My Guilty Pleasure: ‘Batman: The Dark Knight Returns,’
he first time I read Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, I dismissed it in just that way. Its thrill-seeking, bloodthirsty sadist was definitively not my Batman. But rereading it as an adult, I felt a surprised, grudging admiration. First published in 1986, The Dark Knight follows an aging, retired Batman in a dystopian future (inexplicably, Reagan is still president) as he faces his own mortality and is drawn back to the cape and cowl. The non-canon, four-book opus may be one of the best Batman stories ever told.
After vanishing from the public eye, both superheroes and supervillains have aged badly. Selina Kyle, alter ego of Catwoman, runs an escort service. Superman has become a mindless tool of a jingoistic American government. The Green Arrow is an anti-government terrorist. These are grimly, brilliantly logical extensions of their accepted characters: Catwoman is always a manipulative, self-centered opportunist, Superman a simple-hearted patriot and the Green Arrow a near-parody of the radical left.
More: My Guilty Pleasure: ‘Batman: The Dark Knight Returns,’ by Frank Miller : NPR