Rating: 
Summary: A hasty, beautiful misfire
Review: Ah, where to begin? I dearly love The Dark Knight Returns. It needs no further praise. When I heard that Frank Miller had written a sequel, my gut reaction was "Big mistake." How can you follow up something so brilliant? The answer is that you can't. I've avoided reading the book for over a year, and have just now finally pushed myself into doing it. Having just finished it, I have mixed feelings. I feel disappointment, because what Miller had here was the chance to make a darn fine sequel. While nothing will beat the original, he at least could have made it worthy of what it was following. Some parts of the book shine (especially Part One), other parts turn into a confusing, hasty mess. In The Dark Knight Returns, Miller took a few good ideas and developed them richly; here he takes a huge amount of ideas and covers each one superficially. What we end up with is all flash and no substance, no emotional impact, no reason to care about what's going on. Character portraits are mere sketches (perhaps reflected in his hasty artwork). Is this coming from the same man so good with characters that he even turned Two-Face's brief appearance in DK1 into something relevant and affecting? The story is not without it's rich characters: I liked Carrie Kelley (the new Catgirl) and genuinely cared about her character. I also liked how Superman was given room to breathe, and The Atom was also handled nicely. But Batman! Come on, here! He is a wisp, a ghost of a presence. But maybe that's all for the best. After all, what has Miller got left to say about him that he hasn't already said? A part of me feels that he's doing this on purpose, that Miller knew he couldn't outshine DK1 by its own rules and so didn't try at all. He couldn't recreate the depth of those characters, or add anything further to them. So, he decided to just make it something completely different. As Batman says in the book "It's a whole new ballgame." He just had his fun, made it flashy and crazy. It's an intention I can respect--thinking outside the box, using the characters in different ways to tell a new story. The only problem is he doesn't do it very well. It's hard to follow the story, which progresses in a herky-jerky fashion, like a slide show turning too fast. It's okay if you emphasize plot over character, but if you're going to do that, can you at least not make it feel so slap-dash? Subplots are brought up and just as quickly discarded, handled as if Miller just had to tie up loose ends. The Joker subplot had the potential to be some powerful stuff (in many ways the Joker subplot in DK1 is the emotional core of that book), but here it's handled in a disappointing, anticlimatic fashion. I wanted to like this book, and it is good, but it feels hasty, rushed--not the fruit of fifteen years to think about it. One positive thing I'll say is that the artwork is quite appealing and Lynn Varley's coloring absolutely stunning. I'd be willing to pay [money] for it just for that. But I just wish the story was as good.
Rating: 
Summary: We bought it cuz of the NAME
Review: At a certain point in an artist's/writer's career, it becomes evident that most people will buy it because of the name attached. This is true of Frank Miller's Dark Knight Strikes Again. I anticipated a better than average return to the world of near 60 year old Bruce Wayne. Having read the first issue, I was not all that thrilled. The most interesting items, I found, were the way some of the older heroes had been kept imprisoned. The idea of keeping Atom trapped in a petrie dish, and having Barry Allen power a city was quite nice (although, if you check out the Flash annual of Legends of a Dead Earth, you will find the idea ain't so original. The serious whipping given to Clark at the end of Issue one was also a good bit. I have always been of the opinion (shared by many a writer and in many a story) that when it comes down to it, there is no argument that Bats takes down Supes every time. Then Issue 2 came out. The art degenerated into a childish (not childlike) pastiche of unrecognizable art that I used to expect from Keith Giffen. The best part of the book was the fact that Plastic Man was kept prisoner in an egg ala Silly Putty. The 3rd issue, despite a six month hiatus, was rushed and seemed to have no connection to the previous two issues. The art was sloppy and there was no cohesion to the plot as a whole. It seems that Miller decided he could put out whatever he wanted without worrying about quality simply because he and DC knew it would sell because it had FM's name attached to it. All in all a very sad state of affairs.
Rating: 
Summary: OVER A DECADE IN THE MAKING...AND THIS IS IT????
Review: The original dark knight returns was a milestone in comic history that set new guidelines from story-telling. The DKR portrayed Batman as a violent, delusional, arrogant and bitter superhero (what can you expect after fighting crime for so long?) This was Batman at his best. It would be hard to top this one. Fast forward to 2002. Readers of the Dark Knight Returns are brimming w/ anticipation of the long-awaited sequel to the Dark Knight Returns. The first story is good, all the superheroes have either left or are incarcerated. Superman along w/ Wonder Woman and Capt. Marvel are the only ones allowed to operate on Earth. And Lex Luthor and Brainiac are the supreme rulers of Earth and control Superman and his teammates. Everything looks dandy from the surface but all the rights and freedoms of the people are gone. At this point Batman decides that he and his "bat-boys" have been hidden long enough. They make their debut and break out Captain Atom (who has been living in a petri dish the last couple of years). They also break out the Flash (who had been running on a hamster wheel in order to generate the electricity for the world). Lex Luthor is threatened by the reemergance of these heroes and sends Superman to find whoever is responsible. The issue concludes with Superman getting his butt handed to him by Batman. Then comen the second story...stop everything. The art in the first story was a little sloppy but still decent but by the time, you reach the second issue, the art work has totally deteriorated and continues to do so until the least page. It's like Frank Miller suddenly started to paint w/ a mascara at 3:00 am in the morning to make the 9:00 am deadline. In this one, we are bombarded w/ more characters, their appearances are irrelevant and suddenly this becomes a geriatric JLA story. Although this issuse was bad, I decided to get the next one for closure. But then, due to unexplained delays, I wind up waiting 6 months for the final installment. Guess what, the art work is even worse. Miller dumped the mascara he painted issue two with and now he is using his fingers dipped in paint. The story is fast-paced and barely coherent. At the end, the final villain is....Robin....the same Robin Batman kept remembering in the original DKR. Except now, the boy wonder is a genetically altered supervillain w/ the ability to heal himself no matter how severe the injury (i.e. at some points he is decapitated, is doused w/ gasoline and burned alive, shot w/ flaming arrows, guns, bombs, etc.) Where did that come from? Feels like Miller just needed to fill pages at the end of the story. At the end, he is defeated by having his head chopped off by Batman and is thrown into a volcano. This book was a total disappointment and does not do the original DKR justice. The art was bad, brainiac looks like a pac-man reject, and what's the deal w/ the big feet on all the characters (I think Miller has a foot fetish) and the story is more about the JLA than Batman. If you didn't read the original DKR, then you might actually enjoy this, but if you read the original, then you will be really disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: I think Miller farted this one out
Review: This is a disappointment. If you read the original , don't bother comparing it. Not that you should expect the same old thing since the original was a classic that cannot be repeated. This sequel seemed like a mere pretense of being a Dark Knight sequel. While reading it I got the feeling that Miller was just fooling arond and making up the story as he went along. Majority of the pages are filled of talking heads giving useless commentary about the world instead of dealing with the story. Borrow it from a friend or your library.
Rating: 
Summary: Do we need the same story?
Review: I loved Dark Knight Strikes Again for the fact that it took a new turn in the whole storytelling department. Frank Miller made this memorable because he made it into a not-so-parody of our own world with the not-so-parody of the comics world. I also loved Varley's work. She made it so pertinent to the time of which it was published, as she did with the original Dark Knight tale. In my opinion, these are THE Batman tales to be told.
Rating:
Summary: My oh my
Review: Not worth the trees killed, and certainly not worth money spent, I was absolutely shocked at the disaster that is DK2. I cannot believe that this was approved. Of course the excitement over a sequel to the brilliant Dark Night Returns would ensure would ensure that people would line up to buy stick figures drawn on toilet paper, but that does not make it a decent thing to do. I don't know what happened here, but this pandering garbage should never have seen the light of day. Crude drawings, absolutely dreadful background work; the complex, extraordinary Gotham in the first is replaced by pages of lazy, IMac rendered shades of red or blue. *YAWN* The story is boring, silly and predictable. The Batman is glib, sadistic, and lifeless. It was fun watching Superman v. Batman at the end of the first DKR, but this story is totally ludicrous. I was so disappointed, I can imagine the frustration of the tens of thousands of fans who appreciated the first DKR for the incredible, artistic and socially incisive bombshell that it was. A total letdown from Frank Miller. I was shocked at this heartless, obvious sellout.
Rating: 
Summary: A Dark Knight that lives up to his name
Review: The bottom line is this book is a mess, but Miller uses that to his advantage. A scaled-back version of 'DK', Miller modified his color schemes and character designs to mimic the A.D.D. design elements of the market culture. It asks a lot for a reader to delve into Batman the Killer Cynic as Miller pens him here. Maybe that's the most frustrating part of DK2 is that the story centers around Superman and his growing realization of his being manipulated for political gains. Its great to see Miller's revised Atom, Flash, and Plastic Man as well. DK2 is not Miller's best work with the social commentary a little too blatant at times like in a scene where Batman crashes the Batmobile into a federal building and goes on a killing spree. The work stands up though on its own and in hindsight of 'DK' which was social commentary in the Reagan years. Almost thirty years later, the world has changed and -hey...Miller's Batman doesn't live in a vaccuum sitting in the Batcave waiting for some signal. Batman's call for action is Miller's own and its not to be overlooked.
Rating:
Summary: Frank Miller Flushes a Legend Down the Toliet
Review: Frank! What have you done to the legendary Dark Knight of myth? I read the original "Dark Knight" Returns in the 80's when it came out in its 4-book series, and whoa, it blew me away. It is hard to believe the same author wrote this piece of ... Instead of the classic and twisted Batman villians we get two Superman chumps and Robin. The original DK was a profound statement of justice vs. the law, government vs. vigilantism, pop psychology vs. common sense, and many other themes. There was no supervillians; the villians were more a symptom than a disease. This ham-handed cop out deserves nothing more that a funeral in my toliet, suitably adorned with some ... material. Oh for the days of "Sin City", Daredevil "Born Again". Frank, you let us down.
Rating:
Summary: The Dark Knight Strikes Again
Review: The art is horrible in places, the coloring looks like it was done by an amateur, and it took half a year for the last issue to come out. I love it. The first issue won me over when it first came out - the art was cool, the coloring was weird but okay, and the characterization was magnificent. And of course, it didn't hurt that Batman beat up Superman again. But the second issue... was weird. The art looked rushed in places, the coloring was even weirder and the story in general was taking a weird direction. I didn't like it at first, but during the sixth month waiting period (haha) I began to appreciate it more. I loved how Frank was drawing Batman; lean, mean, and sleek. The art had a cartoony feel to it, which made the book a lot of fun to read. And I think that was the point; whereas "The Dark Knight Returns" was dark and moody, "The Dark Knight Strikes Again" is lighthearted and fun, with cartoony art and coloring. So when the third issue came out, I just knew I'd love it, guaranteed. And I did, despite the fact that I had already guessed that Dick Grayson was the new Joker (again, the six month waiting period). But I loved it, and still do, and this hardcover edition really does the story justice. I only wish people would give it another chance, and try to understand what Frank was trying to do. Oh well.... maybe someday :)
Rating:
Summary: ...This book is great!
Review: Although not as ground-breaking as DK Returns, Dark Knight Strikes Again is a very compelling story with incredible artwork and interesting (but technically amateur) coloring. I am not sure where these bad reviews come from, but if you are a Frank Miller fan you should pick up this book. The pacing is refreshingly disjointed, and this effect has a tendency to pull you into the dystopic world in which the story takes place. There is much said in this book that speaks volumes to our current political environment. Ageing superheroes teaming up with the "We're mad as HELL!!!" youth of tomorrow. BRILLIANT! If you are looking for more of the standard, ho-hum comics dreck being currently published, listen to some of these other reviews and do not buy this book. If you are looking for something edgy and not afraid to bend the rules of contemporary artistic story telling, DEFINITELY pick this book up.
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