Absolute Dark Knight
Comic-book publishers have grown expert at collecting individual issues of a title as graphic novels and later rereleasing those collections with hitherto unpublished sequences, further artwork, and other "bonus" material to entice buffs to purchase the same book twice and thrice. DC Comics brings the game to a new level with the Absolute series of oversized, slipcased, hardcover volumes of landmark titles. Frank Miller'sThe Dark Knight Returns(1986), in which a cantankerous Batman emerged from retirement to clean up a depraved Gotham City, revolutionized superhero comics by darkening the tone of the genre and paved the way for artists and writers to treat familiar characters more idiosyncratically. It made Miller a superstar in the comic-book firmament. Its 15-years-later follow-up,The Dark Knight Strikes Again,however, turned off fans with its cartoony visuals and loopy attitude.Absolute Dark Knightgathers both stories, Miller's early sketches for them and other artwork, pages from his original proposal for the series, and other addenda.Gordon FlaggCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved