THE DARK KNIGHT STRIKES AGAIN #2

By: Tony Whitt
Date: Tuesday, February 12, 2002

A broken Superman openly faces an alien menace. A loving Wonder Woman introduces her super girl to her father. A madder-than-ever Plastic Man is released from his imprisonment. And a triumphant Batman takes everything up a notch. The world has changed since the Batman last showed his face--but it's going to change far more when he shows it this time.

I may be a lone voice in the wilderness here, but I think I'm the only one who doesn't really like THE DARK KNIGHT STRIKES AGAIN much. Sure, there are some amazing moments in this series, not the least of which is Clark and Diana's (literally) earthshaking reunion. Or the first appearance of the new Supergirl. Or the release of Eel O'Brien from an Arkham Asylum now overrun by its former inmates. Or the appearance of an Elongated Man who's taken to doing sex-aid ads. Or that very last page. All right, all right, there are many amazing moments in this series. But do they really work together all that well? Come to think of it, do they work together at all?

Unlike its predecessor, which had both a strong plot and strong visuals going for it, DK2 relies too much on its visuals and not nearly enough on a cohesive plot. There's a helluva lot going on here; unfortunately for the reader, it all seems to be going on at the same time. There's very little time for the character development that made THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS famous. Instead, Miller piles panel after panel on top of each other in a seemingly endless stream of disconnected images, then follows these with enormous splash panels and two-page images that seem placed more to strike the eye than to move the story along. It's no wonder that reading an issue of this series feels like going white water rafting without a lifejacket. Or a paddle. Or even a raft, for that matter.

Relying on the visuals wouldn't be such a bad thing were it not for the quality of these particular visuals-or lack thereof. Without Klaus Janson's inking (or anything else) to restrain him, Miller's art is all over the place, mirroring the frenetic and disconnected quality of the plot itself. Once again, images go by that leave readers wondering what they've just seen, while other images linger a bit too long on elements that simply aren't as interesting or seem unnecessary for keeping the plot moving. (What's the deal with all this "superchix" business, for example?)

The last problem with DK2 is that it suffers from a multiple-personality disorder: this book simply doesn't seem to know what it wants to be. Does it want to be a gritty dystopian view of the future? Does it want to be an edgy and hip commentary on present day media and the ways in which we glorify even the most ridiculous of those who appear on our television/computer screens? Does it want to be an even more terrifying glimpse of the future history of the DC Universe than a work like KINGDOM COME? Or does it want to be what THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS really should have been, despite its open ending: the final chapter in the life and times of the Batman? DK2 is all of these, and at the same time it's not completely any of them.

I wrote of the first issue that so far, while not a great book, this was still a good book. While there's still a lot of good in this book--I'm rather fond of the relationship between Superman and Wonder Woman, even if she does still look like a very bad drag queen, and I particularly like Miller's treatment of Plastic Man--I'm starting to wonder whether there's enough good to carry it once all is said and done. Maybe when I see where this whole mess is headed, I may change my mind--but for the moment, it's still a mess, punctuated by a few bright spots of clarity.

THE DARK KNIGHT STRIKES AGAIN

Grade: C

Issue: No. 2

Author(s): Frank Miller, Lynn Varley

Publisher: DC

Price: $7.95