Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again

Frank Miller · Lynn Varley

Jan 2004 · Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again Vol 1 · DC

About this ebook

The sequel to the groundbreaking BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, legendary creator Frank Miller weaves this masterful tale that takes place three years after Batman's defeat of Superman. Faking his own death and creating an underworld civilization, Bruce Wayne has been keeping his eye on the world above. As that false Camelot reaches its breaking point, it's is up to the Dark Knight to emerge from the underground shadows and once again return order to chaos. Joined by his army of Bat-soldiers and his female sidekick Catgirl, an elderly Batman wages a final war against a diseased world in an epic tale that features Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter, and the Atom.

Ratings and reviews

Frank's got serious problems. Between the abhorrent and gaudy art style and the cringeworthy sarcastic dialogue from nearly every character not created by Frank Miller, this book isn't worth your time, let alone your money. It is an unnecessary sequel to a book that didn't need one for the sake of self indulgence. Frank only bothers to make the story about superheroes or the world they live in about 70% of the time. With the rest, he paints his idea of a dystopia with a wide brush that leaps with schizophrenic ease between absurd implausibility (even by comic book standards) and obvious contempt and disgust for anything or anyone that looks, acts, or talks differently from him. Frank Miller wrote a book about superheroes that feels less like a comic book and more like Ted Nugent wrote a sarcastic SNL skit about everything wrong with the world. Hopefully, if and when he turns this into a trilogy, he takes the time look up the definition of the word "nuance." Unless you are already familiar with Frank Miller's political views and find them to be flawless, this book will probably make you uncomfortable more than once. Which is a shame because the story the superheroes participate in when they aren't used as props on Miller's soapbox is actually mildly interesting, if you're absolutely determined to trudge through Miller's baggage to get to it.

This was such a blatant cash grab it's like Frank Miller purposely made this "sequel" horrible just to see what he could get away with and still get DC to pay him. The writing in this is honestly below fan fiction, with a plot that couldn't fill a single issue of the greatness that once was the original mini series that Miller created. If he was so sick of hearing the requests for a sequel, he should have just passed it off to someone who still cares about The Dark Knight rather than disrespect himself and his legacy the way he did with this trash heap of a storyline. And that doesn't even cover the artwork. Miller did worse than phone it in on that front. How the hell Lynn Varley could do anything with the crap Miller put down is beyond me. There was no artistic integrity in this project on any front. This really lowered my opinion of anything new that Miller puts out because the love and attention to detail that went into The Dark Knight is completely gone here. Worse than that, he cheapened his former greatness by selling out when he clearly doesn't need the money anymore. Such a great sadness.

Story is decent but not great. But the artwork is awful; really poor. In their attempt to have an own style they end up showing something that may had been drawn by little kids.

About the author

FRANK MILLER is an American writer, artist and film director best known for his film noir-style comic book stories. He is one of the most widely-recognized and popular creators in comics and is one of the most influential comics creators of his generation. His works include BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT STRIKES AGAIN, ALL STAR BATMAN & ROBIN, THE BOY WONDER, 300 and Sin City. In addition, he also co-directed and co-wrote the hit film adaptation of Sin City with Robert Rodriguez.