This one of Frank Miller’s best Batman works, potentially topped only by Batman: Year One, and is seen as one of the greatest Batman stories of all time. While all of the above have been further explored in subsequent comics, few have been able to duplicate the idea of a hopeful, inspiring Batman, with the brooding cynic dominating his most recent portrayals.Today I’m taking a look at one of Frank Miller’s all-time classic Batman stories, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. While The Dark Knight Returns continues to be held up as a prime example of the best that comics can offer, the role reversal is often overlooked, with people focusing more on the deconstruction, fight sequences, and climactic showdown between DC's top heroes. With so many stories, from comic to film, seeing Superman's "S" used as the symbol of hope, Batman fans will always have Frank Miller to thank for a story where the Bat brought people together for a cause bigger than themselves. However, the decision to turn the brooding Dark Knight into a beacon of hope against Superman's fall from hero to weapon remains one of the most radical and intriguing contributions to modern comics. In this way, Miller's Dark Knight defied convention, and this radicalization defined the character for decades to come.Īlthough it proved a great choice for Miller's iconic story, most fans have appeared to be satisfied with the traditional depiction of Superman as a freedom-loving, wholesome hero, with Batman remaining the cynic to his optimist. The iconic hero succeeds in uniting the citizens of Gotham in a way that makes him untouchable to the new Police Commissioner, who had been relentlessly pursuing the vigilante since his return. When the city streets are darkened by an electromagnetic pulse, Batman rallies the people, criminal and law-abiding citizen alike, with former gang members trading in their guns and mutant symbols for the Bat-symbol. Just as the younger generations were beginning to forget the legend of the Dark Knight, his resurgence gives the people of Gotham a hope that they hadn't known for years. Teamed with a equally radicalized female Robin, Wayne returns to the cape and cowl and almost immediately begins to inspire the people of Gotham.
Miller's Dark Knight is driven to return when a Gotham City crime wave led by the brutal "Mutant" gang becomes too much for the city to withstand. Miller gave fans a Bruce Wayne who loved being Batman, abandoning the brooding pessimist for an old hero eager to come out of retirement. As the story progressed, Gotham's vigilante hero evolved from a cynical cave-dweller to a symbol of hope for the city.
In the classic and acclaimed series, Miller took the unusual approach of casting the last son of Krypton as a government weapon who had been used to force the heroes of the Justice League into retirement.
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