Review: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Batman is inside of every person: a man who just wants to end the violence, but is extremely flawed like all of us. Unlike the normal person, though, he actually takes the steps to make it happen. He is what we want to be.

Due to that, there have been more versions of Batman than there are batarangs stuck in the walls of crime alley, and like most things, the more there is the more diluted it becomes.

“The Dark Knight Returns” changes that. Set 10 years after the last sighting of The Batman, Gotham City is in shambles, the crime rate is out of control and world needs a hero. And finally, Bruce Wayne has had enough. He dons the cowl, puts on the utility belt and gasses up the batmobile, and goes out to clean the city up.

Complete with everything you want from Batman: Commissioner Gordon, the standard cast of villains and even Robin, you get the taste of Batman that you want.

Frank Miller’s story is fantastic, weaving in everything you expect as it connects perfectly with the art, creating imagery that will leave anyone excited.

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Review: The Devil’s Star

The Devil’s Star by Jo Nesbø
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have become a fan of Jo Nesbo over the last 6 months and tend to blow through his books in a relatively short amount of time, and this was no different.

Set several weeks after “Nemesis,” we get to see Detective Harry Hole at his worst. He has thrown away his only meaningful relationship as the death of his ex-partner continues to hang over his head and forced him into a spiral of booze and a bad attitude. But the job continues to pull him in.

The city is under siege from a killer that is leaving victims in a praying position with a very distinctive red, star-shaped diamond on the bodies. Forced to put his life into perspective, the story follows him as he gives up drinking (again) and puts all of his efforts into one of the most mysterious serial killers Europe has ever seen.

The wonderful thing about Jo Nesbo is his ability to tell a story while slowly feeding you information. His characters are well-rounded and (unlike many mystery characters) real, pulling you into a story that twists, turns and flips you back around.

I recommend this book to anyone that likes a mystery novel, especially those that are fans of the Steig Larson trilogy.

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Review: Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again

Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again by Frank Miller
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Having read “The Dark Knight Returns,” I was overjoyed to get a copy of “The Dark Knight Strikes Again” in my hands. “Returns” had contained everything about Batman that makes fans salivate: Action, Art and a redemption story. That’s what Batman has always been: the story of a man that is just as flawed as the rest of us. We all want to be him: smart, athletic, rich, and principled. That’s what has always kept him separated from the rest of the cannon of comic book heroes.

That was “The Dark Knight Returns.” But not “Strikes Again.”

Frank Miller falls flat on this one, as they take everything that readers loved from the “Returns” and injected it with steroids. The story goes from being a pure, finesse baseball player, to a slugger that can’t catch up to a pitch.

The story is not great but the art is what absolutely kills the story. It feels as if it’s straight out of a disco in the 70′s with flash forwards, backwards and sideways that would give a non-epileptic a seizure. I truly believe that I’m pretty good at following along, but there were times I couldn’t even tell what was happening in a single frame.

I will continue to read Batman graphic novels, but I urge you to stay away from this one.

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