Rating: 
Summary: miller never ceases to amaze 2
Review: continued from previous-
By the way, who is that new "Joker" & whered he come from,& wouldnt the "Sentinal" be about 90 years old now? I thought he'd been out of comics since around WW2. Also,what happened to Dick Greyson? in "Dark knight returns" Bruce Wayne tells comminsioner Gordon that they havn't talked in years. Why? And did something happen to Kid Flash? I would think that anyone who could run that fast would still be in the superhero buisness in some capacity, unless he got killed since I been away from comics. That reminds me of a submarinor comic from back around '69 when he fights the original Human Torch, only to find out that it was really the torches sidekick Toro. We were to believe that after the Torch "died" that Toro just retired, even though he was still a teenager,that he had the ability to Flame on & FLY but he decided it might be a better idea to settle down & get married, maybe work in a warehouse somewhere, good idea Toro.
PS- for anyone interested in comics from the silver age, check out "the Comic book heroes from the silver age to the present", by Will Jacobs & Gerard Jones. It came out back in '85, but the authors were so in tuned with comics that even at that early stage when Frank Miller was on his initial "Daredevil" run, they knew he was one of the major talents around.
Rating:
Summary: Mr. Miller never ceases to amaze me
Review: First off, for those readers who have expressed dissapointment in Millers drawing on "DK2", I must say I disagree 100%. His artwork has always reminded me a little of those old german expressionist movies, & I believe that any distortion of reality is done purposely for artistic effect.
Secondly, I would just like to thank a higher power that a writer like Miller, (who obviously grew up on comics & has such a clear understanding for what made the best ones so good. I would bet money that 1 of his favorites was Avengers #4)is willing to work in comics, even though a guy with his talents could make a lot more in some other field. He does it cause he loves them.
I am suprised that I havn't read any reviews commenting on the fact that the new "Robin" is the most interesting character in the series. She is hilarious! Miller is well known for creating Electra, but I think Carrie is far more entertaining, & she comes off better in the sequal than in the 1st book.
My only problem with the new books, & it is no fault of Millers, is that I am unfamilier with some of the characters. I was raised primaraly on Marvel comics, & I dont know, for instance, who Vic Sage is.(by the way, did Green Arrow kill him or save him?)I am hoping that book 3 might include some sort of glossary in the back with little bios on all the characters.I also wasn't aware that Capt. Marvel was the property of DC.
I also loved the relationship between Superman & Wonderwoman(& doesn't Miller have a way of making any female charcter he writes twice as sensuall as they originally were?). & lets not forget Lara, their daughter, one of the best ideas for a new character since I was a kid, but it is mostly the way Miller handels her personality that makes her so good.
You know, I had thought that I had outgrown comics sometime back in the early 70's(except for the fact that I never got tired of reading the ones that had been done in the 60's, mainly Jack Kirby's work on Fantastic Four,Thor,etc.)I will Never outgrow a comic done as well as DK2.
I am hoping that Mr. Miller might consider doing a series on a new hero-team, a modern series sort of like the old "teen titans" of the 60's, including Carrie-catgirl, Lara-Supergirl, the kids of Hawkman & Hawkwoman, maybe the kid that Wonder Woman says shes now pregnant with, & any other characters that Miller chooses to include.But unless HE can do it, there is no need to bother.
Sooo, if you are about in your early 40's, & havnt read a comic since you were in jr. high school, you are in for a treat if you get this one, & by all means get the first series too,(I wont even get into Millers work on "Daredevil" here, buts lets just say that everything worthwhile in comics done in the past 20 odd years has his name attached to it, either as writer, artist,or preferably both.) ....
Rating: 
Summary: K
Review: "Dark Knight Returns" was visionary and the execution was gripping. I liked the idea of seeing aged super heroes fighting in a world that refused their existence. Frank Miller had an important job on his hands when he wanted to write a sequel. I am afraid that "Dark Knight Strikes Again" does not live up to expectations. It falls far behind the first one. The story and the telling is a replication, introducing new super heroes to keep the attention. I fear that whatever happens in the end will not surprise me. Buy it if you want to complete DK series.
Rating: 
Summary: Everyone Ages ... But Gracefully?
Review: Frank Miller's long-awaited follow-up to the superb (but not seminal) THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS feels like just that: a long-awaited commercial follow-up. While lacking the depth and complexity of the earlier tale, DK2 will still nonetheless strike a chord with Bat-enthusiasts everywhere ... especially when Bats manages to kick Superman one more time in a rather quickly orchestrated rematch. Miller's prose, this time around, leaves a bit to be desired, and his spin on the classic characters created is a bit unexpected ... but he can still weave effortlessly a captivating comic story like a Jedi Master handles a lightsaber.
Rating: 
Summary: close but no cigar
Review: OK, fabulous. right? It's Miller. The story, great. but the art? I'm sorry. He was so good in DKR (The splash page: "The rain is like a baptism" with the lightning bolt is an image I will take with me wherever I go.) But here it seems more like caricature than character. Esp. the "Catgirl" with a head 3 sizes to large for her body. Still, some of the images are striking and, of course, Miller's page composition is second to none. I guess my expectations might have been to high.
The Book ROCKS. Never mind me. Buy it. Love it. But it's not quite to solid "10" that it's predessor was.
Rating: 
Summary: Wait, now Kent's with Luthor? Eh...
Review: To be honest, this almost ruins "The Dark Knight Returns". I always liked the conflict between Batman and Superman. Who's right? Batman, for freeing people or Superman, for simply saving lives. Both thought they were in the right, which is why their battle at the end of DKR was so monumental. Now, however, Superman is working for Lex Luthor, and is, clearly, on the side of the "bad guys". Frankie, frankie frankie, why did you do this? I personally loved the Wayne-Kent moral struggle, and now you turned it into a battle of the super-villains. This book is worth buying for the art and the well done super-hero introductions. However, the plot is VERY lacking.
Rating:
Summary: DC and Miller Strike Out
Review: Perhaps Frank Miller was unaware of how highly anticipated his sequel to DK was; perhaps he was completely aware and to prove he's moved since the first, just blew off the second. Either way the first installment to the Dark Knight is everything that its predecessor was not. Gone are the psychological asides within the main character's heads that gives the reader a sense of their anguish. Miller's Batman mythos is reduced to flat dialogue and even flatter art panels.Indeed the greatest let-down is Miller and Varley's handling of figures and colors. Gone are Varley's memorable gritty tones and in their place is art-student Photoshop Day-Glo colors. She purposely bit-maps and streaks colors to no other end but to come off as sloppy and amatuer. Its probably the worst example I've seen of digital inking since the process was made industry-standard. Miller's forms are stiff and lifeless and seem to just float in background-less voids. The story itself is the only saving grace to DK2 so far, but Alex Ross did the whole cynical-world-turned against-superheroes thing much better in "Kingdom Come". Okay, we know the world of the future will be an angst-filled mess. Miller does little to present this idea in a new way. Bats + Co. led by a perky Catgirl free some superheroes trapped and misled by the government. A government, in turn, being controlled by Lex + Co. who makes it clear to Superman + Co. that he is in charge. Miller proved to us before in his great previous works (300 / Sin City) that the world is eager to sell out. Never before has one of his works been so obviously on the other end.
Rating:
Summary: Hope you weren't holding your breath all these years!
Review: I was glad they wrote it and inked it...the Bat must live on... however, I prefered some of the previous illustrators, and the band of bat sidekicks seemed over done. So, in saying, I spose I've more complaints than compliments. The big man doesn't show til the last few pages and then he's more dour and violent than we'd left him. Oh, well, it's still the Bat.
Rating:
Summary: little more than a guilty pleasure
Review: Let's start with something positive. There's plenty here of what Frank Miller does best: brutal, well-paced violence. The action scenes are apocalyptic and dynamic. But vol. 1 of DK2 holds little else for fans of The Dark Knight Returns. "DK1" showed us an aged Batman battling a future world that was the 80s gone wild--rampant gang violence, nuclear peril, even the Gipper was still president. DK2's future does the same for the 90s--increased surveillance, declining civil liberties, and a government so media-savvy they've got a CGI chief exec. And it's up to John Galt, er, der Ubermensch, er, wait, uh ... oh yeah, BATMAN to topple this corrupt pseudo-utopia and bring about a return of the individual freedoms that only long-underwear-clad vigilantes can truly appreciate. Of course Miller wrote this pre-9/11, so the prevailing social mood he sought to tap into is now so much dust in the wind, further weakening the impact of the story. But do the other themes still hold water? 15 years ago, DK1 showed us that Batman was basically a brutal, self-obsessed hyper-moralist with no faith in "the system." Warren Ellis and Mark Millar have explored the same theme with a bit more moral ambiguity in The Authority. There is no such ambiguity present in DK2. Miller's Batman sees things in black and white. Those who accept the presence of grey, such as DK2's future Superman, are manifestly WRONG, and, moreover, moral weaklings. Just as in DK1, Superman gets his head bashed in by Batman because the Caped Crusader, despite his lack of super powers, is smarter, more devious, and more doggedly determined than the conciliatory, compassionate Man of Steel. Heroic idealism goes down the drain here. Let us not forget that, despite the merits of DK1, it and its cousin-in-grimness, Alan Moore's Watchmen, spawned the era of cynicism that gave rise to such dreck as Youngblood. Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, and of course Mr. Moore himself have since countered this prevailing mood by writing fresh, optimistic stories of hope and cooperation. Miller still has 2 more issues to show us he isn't stuck in a time warp.
Rating:
Summary: Simply a sequel
Review: Make no mistake, this is a sequel in every way. As with the worst sequels, it is an unessential story, a mere rehash the original formula: Batman is out of action, thought to be dead; He is completely disgusted with the state of the world and gets back in the game; His brutal methods upset the political landscape and Superman is sent by the President of the United States to deal with him; In his feud with Superman, Batman calls upon other superheroes to help him. Fortunately, this formula is a good one, and we get a nice dependable new comic from Mr. Miller. It's like another Die Hard movie: predictable, but welcome. Miller's narrative is the thing which grips a reader. He creates such a sheer sense of dread that one goes beyond involvement with the story to a point where the real world seems a great deal more grim. There's no reason to avoid this sequel, but do not expect any grand expansion of the glorious original. This is, like most sequels, a smaller, inferior version of its older brother.
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