Rating: 
Summary: Great Story
Review: Great Story. Frank Miller made Batman's world just that more darker. The USA is a freedomless state. Everything in the goverment is classified. Freedom of Speech is illegal. News is done in the nude. Everything is wrong with this country. But Batman will set things Straight!Great story by Frank Miller - the best Writer in comics today. Only problem with this book is the art. The art it's self is good, but the special effects of color and light they throw in are horrible. Still the story makes up for it Characterization of Carrie, the new Catgirl (Former Robin) is great. She takes a prominant role in the story. Only thing wrong with this is that Batman himself isn't shown until the very end.
Rating: 
Summary: Very disappointing
Review: I am sad to say that this book was disappointing, even though a friend had already warned me it did not measure up to the original. The art and story are... sloppy. It's almost as if someone were hired to create this comic in the style of Frank Miller - it's such a pale imitation that it is hard to believe it's really him behind the scenes. The splash-pages in the original were breathtaking; here, they're laughable. And doesn't Miller know that Naked News already exists? Hardly a futuristic concept. My recommendation: get yourself a copy of the original.
Rating:
Summary: The Dark Knight Strikes Again Vol. 1
Review: It has been a long wait but well worth it.
Miller and Varley deliver(again). The first installment of the story revisits the gritty future world of Batman. It is well crafted and the artwork is superb. It's been touted as a sequel to the Dark Knight Returns but it is surprisingly a fresh and fluid read. I eagerly await the completed series.
Rating:
Summary: The Dark Knight Strikes Again Vol. 1
Review: It has been a long wait but well worth it.
Miller and Varley deliver(again). The first installment of the story revisits the gritty future word of Batman. It is well crafted and the artwork is superb. It's been touted as a sequel to the Dark Knight Returns but it is surprisingly a fresh and fluid read. I eagerly await the completed series.
Rating: 
Summary: Near Classic
Review: Frank Miller completely overhauls the older Bruce Wayne he created in The Dark Knight Returns. Gone are the miniscule panels filled with words as well as the pages and pages of talking heads. The story, although dealing with a revolution led by superheroes, seems less epic than the first series did. Instead, Miller has decided to scale everything back except for the panels. Miller has replaced the intricacy of his original series with a rough art and storytelling style. As in the first series, there are no shortages of ideas - this time Miller's creativity spills over into the other superheroes of the DC Universe (even The Atom looks cool)while he segues heavily into Superman's reawakening into the world around him. While every new idea of his is intriguing, he doesn't follow through with them as he did in the first, and this is probably the main problem with the work. In attempting to create a rough punk rock aesthetic Miller has left an awful lot of loose ends. (The secret villian at the end just didn't seem to mesh). The question is, would you rather have an artist go out on a limb and be moderately successful, or have him regurgitate his past work? My vote is with the former. Miller had a ton of fun with this one and it translates into a good read. Surprisingly, it's probably one of the funniest comics I've read in a really long time. A near classic from an artist who doesn't fear breaking other people's expectations.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Enough Batman
Review: First off, I enjoyed The Dark Knight Returns very much, but was a little let down with this one. Why? Batman was hardly in it! Superman was probably featured most. It should have been part of the Justice League since it featured every obscure superhero in depth, except Batman. Even Catgirl (formerly Robin, which was a change that annoyed me) got more page time than him. Interesting, a little hard to follow, and overall inferior to DKR. Recommended reading, but you probably won't read it twice.
Rating:
Summary: A bat for a president?
Review: This is an important work. The comic itself brings into the world of comics the strain of overyday politics. I believe that it is more important today than ever, since we can see many of the dark aspects of this future world slowly emerge in the world today, i.e. in the wake of mr. B. et. al.
Rating:
Summary: "I am no man's slave."
Review: Who ever knew Batman could be so punkrock? The words Miller puts in Superman's mouth-- "I will not be ruled by the laws of men"-- are as surprising in this book as Batman defeating Superman in the original "Dark Knight Returns" book. Surprising and a bit wicked. You know something's gone wrong when the Man of Steel is abandoning his 'protect and serve' creedo.
This is exciting reading... more colorful and funny than the first, and embued with a greater sense of urgency.
In this volume Miller seems to have as little regard for the sanctity and piety of superheroes as idealized humans as his Batman has for the government of his America--irreverent is the word here. Highlights in the artwork include all the frames of Superman flying around with blazing red eyes of fury... one recalls Arnold in the first Terminator flick. The art ranges in style from 'Sin City' grittiness to 'MAD Magazine' cartoonish spoof. Among other celebrities, Donald Rumsfeld seems to make a gag appearance, reminiscent of Maggie Thatcher appearing in 'Cerebus'... then there's Miller's President. He's not accused of being a mere liar or fool like ol' GW-- Miller goes one step further and makes the Pres a computer-generated image that gives glitchy speeches programmed by multinational corporate master Lex Luthor himself. Inexplicable yet familiar is the untouchable approval rating the Pres maintains even after the public becomes aware that he's nothing but a glitchy computer program.
This story covers a lot of ground in under 250 pages, but the main point it raises, without much room for ambiguity, is this-- how is a nation supposed to cope when its government has been taken over by the wrong people? Miller seems to be lamenting the idea that perhaps that answer is very grim. And violent. Yet the violence and anger in this book work with the lean and vivacious art to make the whole seem very allegorical.
This is better than most of the Sin City I've read... it almost seems to be Miller's own punk rock version of 'Watchmen'. And here I thought Miller was in a slump.
Rating:
Summary: Departing From Your Roots Is Occasionally Known As Growing
Review: I can't for the life of me comprehend the terrible reviews this book is getting. I loved 'the Dark Knight Returns'. DKR has been in my possession since I was in my early teens, and has worked its way deep into my subconcious to obtain a legendary status that few others have earned. Now, years later, I found myself holding a copy of the sequel to one of the best works of fiction I've had the pleasure of reading. However, Frank Miller guided me through DKR quite competently, so I had no reason to be apprehensive when opening the pages of 'the Dark Knight Strikes Again'. I try to avoid rewarding wonderful success with expectation of failure, but that's just me.
Apparently most people were expecting a rehash of the same old stuff from the last book. It would have been sufficient, but it didn't happen. It wouldn't have been half as good, either. Instead, we are guided back into a world where familiar characters are still being completely redefined and what we think we know is being turned upside-down.
This book interacts completely with the last. It provides supporting information, new twists on the old twists, and expands in every way on the base formed by the previous work. The social commentary is more pronounced, the art just as gritty (while managing to incorporate some brighter colors), the evil twice as evil, the good still nearly half bad.
It's odd to see DKR, a book which until now has lived in infamy in my head, suddenly converted into merely a jumping-off point for this magnificent piece of fiction. It's a true work of art if you let yourself appreciate it.
-StB
Rating: 
Summary: Makes me happy Watchmen 2 never came out
Review: How do you write a sequel to a myth? Certainly not like Miller has done in DK2. Other reviewers have commented on the very poor draughtsmanship and on the repetitive storyline. Some have also mocked his obsession with huge shoes. These look specially disagreeable when worn by the Catwoman character. The continuous digression to all sorts of grotesque talking heads is also annoying. But nothing jars more than the "plot" (sic) concerning the superchicks, some sort of singers who dress up as superheroines. For the life of me, I can't figure out what they mean, or why they turn up in this book, other than as a way to eat up valuable page space that had to be filled up somehow. The dialogue is also pretty bad, specially between Superman and Wonder Woman. The Robin as a villain is an obvious retake on Jimmy Olsen in "The Nail", but not as well done.
Shame on Miller for cashing in. And with all those Sin City books he's selling, it's not like he needs the dough. Alan Moore, if you read this, *please* do not attempt to put out Watchmen 2.
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