In the year Batman: the Dark Knight Returns other great works were written like the Watchman, but what took the Watchman 12 chapters to accomplish too the dark knight only four. Throughout the beginning of book one (especially pages like 12 and 13) we see both Gordon and Bruce as old men on the verge of retiring. I see Frank Miller trying to use these dull shades to symbolize the characters feeling toward the end of their time. However, when batman returns and he says he is “reborn” on p. 35 we see Miller’s pages explode with color, and to me this is meant to represent the life that has returned to Bruce. As the comic moves into book and book 3 and the new Robin comes into play the colors grow even brighter as Batman’s family comes together to create the life he lived for. The new Robin is a reminder to Bruce of Dick and of the relationships that help to create him and keep him strong. A younger batman would have demanded to work alone and would have told her to go home but this Veteran, the lonely old man, knew he needed the help and the youth to help him stay young. This book makes me wonder if Bruce will ever die or if no death will ever be good enough for him. We see him almost die in a car accident and later on page 51 we see him with the chance for a “fine death” but discussing all the things he has left to do.
The addition of a female Robin made me happy because it brought a new level to the side kick. For those of you who haven’t read about the last Robins death or about the paralyzation of Batgirl I recommend reading the Killing Joke, also featuring my favorite villain of the Joker. The Joker leads me to the point the the Dark Knight helps bring to light the most for me which is Batman and his Villains can not exists without each other. The arguments that are constantly occurring by the psychiatrists can be seen clearly, Batman creates his enemies and then using them to prove he is alive and capable. We can clearly see in the Dark Knight Returns that the Joker, not having seen the bat in 10 years, would have remained comatose and harmless without his arch enemy their to stir things up. The Joker needs the bat and the Bat cannot feel alive without his villains like the Joker. It is arguable that without the batman the worst of the worst would not exsist. It is also clearly seen that without the Batman no one in the city would see that they can help change things, that they are the ones with the power. We can see how he is a symbol to the people and he encourages them to do what needs to be done. On page 90 we see the positive side of the Batman where he empowers the everyday people to act and to not live in fear. Without this action Bruce has set forth through Gotham many of the cities person may act more like the man on page 110 who lives in so much he would kill an innocent man.
When it comes to the style Frank Miller uses for the comic he makes sure that Batman, the Commissioner, and other prime characters are drawn in great detail and that the everyday people are drawn with less detail so that we can all relate to them. Miller often demonstrates the passage of time through the internal monologue of Bruce. Page 86-88 we get the feeling of time passing as he talks about hearing the bat as he convinces himself not to die. As he lays unconscious we can watch the world around him continue and even see as Robin roams the bat cave. Batman, in this comic, is constantly reminding us that he is not a super hero like superman but that he is a man with a goal and a purpose. We see him bleed and bruise and love and loose. He is not invincible and through scenes where his bones creak and he pushes his old body to the breaking point we relate to the man on the inside and what it is he is trying to bring to the city.
The Joker being my favorite villian of all time led me to find this link http://stars.ign.com/articles/841/841564p1.html if anyone is interested in seeing the evolution. Its amazing how he used to be portrayed vs. how we have come to know him through media
I love musing over the batman debate you mentioned: without the Batman his villains wouldn’t exist. I say musing because I’m not entirely sure where my opinion falls. It gets tricky for me because with some origin stories Batman is indirectly responsible for at least the appearance if not the total existence of his biggest enemies i.e. the Joker falling into a vat of acid and his presence when Harvey Dent was disfigured…
This being said I think I’m of the personal opinion that if you’re crazy you’re crazy and if not Batman to inspire to higher heights of craziness then those bent on being villainous will find something else to latch onto.
With the Joker this is harder to argue because he makes it known that his he is obsessed with Batman their story of ultimate good/sacrifice inspiring the ultimate evil is much more intertwined than with the rest of Batman’s villains.
To address Batman’s villains in a more general way. I have to say that Batman has some of the BEST villains that I’ve been exposed to (this is mainly an observation/comparison of marvel and dc universes) What I like about them is that there is a certain level of psychological instability that is involved with all of them. When Batman catches a criminal they don’t go to prison they go to an insane asylum because there are deficiencies in the way they are thinking. Batman is not merely about toughness and muscles so his villains need to have something more to them too. I love that about the Batman universe.
I am so tired right now. Please forgive the delirious babble to follow.
I would like to pipe in here about the idea of Batman’s “flare for theatrics” (as Gordon puts it at the end of Batman Begins) encourages villains to do the same. I would say that there is a very strong case in favor of this being true. Take a look at Watchmen, full of similar themes, and written in the same year. It is almost as if this story was bubbling up in writers all over the world and Moore and Miller were just the first two to tap into it. It would have been truly uncanny if Moore had gone with his initial thought to set the Watchmen with existing DC heroes (Manhattan superman, Rorschach the question). Watchmen, adds a layer of insight in the “Under the Hood” sections. These people, these characters, felt compelled. Once compelled and shown an example of someone else exhibiting the behavior it is a small leap of understanding to see why they would don costumes or personas to combat Batman with. How many times have you labeled yourself something that noone else before you has been labeled. Or better yet, how many candidates running for some low public office did so because someone else with opposing views announced their candidacy first?
On the topic of the Joker needing the Batman. Obviously, its right there on the page. We see him being comatose without the caped crusader running around. I would go a step further though, I would say that not only does the Joker NEED the Bats, he is in love with him. No one understands the Joker like Bats does. Take that page with Selina Kyle (now dressed as wonder woman) tied up. Robin holds up a half-eaten cotton candy cone. Bats says “Cotton Candy, County Fair, Thousands” and thats it, hes off to find the joker. There are a million and one stories where Batman finds some small crime with a subtle hint at a larger one, and he instantaneously goes off to deal with it? Who else but the worlds greatest detective could indulge the Joker at this level? Likely nobody, except, maybe Rorschach… Anyway…
In the same county fair park, the Joker kills himself next to Batman in the Tunnel of Love attraction. That’s no coincidence, for we have seen before that the Joker is in love with Batman, or he has an erotic compulsion about him: he calls him “darling” several times. It’s actually very romantic-in a twisted, morbid way- that the Joker kills himself next to Batman. Even if he just wanted to put Batman in the situation where he could be seen as a murderer, it’s very romantic that he will sacrifice his own life to do that. (If you want to read even more into it- probably too much-it could be seen as a weird Romeo and Juliet reference). Also I will go out on a limb here and say that Joker looks oddly err- transfixed (if you catch my meaning) thinking about batman on page 117.
It’s funny that the Joker chooses the amusement park as the scenario for his battle with Batman, because amusement parks attractions are actually “controlled death experiences”: you are supposed to be put in a situation that will make your adrenaline run as if you were going to die, but you’re not. That’s why they’re exciting, but safe at the same time. Only with the Joker there it’s not, it turns into a massacre.