I'm not going to expect much from it since Miller went crazy with All Star Batman and Robin and Holy Terror was a big middle finger to the Muslim American community.

The Dark Knight Strikes Again was something really strange when I first read it, but got to accept it more as the years went on.

I'm sort of curious what they'd do with it considering Who could they use as villians or what exactly would happen?

My first thought would be the next generation of heroes. The ones who took out Luthor and Brainiac. Analogies for millennials and the present state of DC comics, perhaps. Which would only be escalating the things DKR already predicted, and DKSA alluded to.

[Reposted from Official Comic Collector Spot]:

Well, it's good they're getting others to illustrate. Frank's art went down over the years and it almost looked like he was drawing like a kindergartner with The Dark Knight Strikes Again.

DK2 was dogshit so I'm not expecting much.

What didn't you like about it?

It reads like bad fanfic. Should have been titled Frank Miller's Justice League Clusterfuck, the art is substantially worse than it's predecessor. The entire thing seemed like a cash grab. Frank Miller lost his fucking mind around around 2000 and has never really recovered from it.

I can understand grousing about the wacky CG colors, spartan layouts and all that, but I've always viewed it as a pretty logical sequel.

I think it delivers on what Dark Knight Returns implied and promised. I don't think it was the surprising right angle a lot of readers seem to feel it was. [The rethink has been happening, mind you]. DKR is Batman banging the pots and pans, making all the noise in a crummy future-present without superheroes. He teaches the one hero still around a lesson. He goes underground and plans for the next phase of their return.

DK2 is the next phase. It's juggling a lot of angles, but a lot of them are informed by DKR. The grim world of DKR's dirty streets, TV and politics gives way to the shiny, shallow excesses of the chromium 90s. The old heroes are still dealing with their DKR predicaments, and that facilitates the story of the ugly new generation of heroes who shoot first. The push and pull and friction of the Silver Age and the Image era, with the concluding acceptance for the uses of that present.

Superhero comics have thrived for decades as serial. DKR pretty well told you what to expect. I think DK2 is far too aware of its characters and through lines to be accused of being "fan-fic". It's definitely not your papa's Justice League, though. It's not the isolated arc of Batman kicking the doors down on a crumbling heroless world, either.

Seems reasonable to assume DKIII will revisit generational themes.

Tough to know for sure where we go from here, but if you look around, I can certainly pick up some ideas. If you draw from the present culture, the state of comics, and Miller's experiences since DK2, I think a logical way to go is probably in reverse. The children turning on their heroes, burning the past, and creating an inverted DKR style oppression under the dominance of the all looming superhero. A reversal.

If DK2 and its September 11th culture shock ended with an acceptance and embracing of the 90s era violent heroes, I wouldn't be surprised if DKIII doubles back on 'How bad can it be?' to determine 'It got a whole lot worse.
I'd have to think Azzarello will steady the art [vs DK2] and maybe even make it feel a little bit more like a modern DKR, at least. Broken City certainly had that vibe. Hopefully that will placate some of the issues.

What ever we get, I think the safe bets are: It will make logical sense. A noisy hunk of audience will immediately hate it.

Whether or not it makes logical sense is irrelevant when almost every aspect of the book was so poorly handled. The story gets progressively sillier with each turn of the page. The tonal shift between these books is jarring especially when read back to back. There was no real logical or creative reason to return to this version of Batman other than for DC to make more money because they can't think of anything remotely compelling or new. Its the same mindset they gave us Before Watchmen. I wouldn't be surprised if they started churning out V for Vendetta sequels next. If DK3 is good, I will gladly eat my words, but based on it's predecessor and Frank Miller's other work in the last decade, there isn't a lot to get excited about.

To my knowledge, Miller's never made any bones about superhero comics being serialized. The Dark Knight Returns literally tells you there's more Batman adventures after the final page. It was created with that implicit message. Same Bat-time, same Bat-publisher. That's why the logical continuation very much matters.

If a reader wants to believe it's a single, shining, untouchable tome - that's pretty much on them. DK2 might wobble on the tracks as it picks up super steam, but it's still a logical continuation, and a fulfillment of a grit-toothed Dark Knight promise. The reader can ignore the sequel(s) and choose only to regard the first, but it's a lot harder to criticize it for being inconsistent, or somehow more cynical an exercise in commerce than the much higher selling (still published) progenitor.

I'd argue something similar about Moore's Watchmen - which, if read with any foreknowledge, is pretty forthcoming about its relationship with comic serials. The difference being: Watchmen's slightly open conclusion is punctuation, and Moore himself has nothing to do with the new projects, nor has he made real overtures toward making them.

Miller may not want to sit at the drafting table for months on end anymore, but he's still the drive train for all this stuff, and it all fits.

Sometimes sequels aren't just more of what you already saw. Sometimes they make a tonal shift and explore something new. That's certainly par for the course in comics (movies, less so). In the case of DK2: the first story was all about kicking the gates of restraint down. We knew what was going to come bursting out.

Gotta think DKIII will be somewhere between the two, maybe leaning more toward DKR in terms of tone. So, while none of this is to say you can't dislike Strikes Again, you'll also be free to enjoy Master Race if you want to, as well. Comfortable in the knowledge of what's coming.

- DC Reveals First "Dark Knight III: The Master Race" Cover



Great image, but I dunno how much value there is in the callback. Store variant by Dave Johnson (from a sketch by Jim Lee).

Wonder Woman by Eduardo Risso, from the mini-comic bundled with December's "Dark Knight III: The Master Race" #2. - @CBR

I always liked the DK2 bike shorts Wonder Woman look. Wish Risso was drawing the whole thing, though.

To revive the thread, the first issues came the day before Thanksgiving. It's neat how Frank managed to incorporate recent things in his works considering DKR was an 80's stoy, DKSA a 90's and 2000's tale and DK 3 is in the 2000s.

The ending to the first issue I was surprised and pleased, that's all I'm going to say.