Publisher's Weekly Review
Miller's 1986 graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns is one of the seminal postmodern American comics, its stylish, gritty take on Batman forever altering the way superhero stories are told. The widely panned 2001 sequel, The Dark Knight Strikes Again, was slapdash and self-indulgent, but at least an original punk riff on the previous comic and its imitators. For the third installment, Miller teams with a squadron of more grounded creators, primarily writer Azzarello (100 Bullets) and artist Kubert (X-Men). The result is a reasonably coherent and attractively drawn story that continues Miller's vision of Batman's later days. In a still-crime-ridden future Gotham, former sidekick Carrie Kelley has taken over for the elderly Bruce Wayne when superpowered Kryptonian cultists invade the Earth, bringing the old Justice League out of retirement and forcing Lara, the rebellious daughter of Superman and Wonder Woman, to choose a side. It's a competently executed comic book that lacks either the lightning-in-a-bottle brilliance of Returns or the neon-saturated looniness of Strikes Again. It's the last thing anyone could have expected from a Miller Batman comic with a Nazi reference in the title: forgettable. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
TITLE: Renewal of Hope DEK: Is the hotly anticipated sequel to Frank Miller's acclaimed Dark Knight Returns just another Batman comic? In 1986, Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns grabbed the reading world and threw it up against a brick wall, like a bat-clad vigilante roughing up a mugger. Returning an aging Bruce Wayne to Gotham City to face a brutal, apathetic society, Miller delivered cutting political and social satire that, along with contemporaries Watchmen and Maus, opened noncomics-readers' eyes to the potential of the form. Miller also delved deeper than ever before into the character's psyche, turning Batman from superhero into morally complex, emotionally troubled vigilante. In other words, he gave us the Batman we've been reading about for the last 31 years. So, the problem: if every Batman comic is now a Dark Knight Returns, isn't a new Dark Knight Returns just another Batman comic? While Miller's cover credit on the massively-hyped (and anticipated) Master Race is several times larger than his co-writer Brian Azzarello's, this is, in Miller's own words, Brian's version. In the storytelling, Azzarello clings tightly to Miller's ethos. Bruce Wayne is presumed dead. His sidekick, Carrie Kelly, has taken up his mantle. When another superhero, the Atom, accidentally frees a cult of Kryptonian nationalists, Wayne resurfaces. First order of business: mobilize Superman. Batman manipulates Gotham's mob mentality against the cultists, but matters are complicated when Superman and Wonder Woman's teenage daughter, Lara, is lured into the cult with a call to her otherworldly heritage. All heroes converge as the remaining Kryptonians engage Wonder Woman's fierce Amazon sisters in a battle both physically and emotionally punishing. There is grim, and there is gritty, in heaping doses, and Miller's objectivist, individual-over-society creed echoes in Commissioner Yindel's comments that humanity sucks and that the police are useless. It feels somewhat hollow, though, without Miller's animating libertarian anger, his probing psychological insight, his ambition. While he had no direct hand in the writing, Miller does provide art for nine backup stories, several inked by original collaborator Klaus Janson. Always distinctive, Miller has become hyperstylized. His figures are less bulky and craggy now but are yet more theatrical and viscerally carnal, their faces always solemn, their bodies always striking poses of physical extremity. Often floating against minimal backgrounds, they appear invincible to realistic forces like gravity and subtle emotion, exemplifying the artist's inclination to visual melodrama. It's Andy Kubert's main-story art that most fully evolves the original work's sensibilities. Kubert's lines mirror Miller's original figures, particularly the hulking, ever-looming Batman. He also pays homage to Miller's compositions by cutting larger images with smaller panels, fracturing the narrative with stark details: a bloodied fist, a bruised face, a TV commentator's hyperbolic grin. Kubert pulls away from Miller's extreme page density, though, and opens things up, allowing the images to detonate dynamically on the page. While distancing it from Miller's street-level story, this does serve Master Race's less grounded scope. Eventually, Azzarrello does pull back somewhat from the grindingly morose Batman and hands things off to Superman. This ultimately is what most distinguishes Master Race from Batman's previous incarnations Azzarrello allows on a uncommon theme in today's superhero climate, the renewal of hope. Though conceived as a narrative representation of hope and inspiration, the superhero has lately been wallowing in pitiless nihilism. Miller's original Dark Knight, along with Moore and Gibbons's Watchmen, ushered in this era as they cultivated a more nuanced and sophisticated approach. Subsequently, though, it has not always proven the most comfortable fit (I'm looking at you, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice). Azzarello satisfyingly reclaims a dollop of hope from beneath the glacial battlefields and the stomping feet of blood-crazed hordes. The strongest emotional beats go to two young, female protagonists as they struggle through their relationships with towering father-figures Carrie Kellie as she grows from Robin to Batgirl to Batwoman, and Lara as she comes to understand her parents' values. The book's most heartfelt passage is one of the Miller-drawn backups featuring Lara's emotionally fraught combat with her mother, Wonder Woman.Readers seeking operatic stories of dysfunctional superheroes beating each other to a bloody pulp won't be disappointed, though the attempt to recapture the original Dark Knight experience is by far the most worn out, least interesting part of this follow-up. Rather, it's the moments when Master Race transcends its darksome roots in favor of an unfamiliar and revitalizing optimism that make it fully come alive.--Karp, Jesse Copyright 2017 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Batman has gotten old, literally. That won't matter, though, when a group of Kryptonians, led by madman Quar, trick the Atom into releasing them and wreak havoc on Earth. Batman, along with sidekick Carrie Kelley, attempts to get help from Superman, who is reluctant to fight those from his home world. Batman then tries to get the old gang (Justice League) back together, receiving help from Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman. Things become complicated for Superman and Wonder Woman as they discover their daughter Lara fighting for Quar. Intense battles and excellent dramatic scenes make for a fun yet character-driven read. Miller's third chapter in his brilliant "Batman" series (after Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again) has his trademark pop culture, TV, and political references, beautiful artwork, styling, and coloring. Talented collaborators include Brian Azzarello (100 Bullets), Andy Kubert (Batman and Son), and Klaus Janson (Batman: Black and White). Verdict Miller and company have brought their best work to a continuation of one of the most iconic, groundbreaking story lines in superhero history. With the upcoming release of the Justice League film, this will be a terrific purchase for all libraries.-Jason L. Steagall, Gateway Technical Coll. Lib., Elkhorn, WI © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
