Sigh… Can’t it be rather depressing when something grows so popular? In the years that followed The Dark Knight Returns (along with Watchmen), the medium of American superhero comic books was changing. They were becoming darker and grittier, changing and updating characters from what some writers and artists conceived to be dusty old heroes and into something far more urban and grimmer. This period of the late 1980s and early 1990s was a very good age of comics in my view, because there were so many great unique titles like Animal Man and Doom Patrol by Grant Morrison, while older titles like Batman and Detective Comics delivered some fantastic stories by creators like Jim Starlin, Alan Grant and Jim Aparo (to name just a few). However, there were many other titles at the time, particularly Marvel, which believed that the future of comics was muscle! There had to be blood everywhere and the heroes would have muscles on their muscles, while the females would have two rather questionable basketballs down their shirts. Stuff like this rather ruined the reputation of comics, with artists like Todd McFarlane and Rob Liefeld basically believing that the story of a comic book doesn’t mean anything. Its all about the art. It was this thinking that Image Comics spawned (no pun intended), where the character and “stories” by McFarlane were clearly inspired by The Dark Knight Returns and Frank Miller. From looking at comics books since the end of the 1980s to now, many writers and artists took the violence away from the works of Moore and Miller, which has since made comics were predictable and generic. What made the writings of Moore and Miller work so much is that they made you think with their intricate, yet understandable plots. That being said, with the huge success of The Dark Knight Returns, Miller himself would deliver a sequel, one which would change comics for the better, right? Right?
Although The Dark Knight Strikes Again 1-2 were published monthly from February to March 2002, issue 3 was published in July. It was written, pencilled and inked by
Frank Miller, with colours by Lynn Varley. Lastly, I have read this story in The Dark Knight Strikes Again trade paperback.
THE STORY
Three years after Batman seemingly died but went underground to train the Sons of Batman, the world has changed. The government holds an almost-fascist rule over America with President Rickard killing nearly everybody who disagrees with the government. Journalist James Olsen claims that everybody are well-paid slaves and wonders who will save them? Where are our heroes? Somewhere else, scientist Ray Palmer kills a giant sea creature before he notices a beam of light. As he heads closer to it, he fights another sea creature and kills it, before he starts to grow bigger. Growing taller, Ray Palmer finds that he has been saved from a petri dish by Carrie Kelley, calling herself Catgirl. Suddenly, security guards arrive and try to kill Catgirl and Ray Palmer, but luckily, they manage to escape. However, once she flies away after swallowing Ray Palmer to protect him, she vomits. Hearing the news that Ray Palmer has been taken away from Palmer Laboratories, Superman becomes angry as he has been trying to negotiate Ray Palmer’s release for months. Then, Superman saves a plane from crashing. In the Batcave, Ray Palmer becomes the Atom and meets Batman. Later, Carrie speaks to the Atom, apologising to him as she threw him up earlier. Then, the Atom asks her if she is ready for tonight’s action. She summons the Batboys. Meanwhile, on the news, a nude reporter speaks about how the President seems to be overconfident. During the broadcast, his face becomes pixelated. At the same time, James Olsen is beaten up by Lex Luthor as he continues to claim that the President doesn’t exist. Afterwards, Lex Luthor says that the President needs a whole new program, while telling his guard to release Olsen. Meanwhile out on the streets, the Question listens in to Luthor’s conversation. At the Kanemitsh Power Complex, Catgirl, the Atom and the Batboys take out the guards and destroy the main electrical generator (or something similar), allowing them to rescue Barry Allen, who has been forced to run on a hamster wheel for the rest of his days. Catgirl reassures Allen, telling him that Iris is safe as she gives him his Flash Ring. He opens it and becomes the Flash, not liking the changes in his costume (me too Barry, me too). While the heroes escape from the power plant, the news reports on the Batboys. At the same time, Superman breaks through rocks in anger at what Batman has done, calling him a monster, a sociopath and pretty much everything else under the sun. He then summons to Wonder Woman, asking her to meet him. Meanwhile in the cave, Catgirl takes out one of the Batboys for disobeying orders. Although she cries about it afterwards, Batman comforts her. Elsewhere, a new unknown Green Lantern appears, but many people including James Olsen miss Hal Jordan. Later, Superman meets with Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel, saying that they all haven’t been doing their duties to protect the Earth. Suddenly, a hologram of Lex Luthor appears, who tells Superman that his agents are everywhere. He then threatens all three of the heroes with something or someone they love, before revealing that he is working with Brainiac, who has captured the Bottled City of Kandor. Superman then collapses, begging with Brainiac not to harm the people inside the city, Brainiac then orders Superman to give them the man behind the breakouts of Barry Allen and Ray Palmer, before they leave. Superman then charges through the ground, ending up in the Batcave where he fights against Batman’s traps. Green Arrow then appears (with a new robotic arm), along with the Atom, who both attack and weaken Superman. Then, Batman appears wearing large Kryptonite gloves and beats Superman to near death, before telling him to leave the cave…
As the Super Chicks on TV begin a huge debate about superheroes, Batman, Catgirl and the Batboys fight against Lex Luthor and his guards, beating them. Before leaving, Batman warns Luthor that he is well aware of his contingency plans and he slashes a “Z” on Luthor’s face. At the same time, the Flash finds and rescues Ralph Dibny from (continued)
his own TV show. Meanwhile in the north pole, Wonder Woman finds Superman looking beaten up as if he’s dying. Although Superman tells Wonder Woman to look after their child Lyra as he is finished, she beats him to near death, demanding to know where the god-like Superman has gone. After Wonder Woman beats him up, the two fly into the sky while basically having intercourse. They then crash down to Earth. Meanwhile, the news reports that an alien spaceship has appeared, making Batman pleased as it will keep Superman and the Justice League away from him. Before he heads deeper into the cave, Batman tells Catgirl that they are moving on Arkham Asylum tonight. In space, Superman is attacked by the alien craft, which sends him flying down to Earth. At the same time, Batman, Catgirl and Elongated Man break into Arkham Asylum to rescue Plastic Man, who has gone insane. Although he and Elongated Man fight constantly, it comes to some conclusion when Batman punches Plastic Man in the face. Meanwhile, a mysterious killer calling himself the Joker murders the Guardian. At the same time, Superman saves civilians from the alien spaceship, which is revealed to be Brainiac. While Brainiac is in the city killing people, the Flash argues with Batman, telling him that innocent lives are dying out there. However, Batman tells him that the spaceship is a trick to flush them out. Batman then tells the Flash that they all blew their time as superheroes, as instead of hunting muggers and burglars, they should have been fighting those that took power unopposed. Although the two continue to argue, Catgirl stops it when she mentions that a military strike is occurring, code named Thanagar. Quickly, the Flash heads to a forest on fire while Batman and Catgirl head to the Batmobile. Meanwhile, the mysterious Joker kills the Creeper. In a bar somewhere, the Questions meets with the owner, who is revealed to be Martian Manhunter, who has lost his powers. However, he tells the Question that he knows he will die soon. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman and her daughter Lyra fly to help Superman. At the same time, Green Arrow watches as Martian Manhunter is killed by the mysterious Joker using fire, but he accidently kills himself with it. While Superman is injured, Lyra appears to fight Brainiac and quickly, she seemingly destroys the ship. In the burning forest, Batman meets with Hawkman, promising him that he will get retribution. Meanwhile, Lyra finds it difficult to control her powers and Superman tells her that when he was a child, he almost burnt down the Kent’s home. At the same time, America believes that the superheroes have saved them from the spaceship, angering Brainiac and Lex Luthor. Elsewhere, Green Arrow and the Batboys find a riot and begin fighting, but it ends when Batman appears and takes off his mask, making everybody realise that that is the real Batman. With the crowd on his side, he begins the revolution…
On some strange alien planet, a family of strange green aliens are contacted by Batman. The father tells his family that he must return to his birthplace of Earth. The alien then transforms into Hal Jordan, Green Lantern. Meanwhile on Earth, Captain Marvel is somehow killed in a huge explosion (I don’t really know how, thanks to the story and the art). At the same time, Batman speaks to his crowd about how he wants to end the reign of criminals such as Luthor and Brainiac. Two weeks later in Metropolis, which had been destroyed by Brainiac, Superman looks through the wreckage, knowing that Perry White, James Olsen and Lois Lane are dead. Then, Lyra tells Superman that Brainiac has mentally contacted her, telling her that she must surrender herself or Kandor is destroyed. Flying away from the ruined Metropolis, Lyra talks about how puny and stupid humanity is, but Superman tells that she is young, and she will learn. Suddenly, Batman appears through a hologram and Superman orders him to leave. Then, when Batman mentions Kandor, Superman talks about how the bottled city was stolen when his fortress was destroyed. Once Batman tells Superman that he now works for me, Lyra goes crazy and threatens to kill Batman, but Superman stops her, telling her that he is the only one that can help them. Suddenly, Batman begins to vanish and Lyra senses that he is dying. Elsewhere, Batman is connected to some complex machine. At the same time, some orphans begin rioting and Green Arrow has a debate with the Question (in a real shoddy attempt to make the story political with communism vs fascism). As Green Lantern continues to make his journey home, Catgirl finds a strange little girl dressed as Saturn Girl from the Legion of Superheroes. She mentions the Joker impersonator and how he rates Catgirl more than anyone. Catgirl then remembers that two weeks before, she rescued Green Arrow in the catacombs from a Joker, killing him. But now, he’s back. Meanwhile, Plastic Man kills some guards while Superman fights against the government. In Siberia, Lyra finds Brainiac’s base, but she is quickly captured. Then, she gets closer to the Bottled City of Kandor and in her tears, the Atom jumps into the city. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor beats up Batman, who has been captured. He explains that Batman forced his hand and loosed his and Brainiac’s grip on America. Then, Luthor tells Batman that he will destroy Metropolis soon (even though it already was destroyed by Brainiac). Batman then works out that Luthor killed Hawkman and Hawkgirl and that he has the power to shatter tectonic plates which will kill millions. While Superman fights against the government and Hawk and Dove wonder if they should return to crime fighting or not, Green Lantern arrives on Earth and creates a strange absorbing rift in the sky. This somehow stops Luthor’s plan and he notices that Batman has escaped thanks to the Flash. Then, the son of Hawkman appears and he brutally murders Luthor, with Batman cheering him on and telling the Flash that it’s a whole new ball game. Meanwhile, the Atom grows larger and shatters the bottle that holds Kandor captive, rescuing everybody inside. Thanks to the Atom and Lyra, Brainiac is defeated. When Batman arrives back in the cave, he finds the mysterious Joker, who tries to turn off the cave’s self-destruct sequence, but he fails when Batman appears. Then, the mysterious Joker is revealed to be none other than Dick Grayson, the first Robin. Batman admits to Dick that he fired him because he was incompetent and a coward. Dick then threatens to tear Batman’s heart out and tells him that he cannot die as he has experienced radical gene therapy. Once Batman notices that Dick has (continued)
injured Catgirl, the two begin their fight, which ends with Superman saving Batman from falling into a lava pit and Dick falling to his apparent death. In the end, the Department of Justice tells Americans that they haven’t ruled out the death penalty for the superheroes and while another debate between Green Arrow and the Question takes place, Superman and Lyra look down on Earth, wondering what to do with it. In the Batmobile, Batman and Catgirl drive away from the destroyed Batcave. She asks about all of his souvenirs that he collected. He tells her that he was sentimental, back when he was old.
MY THOUGHTS
Trying to write reems the positive aspects of this story would be as difficult cutting off your own arm. Seriously, there really isn’t much to say. In The Dark Knight Returns, Miller placed so many underlying suggestions, moods and tones, adding so much depth to characters and even the plot. The story tackled real-world issues and politics, something that most writers dared not go near before the 1980s. For The Dark Knight Strikes Again on the other hand, there really isn’t anything like that…
Essentially, the whole thing sucks. I guess that you can laugh at some of it at how bad it all is, but that’s mostly because of Miller’s art, which I’ll get onto later. From the very first page, Miller starts off the story pretty ignorantly and characters speak about the world in which the story takes place as if we are very familiar to it. In The Dark Knight Returns, Miller gradually set up his version of Gotham City, its characters and the dangers which Batman will have to face. Here, there isn’t any of that. For the first few pages, there is just a load of rambling about a fascist government, naked women reporting the news and Jimmy Olsen complaining. This is a real shoddy attempt by Miller to recreate the TV news segments from the original story and here, it just doesn’t add up to anything and it feels entirely irrelevant. Also, I should have mentioned this earlier, but unlike The Dark Knight Returns, this story is just one long plot. One of the aspects I really liked about The Dark Knight Returns was that every single issue of the story added something new by featuring a different villain or plot.
Not all of them worked, but it was a good example of experimentation. Here, Miller has lost that unique formula and replaced with something so bog-standard and uninspired that it could put me to sleep. The main gist of the first part is simply Catgirl on a quest randomly rescuing characters like the Atom and the Flash. It is nice to see some of those characters that didn’t feature in The Dark Knight Returns, but did we really have to see all of them? Did we really need to see Plastic Man or even the Guardian? Besides, he shouldn’t even be here! This story is set in the future, not the past. Once again, more examples of how Miller just cannot be bothered to address major problems with characters. So anyway, a summary of that first part is basically: Batman and his gang rescue a load of heroes from the government, while Brainiac is behind the government, holding captive Kandor and forcing Superman to hunt Batman because of it. Compared to the first part of The Dark Knight Returns, that plot is barely enough for seventy pages. You remember how in the original story, Miller would add interesting dialogue through captions, which could be somewhat edgy at times, but it gave more depth to characters? Well here, there’s nothing. Absolutely nothing. In some instances, there are about five or six splash pages or double splash pages without any dialogue or captions, which to me is just lazy. I’m not saying that any comic without dialogue is bad, but in this case, I think it was needed to give more detail about the background of the story. To me, the overuse of splash pages (which don’t really have much impact at all) are just plain lazy. This is especially noticeable in the beginning of the second part, where Batman takes out Lex Luthor. Is that moment meant to impress me? I know that the art really doesn’t help here, but it just feels so motionless and dull. I will say that this story is a page-turner, only because there aren’t many words to read. I should also mention something I quite like (strangely) which is the use of Batman in the first part. Of course, we all know that the character is going to appear in it for obvious reasons, but we never see his face until the end of the first part where he beats Superman. I do quite like this for some reason. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because I don’t like looking at Miller’s Batman for long periods of time, especially here. Now to the second part, where things start to get a bit confusing and that’s not because the story is difficult to understand. Its because Miller doesn’t exactly tell the story very well. In a summary, Batman beats Lex Luthor and Brainiac starts a war in Metropolis against Superman, while this Joker character kills a load of people. Really, this whole second part is just filler and nothing of much significance really happens. There aren’t any huge revelations or any moments which fundamentally alter the direction of the plot. None of that. Instead, we get seventy-odd pages of fight scenes and some god-awful moments between characters like Superman and Wonder Woman. Yes, I am talking about the scene where they have sex, which feels entirely out of place when considered the events before it. This moment is also when Lyra’s brother is conceived and from reading The Golden Child, he is just a boring non-talkative kid. Anyway, lets save that masterpiece for another day. This second part focuses more on Brainiac and his plan to do… something. It’s never quite clear what his intentions are. I mean, he’s already leader of the free world since the President is his android, so I guess his plan is just to annoy Superman. Luthor also doesn’t really do much in the story either. Plus, he looks like a fat freak-like monster. One of the aspects of the story which annoyed me was the ending to the second part, in which Batman starts a revolution. Again, this is another example of Miller being lazy and reusing ideas. He did the exact same thing in The Dark Knight Returns and it worked great there. Don’t do it again because it cheapens the original moment. In fact, I’ll come out and say this: one of the reasons I don’t think I like The Dark Knight Returns as much as other people is because the prequels and sequels ruin it! Miller distorts all these characters for his own lazy needs, just so he can be paid for “writing” and “drawing” this mess. It annoys me. It would be the equivalent of Alan Moore coming back and doing Before Watchmen, but changing the characters radically. In those game-changing stories, it is usually the characters which are the highlights since they feel original while adding depth to the story. The Dark Knight Strikes Again just craps on The Dark Knight Returns, in the same way that All-Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder does. Okay. Rant over. During the middle of the second part, we are introduced to a background story featuring this Joker killer, who is Dick Grayson (more on that reveal later). I suppose that it is compelling, but the big problem with it is that as a plot point, it is introduced far too late into the story. Really, this should have been included somewhere during the first part. Where it currently is, it feels like a complete afterthought. Also, as Miller makes Dick Grayson’s character essentially into the final foe of the story, shouldn’t he have some inclusion in the main plot? Seriously, I mean, from Batman’s point of view, he has had to deal with Lex Luthor and when it’s all over, Dick Grayson just turns up. It really isn’t good storytelling. But now, lets get onto the third part. Another summary: with Metropolis pretty much destroyed, Batman sort of unites with Superman to take out Luthor and Brainiac. However, for the last issue, it really isn’t that simple and honestly, I just don’t understand the conclusion. First of all, how the hell does Captain Marvel die. Does a building fall on him or is he trapped? The art certainly doesn’t make it clear but whatever happens, he dies. Anyway, moving on, this is the point when reading the story where I couldn’t care less anymore as it felt it had become very boring and just awful. That’s not saying that I thought it was good at any moments, but the story just stopped being funny in all of its crapness. It also doesn’t help that the ending doesn’t make sense, as Green Lantern comes back and makes everything float, somehow defeating Brainiac. At the same time, Lex Luthor beats the crap out of Batman in a place which looks like a Windows 98 desktop background. That whole scene where Batman is being beaten up is entirely vacuous of emotion or anything. That’s another problem with this whole story. In The Dark Knight Returns, Batman was obviously old and there were many times in the story where that caused him aches, pains and severe injuries due to his slowness. Here, there isn’t any of that. Sure, he gets beaten up, but it doesn’t really appear to bother him that much. Lex Luthor’s death in the story is another moment which bothers me. Its not because he’s killed in a brutal way. That doesn’t bother me. What does bother me is Batman’s reaction, in which he basically celebrates and cheers about it. I understand that Batman has changed ever since he killed the Joker, but it just doesn’t make any sense for him to condone it or even celebrate it. Again, it completely ruins the character of Batman. Now, the ending of the story feels really out of place. Sure, Brainiac’s defeat is rather vague and confusing, but the scene between Batman and Dick just doesn’t work because, as I said earlier, Dick had nothing really to do with the main plot. If you look at all the Miller Batman stories in the order that I have reviewed them in, we are led to believe that the Dick Grayson in that is the same one that is in All Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder. Why the hell would Dick turn into something like this? This is one of the worst creative decisions that Miller has done, because it turns Dick Grayson into something that he isn’t and never should be. He should never be an insane murder, or a psychopath. Even if you considered this story to be an Elseworlds tale, then it really isn’t too dissimilar to the mainstream comics. Robin’s transformation just doesn’t make any sense, even if he is angry at Batman for the way he treated him. It really must make Batman think that as a person, he has been a complete failure. His first Robin has gone nuts and his second one is dead. But Miller being Miller, you don’t get any of that and Batman effectively kills Robin without much thought. Nice writing there Frank. Nice. What a way to end this turd of a story. Now is a good time to mention the changes in some of the characters, most of which are actually quite different. Batman now, is just bald. That’s all the changes there. Carrie Kelley has now become Catgirl, a move which baffles the hell out of me since it would have made much more sense if she was still Robin or maybe even Batgirl. Green Arrow now has a
robotic arm, making him far less cool than he actually was in The Dark Knight Returns and Superman is no longer really much of a god, but just a whining wimp. Seriously, once Batman beats him up at the end of the first part, he just spends most of the time after that telling Wonder Woman how he is done for and that he is basically crap. That is not Superman, plain and simple. I suppose some of the newer characters like Wonder Woman are average, even though her character is somewhat similar to how Miller wrote her in All Star: Batman and Robin, The Boy Wonder, which isn’t a good sign. And then, not forgetting one of the most annoying, unlikable and terrible characters of all of Miller’s stories: Lyra. She essentially hates humanity and has no control over her godly powers. That is all rather strange, considering that her parents are Superman and Wonder Woman and you would have thought that they would have taught her better than to hate anybody without superpowers. Also, she seems to be a teenager, meaning that she would have been alive during The Dark Knight Returns, but I suppose Miller hadn’t thought of that idea, which is good. For some reason, Robin looks pretty much the same as he did when he was fifteen years old, except his arms are really big and hairy (just why?). Then, in terms of every other character, either their inclusion in the story is very brief, or there is no real point in them being in it at all. To name some: Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Hawk and Dove, Guardian, Creeper and arguably, even the Atom and the Flash (who has an awful new costume here). All of those character I mentioned don’t really add enough in the story, at least in such a way that changes its direction or adds some depth to it. Look, I think I’ve made my argument for how this story is awful and thankfully, I’m not alone here. Even diehard fans The Dark Knight Returns despise this story (apart from a few who are clearly insane) and it comes as no surprise that this is the last Batman story that Miller drew on his own and it wasn’t long after this that he was writing them all with Brian Azzarello.
You know, I don’t really know what to say about the art in this story. In The Dark Knight Returns, I wasn’t exactly a huge fan of the art there. I thought it was messy, sloppy and overall, just not great. But this is what we could have got. If, for whatever reason, Klaus Janson told Miller that he couldn’t do The Dark Knight Returns, then we might have got art which looks as if it was inked by a three-year old. The art here is some of the worst art I have seen in a long time. It lacks any form of detail and it looks lazy. One of the main purposes of the inks to make the art look three-dimensional, something which Miller fails to do here. The storytelling is completely rubbish here as well because there are numerous moments in the story where I couldn't make out what the hell was actually going on. I would say that this is the worst I’ve ever seen Miller’s art, but some of his recent variant covers just take the cake. Another aspect which really confused me was the colouring, which is once again by Lynn Varley. In the intervening fifteen years or so, her colouring has become so bright and really out of place. In The Dark Knight Returns, her colouring wasn’t exactly my favourite, but it usually worked well with the art. Here, the colouring looks so garish and too bright. So yeah, not only is the story awful, but the art is ever worse.
VERDICT
Overall, The Dark Knight Strikes Again was made as the sequel to one of the most popular comic books of all time and ironically, it’s one of the worst stories I have ever read. Miller’s writing is often very lazy, ill-thought-out and jumbled. His sense of character writing is as godawful as usual and in terms of the structure, is there even one. I guess a lot of the problems I have with this story are down to the art by Miller, which is flat, lazy and laughably diabolical. The computer colouring by Varley isn’t much better, since it dates incredibly badly by todays standards, even more than comics before the 1990s. If you’re a fan of The Dark Knight Returns or Batman: Year One, avoid this at all costs…
Story: 2/10
Art: 0/10
Next Week: Superman: Kryptonite Nevermore (Superman (vol 1) 233-238, 240-242. Written by Dennis O Neil with art by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson. Expected by 13/08/2020.
Comments