By Frank Miller, Brian  Azzarello, Andy Kubert, Klaus Janson, Brad Anderson

DC, out September 19

When the inhabitants of the bottle city of Kandor make their presence felt on Earth, Batman needs to gather old friends around him…

Although I’ll admit freely that I’ve always been predominantly a Marvelite in terms of comics reading, I’ve always enjoyed trying to keep up with the major landmarks in the DC universe(s) – something the regular DK guides are very helpful with – and I can still remember how powerful The Dark Knight Returns felt when I first read it shortly after its release in 1986. In fact, it’s one of the very few superhero graphic novels that I have gone back to reread. It did so many things well – from a female Robin to its depiction of the Batman – that I had high hopes for its sequel. But to be honest, I had to look up the details of that on Wikipedia before starting this, it left that little impression. And, I suspect, the same will apply to this volume when the fourth Dark Knight story that Frank Miller is threatening arrives.

Overfamiliarity breeds… well, not necessarily contempt, but certainly a large feeling of déjà vu. Where The Dark Knight Returns innovated, this simply follows, and if you’d told me that this was an adaptation of an upcoming Justice League movie, I would not be surprised. It may be that my own lack of familiarity with the current state of the Bat-saga means that I don’t realise the ways in which this is ground-breaking, but nothing jumps out as so special.

That’s not to say it isn’t an adequate story in and of its own right – particularly with the “extra” stories interpolated in-between the nine main issues – but it just feels like more of the same dark dystopian storytelling that we’ve had an abundance of in the Zack Snyder version of the DC Universe. Things just keep happening, and we don’t really get to spend much time with any of the characters – with the possible exception of Lara, Superman and Wonder Woman’s daughter – before more hell rains down on everyone. The art works well with the story, and you skip over any deficiencies due to the sheer speed of the story.

Is it a worthy sequel to The Dark Knight Returns? No, I don’t think it is. In the same way that Watchmen told a discrete story that didn’t need a load of prequels/sequels adding to it, The Dark Knight Returns’ power was in part because it was unique. Miller’s first sequel was unmemorable; sadly, I suspect the same will apply to this in a year’s time.

Verdict: Another trip to this dystopian timeline that’s just about worth making. 6/10

Paul Simpson

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