The Dark Knight Returns
by Frank Miller
There was a time when Frank Miller was the coolest. No, not the 80s. I’m talking about the mid aughts. Graphic novels began their ascension into cool and adult, the Sin City movie came out and was well received or at least unique, and Frank Miller got a black check of sorts. We all had Frank Miller fever! I had it too! That all quickly vanished when Miller was given a chance to make his own movie, The Spirit. We saw the results and quickly moved on.
But my interest in Frank Miller actually began with my embrace of Batman. Wanting to read the “greatest” Batman stories of all time, of course I sought out the Frank Miller stories. That was decades ago, and for some reason, I found myself interested in revisiting, of all things, the Dark Knight Returns, before Chip Kidd remade the cover.
I have to admit I’m more of an Alan Moore than a Frank Miller fan, only because as I grew older, I started appreciation complexity in my characters. I like a straightforward romp, mind you, but sometimes I liked being surprised by the protagonists. Also, Moore has started calling Miller’s style as being fascistic and I wanted to know what that’s all about.
Sure enough, in this read of Dark Knight Returns, the fascistic elements are a little more obvious. What little I know about Miller is that he is in love with his own ideas and deals in absolutes. The good guys in his world are good because they’re good and the bad are just bad and there’s no changing them. There’s no complexity in his stories. In his mind, only an outside source, painting in broad strokes, and upholding macho virtues can save the masses, who are misguided and put too much trust in the goodness of humanity. If anything, that’s the darkest thing about the Dark Knight Returns. I’m not saying he’s conservative, but he’s definitely libertarian in the individualistic sense. One person with the right ideas is the only way to create a better world. I mean, batman shows up on a fucking horse, for god’s sake. These are BROAD STROKES, people. Miller is a recluse, after all. Probably living in New Hampshire.
The world Miller creates might be a bit silly (those mutants for one thing — even the Batman Animated Series knew to poke fun at them), but it sure is fun to look at. While his artwork has reverted to an almost child-like state nowadays, in this book he still knows how to draw a human figure. The art in Dark Knight Returns is engrossing and seedy and maybe the most interesting part of the story.
So, do I still like the Dark Knight Returns? I think so. But reading it with adult eyes, I’m a little less impressed with it. Was there no one in the 80s that recognized that there are some laughably bad aspects to this book? Batman isn’t a hero here. He’s just a lunatic. One, who in the real world, would get himself killed in 5 minutes and bring countless innocent victims down with him. Yeesh.
