Product Description

This ground-breaking synthesis of comic-book icons and modern cinematic sensibilities redefined an American myth and reshaped the face of modern graphic novels. And now, a decade later, it's back...to inspire a new generation! This edition contains 28 pages of never-before-seen sketches, art and text, with a new cover, designed by Chip Kidd. This is the tale of a tortured hero's twilight and his efforts to save the city he had once sworn to protect from spiralling relentlessly into chaos. Batman's struggles with a new breed of criminal, the training of a new Robin, and his fateful final encounters with Superman, Two-Face and The Joker, are all woven together seamlessly to mark a warrior's mythic rite of passage.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1511 in Books
• Published on: 1997-05-16
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
If any comic has a claim to have truly reinvigorated the genre then The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller--known recently for his excellent Sin City series and, previously, for his superb rendering of the blind superhero Daredevil--is probably the supreme contender. Batman represented all that was wrong in comics and Miller set himself a tough task taking on the camp crusader and turning this laughable, innocuous children's cartoon character into a hero for our times. In his introduction the great Alan Moore (V for Vendetta, Swamp Thing, the arguably peerless Watchmen) argues that only someone of Miller's stature could have done this. Batman is a character known well beyond the confines of the comic world (as are his retinue) and so reinventing him, while keeping his limiting core essentials intact, was a huge task.

Miller went far beyond the call of duty. The Dark Knight is a success on every level. Firstly it does keep the core elements of the Batman myth intact, with Robin, Alfred the butler, Commissioner Gordon and the old roster of villains, present yet brilliantly subverted. Secondly the artwork is fantastic--detailed, sometimes claustrophobic, psychotic. Lastly it's a great story: Gotham City is a hell on earth, streetgangs roam but there are no heroes. Decay is ubiquitous. Where is a hero to save Gotham? It is 10 years since the last recorded sighting of the Batman. And things have got worse than ever. Bruce Wayne is close to being a broken man but something is keeping him sane: the need to see change and the belief that he can orchestrate some of that change. Batman is back. The Dark Knight has returned. Awesome. --Mark Thwaite

Customer Reviews

Superb
Despite all the talk of a vital adult comic scene there are actually only two creators really pulling it off: Alan Moore and Frank Miller who together pretty much started it all off with Watchmen and Dark Knight respectively.
Rereading Dark Knight now it still reads very fresh having lost none of it's intensity or originality either in technique or narrative. The only thing that dates it as a product of it's time are Miller's pot shots at 80's American politics and the Cold War.
It's a pity Miller never hit these heights again but with the sequel, Dark Knight Strkes Again, in the shops there's never been a better time to revisit this revolutionary comic. Truly excellent.

There is no better graphic novel available.
I bought and read this book at Xmas 1986,having not read a superhero comic/graphic novel for about 10 years.It made me realise how much I loved and missed the world of DC and Marvel.Since then I have been as avid a fan as I ever was, but I have to say that this novel is unmatched by anything I've read either before or after.Bruce Wayne is old,Batman is a story parents tell their kids to frighten them and Gotham City is more violent than ever.All the ingredients are there for a dramatic and violent return of the dark knight.A lot of the old characters are in there-Superman(and the showdown that was always on the cards)Green Arrow,Catwoman and THE JOKER.If you really thought you knew how much of an evil psycopath this guy is then read this novel and think again.There is only one true super villain-buy it.

the reason adults still buy comics
'Comic' just doesn't apply to some of the mature and intelligent graphic novels available on the market today. Dark Knight Returns is a prime example. Here Frank Miller brings his gritty, gothic, noir style and stamps it all over the franchise. With an aging Bruce Wayne slowly going round the bend as he battles to lead a 'normal life', fighting against his conscience to turn the other cheek, the Joker is released from jail after a 'full mental recovery'.Gotham City is plagued by a new breed of criminal and soon the Batmans voice will have to be heard.
This graphic novel is a landmark in the comics book industry, being one of the biggest and longest selling novels ever. With appearances from old flames, brothers in arms and the perfectly handled appearance of a new Robin, this is familiar territory in a futuristic Gotham on boiling point. Add to this the ultimate showdown between the All American Boyscout (Superman)and the Dark Knight himself (yes, the movie question on everyones lips today was answered years ago) and you STILL haven't scratched the surface.
Buy it.
Read it.
Love it.
'Peel'.