Batman is DC’s most popular character, and one of the most well-known characters in pop culture, period. Since his debut in 1939, Batman has starred in comics, movie serials, TV series, feature films, animated series, novels, video games, and basically any other piece of media that you can think of. One of the most influential pieces of Batman media is the 1966 Batman TV series. This series took the Dark Knight Detective, subtracted the darkness, and replaced it with 1960s kitsch and camp. This became the dominant interpretation of Batman in most people’s minds for years to come.
The comics mostly danced to the tune of Batman ’66, but 1986 would change all of that. Writer/artist Frank Miller, fresh off his groundbreaking Daredevil run, would put out a book that not only changed Batman, but comics in general for decades to come – The Dark Knight Returns. This four-issue series from Miller, Klaus Janson, and Lynn Varley has gone down as one of the greatest comics of all time, with good reason.
1986 was a major year for the comic industry. Watchman, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, was wowing everyone who read it; Crisis on Infinite Earths, by Marv Wolfman and George Perez, would change the DC Universe forever; Maus, by Art Spiegelman, was using the comic medium in a way it never had been used before. Comic books were reaching a new level – one that was a long time coming.
Frank Miller was a huge part of this comic renaissance. His Daredevil run took a character that had been a C-lister for years and made him a must-read. Miller did this by injecting a healthy dose of noir-tinged realism into the book, thereby grounding the character in a gritty urban world, and it paid dividends for the character. Miller’s Daredevil is a work of art; it hearkened back to the pulpy roots of the comic medium and showed off Miller’s chops as a creator – a near-perfect comic that made everyone who read it a fan of Daredevil, Miller, and comics in general.
Over at DC, Batman was still laboring in the shadow of the 1966 Batman series. Sure, there had been the Denny O’Neil/Neal Adams and the Steve Englehart/Marshall Rogers runs in the 1970s, but more often than not, Batman was played more like the old TV show. Batman ’66’s grip on Batman became the rule, with darker Batman stories, ones that took the character back to his roots, being the exception. However, DC Comics of the mid-80s was changing, and Batman was going to lead that charge.
Putting Miller on a Batman comic was a no-brainer. Miller had already shown what he was capable of at DC with Ronin, a twelve-issue neo-noir cyberpunk samurai comic (seriously, go out and read it). However, DC allowed Miller to go in a direction no one expected with the character – a story set in Batman’s future, where a fiftysomething Bruce Wayne put the costume back on to fight for a Gotham City that had fallen further than it ever had before. That was an electrifying premise and it allowed The Dark Knight Returns to become one of the greatest comics of all time.
However, Miller didn’t just return the character to his roots. He went even further and used the comic to talk about 1980s pop culture as a whole. Miller had a lot to say about the world of 1986, and he used The Dark Knight Returns to say it. There are some portions of the series that may be mystifying to younger readers, but it all gives the book a vibe. This is a book with something to say, which is made all the more apparent when Ronald Reagan appears and sets Superman and Batman on a collision course. Comics had been making political statements since their inception but they were rarely as biting as The Dark Knight Returns.
Miller’s Batman was gruff and violent, one who didn’t have the luxury of playing by the old rules, which was proven by his battle with the Mutant gang in The Dark Knight Returns #2. However, even then, Miller’s Batman still didn’t kill. The world had changed, and so had Batman, but he still followed his rules – albeit in a more brutal fashion. The Dark Knight Returns #3 was all about Batman going after Joker ready to kill the Clown Prince of Crime, but holding himself back in the end, choosing to be the man he had always been. Miller’s Batman is thought of as the most violent incarnation of the character, and a lot has been made about the fascist tendencies of Miller’s interpretation, but he still had his honor. He was still the Caped Crusader. Miller showed that even when the world changes, true heroes don’t change their principles – a powerful statement that resonates to this very day.
The Dark Knight Returns #4 is the most memorable issue of the comic and with good reason. It’s the issue where Batman and Superman have their showdown. This is the comic that made “prep time” — the belief that Batman could beat anyone given the time to get ready — a thing. Of course, most people ignore that Superman was at his weakest before the battle, having just survived a nuclear explosion and rebuilding his energy reserves, but the legend is what is important. Batman in his armor battling Superman, having an answer for everything that Superman threw at him, showed off the potential of the character. Miller understood the power of Batman in a way that few creators before him did, and The Dark Knight Returns #4 is a perfect example of that. Before this comic, no one would have thought Batman could beat Superman in a fight; after it, no one can ignore the possibility.
The Dark Knight Returns came around at exactly the right time; comics were getting attention as a literary medium in the mainstream for the first time in 1986. The comic sold like hotcakes; everyone wanted to see what exactly was happening with Batman in this comic that everyone was talking about. Batman went from the fun Adam West Batman to something “new” — borrowing liberally from the titans of Batman stories past — and it became the new default. Nearly every piece of Batman media after The Dark Knight Returns holds the DNA of Miller’s classic.
However, The Dark Knight Returns didn’t just change Batman. Comics were maturing and The Dark Knight Returns was yet another example. Miller was telling a Batman story for older fans, one that didn’t flinch from the darkness and violence at the heart of the character. However, much like Watchmen, it wasn’t the violence that made The Dark Knight Returns mature. It was the way the story was told – the fact that Miller trusted his audience enough to not hold their hands. An argument can be made that The Dark Knight Returns is the least of 1986’s “Big Three” — Watchmen and Maus get more praise and have aged better — but in many ways, it’s actually the most important.
The Dark Knight Returns was the first time a major superhero had gotten the mature treatment. Sure, Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing run and Miller’s own Daredevil comics (along with other books) had begun the process, but they weren’t on Batman’s level. Everyone knew who Batman was; maturing Batman was a major step because it got mainstream notice. And it worked. The Dark Knight Returns showed that with the right creators, any superhero could be elevated to a prestige level. So, yes, Watchmen is the “greatest” comic of all time. Maus is a heartrending work of art. But The Dark Knight Returns is the book that changed comics forever. It’s earned its place in pop culture and without it, superheroes would be very different. There’s a good chance we never would have gotten any of the major superhero media we’ve gotten over the last four decades without The Dark Knight Returns – both Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) and Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy certainly wouldn’t.
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns is available to read at DC. An animated movie adaptation can be rented through home video services.
Batman is DC’s most popular character, and one of the most well-known characters in pop culture, period. Since his debut in 1939, Batman has starred in comics, movie serials, TV series, feature films, animated series, novels, video games, and basically any other piece of media that you can think of. One of the most influential Read More