Review: Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again

Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again by Frank Miller
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So I didn't think it was as bad as it's been made out to be by most people, but it's definitely a step backwards from The Dark Knight Returns. The art here is pretty fugly for one thing; TDKR had enough structuring and subtle details to make it feel refined, whereas TDKSA features much larger, scattered, wilder and dare I say sloppier looking artwork. Also, the storyline overall seems to be less about Batman than it is about the rest of the DC universe superheroes left out from TDKR; the role Batman plays in this book is such that it feels more like a Justice League story (or remnants thereof) than anything else. It's really more of a sequel to Superman's story from the last work- that conflict of ideals between him and Batman- than it is to Batman's alone.

Gripes aside, the story itself is fairly entertaining so long as you don't take some of the writing too seriously (I think Frank Miller kinda went off the deep end sometime in the last decade) and look at it more as a what-if-dystopian-future-Justice-League-comeback piece than a pure Batman one. It's wacky, it's wild, and it's fun... and a bit epic in its own way. I wouldn't mind seeing an adapted version of this, although with better looking artwork preferably.

I suppose we couldn't have expected that much more from a sequel to a tale that didn't really need a sequel to begin with, but I can appreciate what we wound up with anyway (well, minus the Robin hate... I don't really understand what Miller has against Robin, poor guy. See All Star Batman and Robin The Boy Wonder also).