This has been the most complicated annoying and fascinating read I’ve seen in a long time.  While reading it I often reverted back to memories of the newspaper comics on sunday or comics like Tin Tin whose artwork reminded me of Jimmy’s.  I can say for certain that while the story is confusing with its flashbacks and daydreams and often surreal reality, the parts of the book I loved the most were the parts that wanted me to destroy the page and build children’s stories.  Different pages throughout that want you to cut and build and interact with items like quizzes spinners.  Even pages of panels with no words whose opposite side looks like real-estate advertisements.  The book makes me feel like it wants me to create my own childhood neighborhood, even going so far as to cut out and build 3D trees for it.  I especially love that the book recognizes itself as an interactive comic and places an ad on the back cover which is nothing more than the announcement of how much the book costs.

I can say the wordless panels in this novel often move me more than words could describe.  Its made me appreciate the power of the panel more than many of the other novels who seem to combine the powers of words and art to be equal Jimmy seems one sided towards the art side.  MAsterpiece or no masterpiece I am having fun disassembling the book and building paper objects, taking quizzes, and in general using the placed devices to become more involved with my reading.  is anyone else having fun with it?

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