In all honesty, I think that the
title of the article would have been a better title for the upcoming book
because at least then I would know that DC had a sense of humor. But instead we have a title of an upcoming
comic book by Frank Miller that only fills me with dread at the prospects of
just what it might be about; The Dark
Knight III: The Master Race.
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| Official Press Release http://www.dccomics.com/blog/2015/04/24/superstar-writerartist-frank-miller-returns-to-batman |
Today it was announced by D.C. in an
official press release that Frank Miller was returning to D.C. comics in order
to write a sequel and conclusion to his Dark
Knight Returns series he started nearly thirty years ago and like everyone
else, the prospect filled me with dread, especially given Miller’s recent track
record and title of the book.
You know, it seems today as if every
fandom has its own little boogieman that everyone jumps on the chance to attack
for ruining whatever franchise the person was associated with. With Star
Wars it’s George Lucas. With Star Trek, it’s J.J. Abrams. With Doctor
Who, it’s Steve Moffat. And with Batman, (and really comics in general),
it’s Frank Miller. However, one has to
remember that once upon a time that Frank Miller was once as celebrated and
praised as highly other comic book writers like Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Scott
Snyder, and Geoff Johns. This is, after
all, the man who redefined Daredevil, writing what have been some of the most
definitive arcs of the character and wrote Batman:
Year One; a story that is not only often referred to as the definitive origin
story of Batman but hailed as one of the greatest Batman story arcs of all
time, often above other classic arcs like The
Killing Joke or Miller’s own The Dark
Knight Returns; a book that helped reshape the entire superhero genera and
geared it towards a more adult audience in a medium that was almost exclusively
marketed towards children.
Unfortunately as the saying goes,
all good things must come to an end. After
this point in his carrier, Miller would go on to write the Sin City series that’s quality varied depending on what book you were
reading and after finishing his work on the series the man seemed to have lost
his mind. No one is entirely sure when
or why it happened but some time in-between finishing his work on Sin City and starting work on The Dark Knight Strikes Again, (the
first sequel to The Dark Knight Returns),
the man’s writings began to resemble what can only be described as homophobic,
misogynistic, Islamaphobic fan fiction of Frank Miller’s earlier work by a
sexually repressed fifteen year-old who fully embraced the Post 9/11
Paranoia. The Dark Knight Strikes Again was his first work in what you might
call the “modern Miller” period and was such an un-engaging mess that I
remember next to nothing about it outside of the ridiculousness and sheer hilarity
of Superman being the man that “tamed” Wonder Woman and a sequence where the
two had sex and it caused earthquakes, tidal waves and tsunamis, (OUR HEROES
EVERYBODY!).
Then came All Stars Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder;
a story that featured Batman as an insane, arrogant psychopath who physically
and emotionally abused a traumatized Dick Grayson right after his parents died,
is a complete jerk to other superheroes for no apparent reason, seems to take
joy in causing extreme pain and crippling injuries to the criminals he fights,
is only in the story when Miller felt like putting him in, as well as
containing healthy dose of misogyny and something else we hadn’t seen before
but continues to infect Miller’s work to this day; laziness. This is something that a lot of people seem
to forget but around this time Miller got increasingly lazy. During its run the series would produce 10
issues that took over three years to finish, with the book featuring several unwarranted
splash pages that required Miller to so significantly less writing and leave
the heavy lifting to artist Jim Lee.
This laziness would continue into his book Holy Terror, a book that actually was bad Batman fan fiction, featuring Batman and Catwoman knockoffs
fighting terrorists, once again, full of inept storytelling, misogyny, some of
the most sadistic torturing of characters ever done in a Miller comic, unwarranted
splash pages and a massive helping of Islmaphobia that had yet to be featured in
Miller’s works and completely destroyed any credibility Miller had as a writer
and annihilated any goodwill he had left over from his earlier days .
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| The cover should tell you all you need to know... |
With all of
this in mind, it begs the question as to why DC is producing a new book for
such a disgraced writer. One could make
the argument that the people in charge at DC remember the man as the promising
young writer who reshaped the medium into what it is today. Perhaps he made a good pitch for the story
and the man is gearing for a comeback, however unlikely. Unfortunately, the answer that I have is a
bit more cynical; money. Like it or not,
whenever Miller’s name is brought up people pay attention and people will automatically
generate free press for DC whether it’s good or not. Just the announcement of a sequel to the work
will probably have people read or re-read the original and its sequel and in
all likelihood, boost sales for the older books. As for the upcoming book itself, odds are
that, despite Miller’s recent track record it will sell fairly well for various
reasons. Some will probably pick it up because
they are genuinely curious as to how the story is going to end, (which tend to
be the audience sequels go after). Some
will pick it up simply because it’s a Batman comic and they tend to be the best
sellers at DC. And some like myself will
probably read it just to discover what a train wreck it is or might be.
The strange
thing about this whole endeavor is that I’m actually kind of looking forward to
it. With a title like The Master Race one can only assume that
Miller has gone from misogyny and Islampobia to straight up Nazism and I’m
almost eager to see what madness he concocted.
You see, in spite of his fall of grace, Miller has become something of a
novelty act in comics. People go through
similar falls in the film, novel and videogame industry all the time but you
don’t see it that often in comics and never to such an extreme degree. So if nothing else, I can enjoy the novelty
of seeing the continued decay of comic’s former greats and laughing at the
sheer insanity that he produces. But
there is part of me that is thinking and hoping that the book might actually be
good. I remember reading The Dark Knight Returns and enjoying it
and thinking how untouchable Batman: Year
One was as a Batman origin story and I kind of want the old Miller back. For the first time, Miller has a co-writer in
the form of Brian Azzarello who has a decent, if not flawless, track record and
I’m curious to see what he brings to the table.
The book is due for release this fall and I for one cannot wait to see
what it turns out to be.
So until next
time, please follow the site and follow me on twitter and come back next
time. Until then, this is Griff the
Ghost, signing off.
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