Reflections

My first impression of Frank Miller's "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" was stimulated by a pattern of fragmentation in book one of the comic. It started out with a decently cohesive storyline regarding the introduction of an old Bruce Wayne who gradually returns as the Batman in an effort to install justice to Gotham city. Quickly, however, panels were shifting between multiple stories within a single spread. It became disorienting to read dialogue in a few panels that would then be suddenly interrupted by an inner monologue from an unknown speaker. These fragments would casually make their way onto the spread, and totally dominate any sense of cohesive structure that began to form in the storyline. By the time book three came around, each spread was more like a collage of images and frazzled words than anything else. By this point in the comic, it became clear that a sense of disorientation and fragmentation was likely to be the intention of the author. Maybe this was a means of translating the chaos of Batman's battle to the consciousness of the reader. Or maybe the confusion of multiple stories within a few panels was meant to illicit a sense of familiarity between the reader and the page.

The intriguing aspect of Miller's miniseries is noted in comparison to Kane's original publication of the Batman chronicles in 1939. The transformation of Batman's character as a superhero demonstrates a sort of dynamic growth rather than a dilution of character that was encountered in examples of Superman in his countless appearances in American mainstream media. As a victim of the very foe he stood against since the beginning, Superman was helpless against the power of propaganda that fooled the masses into loving a superhero that no longer represented his original form of social justice. Batman, however, does not succumb to the forces of propaganda - to the same degree - as Superman. He debuts as a superhero who is characterized by an almost sinister fight against evil. Batman embraces the savagery of human nature as a means of terrorizing the criminal underworld. The ingredients of the Batman as a vigilante hero stayed true throughout the transformation of his character even as the pressure of censorship pushed against him. In Miller's 1986 version of Batman, the wholesomeness of character - including origin, motive, identity, powers, and personality - remain in tact. His transformation is personified by the addition of psychological disturbance that compliments the darkness of character that already existed since the original publication.

At the climax of Batman's battle against Superman in this thrilling and fragmented tome, the dialogue between the two heroes acknowledges their existence in the comics industry. "You sold out, Clark - you gave them the power that should have been ours." These were some of Batman's final words to Superman in the heat of the battle. This is an indication suggesting the power Superman had as a comic when he first met the industry. As the nation's most revered fictional character throughout the 20th century, his potential to impress the minds of comics readers was unprecedented. The rapid exchange of motive from social activism to law-abiding patriotism, however, disarmed that potential in one measly hundred dollar check.