The DKR is intense. Almost too intense. The violence, either in the dialog or in the illustrations, never stops. There is no time to pause and reflect– is there a reason? There are interjections by the “media” that, at first, I thought served as a humorous commentary on violence. They are funny, but they appear to be there only to move the plot along and illuminate, in case we don’t understand, what we’ve just read. They have a plot and momentum all their own. Besides these instances of comic relief, there are even fewer moments of compassion and tenderness. Mainly though, DKR is violence: open the book to any page and find never ending mayhem and carnage. This is what we expect from anything in the universe of Batman.
We have black people and hints of gayness, alcoholism, drug addiction, and transgender villainy – all reflections of our “time”. But other than these, it appears that the “Comic Code” prevails in DKR. A flawed man is redeemed. The wicked are punished. The Batman doesn’t attempt depth. Life for Miller, at least reflected in his work, is a simple binary.
There are no surprises in DKR. We know what we are getting from the moment we begin. Adversaries change and grow; some are more colorful and kinkier that others, but in the end, good triumphs and evil is vanquished. Life goes on until the next time. In the Sharrett interview, Miller says that DKR is not pessimistic because the “good guy wins.” We knew that from the outset. How else could it possibly end?
As a kid I liked it a lot. I like it now, but not so much. It wears me out. It quickly grows stale. Maybe that is the reason for the intensity and violence. It hides the fact that there is really nothing to reflect on in DKR.