You don’t talk about Batman
without talking about Frank Miller. If you do, you probably believe that Batman
is a superhero dressed in a weird costume that fights supervillains. Otherwise,
you’ll know that Batman is The Dark Knight.
The Dark Knight Returns (TDKR) may well be the greatest comic book ever made. Frank Miller reached
stardom with a collection of sublime works such as Sin City, 300, and Daredevil – The Man Without Fear, but
his creations for Batman(TDKR and Year One) top the vast majority of published works in
the history of the Ninth Art. Miller’s grim writing is absolutely unique.
Forget about superheroes. With Miller you’re always punched with the raw, dark,
ugly side of human psyche, wrapped in sociological pathos.
Not many artists are tailored
to illustrate histories with this background. Fortunately, not only Frank
Miller is a conceptual genius, he has also always known exactly who to team up
with. In this case, Klaus Janson was the one-in-a-million choice to give life
to Miller’s magnificent script. On rare occasions have two Artists fused so
perfectly to breathe life into a masterpiece.
But let us, for start, focus
on the story. The Dark Knight Returns
confronts us with an aged Batman. At 55 years old, Bruce Wayne has long
abandoned the role of the vigilante detective. As it is said in the book,
younger generations believe “The Batman” to be no more than a myth. But crime
and chaos are escalating in the ever present Gotham City, much thanks to a
group of punks that go by the name “The Mutants”. Still fighting the traumas of
the past, Batman has no other choice but to come back from retirement.
The vignettes are marvelously
knitted in each page, with much of the story being reported to the reader by TV
reporters. In 1986, Miller had already the notion of the 24/7 thirst for non-stop
news that people nowadays seem to suffer. Obviously, each piece of news has to
be exhaustively analyzed by a panel of “specialists”. Any similarities with
reality are… well, absolutely accurate. Miller’s acid perspective is delicious
when presenting all the media coverage around Harvey Dent’s release. His therapist
presents Harvey as a new man, victim of society, someone who is completely
changed and needing the loving embrace of his fellow citizens. Anyone who shows
any kind of reserve is immediately dismissed as a caveman unable to witness the
magnificent effort of redemption of a poor tormented soul. It is impossible to
be more sarcastic. Had the book been published today and it would have been
shunned by the countless morons of the “politically correct”.
The writing is so perfect, and
so actual, that it even has an amazing news report that I’ll simply quote: Porn Star Hot Gates today signed a twelve million dollar contract with
Landmark Films to star in a screen version of Snow White. “I’m doing it for the kids,” says Gates…
Can anything display more
vividly the rotting hypocrisy of today’s “role models” of our society? Has
Frank Miller foreseen the decadence of western culture 30 years in advance?
And after dozens of pages of dark
sociological bath, we reach the “vintage Batman”. It is time for the always
anticipated clash with The Joker! And, my, oh my, is the Joker brilliant in all
the complexity of Miller’s pen. Once again, I have to praise the phenomenal
work of Klaus Janson when depicting the Joker, especially in the gripping last
sequence of the maniacal laughter. The entire scene is chilling, unforgettable,
and mesmerizing. This is, undoubtedly, one of the scenes that made Batman the success the character enjoys
today.
Yet, let us not forget that
this is supposed to be a superhero comic book, and to remind us of that we get
the special appearance of Superman, the government’s tool. The confrontation
with Batman is inevitable, since both have quite distinct views of civil rights.
All of this is happening with a confrontation between USA and Russia in the
background, with a nuclear escalation occurring in a small island that Miller
in homage baptized Corto Maltese. If you don’t know who Corto Maltese is, you’re
wasting your life.
Published in 1986, The Dark Knight Returns is the Batman
book of excellence. And, as I’ve tried to share, it is far from being just a
Batman book. Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy would be impossible
without Frank Miller’s work. The “cinematography” achieved by Klaus Janson and
Frank Miller is in no way inferior to the works by the brothers Nolan. People
who, three decades ago, thought that superhero comic books were all about
colorfully dressed guys saving the world from weird villains and alien
invasions may have had a sheer heart attack when Frank Miller stepped into the
scene.
