http://plover.net/~bonds/comics.html#batman
Sorry for the delay in getting this posted up, but I hope the article is worth it. I figured since we have a class with many a fan in attendence, a piece that challenges DKR’s place as a seminal work would be the best way to go. Bond makes the case that Miller’s portrayal of society, crime, and art are all equally skewed by a fervently fascistic bent. This is a pretty common question about comics from the eighties and ninties; as the works go “darker and edgier”, the shadow of Nazis and other horrifying groups are always raised, and often with good reason. Is Batman portrayed as a fascist in a positive light by Miller? Probably. We just have to figure out what that means for ourselves as readers.
Very interesting article with some very well thought out concepts. I was nodding my head along with the author until he started talking about how “bad” the art is. For someone who was just criticizing fascism a paragraph ago, it’s interesting how he can turn around and say realism, his concept of realism, is the only “good” kind of comic art.
Anyway, really good find, thanks for sharing!
What a great review — great in that it raises a lot of issues that are truly debatable. But this whole hero/fascist characterization is something we’ll take up on class on Thursday.