Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again - My Review

Sometime in college, at a time I can't recall, I had decided to pick up the sequel to one of the greatest comic book mini-series of all time: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller. By all accounts, the book stands as a masterwork, a triumph to all things Batman and a testament to the writing and art of Frank Miller. So, after 15 years, how do you follow it?

To me, The Dark Knight Strikes again or, in this article, DK2, is not about being a sequel as it is the purest form of artistic expression in a mainstream comic book I have ever seen.

The book was released in 3 issues from November 2001 to July 2002. In a post-9/11 world, the setting for the series and timing couldn't be better. Frank Miller doesn't deliver perfectly, but his tale of a government acting as nothing more than a hologram while the real villains (Lex Luthor and Braniac) control the planet is incredible!

But, to me, the real shocker and thing to take away from it is simply how dynamic and, in a way, hard-to-read it is. Taking the use of TV in 1985 and setting it in 2001, its as if Frank Miller actually CREATED Twitter! What do I mean? At countless points in the book, whenever an action-heavy scene is created that requires responses from the average person, mini snap-shots of dialogue from various people arrive. In the end, you're left a little confused and worried and trying to understand whats going on while you're reading snippets of conversations about the event mixed with random thoughts people have! Twitter! In 2002! Amazing!

There doesn't seem to be any one event in particular that makes Batman come back after pretending to be dead for 3 years; just a reaction to what he's seen. Also, despite pushing 60 and a gut, Batman is now fit as a fiddle and immediately springs The Atom and The Flash with Carrey who is now Catwoman. Oh, and Batman personally beats the crap out of Superman for the hell of it!

While all this is going on, with Batman trying to get Supes' to realize that he's been lied to by his government and wake-up, we have a B-story that never actually develops. A group called "The Superchix" is created once people realize Superman is alive. They cause a lot of uproar, but you never get the idea of what's going on with them or their story, and once Batman storms in with his little troops and gets them to join him, it doesn't make an impact because... well... you never fucking see them!

The book is drawn in a style that is Miller, but isn't. It is fast, loose, impulsive, and looks like it was done in a rush. In the end, it works towards and against Miller's advantage. Its one of the most energetic books I've ever read, and it doesn't stop often. There are quiet moments, and watching Superman and Wonder Woman do it in mid air... classic comics moment. Ha!

In the end, the book is a sort of "reluctant sequel". The longest question in comics for a while was "Will Frank Miller ever do another Dark Knight Returns story?" I think he made everyone never want another.

Personally, I enjoyed the book. I didn't see it as a sequel to a great book, just a continuation of the story itself. I wasn't thrilled with everything, and there were a ton of things I would have loved to see explored in depth, like Lex and Braniac rising to power and how they combined forces, the relationship between Superman and his daughter, the entire Superchix thing.

Raiting? 3 out of 5.

Frank Miller's Ronin is BETTER Than Alan Moores Watchmen

I'll say it again: Frank Miller's "Ronin" is better than Alan Moore's "Watchmen".

Any comic book fan, in fact, anyone paying attention to Hollywood, has by now heard that Watchmen by Alan Moore is considered to be the single greatest graphic novel ever written. But today I will debate why.

Watchmen is brilliant, no doubt there. The book is a testament to what Alan Moore sought out to do, and that was to completely turn the comic book world on it's head. Moore's writing is strong, brilliant, and the attention to detail in both the art and the writing is astounding. The device of the "comic-in-a-comic" with The Black Pearl, as well as the multiple layers of stories and back story... amazing.

But in comparison, Frank Miller's Ronin does much of the same, only streamlining it and making it a lot more entertaining.

Miller's influence in the book was Manga, and the result was astounding. The series pre-dates Moore's by about 2 to 3 years, and at least 1 year before Moore began writing it. Ronin took the comic book genre and took it not just for a spin, but it basically did things no one could imagine. The book actually was one of the most popular titles at the time, inspiring the creation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

The book centers around a 13th-Century Ronin who is reincarnated in a dystopian New York City. He is reincarnated into the body of a amputee named Billy within a massive bio-mechanical "living" structure name Aquarius. The story is simply brilliant, has a million twists and turns, and really, it does the book an injustice for me to try. I bought the book on name alone and knew nothing about it. It's a great read and the ending is simply amazing!

Now, why would I say it's better than Watchmen? For starters, Ronin actually kept me entertained. Yes, it may seem odd, but it keeping me entertained means a lot. Example: "High Society" by Cerebus. I don't know why I bought it, but I actually sat down and read the entire thing in one sitting. The book is over 1000 pages long. AND I have ADD. Keeping me still and entertained is hard, and Ronin did that at over 400 pages. Yes, it matters.

Not only that, but the writing was more interesting. Why Alan Moore took a much more academic approach, question the human psyche and how and why super hero's would act, Ronin was the same... only when asked about robots and mankind's mindset about creating artificial life. The way the machine reacts to the reincarnation was incredible.

At the same time, the comparison is, in a sense, apples and oranges.

Watchmen deals more about Superheros and deconstructing them while Ronin is about a failed Samaurai in a dystopian future. Each authors take on their respective genre is brilliant, and neither book is lesser for it. But Ronin is better in my eyes because it had less filler, streamlined the story while still pulling at the heart strings.

Ronin was really just more fun and a more thought-provoking read to me. The book asks not only if a machine would rise up against us... but what would this artificial technology do? What would it's motives be? How would it act? The story of the Ronin is, in fact, not the point and the more you read, the more you see why. The book contains love, betrayal, beauty, horror, action and drama... admittedly, it has some weak moments, and Frank Miller's art was only second to the story in this case (We were all young once, right?), but overall.... BRILLIANT!