing and really became a thorn in my side while reading. The story itself was pretty lame and a complete waste of time. I should have known this was going to suck the minute I saw that Robin (Carrie) was now Catgirl. Her wearing the classic "Boy-Wonder" costume went a long way to adding to the charm of DKR1.
So, if this book is so bad then how did it even get a 1 Star rating? The only thing that saves this from having 0 Stars is the twist at the end, where the "Joker" is revealed to be that of Dick Grayson, the original Robin. The fight that ensues between him and Batman was pretty cool. But even with this twist at the end, I still have a problem. Visually the story would have worked and played so much better if Carrie was still Robin herself when she is getting her ass kicked by Grayson. And overall, I really believe the story itself would have been much better to know that "Joker" and Grayson were one and the same from the beginning. It would have made for a far better read, especially during the rest of the story that was taking place which was a chore to get through.
I can not and will not recommend this one to anyone. There is a reason why this sequel was not included in The Complete Frank Miller Batman - Leather bound Hardcover Edition. It's that bad.
You can find more of my Book, DVD, TV and Movie reviews at my Forum (Penny Can) at...
http://pennycan.createaforum.com/inde...
Feel free to stop by and contribute your 2 cents.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 16, 2023
You can find my review on my blog by clicking here.
This is the most epic, mind-boggling, creative, throne-worthy, and more-colors-than-a-90s-arcade-game piece of garbage that the comic industry must have ever known; I really hope it can’t get worse than this. Almost two decades after the release of The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller, the man returns with a brand-new storyline—I don’t even think that’s appropriate. You know how a writer has an idea and feels the urge to scribble it away as soon as paper meets hand? Well, Frank Miller didn’t have one. What he has created for our fellow comic readers is a nightmare where anything and everything goes. From News in the Nude to a sadistic Batman who barely even appears in a comic while his name’s on the cover page. “The Great Miller” has stooped very low to release a sequel to what a lot would call a masterpiece. Albeit some very interes- no. Fuggedaboutit (Manhunter’s voice). Nothing interesting in this bowl of baloney!
I must proclaim that The Dark Knight Strikes Again is the most mentally challenging comic when it comes to describing its plot. All over the place. Skipping basic premises. A complete mash-up of the DCU superheroes, from the Justice League to Saturn Girl (who the f**k is that, right?). All hate aside, this sequel follows the events three years after the ending of The Dark Knight Returns. Society is run by a computer-generated president, thanks to Brainiac and Luthor. However, after the rescue of the Atom from captivity, these two villains, scared to lose their control over every citizen, orders Superman, Wonder Woman, and Captain Marvel (How… Why… I don’t know) to capture all supposed dead, retired or disappeared heroes that are starting to rise. This unleashes a war; war that seems to satisfy the needs of Batman. As the “story” progresses, more characters appear and things become more chaotic; as if it wasn’t already. Conflicted, Superman finally finds himself in a situation where he has to decide between Kandor (in Brainiac’s palms, literally) and Earth. There’s so much going, but that’s all my brain could process.
What’s truly astonishing in The Dark Knight Strikes Again is that it barely has any Batman, his villains, or Gotham City in it. In fact, the dark knight appears around 5 times throughout the whole volume. How do you make a Batman story without playing with his universe? You know what’s worse? Superman is the protagonist in this one. It’s his world, his Metropolis, his family, his villains, his character, that we see the most. You thought it couldn’t get worse, right? Wrong. Frank Miller has a deep, unresolved, gushing hatred for Superman, and he didn’t miss the opportunity to question everything about the man and his cape. Not a single panel goes by without you seeing Superman ridiculed and portrayed, not as the Man of Steel, but the Man of Marshmallow. Frank Miller makes sure that you understand that the hero with brains will always be Batman and that Superman will remain a simpleton, nothing more. Then again, Superman wasn’t the only one that got Frank Miller’s blinded fury for superheroes. Although his hatred for probably one of the most well-known superheroes (at least just his name) is real and felt throughout this comic, every other hero gets a nasty dose of Miller’s personality. Batman is shown as a bloodhound who loves to inflict pain upon others. Manhunter becomes some alcohol and cigar consuming gangster who loves to say “goddamn”. Green Arrow wants to be seen as a communist every time he gets a panel on a page. Geez. Frank Miller did a nasty good job of destroying heroes, didn’t he?
An unmissable and predominant element in this volume is the image of women; and boy, it’s not a good one. As you might recall from The Dark Knight Returns, little panels showing news reporters, debaters on-air, and what not were spread around the story, which gave an additional layer of storyline. It gave readers a cast of characters that reflected on the events going around Gotham and helped put an interrogation mark on Batman, superheroes, and their impact on society. In The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Frank Miller brought back this innovative idea, but completely abused and messed it up. Not only are these little panels repetitive and all over the place, the wrong places, they were also largely degrading and offensive to women. Remember News in the Nude? Yeh. Women are portrayed as dumb, uneducated, sexual eye candy. The artwork doesn’t miss the chance to make that last point obvious as well; although this whole book has the most horrible artwork of all time. Even I could’ve done a better job, and that says a lot about it. Wonder Woman was probably the worst example of horrible woman depiction by Frank Miller. Embodying feminism since her creation, in The Dark Knight Strikes Again… she’s been reduced to Superman’s “rightful prize”. To sum it up, there isn’t a single character that was done justice through dialogue and especially artwork—Captain Marvel did look a little good though… No. Screw it. He’s SHAZAM’ed better before. Hmph.
Frank Miller has reached unattainable lows with this one. Although his earlier works merit credit for changing the comic scene quite dramatically, as soon as he boarded this ship to chase after a sequel to The Dark Knight Returns, things went haywire. Before reading The Dark Knight Strikes Again, I’ve read Batman/Spawn by Frank Miller and saw what Frank Miller sees in Batman. A bully. I hated it. I don’t understand why he had to take that path, but Miller blows away the potential for ridiculousness. However, this won’t stop me from taking a peek into All-Star Batman & Robin and every other work from the man. But The Dark Knight Strikes Again… or should I say The Man of Steel Strikes Again (careful now, this does not exist to my knowledge), is the perfect comic volume that every other writer should NOT follow. It haunts people at night. It gawks over the kindest souls and preys on them. It even has some people come back to relieve it, only to be reminded what colorful galactic waste would look like.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Galactic waste. Frank Miller attained unreachable lows with this one.
P.S. A full review will be up soon.
This is the most epic, mind-boggling, creative, throne-worthy, and more-colors-than-a-90s-arcade-game piece of garbage that the comic industry must have ever known; I really hope it can’t get worse than this. Almost two decades after the release of The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller, the man returns with a brand-new storyline—I don’t even think that’s appropriate. You know how a writer has an idea and feels the urge to scribble it away as soon as paper meets hand? Well, Frank Miller didn’t have one. What he has created for our fellow comic readers is a nightmare where anything and everything goes. From News in the Nude to a sadistic Batman who barely even appears in a comic while his name’s on the cover page. “The Great Miller” has stooped very low to release a sequel to what a lot would call a masterpiece. Albeit some very interes- no. Fuggedaboutit (Manhunter’s voice). Nothing interesting in this bowl of baloney!
I must proclaim that The Dark Knight Strikes Again is the most mentally challenging comic when it comes to describing its plot. All over the place. Skipping basic premises. A complete mash-up of the DCU superheroes, from the Justice League to Saturn Girl (who the f**k is that, right?). All hate aside, this sequel follows the events three years after the ending of The Dark Knight Returns. Society is run by a computer-generated president, thanks to Brainiac and Luthor. However, after the rescue of the Atom from captivity, these two villains, scared to lose their control over every citizen, orders Superman, Wonder Woman, and Captain Marvel (How… Why… I don’t know) to capture all supposed dead, retired or disappeared heroes that are starting to rise. This unleashes a war; war that seems to satisfy the needs of Batman. As the “story” progresses, more characters appear and things become more chaotic; as if it wasn’t already. Conflicted, Superman finally finds himself in a situation where he has to decide between Kandor (in Brainiac’s palms, literally) and Earth. There’s so much going, but that’s all my brain could process.
What’s truly astonishing in The Dark Knight Strikes Again is that it barely has any Batman, his villains, or Gotham City in it. In fact, the dark knight appears around 5 times throughout the whole volume. How do you make a Batman story without playing with his universe? You know what’s worse? Superman is the protagonist in this one. It’s his world, his Metropolis, his family, his villains, his character, that we see the most. You thought it couldn’t get worse, right? Wrong. Frank Miller has a deep, unresolved, gushing hatred for Superman, and he didn’t miss the opportunity to question everything about the man and his cape. Not a single panel goes by without you seeing Superman ridiculed and portrayed, not as the Man of Steel, but the Man of Marshmallow. Frank Miller makes sure that you understand that the hero with brains will always be Batman and that Superman will remain a simpleton, nothing more. Then again, Superman wasn’t the only one that got Frank Miller’s blinded fury for superheroes. Although his hatred for probably one of the most well-known superheroes (at least just his name) is real and felt throughout this comic, every other hero gets a nasty dose of Miller’s personality. Batman is shown as a bloodhound who loves to inflict pain upon others. Manhunter becomes some alcohol and cigar consuming gangster who loves to say “goddamn”. Green Arrow wants to be seen as a communist every time he gets a panel on a page. Geez. Frank Miller did a nasty good job of destroying heroes, didn’t he?
An unmissable and predominant element in this volume is the image of women; and boy, it’s not a good one. As you might recall from The Dark Knight Returns, little panels showing news reporters, debaters on-air, and what not were spread around the story, which gave an additional layer of storyline. It gave readers a cast of characters that reflected on the events going around Gotham and helped put an interrogation mark on Batman, superheroes, and their impact on society. In The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Frank Miller brought back this innovative idea, but completely abused and messed it up. Not only are these little panels repetitive and all over the place, the wrong places, they were also largely degrading and offensive to women. Remember News in the Nude? Yeh. Women are portrayed as dumb, uneducated, sexual eye candy. The artwork doesn’t miss the chance to make that last point obvious as well; although this whole book has the most horrible artwork of all time. Even I could’ve done a better job, and that says a lot about it. Wonder Woman was probably the worst example of horrible woman depiction by Frank Miller. Embodying feminism since her creation, in The Dark Knight Strikes Again… she’s been reduced to Superman’s “rightful prize”. To sum it up, there isn’t a single character that was done justice through dialogue and especially artwork—Captain Marvel did look a little good though… No. Screw it. He’s SHAZAM’ed better before. Hmph.
Frank Miller has reached unattainable lows with this one. Although his earlier works merit credit for changing the comic scene quite dramatically, as soon as he boarded this ship to chase after a sequel to The Dark Knight Returns, things went haywire. Before reading The Dark Knight Strikes Again, I’ve read Batman/Spawn by Frank Miller and saw what Frank Miller sees in Batman. A bully. I hated it. I don’t understand why he had to take that path, but Miller blows away the potential for ridiculousness. However, this won’t stop me from taking a peek into All-Star Batman & Robin and every other work from the man. But The Dark Knight Strikes Again… or should I say The Man of Steel Strikes Again (careful now, this does not exist to my knowledge), is the perfect comic volume that every other writer should NOT follow. It haunts people at night. It gawks over the kindest souls and preys on them. It even has some people come back to relieve it, only to be reminded what colorful galactic waste would look like.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Galactic waste. Frank Miller attained unreachable lows with this one.
P.S. A full review will be up soon.
March 15, 2015
OK, so I just finished re-reading the precursor to this, the rightly worshiped The Dark Knight Returns. (my review here)
That was a masterpiece, and I'll just leave it at that.
Well, for everything that book was; this one is NOT.
Written 15 years after the original, yet only set 3 yrs after the events of that book, this feels forced, reactionary, chaotic (in a bad way) and is ugly in every way. Miller himself takes over the art, and I want to apologize to the artist of the original, because that was 10 times better than his garbage here...it's not like Miller can't draw, so it makes it doubly disappointing.
Also, for a Batman book, he doesn't even show up for the first third of the book. He's also not the same character from TDKR at all, he's some sadist who enjoys inflicting pain and suffering and terror here, for kicks "best part of the job" he calls it. Except, it wasn't a job in the original, it was his essence. All of a sudden, everything that the first book meant and said just seems to have gone POOF! in the night, like it never happened.
Miller could literally have taken a shit on a copy of TDKR and published that, and it would be better than this. Instead here, he shits all over everything about it.
I feel like this isn't Batman at all, this is Miller's fetish-dream of what he would be like as Batman. This also shits all over every other DC mainstay, and while TDKR made me believe what had happened to them, this revealing of their actuality is just plain sad. We get it Frankie, you HATE SUPERMAN!
I am amazed I made it through this, but for a thick book, it was a lot faster read than the original...probably because there's not as much to follow and shit just goes all over the place.
Frank Miller also obviously HATES women on a scary level here. I wonder what happened to Miller between 86 and 01...I'm guessing he bought into his own hype and crawled up his own asshole, much like Alan Moore.
I would say to all Bat-fans, AVOID THIS LIKE HERPES!
It's trash. It tears down everything that was great about TDKR, and honestly, I swear Miller just did it for kicks. I'm amazed DC let this come out. What a bag of crap.
Then, the reveal of the mystery villain at the end? What the fuck was that??? Seriously? Ugh. No. Wrong. So bad. Just, NO.
I need to go have a shower and a large course of antibiotics and burn my retinas out after this pile of shite.
I feel just as strongly against this and the need for everyone to avoid it as I do the polar opposite for the original.
That was a masterpiece, and I'll just leave it at that.
Well, for everything that book was; this one is NOT.
Written 15 years after the original, yet only set 3 yrs after the events of that book, this feels forced, reactionary, chaotic (in a bad way) and is ugly in every way. Miller himself takes over the art, and I want to apologize to the artist of the original, because that was 10 times better than his garbage here...it's not like Miller can't draw, so it makes it doubly disappointing.
Also, for a Batman book, he doesn't even show up for the first third of the book. He's also not the same character from TDKR at all, he's some sadist who enjoys inflicting pain and suffering and terror here, for kicks "best part of the job" he calls it. Except, it wasn't a job in the original, it was his essence. All of a sudden, everything that the first book meant and said just seems to have gone POOF! in the night, like it never happened.
Miller could literally have taken a shit on a copy of TDKR and published that, and it would be better than this. Instead here, he shits all over everything about it.
I feel like this isn't Batman at all, this is Miller's fetish-dream of what he would be like as Batman. This also shits all over every other DC mainstay, and while TDKR made me believe what had happened to them, this revealing of their actuality is just plain sad. We get it Frankie, you HATE SUPERMAN!
I am amazed I made it through this, but for a thick book, it was a lot faster read than the original...probably because there's not as much to follow and shit just goes all over the place.
Frank Miller also obviously HATES women on a scary level here. I wonder what happened to Miller between 86 and 01...I'm guessing he bought into his own hype and crawled up his own asshole, much like Alan Moore.
I would say to all Bat-fans, AVOID THIS LIKE HERPES!
It's trash. It tears down everything that was great about TDKR, and honestly, I swear Miller just did it for kicks. I'm amazed DC let this come out. What a bag of crap.
Then, the reveal of the mystery villain at the end? What the fuck was that??? Seriously? Ugh. No. Wrong. So bad. Just, NO.
I need to go have a shower and a large course of antibiotics and burn my retinas out after this pile of shite.
I feel just as strongly against this and the need for everyone to avoid it as I do the polar opposite for the original.
January 29, 2010
A steaming, drizzling, stinking pile of poo so foul it is rumored that God himself may actually cut the lifespan of the universe in half just to rid all existence of the stench left behind by Miller's ass wipings known as B:TDKSA.
Let me ask you a question -- What would be the stupidest storyline in the history of comics?
A) Ultimate evil is defeated by ultimate good,
B) Ultimate evil is defeated by a stronger evil,
or C) Ultimate evil is defeated by people's interest in fashion and fashion accessories.
If you answered 'C' above, well, I don't want to give anything away, but let's just say that you and Frank Miller have much in common!
As a sideline story, Robin is the ultimate killer who cannot be killed (which IS kind of funny if you think about it because everyone hates Robin and yet the little fucker still manages to exist, and yet even this is screwed up by Miller).
The notion that Miller allegedly got $1 million up front for this shit sandwich is simply inexcusable.
The colorist, who did fine work in the earlier 'The Dark Knight Returns', apparently spent a weekend afternoon learning how to paint with one of those newfangled computer thingies, and the result is day-glow barf on paper. (Clarification: it is not just day-glow barf on paper, it is poorly executed day-glow barf on paper.)
It IS as bad as you have heard. If you enjoyed Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, for the love of all things holy, protect that memory by NOT reading Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again.
Let me ask you a question -- What would be the stupidest storyline in the history of comics?
A) Ultimate evil is defeated by ultimate good,
B) Ultimate evil is defeated by a stronger evil,
or C) Ultimate evil is defeated by people's interest in fashion and fashion accessories.
If you answered 'C' above, well, I don't want to give anything away, but let's just say that you and Frank Miller have much in common!
As a sideline story, Robin is the ultimate killer who cannot be killed (which IS kind of funny if you think about it because everyone hates Robin and yet the little fucker still manages to exist, and yet even this is screwed up by Miller).
The notion that Miller allegedly got $1 million up front for this shit sandwich is simply inexcusable.
The colorist, who did fine work in the earlier 'The Dark Knight Returns', apparently spent a weekend afternoon learning how to paint with one of those newfangled computer thingies, and the result is day-glow barf on paper. (Clarification: it is not just day-glow barf on paper, it is poorly executed day-glow barf on paper.)
It IS as bad as you have heard. If you enjoyed Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, for the love of all things holy, protect that memory by NOT reading Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again.
July 10, 2015
The art is just so gosh darned mother-lovin ugly its hard to tell if the story was any good (not really, its not).
May 20, 2013
This is a nice follow up to The Dark Knight Returns, save for the fact that the artwork and plot are regularly more obscure and bizarre than their brilliant predecessor. However, that said, Frank Miller remains a strong writer regardless and his ability to use Batman and the DC universe to talk about politics and craft, essentially, a beautiful dystopian novel is fantastic (and I mean that in all possible senses).
It's three years after the previous novel and Batman has been presumed dead. Of course, can anyone really kill The Batman - even Superman? Bruce Wayne may have 'died' but The Batman lives on, having trained a bunch of teenagers to fight the crime running rampant through his dystopian world - a world ruled by Lex Luthor and Brainiac, who have blackmailed Superman, Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman into fighting for them. All other heroes have been locked away or forced into other duties, so Batman makes it his job to free them and therefore free the world at any cost.
The interesting idea in this work is the idea of duty in comparison to law. The idea that the greater good must be upheld in any case is considered in this work. However, the novel almost questions: is the greater good to be observed in the near future or further down the track? It does this by contrasting two different individuals, Batman - who believes the greater good lies in helping humanity live for the future - and Superman who believes in helping humanity in the here and now, to cope with the current climates. It is the comparison between these two heroes which makes this a fascinating work of fiction and a highly readable work, if not as strong as the original.
December 19, 2008
Do yourself a favor and read Miller's Batman graphic novels as he re-creates a darker, more troubled Batman and a Gotham that parodies modern life at the same time it fulfills the definition of a crime-ridden cesspool Batman has to mop up.
This one is set three years after The Dark Knight Returns. Batman is in his sixties, I think, and plots to take down the fascist, technological government of Lex Luthor with the digital president and Brainiac trying to take out Superman.
Batman as traitor to America is the very best Batman story that could be told and the plot is complicated and orchestrated by Batman, the new Batgirl (formerly Robin in the last book), former gang members turned mini-bats, and several aging superheroe--Capt. Marvel, Plastic Man, Green Arrow, Atom, and Green Lantern. Miller extrapolates our media-obssessed popular culture and turns it more garish and ugly than it currently is.
This book, in my view, is an answer to Alan Moore's cynical exploration of costumed heroe in Watchmen. The darkness and willingness to engage in violence to get the desired outcome mirrors Moore's book, but the heroes are toppling a nasty authority rather being bent to it.
This one is set three years after The Dark Knight Returns. Batman is in his sixties, I think, and plots to take down the fascist, technological government of Lex Luthor with the digital president and Brainiac trying to take out Superman.
Batman as traitor to America is the very best Batman story that could be told and the plot is complicated and orchestrated by Batman, the new Batgirl (formerly Robin in the last book), former gang members turned mini-bats, and several aging superheroe--Capt. Marvel, Plastic Man, Green Arrow, Atom, and Green Lantern. Miller extrapolates our media-obssessed popular culture and turns it more garish and ugly than it currently is.
This book, in my view, is an answer to Alan Moore's cynical exploration of costumed heroe in Watchmen. The darkness and willingness to engage in violence to get the desired outcome mirrors Moore's book, but the heroes are toppling a nasty authority rather being bent to it.
February 8, 2024
A follow up to the Dark Knight Returns, a few years after the Batman went under the radar, to his new cave where he built up his army, the story begins on a fast pace that keeps on till the end, with many super heroes and villains fighting, and the feud between Batman and Superman, is (seems to be) resolved again.
A bit less enjoyable than the first part...
MiM
A bit less enjoyable than the first part...
MiM
July 19, 2020
Plot -- Excellent, five star! As good as or better than The Dark Knight Returns; there is definitely a feel of a more open-ended future and that the author is not merely following the path of TDKR but stepping-up the nature of his universe.
Art -- Fantastic, five star! Also as good as The Dark Knight Returns; better in some ways, with a broader variation in color and inks for mood and spirit of the various scenes. Also here is the feel that the artistic team is aiming for a bigger, better, brighter and bolder creation.
Storytelling -- call it storytelling, or integration, or 'feel' of the medium, but for me, this is the area where The Dark Knight Strikes Again comes apart. I felt overwhelmed by the number of spectators making commentary on the main action, a technique which worked well in TDKR but seems overblown and sloppy here. Characters appeared or plot turns commenced without identification, leaving the story murky for several pages before the character or rationale became clear. This is what brings my rating down to 3 stars (don't get me wrong, it is NOT an average. The book isnever less than good( 2020 update ), I just did not enjoy the great art and great story presented distractingly.)
(2020 update: too many of the minor characters making sidebar commentary were caricatures, mouthing absurd commentary -- your point, Mr. Miller?)
Art -- Fantastic, five star! Also as good as The Dark Knight Returns; better in some ways, with a broader variation in color and inks for mood and spirit of the various scenes. Also here is the feel that the artistic team is aiming for a bigger, better, brighter and bolder creation.
Storytelling -- call it storytelling, or integration, or 'feel' of the medium, but for me, this is the area where The Dark Knight Strikes Again comes apart. I felt overwhelmed by the number of spectators making commentary on the main action, a technique which worked well in TDKR but seems overblown and sloppy here. Characters appeared or plot turns commenced without identification, leaving the story murky for several pages before the character or rationale became clear. This is what brings my rating down to 3 stars (don't get me wrong, it is NOT an average. The book is
(2020 update: too many of the minor characters making sidebar commentary were caricatures, mouthing absurd commentary -- your point, Mr. Miller?)
October 24, 2014
The story seemed to ramble without much cohesion. It's set in the future of DC - which is always awkward to do since none of the future-states collaborate with the current DC-world status. Many of the characters have their personalities altered, or rather, the personalities are filtered through Miller's assumption that everyone is neurotic and psychotic.
The art is inconsistent, but mostly bad, although I do love Miller's style and his paneling, this book just feels rushed. Some pages are stunning, but flip the page and the next one is probably horrendous.
I decided a couple days ago to read all the Miller books I hadn't already read. I think that was a mistake as I haven't enjoyed any of it. I may revisit the books that I do love (Daredevil, Elektra Assassin, Ronin), or I may purposely avoid them out of fear that it was a less critical man who enjoyed them.
The art is inconsistent, but mostly bad, although I do love Miller's style and his paneling, this book just feels rushed. Some pages are stunning, but flip the page and the next one is probably horrendous.
I decided a couple days ago to read all the Miller books I hadn't already read. I think that was a mistake as I haven't enjoyed any of it. I may revisit the books that I do love (Daredevil, Elektra Assassin, Ronin), or I may purposely avoid them out of fear that it was a less critical man who enjoyed them.
March 20, 2018
Re-Read, 2017
Having purchased the third instalment of Frank Miller's Dark Knight trilogy, I felt to re-read this much critical reviled sequel to The Dark Knight Returns, given how much I disliked it the first time round.
Gosh, the re-read was a chore as Miller as a writer is just trying to edgy for the sake of shock value, from the talking media heads reduced to naked women giving us the news, to a sex scene between Superman and Wonder Woman that literally shakes the earth; so irksome. The art, however, is even worse as given how the artistic craftsmanship towards DKR, his illustrations (along with Lynn Varley's digital colouring) are more rough unfinished sketches that make the storytelling inconsistent.
I originally gave this book two stars due to some of the interesting ideas of blending current politics and outlandish super-heroism, something that DKR did brilliantly. And yet, there's no clear focus in how much it tries to cram in too much. For a book that is about the return of superheroes, there is nothing to be optimistic about here.
Original review, 2014
Having made a name of himself for writing the Marvel superhero Daredevil in the early 1980s, Frank Miller received even greater acclaim when he tackled DC’s dark vigilante. Although Batman: Year One was Miller at his very best, The Dark Knight Returns was the one everyone mentions when they talk about the best Batman comics and certainly DKR is among them. Being the best incarnation of what could possibly be the final Batman story, Miller followed it up 2003’s The Dark Knight Strikes Again.
Three years after his epic battle with Superman and then faking his own death, the aging Bruce Wayne, his young sidekick Carrie Kelley/Catgirl and their army of “Batboys” return to save the world from the dictatorial rulers of the American Empire and an enigmatic enemy from his past.
Conceived in the wake of September 11th, Miller continues to a stab at American politics, pretty much in the same way he criticised the Reagan administration in DKR, which was released around the same time as Alan Moore’s graphic masterpiece Watchmen. However, while this sequel has interesting ideas of blending “American dictatorship” with comic-book villainy, i.e. Lex Luthor secretly controlling the country with a computer-generated US President, it’s sadly an almost incoherent mess.
As a sequel to The Dark Knight Returns, it lacks any emotional engagement while the narrative doesn’t really centre on Batman, despite how he becomes the key to the return of classic DC superheroes (Green Arrow, Atom, Flash and Plastic Man) who have passed their prime.
Although Miller is better a writer than he is an artist, his artwork on DKR (coloured by Lynn Varley) brilliantly presents a gritty dystopian vision of 80s Gotham, as well as providing epic and coherent action set-pieces such as Batman fighting the Joker in the Tunnel of Love, or him fighting the Man of Steel in Crime Alley. As for the art in The Dark Knight Strikes Again, it looked rushed and ragged and it was even tougher to read through a single page.
While you could read this without having to remind you of the superior predecessor as Miller was trying to do something more optimistic as it is about the re-emergence of superheroes, The Dark Knight Strikes Again as a comic book alone leaves a bad taste for those who admire the Dark Knight.
Having purchased the third instalment of Frank Miller's Dark Knight trilogy, I felt to re-read this much critical reviled sequel to The Dark Knight Returns, given how much I disliked it the first time round.
Gosh, the re-read was a chore as Miller as a writer is just trying to edgy for the sake of shock value, from the talking media heads reduced to naked women giving us the news, to a sex scene between Superman and Wonder Woman that literally shakes the earth; so irksome. The art, however, is even worse as given how the artistic craftsmanship towards DKR, his illustrations (along with Lynn Varley's digital colouring) are more rough unfinished sketches that make the storytelling inconsistent.
I originally gave this book two stars due to some of the interesting ideas of blending current politics and outlandish super-heroism, something that DKR did brilliantly. And yet, there's no clear focus in how much it tries to cram in too much. For a book that is about the return of superheroes, there is nothing to be optimistic about here.
Original review, 2014
Having made a name of himself for writing the Marvel superhero Daredevil in the early 1980s, Frank Miller received even greater acclaim when he tackled DC’s dark vigilante. Although Batman: Year One was Miller at his very best, The Dark Knight Returns was the one everyone mentions when they talk about the best Batman comics and certainly DKR is among them. Being the best incarnation of what could possibly be the final Batman story, Miller followed it up 2003’s The Dark Knight Strikes Again.
Three years after his epic battle with Superman and then faking his own death, the aging Bruce Wayne, his young sidekick Carrie Kelley/Catgirl and their army of “Batboys” return to save the world from the dictatorial rulers of the American Empire and an enigmatic enemy from his past.
Conceived in the wake of September 11th, Miller continues to a stab at American politics, pretty much in the same way he criticised the Reagan administration in DKR, which was released around the same time as Alan Moore’s graphic masterpiece Watchmen. However, while this sequel has interesting ideas of blending “American dictatorship” with comic-book villainy, i.e. Lex Luthor secretly controlling the country with a computer-generated US President, it’s sadly an almost incoherent mess.
As a sequel to The Dark Knight Returns, it lacks any emotional engagement while the narrative doesn’t really centre on Batman, despite how he becomes the key to the return of classic DC superheroes (Green Arrow, Atom, Flash and Plastic Man) who have passed their prime.
Although Miller is better a writer than he is an artist, his artwork on DKR (coloured by Lynn Varley) brilliantly presents a gritty dystopian vision of 80s Gotham, as well as providing epic and coherent action set-pieces such as Batman fighting the Joker in the Tunnel of Love, or him fighting the Man of Steel in Crime Alley. As for the art in The Dark Knight Strikes Again, it looked rushed and ragged and it was even tougher to read through a single page.
While you could read this without having to remind you of the superior predecessor as Miller was trying to do something more optimistic as it is about the re-emergence of superheroes, The Dark Knight Strikes Again as a comic book alone leaves a bad taste for those who admire the Dark Knight.
July 20, 2018
I greatly enjoy Batman stories that don't feel like Batman stories.
Readers expecting to see a followup on par with The Dark Knight Returns will be deeply unimpressed. It feels like a disjointed and jumbled mess. There's a story in there, but it doesn't always feel connected. Like someone put all the smoothie ingredients in a blender then didn't bother to turn it on.
But wouldn't ya know it, 4 stars. Clearly I am a fan of Frank Miller's more notable train wrecks. Add this one to the list with All Star Batman and Robin and Holy Terror. If you enjoyed those two works I'd probably recommend Dark Knight Strikes Again, otherwise you might just want to leave it alone.
Readers expecting to see a followup on par with The Dark Knight Returns will be deeply unimpressed. It feels like a disjointed and jumbled mess. There's a story in there, but it doesn't always feel connected. Like someone put all the smoothie ingredients in a blender then didn't bother to turn it on.
But wouldn't ya know it, 4 stars. Clearly I am a fan of Frank Miller's more notable train wrecks. Add this one to the list with All Star Batman and Robin and Holy Terror. If you enjoyed those two works I'd probably recommend Dark Knight Strikes Again, otherwise you might just want to leave it alone.
March 23, 2013
Frank Miller's long awaited sequel to his popular Batman: The Dark Knight Returns is possibly the worst comic I have ever read. Its a terrible sequel but that barely covers how terrible it is itself.
Throughout Dark Knight Returns there was a commentary on events done by the media. This worked as both a satire of mass media, as well as providing plot exposition. It also was a small subplot that didn't take up too much space. In The Dark Knight Strikes Again the media satire takes up most of the book and has little to nothing to do with the plot. It makes the story incredibly difficult to follow and is just plain stupid as well.
The art is retched, the writing is terrible, and the narrative is as confusing as possible. There will be constant conversations where it doesn't show who is talking and the bubbles are unconnected to anything and uncoloured making it incredibly difficult to tell who's talking.
Almost every superhero except Batman is portrayed as being terrible so that Batman will look better. Superman is the worst though. At the beginning we learn that Superman was willing to compromise his principles and work for Lex Luther, and then later we learn that he is dating Wonder Woman and convinced her to date him when he "threw her to the ground and took [her] as his rightful prize." So either Superman raped Wonder Woman, or he just beat her up until she agreed to "be his". That is terrible. Not to mention that later in the book Batman yells at Superman and tells him to take over the world and make it his. The book implies that this would be good and that Superman will. So here we have Miller's misogyny, and fascism displayed very nicely. I could go on about how awful this is but I think that sums it up enough for now. This is the worst comic I ever read and I have read some pretty bad ones.
Throughout Dark Knight Returns there was a commentary on events done by the media. This worked as both a satire of mass media, as well as providing plot exposition. It also was a small subplot that didn't take up too much space. In The Dark Knight Strikes Again the media satire takes up most of the book and has little to nothing to do with the plot. It makes the story incredibly difficult to follow and is just plain stupid as well.
The art is retched, the writing is terrible, and the narrative is as confusing as possible. There will be constant conversations where it doesn't show who is talking and the bubbles are unconnected to anything and uncoloured making it incredibly difficult to tell who's talking.
Almost every superhero except Batman is portrayed as being terrible so that Batman will look better. Superman is the worst though. At the beginning we learn that Superman was willing to compromise his principles and work for Lex Luther, and then later we learn that he is dating Wonder Woman and convinced her to date him when he "threw her to the ground and took [her] as his rightful prize." So either Superman raped Wonder Woman, or he just beat her up until she agreed to "be his". That is terrible. Not to mention that later in the book Batman yells at Superman and tells him to take over the world and make it his. The book implies that this would be good and that Superman will. So here we have Miller's misogyny, and fascism displayed very nicely. I could go on about how awful this is but I think that sums it up enough for now. This is the worst comic I ever read and I have read some pretty bad ones.
July 7, 2016
Me parece justo empezar diciendo que yo jamás había leído un cómic. Éste es el primero. Por lo tanto, me parece muy difícil hacer una reseña.
No estoy muy seguro qué es lo que debo calificar así que hablaré de lo relevante a muy grande rasgos.
La historia: Sí, me gustó y bastante. Según entendí no sé vital para el universo DC pero me ha parecido muy atrapante. Aunque debo decir que de las 3 partes en que está dividido el cómic la tercera y última es más floja que las dos primeras.
Los diálogos - globos: Al ser un lector "convencional" creo que es a lo que le presté más atención y creo que aunque en general está bien estructurado es un poco molesto el formato de escritura. Me explico: todo aparece con mayúsculas y algunos globos contienen muchas palabras por lo que estas aparecen algo juntas. Eso cansa un poco.
El dibujo: Interesante... me cuesta decir más.
La verdad me he divertido mucho y les pido una gran disculpa si peco de ignorante pero es mi primera vez en este tipo de lectura. Sin duda alguna me buscaré otro cómic (tal vez de otro género) porque quiero adentrarme más en este mundo!
Curiosamente leí que es un mal volumen pero no tengo idea...no tengo con qué comparar.
No estoy muy seguro qué es lo que debo calificar así que hablaré de lo relevante a muy grande rasgos.
La historia: Sí, me gustó y bastante. Según entendí no sé vital para el universo DC pero me ha parecido muy atrapante. Aunque debo decir que de las 3 partes en que está dividido el cómic la tercera y última es más floja que las dos primeras.
Los diálogos - globos: Al ser un lector "convencional" creo que es a lo que le presté más atención y creo que aunque en general está bien estructurado es un poco molesto el formato de escritura. Me explico: todo aparece con mayúsculas y algunos globos contienen muchas palabras por lo que estas aparecen algo juntas. Eso cansa un poco.
El dibujo: Interesante... me cuesta decir más.
La verdad me he divertido mucho y les pido una gran disculpa si peco de ignorante pero es mi primera vez en este tipo de lectura. Sin duda alguna me buscaré otro cómic (tal vez de otro género) porque quiero adentrarme más en este mundo!
July 14, 2008
Too much of this was silly social commentary, but getting to watch Robin (Dick Grayson) die again, but at the hands of Batman this time, was lots of fun to read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 27, 2021
Meh, totally unprofessional lol
March 21, 2016
Page 1 :
Three years after TDKR and a different world, oh boy oh boy ! Now I just gotta wait for Batman ? rubs hands in glee and grins maniacally
Page 5 :
Superman has come and…and…why does he look so odd ? Where is Batman ?
Page 10 :
Umm….Batman ? This is supposed to be a Batman comic wasn’t it ? Why is Superman such a bozo here ? Who are all these naked women ?
Page 20 :
Who are all these people ? They look like something the Justice League threw up on the carpet ! Where’s Batman ? And what are these naked women still doing here ?
Page 50 :
Lex Luthor ? That blob shaped thing is Lex Luthor ? And what’s that frog doing in the frame ? What ? That’s Brainiac… ROFL ! Stop ! Stop ! I can’t laugh anymore ! Oh wowie here are more naked women !
Page 100 :
(Batman waves from a side panel) Plus there are naked women !
Page 101 :
Go away you masked thug who resembles Batman ! Who are you ? I am sick of Batman and all these naked women !
Terrible art work, a disjointed storyline, needless skin show, a one dimensional and horribly warped view on women all join hands to form this glorious pile of garbage. I wonder what went into Frank Miller between TDKR and this one. From having made an icon out of Batman, he tends to tear down everything he built and make Batman a schoolyard bully. Miller continues to wipe Superman’s nose in the dirt of being a government agent but unlike its predecessor, the character of the boy scout is dull and lifeless here. Wonder Woman is a sex icon, Black Canary spouts obscenities and shows off her body parts, Elongated Man is a complete psycho, Flash runs around and is perhaps the only saving grace in the story, The Atom….well he does something and I still have no idea what Green Lantern was doing in this story. To top it all off , Batman declares war on the government. How did DC even green-light this thing ?
If you have even seen Batman – books, movies or even a child’s toy then avoid this book. Steer clear of it and don’t even go near bookshops which sell it.
You abomination !
Three years after TDKR and a different world, oh boy oh boy ! Now I just gotta wait for Batman ? rubs hands in glee and grins maniacally
Page 5 :
Superman has come and…and…why does he look so odd ? Where is Batman ?
Page 10 :
Umm….Batman ? This is supposed to be a Batman comic wasn’t it ? Why is Superman such a bozo here ? Who are all these naked women ?
Page 20 :
Who are all these people ? They look like something the Justice League threw up on the carpet ! Where’s Batman ? And what are these naked women still doing here ?
Page 50 :
Lex Luthor ? That blob shaped thing is Lex Luthor ? And what’s that frog doing in the frame ? What ? That’s Brainiac… ROFL ! Stop ! Stop ! I can’t laugh anymore ! Oh wowie here are more naked women !
Page 100 :
(Batman waves from a side panel) Plus there are naked women !
Page 101 :
Go away you masked thug who resembles Batman ! Who are you ? I am sick of Batman and all these naked women !
Terrible art work, a disjointed storyline, needless skin show, a one dimensional and horribly warped view on women all join hands to form this glorious pile of garbage. I wonder what went into Frank Miller between TDKR and this one. From having made an icon out of Batman, he tends to tear down everything he built and make Batman a schoolyard bully. Miller continues to wipe Superman’s nose in the dirt of being a government agent but unlike its predecessor, the character of the boy scout is dull and lifeless here. Wonder Woman is a sex icon, Black Canary spouts obscenities and shows off her body parts, Elongated Man is a complete psycho, Flash runs around and is perhaps the only saving grace in the story, The Atom….well he does something and I still have no idea what Green Lantern was doing in this story. To top it all off , Batman declares war on the government. How did DC even green-light this thing ?
If you have even seen Batman – books, movies or even a child’s toy then avoid this book. Steer clear of it and don’t even go near bookshops which sell it.
You abomination !
February 23, 2009
Frank Miller goes back to the well one more time, and pulls up a few good/interesting ideas buried in a typical late 1990s/early 2000s "Superheroes are gods that should rule us" story. Personally, I've never been a big fan of the genre, and this one is as ugly as it gets...Miller's take on the Dixie Chicks, "The Superchix", i.e. singers who dress in non-existent superhero themed outfits, shows how thin a grasp he has on pop culture and how, by this book, he's basically just yelling "Get off my lawn" over and over again. I feel like a lot of the "people on the street" stuff is Miller's response not only to the vapidity of the internet, but also to his own critics within the comics-fandom-community, but it's just so very Miller in that it's completely tone deaf and nihilistic. Miller's take on Dick Grayson (Batman threw him out? Because he was weak?) also fits into Miller's "he-man" take on life and the universe while simultaneously not fitting the character at all and, honestly, just being plain dumb.
Is it a terrible book? I can't say that for sure; certainly it's a compelling read. Of course, reading a crazy person's writings can be pretty compelling reading in general.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 14, 2015
Okay.... So I have heard horrible things about this book, people saying "don't read it!" So Why am i reading this book? Well there's a short answer to that, they announced Dark Knight Master Race, so i might as well read this.
First off the artwork is absolutely fugly! Lex Luthor looks like kingpin, and Wonder Woman runs around in boxer shorts! haha! Frank Miller's art is usually pretty cool so I don't know what happened here?
The Story is that the heroes are now divided, Heroes such as Superman, Wonder Woman and Shazam are being black mailed to doing Luthor's and Brainac's dirty work. Batman brings together all the remaining heroes to save the day! The story wasn't to bad but got really really weird the last 80 pages!
In the end this a not a good book, however this book did have some really good parts in it, but in the end the bad out ways the good! If your gonna read this, just read it so your up to date for the sequel, but otherwise stay clear!
First off the artwork is absolutely fugly! Lex Luthor looks like kingpin, and Wonder Woman runs around in boxer shorts! haha! Frank Miller's art is usually pretty cool so I don't know what happened here?
The Story is that the heroes are now divided, Heroes such as Superman, Wonder Woman and Shazam are being black mailed to doing Luthor's and Brainac's dirty work. Batman brings together all the remaining heroes to save the day! The story wasn't to bad but got really really weird the last 80 pages!
In the end this a not a good book, however this book did have some really good parts in it, but in the end the bad out ways the good! If your gonna read this, just read it so your up to date for the sequel, but otherwise stay clear!
July 15, 2015
Often ridiculous art and dialogue, likely purposefully, but still entertaining.
May 10, 2021
You know that really was a whole heap of jank... Can't believe Miller put his name to that...
January 19, 2013
"All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way" as Tolstoy famously said. Similarly, all great comics are great for what are, in the end, pretty similar reasons. Bad comics usually are bad for wildly different reasons. And then there's The Dark Knight Strikes Again, which breaks new ground in terrible. It is horrendous in ways that you have never seen before. It sets a new standard in awful; it's an original. It's the Don Quixote of failure, the Velvet Underground of awful. It is so fucking intolerably bad in every imaginable way, that you will almost admire Frank Miller. While I never think something is "so bad it's good", this is a bad comic that everyone should read, just to see how many ways it's possible for something to go wrong.
It doesn't so much have what you might call a plot as it has a sequence of events. Granted those events don't exactly hold together, or flow, or have anything resembling a logical progression, or anything that would make it so the reader could see why things were occurring, but boy does it have events! Our protagonists break into an orphanage for some reason, they come to a concert because I think they're inciting a rebellion or something, Bruce marks a Z on Lex Luthor's face, they break out a bunch of super-heroes who I guess were being held captive. Boy those are some events. Why were they happening? They're fighting against a dystopia, I guess. And don't worry, Batman is in control at all times. Well there's this really short sequence where he's captured and punched a bunch by Lex Luthor (we don't actually see him get captured either), but don't worry, he wanted to get caught and throughout the rest of the book Batman is in control and never seems to fail or mis-calculate, and everything goes perfectly! It's great because you don't have to worry about pesky things like drama or uncertainty or suspense. And then the Joker shows up for like one page an issue, killing somebody, then shows up at the very end of the last issue and tries to kill Robin! That totally contributed to the narrative and didn't seem like it was randomly shoe-horned in just because an unkillable joker that like totally used to be the old Robin and is now like totally murderous is super cool, right guys? Oh, and also Captain Marvel dies and I think it was supposed to be sad or poignant or something but he had only just appeared two pages earlier so it had zero impact.
And the art. Oh, the art. Remember how Frank was always kinda bad at figures, but at least his layouts were good? Well he forgot how to do those. And his hand can't stop shaking from all the drinking so those figures will have you longing for the artistic stylings of Don Heck. The whole thing kind of looks like Bill Sienkiewicz drew it after his twelfth shot of Jameson. Oh, but check it out! There's some fancy COMPUTER GENERATED parts to distract you! You're from the 80s where computer generated art still sound cool and like it's from the future, right?
Did you like that part of TDKR where Batman beats up Superman? Well, great news! Frank's out of ideas, so Batman does it again! Why? Because it's totally cool, people! And remember those monologues they would do that contrast their differing ideologies? Those are back too! Check out this great sample: "It worries you not for one second that your mad arrogance will bring death--and bloody genocide--down upon our heads. And upon our consciences. You monster. You bastard." Wow! And then he totally bones Wonder Woman so hard it creates a typhoon. No, I didn't make that last part up. Yes, it did happen in a comic book that DC actually put out. What do you mean that sounds like bad fan fiction by a thirteen year old?
Some more choice pieces of dialogue: "So much treason. So little time. My young charge enjoys herself far more than she should. So do I." "You're going down, thug. I'll see you in hell." Ohhhh, hard-boiled! I'd also comment on the quality of characterization, but calling anything in this book "characterization" would be a little too generous.
"But Hamish," you might say. "All of these things are true, but that's ok because it's a satire." Ah yes, the satire defense. It must be intentionally bad! But what is a satire? According to Wikipedia, it is "a genre of literature, and sometimes graphic and performing arts, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement. Although satire is usually meant to be funny, its greater purpose is often constructive social criticism, using wit as a weapon." So in order to be a satire, TDKSA would need to be A) making some kind of social commentary and B) funny. Let's tackle B first. Like in TDKR, we get a large chunk of the narrative being done via panels of news coverage (such as "News In the Nude"), but like the rest of the book they're ridiculously cartoony. The world is ending and a cartoon Elvis appears on TV and says that it's "a hunka hunka wratha god". I think this accurately sums up the quality of humor here. To fit the requirement of A, it would seem this constant onslaught of media coverage is in fact mocking TV news. One precocious goodreads reviewer (a hotbed of quality comics criticism) refers to these segments as "weaved-in commentary on how media desensitizes us". I really hope this is not true, because the idea that segments this unfunny are in some way making a commentary that is that hackneyed, obvious and done to death would be pretty depressing. What else could it be satirizing? Comic cliches? Frank's been doling out these exact cliches for years, it would be awfully hypocritical of him to suddenly decide to attack them. The type of thing readers expect out of a Frank Miller Batman comic? But this reads exactly like his Sin City comics, and I don't think anyone is pretending those are Batman satire. And the whole comic is so perfectly in-line with the type of shit Frank has been spewing in interviews and online for years. If this is a parody, then the man's entire life is a parody (and if so, hats off to him). Wait, I've got it! He's satirizing satire! He shows the inherent emptiness of satire by presenting a satire that doesn't satire anything. Brilliant!
Is this the work of fallen artist who genuinely thinks he's making something good? The work of someone who is actively trying to annoy his audience? More likely it's the work of a man who's frittered away his talent years earlier by indulging all his worst qualities and got offered a million dollars to do this, and just shitted it out because hey that's a lot of money.
This is a godawful comic.
It doesn't so much have what you might call a plot as it has a sequence of events. Granted those events don't exactly hold together, or flow, or have anything resembling a logical progression, or anything that would make it so the reader could see why things were occurring, but boy does it have events! Our protagonists break into an orphanage for some reason, they come to a concert because I think they're inciting a rebellion or something, Bruce marks a Z on Lex Luthor's face, they break out a bunch of super-heroes who I guess were being held captive. Boy those are some events. Why were they happening? They're fighting against a dystopia, I guess. And don't worry, Batman is in control at all times. Well there's this really short sequence where he's captured and punched a bunch by Lex Luthor (we don't actually see him get captured either), but don't worry, he wanted to get caught and throughout the rest of the book Batman is in control and never seems to fail or mis-calculate, and everything goes perfectly! It's great because you don't have to worry about pesky things like drama or uncertainty or suspense. And then the Joker shows up for like one page an issue, killing somebody, then shows up at the very end of the last issue and tries to kill Robin! That totally contributed to the narrative and didn't seem like it was randomly shoe-horned in just because an unkillable joker that like totally used to be the old Robin and is now like totally murderous is super cool, right guys? Oh, and also Captain Marvel dies and I think it was supposed to be sad or poignant or something but he had only just appeared two pages earlier so it had zero impact.
And the art. Oh, the art. Remember how Frank was always kinda bad at figures, but at least his layouts were good? Well he forgot how to do those. And his hand can't stop shaking from all the drinking so those figures will have you longing for the artistic stylings of Don Heck. The whole thing kind of looks like Bill Sienkiewicz drew it after his twelfth shot of Jameson. Oh, but check it out! There's some fancy COMPUTER GENERATED parts to distract you! You're from the 80s where computer generated art still sound cool and like it's from the future, right?
Did you like that part of TDKR where Batman beats up Superman? Well, great news! Frank's out of ideas, so Batman does it again! Why? Because it's totally cool, people! And remember those monologues they would do that contrast their differing ideologies? Those are back too! Check out this great sample: "It worries you not for one second that your mad arrogance will bring death--and bloody genocide--down upon our heads. And upon our consciences. You monster. You bastard." Wow! And then he totally bones Wonder Woman so hard it creates a typhoon. No, I didn't make that last part up. Yes, it did happen in a comic book that DC actually put out. What do you mean that sounds like bad fan fiction by a thirteen year old?
Some more choice pieces of dialogue: "So much treason. So little time. My young charge enjoys herself far more than she should. So do I." "You're going down, thug. I'll see you in hell." Ohhhh, hard-boiled! I'd also comment on the quality of characterization, but calling anything in this book "characterization" would be a little too generous.
"But Hamish," you might say. "All of these things are true, but that's ok because it's a satire." Ah yes, the satire defense. It must be intentionally bad! But what is a satire? According to Wikipedia, it is "a genre of literature, and sometimes graphic and performing arts, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement. Although satire is usually meant to be funny, its greater purpose is often constructive social criticism, using wit as a weapon." So in order to be a satire, TDKSA would need to be A) making some kind of social commentary and B) funny. Let's tackle B first. Like in TDKR, we get a large chunk of the narrative being done via panels of news coverage (such as "News In the Nude"), but like the rest of the book they're ridiculously cartoony. The world is ending and a cartoon Elvis appears on TV and says that it's "a hunka hunka wratha god". I think this accurately sums up the quality of humor here. To fit the requirement of A, it would seem this constant onslaught of media coverage is in fact mocking TV news. One precocious goodreads reviewer (a hotbed of quality comics criticism) refers to these segments as "weaved-in commentary on how media desensitizes us". I really hope this is not true, because the idea that segments this unfunny are in some way making a commentary that is that hackneyed, obvious and done to death would be pretty depressing. What else could it be satirizing? Comic cliches? Frank's been doling out these exact cliches for years, it would be awfully hypocritical of him to suddenly decide to attack them. The type of thing readers expect out of a Frank Miller Batman comic? But this reads exactly like his Sin City comics, and I don't think anyone is pretending those are Batman satire. And the whole comic is so perfectly in-line with the type of shit Frank has been spewing in interviews and online for years. If this is a parody, then the man's entire life is a parody (and if so, hats off to him). Wait, I've got it! He's satirizing satire! He shows the inherent emptiness of satire by presenting a satire that doesn't satire anything. Brilliant!
Is this the work of fallen artist who genuinely thinks he's making something good? The work of someone who is actively trying to annoy his audience? More likely it's the work of a man who's frittered away his talent years earlier by indulging all his worst qualities and got offered a million dollars to do this, and just shitted it out because hey that's a lot of money.
This is a godawful comic.
October 8, 2013
Okay, firstly I want you all to know that I only signed up for this site to warn you that this graphic novel sucks so much ass it's ridiculous. I'll list, in step form, the many ways this book is horse shit (there will be swearing and there may be spoilers. You've been warned.
1) The artwork is abysmal. I TDKR the artwork was bad, but in a cool way (I am in no way, taking away from the brilliance of The Dark Knight Returns, by the way). I've seen better art from a four year old. nothing is even, it's just a shitty mess, whoever did the art should just be shot (KIDDING OBVIOUSLY, BUT YOU GET THE IDEA).
2) The plot makes no sense whatsoever. ANy review you read saying how it was brilliantly complex is kidding themselves or is just mentally challenged so they'd say the same thing about a Robert Munsch book. Half the time I was reading it I was thinking "What the fuck is this shit? I illegally downloaded this comic and I feel cheated" There is no coherence at all. At one point batman and the flash are dicking around about being moral, the next the flash is doing batman's bidding like a slave (he's got a dumb new costume too). I don't understand the point of Dick Grayson coming back as some genetically altered freak show who just kills random people. He serves no purpose in the comic. Superman's just pissed at batman because he broke their agreement then just turns into a bitch whenever batman's around and does whatever he tells him too. Some may misconstrue this as batman being a badass, that is incorrect. This is superman being a pussy (on that train of thought, in TDKR, Superman is the most powerful dude on the planet, then three years later he can't do shit.). For some goddamn reason Superman and Wonder Woman had a kid, who is 20 something. I imagine that this is what was going on in Frank Miller's head when he wrote her character
"Hmm, I need a deuce ex machina to beat Braniac since I've made Superman a helpless wuss. How about he raped Wonder Woman twenty year earlier (Which, by the way would have been, according to Miller's continuity, seven years before the Justice League was disbanded) and hid the kid on Themyscara and nobody knew."
The entire plot just sucks some pretty big dick.
3) The characters... There are way too many! The flash is there and doing his thing, I got no problem with that. Superman (EVen in his Pussified state) yeah, I can deal with that. Even Green Arrow and "Catgirl" (Why the fuck she's Catgirl now is beyond me) get passes because they were in the previous book. Everybody else, Hal Jordan, Lex, Braniac, Wonder Woman, Lara (Superman and Wonder Woman's rape baby, who WW is for some reason incredibly proud of), the Damn "Superchix" (I don't know what the hell they were doing, they just randomly showed up at various points. I think they were a band, or some shit like that.), The sons of batman, the Atom and EVERYBODY ELSE should have either been dead or should not have existed in this comic. They were all pointless additions and reduced batman to like, one quarter of the book.
4) Batman. What the fuck happened in the three years between this and TDKR? At the end of the first one, he's actually happy. Then in this one he's just a dick. Not even in the good, badass kind of way, he's just a Prick.
NOW I WILL TELL YOU EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS TO SAVE YOU THE PAIN OF READING THIS ABOMINATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's three years later, Catgirl (Robin from the first one) rescues Conan the Barbarian, sorry, the Atom, from a petrie dish that he was trapped in for some reason. They get shot at for three pages then leave. Then some crap happens, then something about Superman blowing up a comet. Some naked blond chick is on every page talking about some bullshit that has nothing to do with anything. Then some shit, more shit, more shit, they rescue the flash, Superman finally breaks the goddamn comet that's only like, 10 feet wide. Some more shit, black canary doing something that isn't relevant, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, more shit, batman gives Lex the mark of zorro, shit, wonder woman talks about being raped by superman and how she enjoyed it, Superman and WW make out a little, There's some anime chick on one of the pages, that was kinda weird. Crap, crap, crap, crap, Superman is attacked but doesn't fight back for some reason, The martian manhunter show up for like two pages then dies, batman causes a revolution by telling people to wear tights. Hal Jordan was a martian the whole time he was gone, then comes back and turns the world green for a few minutes then leaves, Shit, Superman and his rape-baby fly around wondering why they don't just enslave the whole fucking planet. Batman tells supperman to go fuck himself, then asks for help. Shit, shit, shit. The rape baby fixes everything wrong with the world, including solving world hunger and creating a woman that orgasms, in two pages, rendering every other character pointless from this point on because she's just God (yep, a superhero rape baby is God) DIck grayson just shows up in the batcave and tries to kill catgirl, only to be tossed into lava, LoTR style, by batman, who is saved from the lava by Superman, who for some reason forgives him for being a total Douche the whole time. ANd they all lived happily ever after.
There, I just saved you a soul crushing read.
I will say this though. This book and TDKR are the perfect microcosm of Frank Miller. The man either writes something that redefines an entire genre (Batman year one, The Dark Knight Returns) or something that makes people wonder if there is a God, and if so, how could s/he let this piece of crap exist on the planet (The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Robocops 2&3) So take from this review what you will
1) The artwork is abysmal. I TDKR the artwork was bad, but in a cool way (I am in no way, taking away from the brilliance of The Dark Knight Returns, by the way). I've seen better art from a four year old. nothing is even, it's just a shitty mess, whoever did the art should just be shot (KIDDING OBVIOUSLY, BUT YOU GET THE IDEA).
2) The plot makes no sense whatsoever. ANy review you read saying how it was brilliantly complex is kidding themselves or is just mentally challenged so they'd say the same thing about a Robert Munsch book. Half the time I was reading it I was thinking "What the fuck is this shit? I illegally downloaded this comic and I feel cheated" There is no coherence at all. At one point batman and the flash are dicking around about being moral, the next the flash is doing batman's bidding like a slave (he's got a dumb new costume too). I don't understand the point of Dick Grayson coming back as some genetically altered freak show who just kills random people. He serves no purpose in the comic. Superman's just pissed at batman because he broke their agreement then just turns into a bitch whenever batman's around and does whatever he tells him too. Some may misconstrue this as batman being a badass, that is incorrect. This is superman being a pussy (on that train of thought, in TDKR, Superman is the most powerful dude on the planet, then three years later he can't do shit.). For some goddamn reason Superman and Wonder Woman had a kid, who is 20 something. I imagine that this is what was going on in Frank Miller's head when he wrote her character
"Hmm, I need a deuce ex machina to beat Braniac since I've made Superman a helpless wuss. How about he raped Wonder Woman twenty year earlier (Which, by the way would have been, according to Miller's continuity, seven years before the Justice League was disbanded) and hid the kid on Themyscara and nobody knew."
The entire plot just sucks some pretty big dick.
3) The characters... There are way too many! The flash is there and doing his thing, I got no problem with that. Superman (EVen in his Pussified state) yeah, I can deal with that. Even Green Arrow and "Catgirl" (Why the fuck she's Catgirl now is beyond me) get passes because they were in the previous book. Everybody else, Hal Jordan, Lex, Braniac, Wonder Woman, Lara (Superman and Wonder Woman's rape baby, who WW is for some reason incredibly proud of), the Damn "Superchix" (I don't know what the hell they were doing, they just randomly showed up at various points. I think they were a band, or some shit like that.), The sons of batman, the Atom and EVERYBODY ELSE should have either been dead or should not have existed in this comic. They were all pointless additions and reduced batman to like, one quarter of the book.
4) Batman. What the fuck happened in the three years between this and TDKR? At the end of the first one, he's actually happy. Then in this one he's just a dick. Not even in the good, badass kind of way, he's just a Prick.
NOW I WILL TELL YOU EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS TO SAVE YOU THE PAIN OF READING THIS ABOMINATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's three years later, Catgirl (Robin from the first one) rescues Conan the Barbarian, sorry, the Atom, from a petrie dish that he was trapped in for some reason. They get shot at for three pages then leave. Then some crap happens, then something about Superman blowing up a comet. Some naked blond chick is on every page talking about some bullshit that has nothing to do with anything. Then some shit, more shit, more shit, they rescue the flash, Superman finally breaks the goddamn comet that's only like, 10 feet wide. Some more shit, black canary doing something that isn't relevant, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, more shit, batman gives Lex the mark of zorro, shit, wonder woman talks about being raped by superman and how she enjoyed it, Superman and WW make out a little, There's some anime chick on one of the pages, that was kinda weird. Crap, crap, crap, crap, Superman is attacked but doesn't fight back for some reason, The martian manhunter show up for like two pages then dies, batman causes a revolution by telling people to wear tights. Hal Jordan was a martian the whole time he was gone, then comes back and turns the world green for a few minutes then leaves, Shit, Superman and his rape-baby fly around wondering why they don't just enslave the whole fucking planet. Batman tells supperman to go fuck himself, then asks for help. Shit, shit, shit. The rape baby fixes everything wrong with the world, including solving world hunger and creating a woman that orgasms, in two pages, rendering every other character pointless from this point on because she's just God (yep, a superhero rape baby is God) DIck grayson just shows up in the batcave and tries to kill catgirl, only to be tossed into lava, LoTR style, by batman, who is saved from the lava by Superman, who for some reason forgives him for being a total Douche the whole time. ANd they all lived happily ever after.
There, I just saved you a soul crushing read.
I will say this though. This book and TDKR are the perfect microcosm of Frank Miller. The man either writes something that redefines an entire genre (Batman year one, The Dark Knight Returns) or something that makes people wonder if there is a God, and if so, how could s/he let this piece of crap exist on the planet (The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Robocops 2&3) So take from this review what you will
December 12, 2021
Horrible. Couldn't even finish it. I had avoided reading this for years because I heard how bad it was. Now I know just how bad it is.
August 26, 2012
This is just sad. If you enjoyed The Dark Knight Returns for it's dark, gritty, "real" look at masked vigilante-ism that is somewhat reminiscent of Watchmen, then you will want to stay the hell away from this book.
I can't fully get into listing why this book is terrible, I'll just end up getting all disappointed again. So I'll just briefly touch on 3 things: 1)Art: I can understand if you want to change the style from the previous work (although I might not agree, loved the art on the first book) but I can't understand why you would change it to pop-y neon hell. It's just distracting in the worst way. 2)Story: Not at all good, I'll try not to give spoilers by the end it's just a convoluted joke. The main bad guy, a certain evil genius, looks like the hunchback from 300, and doesn't seem to be much smarter. Batman, the supposed protagonist, is in about 1/2 the story, and (at least imo) his character just disintegrates into a slap-sticky mess by the end. 3)The filler stuff: In the first book, the news reports and interviews worked beautifully to help paint a picture the world where the comic is taking place. Here they're either gratuitously sexual in a way that doesn't really add much of anything to the plot, or they're soundbite blurbs by stupid looking talking heads. If you were to skip all of it, you wouldn't really miss anything.
If you like this book, than by all means read and enjoy, this is not a judgement of you. But if you really enjoyed the story and style of The Dark Knight Returns, chances are you'll have high hopes for this graphic novel, and chances are you'll be sorely disappointed.
I can't fully get into listing why this book is terrible, I'll just end up getting all disappointed again. So I'll just briefly touch on 3 things: 1)Art: I can understand if you want to change the style from the previous work (although I might not agree, loved the art on the first book) but I can't understand why you would change it to pop-y neon hell. It's just distracting in the worst way. 2)Story: Not at all good, I'll try not to give spoilers by the end it's just a convoluted joke. The main bad guy, a certain evil genius, looks like the hunchback from 300, and doesn't seem to be much smarter. Batman, the supposed protagonist, is in about 1/2 the story, and (at least imo) his character just disintegrates into a slap-sticky mess by the end. 3)The filler stuff: In the first book, the news reports and interviews worked beautifully to help paint a picture the world where the comic is taking place. Here they're either gratuitously sexual in a way that doesn't really add much of anything to the plot, or they're soundbite blurbs by stupid looking talking heads. If you were to skip all of it, you wouldn't really miss anything.
If you like this book, than by all means read and enjoy, this is not a judgement of you. But if you really enjoyed the story and style of The Dark Knight Returns, chances are you'll have high hopes for this graphic novel, and chances are you'll be sorely disappointed.
April 26, 2015
This one is hard to grade. I liked some stuff in it, some moments and felt lost a lot of times. It's very inconsistent.
I'll just tell you about the stuff I liked and leave you with that.
I liked the breakout of the Atom and the breakout of the Flash.
I liked the part where Batman was fighting Superman with the help of Green Arrow, the Flash and the Atom and says: "That's the problem with all those high and mighty powers. They made you cocky. Over confident. You never learned to think strategically. I did."
As usual it was great to see Batman outsmarting every one. He has contingency plans for his contingency plans.
It's always great to see all the metahumans in awe of Batman, someone with many and great gifts, but someone who is merely human. He always manages to outsmart every one and get every one behind him.
In between all of this there are a lot of weird moments.
Lets end this review with the words of Batman. Said two times through the course of the story, the second time being my favorite: "Striking Terror. Best part of the job."
I'll just tell you about the stuff I liked and leave you with that.
I liked the breakout of the Atom and the breakout of the Flash.
I liked the part where Batman was fighting Superman with the help of Green Arrow, the Flash and the Atom and says: "That's the problem with all those high and mighty powers. They made you cocky. Over confident. You never learned to think strategically. I did."
As usual it was great to see Batman outsmarting every one. He has contingency plans for his contingency plans.
It's always great to see all the metahumans in awe of Batman, someone with many and great gifts, but someone who is merely human. He always manages to outsmart every one and get every one behind him.
In between all of this there are a lot of weird moments.
Lets end this review with the words of Batman. Said two times through the course of the story, the second time being my favorite: "Striking Terror. Best part of the job."
January 21, 2013
My first thoughts when I opened this comic book were 'God, I hate the artwork! Awful coloring too!'. Being a graphic designer, I am superficial by profession and I must admit, artwork comes in first place when reading a comic book. After obsessing over it for about 15 minutes, I finally immersed myself in the story---and I have to say, I've never read a finer comic! I know people are saying it's worse than the 'brilliant' Dark Knight Returns, and are usually giving this comic book 'a hard time'. My opinion on this matter is completely different. Sure, Dark Knight Returns was good, but it was a very logical and maybe predictable continuation of the Batman saga under Frank Miller's pen. The Dark Knight Strikes Again is, however, a much deeper study of super heroism and politics. It's pure satire, it's smart, it's unpredictable. All in all, I think it deserves a pure 5 star rating.
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