Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (The Dark Knight Saga #1) by Frank Miller

[gilda_elise]

This masterpiece of modern comics storytelling brings to vivid life a dark world and an even darker man. Together with inker Klaus Janson and colorist Lynn Varley, writer/artist Frank Miller completely reinvents the legend of Batman in his saga of a near-future Gotham City gone to rot, ten years after the Dark Knight's retirement.

I picked up this particular comic, I mean graphic novel, because, one, I kept reading about what a masterpiece it was, and, two, because I needed to fill this space on my book bingo. *g*

Anyway, a masterpiece it’s not. Though not totally unreadable, a lot of it is incomprehensible. I remember when comics had six to eight panels per page. Some of these pages had up to sixteen, with literally talking heads in some of the panels. And drawings that took up a full page were sometimes hard to figure out. Should I look at it upside down?

The story, itself, isn’t too bad, though slow to get going. Batman is old. Well, in his fifties, and no longer relevant. At least, that’s what they keep telling him. But Batman being Batman, he isn’t listening, which turns out to be a very good thing for Gotham City.


BOOK BINGO

Comic or Graphic Novel - Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller





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2. Mystery/Crime/True Crime - The Family That Couldn't Sleep: A Medical Mystery by D.T. Max
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6. Children's or YA - Mio, My Son by Astrid Lindgren
7. Biography/Autobiography Non fiction - From Baghdad to America by Jay Kopelman
8. Historical (fiction or nonfiction) - Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition by Owen Beattie, John Geiger
9. Set in Your State/Country or Written by a Local Author - Legends of the Fall by Jim Harrison
10. Title Starts with the First Letter of Your Name - The Gap Into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge (Gap #2) by Stephen R. Donaldson
11. Female Author - Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts by Lucy Dillon
12. One Word Title - Circe by Madeline Miller
13. Free Space - Al Franken: Giant of the Senate by Al Franken
15. Title is at Least Six Words Long - War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence by Ronan Farrow
20. A New-to-You Author - The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
21. Comic or Graphic Novel - Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller
22. A Book that is Part of a Series (4+ books) - First King of Shannara (Original Shannara Trilogy 0) by Terry Brooks

Comments

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

A book I've read... excuse me, graphic novel. It took me a long time to wrap my head around this particular storyline. I'm not a fan of Miller and I didn't like the art, but it certainly rebooting the franchise (pre-Keaton Batman) and opened the door to many others. If you really want a good Batman graphic novel, try Red Rain. Batman vs. Dracula

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I'd heard about it rebooting the franchise, but I don't really see it. For one thing, Batman being older (though not as old as in the comic,) didn't happen until recently with Ben Affleck in the role. Anyway, not my favorite comic. *g* I'll look into picking up the other two.

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

It's just one publication and this is not a very good photo of the cover.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

Okay, thanks!

[doylebaby.livejournal.com]

I'm not a fan of graphic novels, so I commend you for tackling one. It doesn't sound like an easy/fun read, but fair is fair, it did fill a bingo square. :)

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

That it did. :-) But I am a comic reader, or I'm beginning to be again, so it wasn't exactly a hardship. It's mostly for my writing, though, and this one didn't do anything for that.

[bradygirl_12]

I loathe Miller and what he did to Robin.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there's that, too. But like my books, I'm going to read what I have before getting rid of them. And I am getting rid of this one!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, well done on managing a graphic novel! I'm still not sure what I'm going to do for that square. Well, hit the library, I guess! You're going great guns on your bingo card, too! *g*

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I know our library has them for loan, so I would imagine yours would, too. There certainly are enough to chose from!

And, yes, it's filling up!

[leethet.livejournal.com]

Not a comic reader (graphic novel reader) but that is pretty striking cover art.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

It certainly catches the eye. Too bad the artwork inside wasn't as good.