New Times, New Heroes : Ambiguity, Socio-Political Issues and Post Modernism in Frank Miller's Graphic Novel The Dark Knight Returns

• Main Author: Axelsson, Jan
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Karlstads universitet, Estetisk-filosofiska fakulteten 2013
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-27203

Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns is one of the first graphic novels to redraw the map for this kind of literature but perhaps first and foremost for the characteristics of superheroes and villains. It is a story which we have read before in the sense that Batman, the eternal crime fighter, chases his arch enemies Two Face and the Joker, but it is also a new story in which we meet an ambiguous and complex superhero. Batman has become an old man tormented by his past, in which his side kick Robin died, and the present, where he is forbidden to operate under his alias. It is also a story of a corrupt and inept government and its errand boy, Superman.  In my analysis I have focused on how Miller has changed the superhero and made him more complex than we are used to see. For instance does a super hero have to have superpowers or is it enough to be super-potential?  Furthermore I will show how socio- realism and socio-political issues, such as a corrupt government, have crossed over to comics. My conclusion is that this old Batman has gone from a young crime fighter to an old anarchist and altruist. The fact is that there are no clear borders or lines between good or bad, crime fighter and villain, the characters, and comics, are no longer in black and white but more brought forth in different shades of grey.