Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns Animated

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I'm really looking forward to this one. When I've been disappointed by a DCU movie, it's usually been because I've thought it was too short and underserved a great story. Doing The Dark Knight Returns as a two-parter should prevent that. On the other hand, it'll surely mean a slavishly faithful translation, and I had some reservation over how slavish Batman: Year One. But I'd rather have a TDKR movie that just translated the comics than a TDKR movie that felt undercooked. Plus, RoboCop is voicing Batman! How cool is that?!
 
Cheap ploy in including the Bob Kane feature on the BR when it was already on the Gotham Knights DVD.
 
Well I don't think the documentary painted him in an overtly angelic light...
 
Yeah, in the featurette Batman and Me: The Bob Kane Story, Jerry Robinson said Bob Kane was a supreme egotist. Bob Kane's biographer Tom Andrae said that Bob Kane was a compulsive womanizer, a hedonist.

Also, Bob Kane's widow Elizabeth Kane, Tom Andrae, Jerry Robinson and Paul Levitz all credited Bill Finger as the original writer of Batman. Paul Levitz also stated that Bob Kane had turned to Bill Finger from the very beginning as the writer during the creation of Batman.
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Baramos said:
Frankly I would pay for Frank Miller to return to whatever state of mind he was in when he wrote The Dark Knight Returns and get away from the uber-jingoistic drivel of stuff like Holy Terror. I used to think he was an anarchist (The Dark Knight Returns seems to take potshots at both liberals, with its portrayal of psychologists getting violent criminals out of prison sentences, a waffling mayor, etc. and conservatives, since it paints the government as this fascistic force out to kill Batman using Superman as its patriotic tool, and since Reagan was president at the time I assumed he didn't care for him that much), or maybe in more recent years libertarian/objectivist, but Holy Terror combined with his idiotic rants about Occupy Wall Street last year make him look like just another conservative neocon.
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About the political satire in Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller explained in 2006 at Wonder Con, "As far as the role of political satire and parody in comics, it seemed to me that we were just missing a big bed. Every time I opened a newspaper, unless it was the New York Times, you see an editorial cartoon, and could see how comics could play against current moments and current issues. I felt that we should be in the middle of that game with all the rest. Everybody else talks politics, why can’t we? I composed Dark Knight Returns when Ronald Reagan was president, and very silly things seemed to be happening, and I wanted to satirize them, but they just kept topping me."
http://convergingtoacenter.blogspot.com/2006/02/manga-artists-part-5-american-artist.html
Some people began thinking Frank Miller is a conservative right-winger beginning in the early '80s when it became known that he's a huge fan of Clint Eastwood and Dirty Harry influences began showing up in his material as early as his Daredevil run when he had the Punisher appearing in the title and had Daredevil holding the Punisher's 44. magnum handgun on the cover of Daredevil #184 (1982), and again Miller had Daredevil holding a 44. magnum and asking Bullseye "Do you feel lucky?" in Daredevil #191 (1983) "Roulette."
Reviewer C. Carr called Batman: The Dark Knight Returns "neoconservative propaganda" in the June 1986 issue of Village Voice. As reported in Comics Journal #111 (September, 1986), on June 27, 1986, Harlan Ellison said on his Hour 25 radio talk show that "It's been pointed out to me that Frank is a Clint Eastwood freak...So you see Batman cast as Dirty Harry. Engaging in a kind of right-wing vigilante justice." Ellison wondered if Miller is "an ex-liberal who's been converted by living in New York for so long to a very dark and dismal view of the human condition now being reflected in a comic that formerly readers saw as an easy way of telling good versus evil, right from wrong." Miller responded that he didn't believe that a view of the world as a "dark and horrifying place is necessarily a dark view of the human race. I believe that Dark Knight Returns includes a lot of very hopeful material about what human beings are." Batman "only works in a world that is profoundly troubled," he said, "and I believe that's the way the world actually is."
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Frank Miller explained to Gary Groth in response to the accusations that his Batman in Dark Knight Returns is a conservative right-winger in Comics Journal #112 (1986), "I think he's very much a radical. I don't quite understand how the idea of a vigilante is a right-wing idea to begin with. It's not exactly law and order."
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Frank Miller doesn't fully agree with either side of the political spectrum. Frank Miller's views about the Occupy movement are more inline with more conservatives views. Frank Miller's views about artistic freedom are more inline with more liberals views. Frank Miller's a supporter of artistic freedom from any form of restrictions. He is even against content warning labels and rating systems because it can also be used to restrict content in order obtain the desired rating. This, and the sexual content in some of Miller's material, puts Frank Miller in opposition with the Christian conservative right-wingers.
Frank Miller said in Comics Journal #118 (1987), "I do have a terrible problem with Ed Meese and Jerry Falwell and all the rest of them. I believe they're genuinely evil people. I do believe that you have to make your decisions. And when you see something as evil, you've got to identify it as such. These are evil, evil people, and I believe that as a force in our country they should be fought tooth and nail where-ever they appear."
Gary Groth: "This may seem self-evident, but let me ask you why you think they're evil."
Frank Miller: "They want to take my freedoms away from me. Another part of the intensity of my reactions, is my respect for Christianity. They couldn't be anymore clearly the bigots and would-be dictators that they are if they wore Ku Klux Klan robes. They stand against art and science and everything else I can think of that makes humanity worth it's place on the planet. Why was Hitler bad? [Laughter] The reasons why these guys are bad, and I could go on. Ed Meese and the evangelists and everybody else were working to dismantle the constitution, I take it personally, because I've got a vested interest in having it there."
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He points out that on the other side of the political spectrum there are liberals that are equally pro-censorship.
Frank Miller: "One of the parents' rights is censorship. And most of the efforts coming from the liberal camps towards censorship right now are based on the attempts by liberals to play parents to all of us."
Gary Groth: "By liberal camp, do you mean Women Against Pornography?"
Frank Miller: "Yeah. In particular Women Against Pornography. Which is clearly a pro-censorship organization. It brought about one of the strangest coalitions in politics. When you find Jim Bakker and feminists on the same side of an argument, it's a very rare thing to witness. But censorship appeals to special interest groups. And we really live in a time where almost every political group has become a lobby group."
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Frank Miller has been a supporter of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund since the organization’s beginning in 1986 as a defense against censorship. "I support the Fund wholeheartedly," Frank Miller says in 2006. "I love the fact that it exists. The Fund is defending retailers against the politicians and district attorneys who want to take away our rights to make our own decisions about what we read, what we see, and what we think. There's always someone out there who's looking to get elected that decides comics are a good target. The Fund is picking up the banner and facing those people down, and winning a lot of the really important fights. It's my kind of cause."
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=6365
In 2006 Frank Miller raised $400 for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a non-profit organization, defending the First Amendment rights of the comic book industry.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=6560
In 2006 Frank Miller also held a benefit screening of Sin City to support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=6365
In 2008 Frank Miller used the Scream Awards event to help promote the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Kimberly Cox, Miller’s girlfriend, joined him at the awards show wearing a Batman T-shirt, an original by Miller, which he autographed while on the red carpet and that shirt was donated to be auctioned off after the event along with cover-signed copies of All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder.
http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2008/10/17/frank-miller-fu/
In August 2011 Frank Miller also donated for auction a signed, Artist Proof page copy of the long out-of-print 1986 hardcover collection of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns to support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
http://www.geeksofdoom.com/2011/08/11/frank-millers-the-dark-knight-auction-to-benefit-cbldf/
In October 2011 Frank Miller also donated for auction two signed Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot comic books to support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
http://cbldf.org/premiums/the-big-guy-and-rusty-the-boy-robot-signed-2-comic-set-the-big-guy-and-rusty-the-boy-robot-signed-2-comic-set/
In 2011 Frank Miller also offered a benefit lunch to support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
http://www.comiclist.com/index.php/news/frank-miller-and-karen-berger-support-cbldf-in-be-counted-week-3
In 2012 Frank Miller donated a signed Xerxes print to support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
http://cbldf.org/auctions/win-new-artwork-for-your-walls-in-latest-round-of-cbldf-auctions/attachment/xerxes/
In 2012 Frank Miller also donated a signed All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder TPB also signed by Jim Lee to support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
http://cbldf.org/homepage/get-comics-greatest-hits-signed-exclusively-for-cbldf/attachment/all_star_batman_1_medium/
In 2012 Frank Miller also donated a signed French Sin City poster to support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
http://cbldf.org/auctions/win-new-artwork-for-your-walls-in-latest-round-of-cbldf-auctions/attachment/sincityfrench/

EDIT: Actually in retrospect Robocop 3, which came out ages ago, makes him look like a xenophobe, just against Japanese people instead of, in the current age, Muslims. I can think of no other reason for him to change the message of the series from "Corporatism is bad" to "Japanese takeovers of corporations (and America!) is bad!". And that was ages ago. So maybe I've been naively giving him the benefit of the doubt all these years.
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Both Frank Miller's RoboCop 2 and RoboCop 3 scripts had been drastically re-written. Frank Miller's RoboCop 2 script was drastically re-written by Walon Green into what became the RoboCop 2 (1990) film. Frank Miller accepted the job of writing RoboCop 3, hoping that his ideas for RoboCop 2 would make it into the second sequel. Miller took major themes for the plot from his original 1988 RoboCop 2 script. But his script was drastically altered again, this time by director Fred Dekker into what became the RoboCop 3 (1993) film. “[Working on RoboCop 2 and 3] I learned the same lesson,” Frank Miller said in 2005. “Don’t be the writer. The director’s got the power. The screenplay is a fire hydrant, and there’s a row of dogs around the block waiting for it.” Frank Miller's own script ideas for RoboCop 2 and RoboCop 3 was released in comic book form called Frank Miller's RoboCop, illustrated by Juan Jose Ryp and published by Avatar Press in 2007, and there is no Japanese villains in Frank Miller's RoboCop at all.

As for Holy Terror, basically, Frank Miller sees al-Qaeda terrorists as fitting villains for a comic book, like superheroes have fought Nazis in the comics. Frank Miller said that, "The issue here is not a religion." Frank Miller didn't slander all Muslims as terrorists. Holy Terror is about a superhero fighting al-Qaeda terrorists, not Islam. There is a radical form of Christianity as a motivation within Nazism called Aryan Positive Christianity, but Nazi's are not considered true Christians by many people of Christian faith. There is a radical form of Islam as a motivation within al-Qaeda called Martyrdom Jihadism, but al-Qaeda terrorists are not considered true Muslims by many people of Islamic faith. Al-Qaeda use Islam to manipulate, control, make their followers believe they are doing Allah's work. They use the faith of Islam as a motivation and justification for their actions. Terrorism is unIslamic and deplorable. Many Muslims denounce the al-Qaeda terrorists as not truly representing Islam.
http://kurzman.unc.edu/islamic-statements-against-terrorism/
In Holy Terror a Muslim woman is even depicted making a peace sign.
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A leader of the al-Qaeda cell in Holy Terror is an Irishman who makes it clear that he's in al-Qaeda for the money, and obviously isn't even of Islamic faith. It would also be extremely ridiculous to accuse Frank Miller of being against Irish people, since it's a known fact that Frank Miller himself is of Irish decent.
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Judging from Frank Miller's November 11th, 2011, Anarchy post on his website about the Occupy movement, referencing the streets of Oakland, an unruly mob, rapes, he must have seen the reports of the shooting, vandalizing and looting in Oakland and the rapes reported on Occupy camp grounds in New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Baltmore, Dallas.
http://www.baycitizen.org/law/story/store-owner-waiting-looters-pay/
http://michellemalkin.com/2011/11/03/more-ugly-occupy-oakland-pictures-that-wont-make-msm-front-pages/
http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message1700634/pg1
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/12/oakland-police-plead-occupy-protesters_n_1090333.html
http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/occupy-oakland-protesters-vandalize-banks-grocery-store/question-2260055/
http://publicola.com/2011/10/18/man-arrested-with-gun-at-occupy-protests-was-wearing-army-fatigues-militia-patch/
http://abcnews.go.com/US/sexual-assaults-occupy-wall-street-camps/story?id=14873014#.UDTjFt2PX3M
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2011/11/occupy-philly-rape-arrest.html
http://cleveland.cbslocal.com/2011/10/18/occupy-cleveland-protester-alleges-she-was-raped/
http://lunaticoutpost.com/Topic-Child-raped-at-Occupy-Dallas
http://www.humanevents.com/2011/11/05/occupy-movements-disturbing-reaction-to-rape/
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/nyc-reporter-stays-night-at-occupy-wall-st-scary-place-where-rape-threat-is-very-real/
Frank Miller has never been an anarchist, nor a supporter of anarchy. Frank Miller didn't glorify the anarchistic rioters in The Dark Knight Returns. Frank Miller depicts Gordon and Batman opposing them and restoring order. Batman's even compared to the Gestapo by one of the anarchistic rioters.
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Honestly I've never read it more than...twice, I think. Maybe three times. Whereas I've read shorter ones like The Long Halloween, Dark Victory, Year One, The Man Who Laughs, The Killing Joke, Joker, etc. multiple times.

And honestly it's not the length that really keeps me from reading it. I read Watchmen every year, for instance. It's just not very compelling.
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I've read it countless times and it's still compelling to me. As they say, to each their own.
 
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Nice!

Looks like a late february release date for Part 2 as usual.
 
Pfeiffer-Pfan said:
Well I don't think the documentary painted him in an overtly angelic light...
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theMan-Bat said:
Yeah, in the featurette Batman and Me: The Bob Kane Story, Jerry Robinson said Bob Kane was a supreme egotist. Bob Kane's biographer Tom Andrae said that Bob Kane was a compulsive womanizer, a hedonist.

Also, Bob Kane's widow Elizabeth Kane, Tom Andrae, Jerry Robinson and Paul Levitz all credited Bill Finger as the original writer of Batman. Paul Levitz also stated that Bob Kane had turned to Bill Finger from the very beginning as the writer during the creation of Batman.
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Hmm, I need to break out my Gotham Knight and re-watch it because I thought they had glossed over Finger's contribution to the character and I really just remember a Kane interview from promotion of Burton's first Bat film.
 
Baramos said:
Honestly I've never read it more than...twice, I think. Maybe three times. Whereas I've read shorter ones like The Long Halloween, Dark Victory, Year One, The Man Who Laughs, The Killing Joke, Joker, etc. multiple times.

And honestly it's not the length that really keeps me from reading it. I read Watchmen every year, for instance. It's just not very compelling.
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Long Halloween and Dark Victory were short?????? What are you smoking?
 
I prefer this Batman: The Dark Knight Returns figure by Mattel...
batmandarkknightreturns.jpg

...over the two bulkier, Jay Leno chinned figures previously released by DC Direct, both of which have the same body sculpt with very little articulation so their stuck in the same hunched, crouched, bent legged position, dependent on the knee articulation just to stand and leaves you without another possible display option, which makes Batman look shorter than other figures, and the two DC Direct Batman figures just have a different paint variant between them, the more recent one featuring bright blue rather than black. In comics the blue is used as light reflecting on a black surface. Superman's hair isn't really blue, Batman's costume isn't really blue.
batmandarkknightreturnsu.jpg
frankmillerbatman.jpg
 
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Hahaha Long Halloween isn't Knightfall or No Man's Land thick but it's a damn nice sized read.
 
So has this come out yet?? I can't find it anywhere, to download or rent
 
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns - Part 1 is premiering on September 20th at the Paley Center in New York City, New York, and on September 24th there will be a second premiere at the Paley Center in Los Angeles, California. It's coming out on DVD and Blu-ray on September 25th.
 
So give it ten to twelve days, it'll be available by torrenting.
 
The animation is just so superb. :)
 
Just realized, that is DEFINITELY where Nolan got inspiration for Batman's return.
 
How I love the shot of Batman in the lightning filled sky.
 
The clip on YouTube...

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