Reception
Priced at $2.95 an issue, DC Comics promoted The Dark Knight Returns as a "thought-provoking action story". At the time, Time saw the series' depiction of a "semi-retired Batman is unsure about his crime-fighting abilities" as an example of trying to appeal to "today's skeptical readers". Despite the then-high cost of the single-issue packaging, The Dark Knight Returns sold well.
The New York Times gave the 1987 collected release of the series a negative review. Mordecai Richler felt that The Dark Knight Returns was not as imaginative as the work of Batman creator Bob Kane. Richler commented, "The stories are convoluted, difficult to follow and crammed with far too much text. The drawings offer a grotesquely muscle-bound Batman and Superman, not the lovable champions of old." He concluded, "If this book is meant for kids, I doubt that they will be pleased. If it is aimed at adults, they are not the sort I want to drink with."
IGN Comics ranked The Dark Knight Returns No. 2 on a list of the 25 greatest Batman graphic novels, second only to Batman: Year One, also written (though not drawn) by Miller. The website called The Dark Knight Returns "a true masterpiece of storytelling" with "scene after unforgettable scene."
In 2005, Time chose the collected four-issues as one of the 10 best English language graphic novels ever written.
In 2001 and 2002, DC Comics published The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Miller's sequel to Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. The sequel, which differs drastically in style from the original, received mixed reviews but was one of DC's biggest selling titles at the time.
Forbidden Planet placed the collected issue on top of their "50 Best of the Best Graphic Novels" list.
In April 2010, Nicolas Slayton from Comics Bulletin ranked The Dark Knight Returns 2nd in their Tuesday Top Ten feature's Top 10 Overrated Comic Books, just behind Watchmen. "There is no central plot to the comic, leaving only a forced fight scene between Superman and Batman as an out of place climax to the story." "Gone are the traits that define Batman," also citing "misuse of the central character."
Writer Matthew K. Manning in the "1980s" chapter of DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle (2010) calls the series "arguably the best Batman story of all time."
Read more about this topic: The Dark Knight Returns
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“I gave a speech in Omaha. After the speech I went to a reception elsewhere in town. A sweet old lady came up to me, put her gloved hand in mine, and said, “I hear you spoke here tonight.” “Oh, it was nothing,” I replied modestly. “Yes,” the little old lady nodded, “that’s what I heard.””
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