THE DARK KNIGHT STRIKES AGAIN #3

By: Tony Whitt
Date: Saturday, August 03, 2002

It took a little longer than we thought it would, but finally it's over: the long-awaited sequel to Frank Miller's 1986 monster hit, THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, finishes this month, thus fulfilling all the hopes, dreams, and desires of those fans who want sequels to series that really don't need them in the first place. We'll know the Apocalypse has come when Alan Moore does WATCHMEN II, but at least we'll know it'll be better than this.

Yes, yes, I know. Some of you are probably thinking I've been way too harsh on Frank Miller - but then again you're probably the few who haven't been exposed to the day-glo fun fest also known as DK2 (which makes some of us simply want to scream "I luv this place!" You'll get your Pop Culture Merit Badge if you can tell me why). I had hoped that DK2 would grow a coherent plot as it went on, and that the finish would justify the first two issues, in which we got to see Carrie in a godawful catsuit (and not the good type), Superman and Wonder Woman making whoopee in the clouds, and Bruce Wayne unmasked. Problem is, there's far too much incoherence in Frank Miller's script to really allow that plot to make its presence fully felt. Miller used the "talking heads" in THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS judiciously, to show us what the reactions of the "real world" to both Batman and Superman's returns were. Here, Miller feels the need to give the book almost completely over to the heads, even as they grow more irritating by the moment and even as their remarks take us further and further away from the main plot.

Maybe that's not such a bad thing, as the main plot is no great shakes compared to the original. Lex Luthor, looking like a modern Marlon Brando who's gained yet another 300 pounds, and Brainiac have enslaved the world and made Superman their puppet, but Batman (who else?) comes back from the dead to make the world a better place again. Because, as you well know if you watch enough JLA: THE ANIMATED SERIES, Batman kicks far more ass than Superman. Oh, yes. (Those of you who just took me seriously can give back those Irony in Print Merit Badges now.) While the original tied the darkening of society to political forces beyond our control, DK2 makes that same darkening a function of yet another big nasty plot by the baddies. It tears the soul out of the story.

There are some good moments, of course. Using the Hal Jordan Green Lantern as the cavalry is a great touch, though I'll be darned if I know where exactly he's coming back from or what he's doing there. Looks about as much fun as being the Spectre, though. Ray Palmer's release of the people of Kandor is also a fantastic moment in an otherwise tepid tale. But there are so few of these good moments to balance out the underlying anti-KINGDOM COME message of this series - namely, that super-men should rule society by right of force - that the book collapses in on itself, and even the rather sweet coda is lost as we scramble away from the last issue, gasping for breath and praying to sweet Jesus not to let us have to go through all that again.

Some works are timeless. The Mona Lisa is timeless, despite its obvious visual ties to the time period in which it was painted. OF MICE AND MEN is timeless, despite its link to the Depression. THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS is timeless, despite its references to the mid-'80s. (And yes, I will group those three works together as masterpieces, despite the former two being works of so-called "high art" and the latter one being a work of "low art". More people should.) But DK2 is so inextricably linked to the short attention span-oriented popular culture of 2001 and 2002 that ten years from now we'll look back on it and wince - if we're so lucky.


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