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Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Paperback – May 1, 1997

4.7 out of 5 stars 2,551


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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If any comic has a claim to have truly reinvigorated the genre, then The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller--known also for his excellent Sin City series and his superb rendering of the blind superhero Daredevil--is probably the top 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. The great Alan Moore (V for Vendetta, Swamp Thing, the arguably peerless Watchmen) argued 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, street gangs 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

Review

"...probably the finest piece of comic art ever published in a popular edition..."—Stephen King

"Groundbreaking."—USA TODAY

"It's film noir in cartoon pane ls."—VANITY FAIR

"There's never been storytelling quite like this."—THE WASHINGTON POST

"Changed the course of comics."—ROLLING STONE

"Revisionist pop epic."—SPIN

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ DC Comics; Anniversary edition (May 1, 1997)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1563893428
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1563893421
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 15 years and up
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.7 x 0.4 x 10.2 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 out of 5 stars 2,551

About the author

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Frank Miller
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Frank Miller is one of the seminal creative talents who sparked the current gigantic sub-industry of motion pictures featuring comic book- initiated product. A sub-industry which had become a super-industry. This most profitable aspect of this millennium’s film production, now producing an annual flow of box office profits in the Billions of dollars, was launched when Frank Miller’s graphic novel re-take on the classic comic book hero, Batman, resulted in an entertainment industry-wide reconsideration of the genre in the deeper and darker vision Miller brought to it.

Miller re-defined the presentation of comic book characters and heroic fiction with his grand-daddy of graphic novels, “The Dark Knight.” This revolutionary work

not only kicked off the series of Batman films based on his redefinition, but a craze for such material that has thrown dozens of such heroes into multiple film franchise heaven. Certainly chief among these has been Miller’s uniquely classical take on superheroic narrative, “300,” and his “Sin City” books, each of which entered motion pictures with historic successes, and each now in Miller's creative phase of achieving its highly-anticipated sequel. Miller’s co-direction of “Sin City” has made him one of the hottest

directors… as well as a guiding creative force…for the new genre. Or one might say “super genre.”

Miller's latest graphic novel, Holy Terror, is his first original graphic novel in ten years. Join The Fixer, a brand new, hard-edged hero as he battles terror in the inaugural release from Legendary Comics.

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
2,551 global ratings
a 5 star book but a 4 star presentation
4 Stars
a 5 star book but a 4 star presentation
This is my second "comic" for my Kindle (which I read through my Note8). The first was Marvel's 1602 (also an excellent story). What hopefully shows in the pictures is that the chief difference between the two titles is the way they appear on screen - the Marvel item responds to screen rotation and (through their a-panel-or-two-at-a-time option) will fill the screen but the DC title continues to show the whole page while creating a magnified "bubble" of a portion of the page (rather than filling the screen with the panel) and does not seem to support rotation. I'm sure it will look fine on my computer but right now my eyes can't do much with what I'm getting ... still amazing art work, just wish I could read the words. =/(By the way ... I am certainly no expert, so if any one knows of a fix for my magnification / rotation problem I will gladly admit my mistake and push this up the 5 stars that I want to give it!)
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Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2003
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Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2008
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Cliente de Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars De las mejores historias de Batman en una fantastica presentacion
Reviewed in Mexico on May 19, 2017
One person found this helpful
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Otavio Rocha Filho
5.0 out of 5 stars No movie will ever beat this.
Reviewed in Brazil on December 5, 2016
2 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps the best Batman story out there.
Reviewed in India on April 9, 2016
One person found this helpful
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Javier Don
5.0 out of 5 stars Imprescindible
Reviewed in Spain on March 21, 2016
Alberto Fasolis
5.0 out of 5 stars Eterno
Reviewed in Italy on April 17, 2015
One person found this helpful
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