He has lived every day of his life since his parents died preparing and being the Batman so when he was forced to give that up there was nothing left for him to go back to. You get the feeling that he had always intended to die in the line of duty and that retirement was never in his plans. The biggest reoccurring themes in this story is Bruce looking for a good death. Bruce hasn’t found anyone to settle down with or tried to start a new life in retirement, he’s isolated himself and allowed himself to stew in his anger at not being Batman. The opening pages has Bruce thrill-seeking at a Formula 1 race contemplating ending it all right then and there. Bruce has been retired for 10 years and could not be more miserable. The Dark Knight Returns shows just how much Bruce needs to be Batman by showing how empty his life is without it. Since the threat is current and active we can still assume if things cleaned up in Gotham that Batman could quit. However, its generally seen as an active driving force in that Batman is actively fighting crime. That the tragedy of Bruce’s parents dying being the driving force for him to become the Batman is not a new concept. So what I would like to do is to break down three of my favorite scenes and themes from the story and try to explain why I like it so much. It’s been around since 1986 so if you haven’t read the story already, it’s on you at this point. It is extremely accessible to get the trade paperback, digital, and even as an animated film. I don’t want to recap the story and plot of The Dark Knight Returns. However, the Dark Knight Returns is not only my favorite comic, but also my favorite book of all time so I don’t really want to let the release of it’s newest installment pass without saying something. This has left me at an impasse, on one hand The Dark Knight Returns is something that has been covered hundreds of times by others more eloquently than myself. Wednesday (11/25/15) the first issue of Dark Knight III: The Master Race was released in comic book stores and digitally so you’ve probably seen a flood of articles and podcasts talking about Frank Miller’s Dark Knight series.
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