Has Frank Miller lost his Batman voice?

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roughrider
After the milestones of The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One, it was great to see Miller return with DK2. It was very cool, building on things he hinted at in the first Dark Knight. But, his take on Batman had me scratching my head sometimes - it wasn't quite the same guy. Then I realized Miller has spent the last several years on Sin City, and I thought he was bringing a lot of Marv to Bruce. All the "Damn Straight! That was great, Kid!" type dialogue, plus the obsession with Batman's boot tread - just like Marv's combat boots - and the different take on Dick Grayson. He was warm and nostalgic for Dick in DK; now he teases him as a coward who "couldn't cut the mustard, Bunky!" To me, this isn't Bruce.
Looking at his current mini with Jim Lee, Miller's still doing it, spinning the car and saying "Hah! You're gonna love this kid!" and all that stuff. It's Marv in Batman's suit, I think.

The Ion
Maybe DC agrees with you. Rumor has it they made Frank do some re-writes and thats why AS Batman is taking so long.

Zarathustra
See, I didn't imagine anything in DK2 was to be taken seriously. This is the comic in which Hawk and Dove are flamboyanty gay, Green Arrow and the Question scream politics at eachother on a talk-show, and a CHURCH is founded worshipping Superman. It was more of a parody on DC than anything else.

roughrider
I know there was a lot of parody elements, but still...
And Lex Luthor was like a clone of Senator Roark; even with one screwed-up eyelid.

botcherby
I knew I didn't enjoy DK2 for some reason

Batman having taken in the mutant kids in DK, suddenly grew darker and more sinister in DK2? thats bull

Even his fight with Supes was retarded in DK2. I think it was more a story of how Batman manipulates people and spits in their face.

OtterVomit
I know DC made him re-write DK2 several times so who knows how far gone it was from what he originally had in mind. I have read that he has a DK3 in mind but who knows if they'll let him make it.

Lucid Lui
Obviously he's taking a very "Sin City" approach to Batman, but i also think he's just trying to do something different to the norm. DKR and Year One a both extremely good, imo, because they took such a different approach and showed Batman in a new light. I imagine that's what he's trying to do here aswell, it's just not flowing aswell.

That's my theory anyway... That or he's just lost it...

roughrider
Miller has also evolved as a writer. He was so good at spare dialogue and narration early on. If anyone ever read his early 80's work RONIN, it was very groundbreaking for not having a single thought balloon or narration bubble. All dialogue was spoken, and pages went by with no words at all. That was his style - to let the art tell as much story as possible. With Sin City, he got heavy into the running narrative style of hard-bolied Mickey Spillane and Raymond Chandler detective prose. The stories dribble over with words. He's kept that style back into the mainstream, and his Batman work now reads like a man who can't shut up.

Lucid Lui
Ronin. My all time favourite Miller work. Nothing beats it.

Anyway, All Star Batman's been all right so far. Hopefully it gets better though.

Bushwacker
DK2 started out ok, but went downhill quickly. I think Miller was just trying a different approach, but it was one that many people didn't like. I just hope it doesn't have the same impact on future Batman stories that DKR had. Dark Knight Returns created a new path for the writers that followed. There have been many stories written based on the future depicted in DKR. I hope this won't be the case with DK2.

xkalybr
Did I like DK2??? Yeah, it was okay. Not great.

I enjoyed book number 1 the best with the introduction of the Atom and his rescue from a petri dish. I enjoyed the concept of The Flash running inside of a generator, like a gerbil in a wheel, supplying the world with electricity. I enjoyed seeing Carrie Kelly grow up and take charge of Batman's growing army like the good little soldier she is. Seeing Superman get his butt kicked again by Batman and finding solace in the arms of his former lover and the mother of his daughter, Wonder Woman.

The rest of the stories were, in my opinion, all over the place. Going from one sub plot to another and then another. What is sad about that is that it made the character Batman just another figure in his own story. I wanted to see more of him and his struggles with his aging body, his ever calculating mind, his leadership towards others and that never ending fight inside him to fight crime.

That is why the 1st series, The Dark Knight Returns, was so successful. I knew what Batman was going through at all times and it was like I was also going through the same thing with him.

Oh, yeah... what is the deal with making Dick Grayson a bad guy, Joker wanna be, who is upset over being fired by Batman all those many years ago??? Kinda came out of left field with that sub plot.

As I stated in my title... this Dark Knight series lacks the richness of the 1st Dark knight series.

roughrider
Seen the issue of All-Star Batman with Black Canary; more Sin City lunacy going on...

Knightfall93
I heard some real crap about ASB&R ven though I haven't read any. Apparently Bruce actually says about Dick:
"I've had my eye on him for some time!" Is he a hero or an abusive paedophile in that series? Oh, and Miller looks like a pervert himself! Sigh, and Year One was so good! And what was that about Black Canary being a bar maid, I herad? Holy shit... I'm looking to hire a hitman/ woman to take that freak out... anyone ou there interested? LOL

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