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A review by 500daysofamar
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller
2.0
A bit of a mess, really.
I've heard people say that Miller's work can come off a bit fashy, and... well... yeah. That's absolutely not to say that Miller is a fascist, indeed there is a healthy anti-authority streak to the final passages, where Batman and Reagan's puppet Superman clash. However, Batman's outlook towards crime resembles Travis Bickle's: he is the "real rain" that will "wash all this scum off the streets", literally doing so as he leads the militia mutants to charge through Gotham, purging it of lowlifes. It turns out all Gotham needed was a strong leader with an iron resolve. That the charge is successful shows that the fascistic outlook is not merely a quality of Batman: acting on its impulses gets results. Batman's fascism is not simply a quality of the protagonist, but part of the moral grammar of the novel itself.
Much of the storytelling is heavy handed in ways that accentuate this. The constant (and fucking hell are they constant) switches to news broadcasts show the population of Gotham as morally irredeemable, weak willed and/or pathetic. This implies their liberation requires great force to be acted upon them for their own good.
Similarly. academics and experts are sneered at, made out to be apologists for the status quo, obstacles to the progress Batman can bring. The dumb, liberal psychologists focus on rehabilitating Two-Face. They are arrogant in their naivete: only violence can stop him.
BUT NONE OF THIS IS THE REAL ISSUE. In fact, it was at least interesting to analyse a set of political beliefs I disagree with. What I can't stand is how often I felt cold. The news broadcasts are heavy handed storytelling that often serve tell us what to feel. Structurally, the series feels overly episodic, without enough of a natural flow from passage to passage. It's a shame because there are some fantastic moments here, such as Batman's confrontation with Superman and Joker's talkshow appearance... I can see why this work inspired so many comic artists and indeed filmmakers. No doubt, the world is artistically better for the influence TDKR... I just wish the source itself wasn't so disappointing.
I've heard people say that Miller's work can come off a bit fashy, and... well... yeah. That's absolutely not to say that Miller is a fascist, indeed there is a healthy anti-authority streak to the final passages, where Batman and Reagan's puppet Superman clash. However, Batman's outlook towards crime resembles Travis Bickle's: he is the "real rain" that will "wash all this scum off the streets", literally doing so as he leads the militia mutants to charge through Gotham, purging it of lowlifes. It turns out all Gotham needed was a strong leader with an iron resolve. That the charge is successful shows that the fascistic outlook is not merely a quality of Batman: acting on its impulses gets results. Batman's fascism is not simply a quality of the protagonist, but part of the moral grammar of the novel itself.
Much of the storytelling is heavy handed in ways that accentuate this. The constant (and fucking hell are they constant) switches to news broadcasts show the population of Gotham as morally irredeemable, weak willed and/or pathetic. This implies their liberation requires great force to be acted upon them for their own good.
Similarly. academics and experts are sneered at, made out to be apologists for the status quo, obstacles to the progress Batman can bring. The dumb, liberal psychologists focus on rehabilitating Two-Face. They are arrogant in their naivete: only violence can stop him.
BUT NONE OF THIS IS THE REAL ISSUE. In fact, it was at least interesting to analyse a set of political beliefs I disagree with. What I can't stand is how often I felt cold. The news broadcasts are heavy handed storytelling that often serve tell us what to feel. Structurally, the series feels overly episodic, without enough of a natural flow from passage to passage. It's a shame because there are some fantastic moments here, such as Batman's confrontation with Superman and Joker's talkshow appearance... I can see why this work inspired so many comic artists and indeed filmmakers. No doubt, the world is artistically better for the influence TDKR... I just wish the source itself wasn't so disappointing.