DC Animated The Dark Knight Returns

[BB&WSF]

About time

 

[Kamandi]

When it was first published I thought The Dark Knight Returns was the best Batman story, but over the years I think Year One has held up better. Returns is very dated by the 80's, so there are parts that were edgy then but feel silly now. The politics of the cold war are unlikely to connect to anyone under 25.

Another reason Year One is the better read for me today is it's a more conventional narrative style. Miller's choppy writing style on TDKReturns worked for me back then, not so much anymore. Miller's Daredevil Born Again is another one of his stories that works for me today better than TDKReturns.

Killing Joke is still a damn good read. I've tried reading Long Halloween several times, I always get sidetracked to something else. Hush didn't do much for me.

 

[karamazov80]

Hush is not very good as a story IMO. It was a showcase for Jim Lee, and used time-honored sales gimmicks (as did Long Halloween) of shoving as many well known villains and supporting characters into the mix as possible just to satisfy the almighty dollar.

I think a big reason why I personally don't view TDK as favorably as I once did is that Miller continued in that broad style of storytelling with Sin City and then The Dark Knight Strikes Again, and the evolution of that style was really a devolution. Had Frank Miller done Dark Knight Returns and then moved on to more traditional storytelling techniques for good, then I think it would still succeed brilliantly in my eyes. But the awfulness of Strikes Again retroactively taints my perception of Returns. As if, this is where he was going with that style and storyline? Things that originally seemed cool and different then look more silly, gimmicky, and unnecessarily exaggerated/over the top.

And of course the Killing Joke was great. It was Alan Moore for pete's sake! Greatest comic writer there ever was or is ever likely to be.

 

[Kamandi]

I agree with all of that. His Electra minseries with Bill Sienkiewicz was the first sign of trouble. I didn't like reading Sin City because his writing was becoming a parody of itself. Strikes Again and All-Star feel like hate letters to his Batman fans. I disavow them.

Miller was once a great writer, but he fell in love with Hollywood and his skills went to hell.

Moore was burned by Hollywood and it seems to me he's on a mission to show us stories that could only live on the printed page.

Marvelman needs a reprint.

 

[soundwave]

Has anyone had theirs ship yet?

Had my notice on the 12th that it's on it's way

Coming from Movietyme.com though so can take 7-10 days

Hopefully will be here soon though...really looking forward to this

Neil

 

[luthor1940]

Yea, You could all hate me now...

 

[Kamandi]

I imagine you'll watch it today. Let me know if do better than Year One. That was a major disapointment.

 

[luthor1940]

I imagine you'll watch it today. Let me know if do better than Year One. That was a major disapointment.

Will do buddy.

 

[Sweet Rabbit]

amazon will probably ship this to me tonight

 

[Matt S]

This is out Tues? And man, that DVD cover really sucks - its soooooooooooooooooooo generic, its' not even funny

Cant wait to hear reviews!

 

[thenammagazine]

This is out Tues? And man, that DVD cover really sucks - its soooooooooooooooooooo generic, its' not even funny

Cant wait to hear reviews!

One of the biggest disappointments we expressed earlier. Stupid for a movie that tries to embrace the art of Miller to use a stupid Jim Lee type cover.

 

[krec9]

Will be watching this tonite.

 

[Kamandi]

One of the biggest disappointments we expressed earlier. Stupid for a movie that tries to embrace the art of Miller to use a stupid Jim Lee type cover.

Dark Knight Returns book 1 has one of the most iconic covers ever. Marketing idiots.

 

[elvis1976]

Just watched this.

It was pretty good, not as good as Year One for me.
For some reasons the graphics didn't work as well as in year one.

I didn't like Peter Weller as Batman.

I don't know why but something was missing, the style of Miller was kinda simplified and was too generic to me.

 

[Russell1982]

Wow, this thread has really taken off since I last checked. Lol. So has anyone from the UK ordered this? Doesn't seem to be available anywhere over here. Was gonna order from amazon.com as I did with year one but the digital copy says it only works in the US which was a waste for me.

As for the recent discussions on other batman stories, I agree with Difabio, and we've mentioned this to each other before, that there's so many different interpretations of the character that I never feel I need to choose one over the other. I love tim burtons batman, I love the Nolan films, but for different reasons. I love Scott snyder's run recently, and his black mirror storyline. I love year one and the dark knight returns. I recently read no mans land with the new editions coming out and am loving it. I also just got the earth one graphic novel and thought it was brilliant. Got some old 70's collections like strange apparitions and tales of the demon, loved the lotdk run. So I think there's plenty of room for all kinds of interpretations. Just my two cents. I'll stop ranting gibberish now.

 

[jrice73]

Watched it last night and was thoroughly impressed, in fact I call it the best DC animated film yet, even better than Year One which was phenomenal in its own right. The story, tone and characterization was fantastic and the animation made it feel like I was reading the graphic novel as it recreated Lynn Varley's artwork. The 80s' synthesizer score was perfect as well as it was kind of like a mish mash of Blade Runner and Robocop. Terrific film. Cannot wait for the Part 2. And agreed--the cover for the film is absolute ****.

 

[ASTRO13ZOMBIE]

I watched.
Loved it.

Not really a fan of the voice actor choice for batman though.
He was alright.
Thought Ironside fit pretty well in that short from a few years ago.

 

[Johnny Utah]

Loved it. Especially the violence. Love the Bat's crushing one-liners.

 

[Murderofcrows71]

Watched it last week, the digital copy was available a week early. Probably one of the best and most faithful comic book adaptations ever. I really liked Weller as the older gruff Batman. Loved the way they ended in a cliffhanger, bring on part II

 

[FQRizzo]

Amazon has the Blu-ray for $15.