The Greatest Graphic Novel ever written

Let me start by saying that there have been many great comic books written since the Dark Knight, so I may no longer be able to call this one the 'greatest', but at the time it was released there was nothing that even came close to it. The drama, characterization, layout, slightly abstract art, and use of the voiceover technique all were part of an incredibly fresh rebirth of a medium that had gotten stale. I saw things here that I'm sure I had never seen before in a comic. I doubt I had ever seen the word 'homo'. I don't think I'd ever seen a pimp cutting up his prostitute. I doubt I had ever even seen the random acts of violence that is sprinkled throughout the story representing a society that had lost control of itself. Even psychologically, the comic asked questions that some other comic should have asked. It asks the question whether or not the heroes only exist to fight the villains, and the villains only exist to fight the heroes.

Reading it now, as opposed to when it came out, diminishes its greatness because it did truly capture a feeling of the time. We no longer have quite the overwhelming fear of a nuclear war. Guns were just becoming commonplace with gangs. We were just getting strong heroes back in the movies. And entertainment was just starting its long decline into Entertainment Tonight and Jerry Springer type of news coverage. However, even with its historical greatness diminished, this is still one of the most entertaining and inspirational comics ever.

It was so good, that Frankly, I'm surprised that they let it get published. I imagine many other writers packed up shop and went home when, like Salieri, they realized that they could never be a Mozart.

This series influenced many movie directors who made films through the late 80's and early 90's. I doubt any other comic book could say they influenced other mediums. There is a distinct film-like quality to the book. This comic actually has editing, like a movie does. Like the early pioneers of sound in film who realized that silence can be potent, Miller has many panels where nothing is said. We just look at it. He is the D.W. Griffith of comic book writers & artists.

Previously, comic books were merely books with pictures. Reading Miller is more like watching a movie, although that does it a disservice since Miller takes us further than either a book or a movie could go. With the pictures, he can use facial expressions, still frames, and images that a book can rarely do. And with his voiceover dialogue, and still frames that we are allowed to linger over for as long as we want, he gives us more than a movie can seldom pull off.

Elsewhere on epinions I praise the novel "Ender's Game". I would put the Dark Knight Returns in the same category of novels that can teach us strategies in combat or warfare. One of my favorite moments is when Batman, realizing that in order to defeat the gang he has to truly defeat their leader fist to fist. Arresting, killing, or etc., would never have the same affect, for the gang would just find another leader. There is a breakdown of a fight that in the old days would have existed of 3 or 4 panels of the combatants hitting each other (usually in the jaw) while making some clever remarks. Instead Miller breaks down the fight over several pages, slowing down time and letting us hear the thoughts of what he is thinking. This is an amazing piece of work that cannot be recreated in either novel or movie form.

Obsession. This is what the story could be considered to be about psychologically. This Batman is totally obsessed with protecting society. He has a strong disdain for those who would seek to harm others for their own personal gains. The Batman/Bruce Wayne of this story has the mindset forged by what society had become, our society, to be more precise. In the first couple of pages we see Bruce Wayne returning to the place where his parents got shot in order to remind himself of why he became obsessed with fighting crime. There he thinks he is about to be mugged by two gang members, but when they sense something feral in him, they back off saying that this wouldn't be worth it for them since he is 'into it'. They decide to go to the video arcade to have some fun instead. Batman falls to the ground and apparently weeps with the realization that they didn't really want his money. They just wanted to kill him. He realizes that he thought the man who killed his parents was the worst sort of a person, but now he knows that the new generation of street crime is worse. He refers to them as being 'purer'.

This is the world that this particular Batman is rebirthed into. Not one from the 30's where criminals just wanted your money. Not one where the government would actually hide or dismay a vigilante because it makes for bad press. Not one where we coddle blatant murderers and criminals. Not a world where bad crimes are all that gets good press coverage.

Other good things: There is great symbolism like the heatwave, or the "Son's of Batman", or the first mayor of Gotham. Also, we see Superman get his butt kicked, and in a way a comic book reader would never have thought possible. We witness an aged man use his mind as his recharged physical energy becomes drained again over the course of the story. We get a Batman who kills.

After reading each issue, I immediately re-read it. I had to because it affected me so greatly. I get an adrenaline rush every time I read it, and I have read it probably 100 times in the last 15 years. Nothing has come out that affected me quite the same way. The story is inspirational, satirical and just plain entertaining.

Maybe I'm going out on a limb here, but I think that this comic should be read by any child or person as a slap in the face to how important it is to have courage, and the importance of working for the good of society in general. Anyone who has read Hobbes, and understands the idea of a social contract will know what I mean.