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BREAKING: Dark Knight Returns 3 Announced
CageNarleigh
Posts: 729
http://comicbook.com/2015/04/24/batman-dark-knight-3-announced/
Frank Miller and DC Entertainment have officially unveiled Dark Knight: The Master Race, a third and final installment of Miller’s seminal Dark Knight Batman graphic novel trilogy.
Miller helped revolutionize comics in 1986 with The Dark Knight Returns, a tale of older Batman coming out of retirement that now serves as the inspiration for much of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and helped redefine the character of Batman for decades to come. The more controversial sequel, The Dark Knight Strikes Again, followed 15 years later.
Miller will co-write the 8-issue miniseries with Brian Azarello (Wonder Woman, 100 Bullets), and will ship twice monthly. Artists for the series have not been announced.
“Batman remains my favorite comic book hero and a sequel to Dark Knight is going to be daunting," said Miller ina rpess release, "but we’ll do our best.”
“We are thrilled to have Frank back home at DC writing Batman,” according to Dan DiDio and Jim Lee, Co-Publishers for DC Entertainment. “The story he and Brian have crafted is an astounding and triumphant conclusion to this seminal body of work which influenced and shaped generations of readers and creators alike.”
According to Azzarello, “It's been an amazing experience collaborating with Frank these past six months. I think we have an epic story that these characters truly deserve.”
The Dark Knight: The Master Race will release this fall.
Frank Miller and DC Entertainment have officially unveiled Dark Knight: The Master Race, a third and final installment of Miller’s seminal Dark Knight Batman graphic novel trilogy.
Miller helped revolutionize comics in 1986 with The Dark Knight Returns, a tale of older Batman coming out of retirement that now serves as the inspiration for much of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and helped redefine the character of Batman for decades to come. The more controversial sequel, The Dark Knight Strikes Again, followed 15 years later.
Miller will co-write the 8-issue miniseries with Brian Azarello (Wonder Woman, 100 Bullets), and will ship twice monthly. Artists for the series have not been announced.
“Batman remains my favorite comic book hero and a sequel to Dark Knight is going to be daunting," said Miller ina rpess release, "but we’ll do our best.”
“We are thrilled to have Frank back home at DC writing Batman,” according to Dan DiDio and Jim Lee, Co-Publishers for DC Entertainment. “The story he and Brian have crafted is an astounding and triumphant conclusion to this seminal body of work which influenced and shaped generations of readers and creators alike.”
According to Azzarello, “It's been an amazing experience collaborating with Frank these past six months. I think we have an epic story that these characters truly deserve.”
The Dark Knight: The Master Race will release this fall.
Comments
That being said, they continue to put out newer and newer material that goes further and further away from the characters I grew to LOVE and UNDERSTAND. Those characters are in most cases a hollow shell of what they were and in worst cases not even the same anymore.
But DC KEEPS DOING IT. Because they think it'll work and make money and make these characters more viable for a modern multimedia market. But their old fans are FREAKING out (much like I am now) so they do things like Convergence.
And now they're doing THIS.
It doesn't FEEL like a "oh hey, we know you're still out there and upset. Lets do this FOR you. Seriously, it'll be awesome. You'll love it". What it FEELS like is "This'll make money right? And it's Batman so that's good. Oh and we got that movie coming out sorta loosely based on that original story. So lets do it."
And it probably is. And maybe I shouldn't have a heart attack over a multimillion dollar company making decisions based on potential profit margins. But then, if thats the logical thing to do....why in the ever loving CRAP is it destroying my SOUL in the process?
*whew*
Yeah I know. "It's just comics."
Sure.
Yeah, why bother?
(Alright, rant over. Feel free to comment on the actual news itself.)
Him cowriting with someone else drawing?
Sorry, but I-)
At least the DCCU will have more Miller to squeeze the life from.
M
M
Cynicism alert: any report on much money DC offered Frank?
Miller's Holy Terror was bananas, but had some really striking moments of storytelling. And for all the excesses and paranoia in it, there were times in it when I was reminded why Miller is Miller. I felt that during DK2 as well.
And while I wouldn't want all the Batman I read to be like ASBR, it was certainly memorable. (And I think people, myself included at the time, might have taken it more seriously then we were meant to. I think Miller may have been in on the joke while writing the 'I'm the goddamned Batman!' version of Batman.
The way I figure it, with this one, even if it is a mess, it will be a memorable mess. It'll be interesting. (And hopefully the artists will be more interesting for him to partner with, at least to me, than Jim Lee was). I'm on board.
As for Dark Knight instead of Caped Crusader, it just makes more sense to keep his persona dark. It's easy to state it's because I'm biased, but we can go beyond that.
Removing the gun & killing, Batman's roots are more Dark Knight then Caped Crusader. Since 1986 (definitely since 1989), it's been more the generally accepted version. Not to mention, the most profitable.
Now don't get me wrong, just because that tone & style peg fits the bat-shaped hole doesn't mean I want other characters to be widdled to fit the same hole.
Nearly 85% of the stories I really enjoy are from my early days of reading. I just can't live in the past wanting something that just isn't going to come. In the drug world, trying to recreate that initial experience is called "chasing the dragon."
I consider the comic book equivalent "chasing Fin Fang Foom".
M
As for "not knowing this was coming", I had heard rumors about it over a year ago, and the folks who told me said it was dependent upon Frank's health.
The second one was wretched, barely a self-parody of his past work. I wanted my money back.
Based on that and his unfinished All-Star Batman & Robin, I have no real hopeful expectations for the new series. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised... but I sincerely doubt it.
I might download this mini, but I'm certainly not going to own a physical copy, or buy it, unless I hear fantastic things.
This would be a great place to tell the story of that one time I had lunch with Frank Miller... except there isn't really much to tell.
Miller's Dark Knight sequel was unreadable and I can't see this as being any better. Miller has lost whatever "creative genius" he had along ago in my estimation. I hope those who do pick up the new story like it. I'll be rereading Darwyn Cooke's New Frontier instead.
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L nny
Although this fits Batman, the fad of giving non-grim characters the DKR treatment is normally a miss then a hit with other characters.
M
I really believe Batman needs to remain the stone-faced, Dark Knight persona. Plenty of other characters that are similar to Batman that have that Caped Crusader type persona.
I recall this scene from JLA/Avengers. I feel in the brief 2 panels, you get a good insight into Batman.
And Kent shouldn't be as dark as Batman & I don't believe Batman should be as light as Kent. It's part of what made Loeb's Superman/Batman series work.
M
When I first heard of the latter, I immediately thought of the former.
I get that you didn't like Dark Knight, and fair enough.
But I think to hold it accountable for the grim and gritty direction that Miller imitators- including some later Batman creators- went in after it's success is not really fair to the original work.
I also don't know that the Batman presented in Dark Knight was meant to be Miller's statement on how Batman always was, or always should be. That Batman was the one that fit a story about a dystopian future where Wayne retired Batman for 10 years, and then finally comes back. The Dark Knight that returns is the one that goes along with that sort of dystopian world. And, like most dystopian fiction going back to before we had comics, I think Dark Knight Returns is meant to be more allegory than continuity.
Like a lot of explorations of a dystopian future, I feel like DKR is more about what Miller is saying about the future then it is his definitive statement on Batman. Because I don't think it is a Batman we are supposed to ever actually get to. (And, yes, I know there have been time editors or whoever at DC have claimed that DKR is "in continuity", and I think that is ridiculous. And I doubt Miller had such things on his mind when he made it.)
I think DKR is more like a story of 'here is the future we are afraid of getting to, as reported from a 1986 point of view, and through the lens of the Batman myth.
And, sure, that Batman struck a cord with people, sold like hotcakes, made a big splash, etc. So there were bound to be imitators trying to cash in on what they saw as a demand for those kinds of characters. Just like there would be those who would try to make characters like Rorschach in their comics, missing the point of Rorschach as a character that was not in Watchmen to be aspirational. In fact, the opposite. But I don't think the creators of those characters are at fault for what they inspired in those who might have missed the point. Or those who are just trying to make a quick buck with lesser works.
I think, when it comes to trying to get a sense of what sort of Batman Miller wrote when writing a regular Batman (at least, back then), then the better example is Year One.
Sure, Year One is realistic, grim and gritty. It doesn't have daylight or jokes. And it may not be for everybody. That is fine. But for all the grime and grit to the Gotham of that story, I find it to be filled with heroism, nobility, and self-sacrifice. For both Wayne and Gordon. It is actually, I think, a story that has a lot of hope in it.
Sure, the Wayne in that story is not a happy person. But I don't think he is in any way meant to be psychotic. Driven and singular? Yes. Unhappy and probably never to be happy? Yes. But, then, I don't think we were meant to believe that revenge/trauma driven heroes would ever retire happy, either. But in Year One he is a hero, not a psycho. And capable of working with a fellow hero, in Gordon.
I feel like Year One is a better place to judge Miller's take on what Batman 'should be', as that story was meant to be the definitive origin of the current character. The one that other creators would continue to tell stories about that month, and the months to follow.
Also, if Batman being grittier and more realistic is not for you (and, again, that's fine. What's great about Batman is he works a lot of different ways) I would also suggest that is less on MIller and more on editor Denny O'Neill. Who as a writer and editor had been pushing for that since the 1970s. (By the way, he was not the editor of Batman and the Outsiders, which is why the character there might have had a tone that was a lot different than even the Batman and Detective issues that were contemporary to Batman & The Outsiders.)
So, again, not saying you are wrong to not like what you didn't like. But I feel like there is this lasting idea that the DKR Batman (which, arguably, is a pretty extreme) is Miller's entire idea of who and what Batman should always be. And I think feel like the in-continuity one he presented just a year later in the Batman series contradicts that.
And I don't think it is fair to blame DKR for what some imitators did after it.
For those who don't want more DKR Batman, it will be easy to skip. For those that are up for it (count me in) then there it is.
Especially this. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Exactly.
Yet O'Neill's Batman was much more "The World's Greatest Detective" than he was "The Dark Knight."