Batman: The Dark Knight: Master Race

I was pretty disillusioned after TDKSA, so I didn't have very high expectations going into this one. I really was pleasantly surprised (with a small exception) by this book. I liked that I was able to follow the plot without any research, since it's been a while since I was caught up with my comic reading, and I liked the team-up aspects. I loved seeing the characters which so defined my early life (Atom! Hal!) and reading about them doing what they do best. I assumed it would be a set up and story arc with an eventual net-zero ending, and that was perfectly ok with me.

I heard a lot of buzz about these books from my 'sister geeks' (i.e. other female gamer/comic nerds) that they hated that FM can't/won't(?) write positive female characters (or that he's a misogynist or whatever). For my dime, though, I knew going in that it was going to be testosterone soaked and looking for positive female role models wasn't going to happen.

My small(ish) grumble about the book is the hit-or-miss art. It's so variable that I found myself actually yanked out of the story at several points.

All in all ... enjoyable, especially for someone who isn't a currently super-engaged comics fanatic (I fell out of the habit in grad school, and haven't really ever gotten back into it, since my local comics shop is about 4 hours away *sigh*). I could follow the players without having to resort to looking anything up and the story made sense to me without having to ask for back info.

Three and a half stars from me

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher.

I am a fan of alot of FMillers work and Azzarellos for that matter, and I happen to love both both Millers previous dark knight books. I agree they are totally different from each other but to me they are indispensable for different reasons. Ive heard alot of negative reviews for DK2 and I understand a little why some may not have dug that, but if you happen to of liked them both, then this is a must own....and if you didnt like DK2, U may be able to love Master Race as its not as Wild, but I put it right up there with the best of any of Millers work...of course DK1 could never be surpassed, that'd be like saying a remake of the back to the future movie could be better than the original....or a re-make of karate Kid could be better than the original,,,,o wait they did that one....and no, its hard to beat pure diamonds

Better than DKR 2 (But could anything be worse than that mess?), but not as good as the original. This is almost a World's Finest comic, focusing mainly on Batman and Superman. Some of the characters were very one dimensional, especially all the villains. The text speak drove me nuts. I had to translate each line in my head to English and none of it ultimately matters to the story. Frank Miller's art in the backups is wildly inconsistent. The early issues which weren't inked look like blown up thumbnails. The lack of detail is awful. But once Klaus Jansen comes in to do inks, Miller's art becomes much more palatable. Andy Kubert knocks it out of the park. He's got this nice, concise style and once Klaus Janson inks it, it does remind you of the art in Dark Knight Returns.

Of course there was no real need for a third Dark Knight go-round, but dollar signs always prevail. This time Frank Miller has enlisted writer Brian Azarello and artist Adam Kubert; rather than both enriching the tale with their undeniable talents, both have been turned in work that is less than their best.
I liked the idea of the denizens of the bottle city of Kandor being enlarged and wreaking havoc on Earth. I did not like the usual lame political satire (this time lame textspeak has been added to the mix), the brutal, invincible Batman, the cruel twists played on iconic DC characters and most of all I hated the fill-in chapters, especially those drawn by Frank Miller with what appears to be fat color crayons. Dark Knight: The Master Race contains some of the worst art I have ever seen in mainstream comics and also chunks of the worst writing ever.
This could have been a decent miniseries, instead it careens from competent to god awful.
Recommended only for completists.

From the Casa de Pitsiladis blog:

It's no secret that I'm a big Batman fan.  In the past couple of weeks, a continuation of the Frank Miller classic, The Dark Knight Returns, was released.  It takes place well after Bruce Wayne faked his death in a fight against Superman.  Superman has disappeared from the world, and Wonder Woman is busy leading the the stores of Themyscira and raising her children.  Her eldest daughter, Lara, goes to visit the frozen form of her father in his Fortress of Solitude, when she receives a distress message from the bottled up city of Kandor.  She takes the city to an expert in resizing people and things -- Dr. Ray Palmer, AKA The Atom -- to figure out a way to rescue the miniaturized citizens and return them to their correct height.  When Dr. Palmer succeeds, he is horrified to find that those he resized are members of a Kryptonian cult whose aim is to subjugate the Earth with themselves as the gods and goddesses.  Standing in the way are Batman and other members of the Justice League, who are pulled back into the fray.  Sadly, Lara, is convinced by the cult leader to join them in their conquest of the planet.  Can Earth's heroes stop a large group of crazed Kryptonians, or is this humanity's final hour?

When it comes to the Frank Miller penned Batman comics, they tend to be hit or miss.  I have enjoyed his later Batman stories with an elderly Bruce Wayne still doing his best to be a hero.  They tend to be much darker and more violent, but it fits the story format.  The Kryptonian cult make excellent villains and the way they pull Superman and Wonder Woman's daughter to their side works well.  You get a feeling of helplessness in the beginning of the story as you see what the cult members do to take out the heroes, and that is a major part of what makes this a very compelling tale.  I had a hard time putting it down, but a person needs to sleep sometime, right?  :)

I definitely recommend this graphic novel to any and all DC Comics and Batman fans.  It is well worth the read.

NOTE: I am going to throw a SPOILER WARNING disclaimer here, even though I AM NOT going to intentionally speak on any specific plot points. I am not sure how much of this story was "pre-advertised" or how many characters that are in the story are common knowledge. So, I may mention a character or two by name, and if that constitutes a spoiler, then you have been warned.

This is a beautifully bound edition of the newest arc in the Dark Knight saga. This edition contains all the side stories in the proper reading order. Admittedly, it starts off a little slow with Miller bringing you back into his universe. He then artfully lays out the backdrop of the story and sets all the players in motion. Once it takes off, this is a fantastic tale that truly builds on the other books in this series. Having originally read Miller's Dark Knight when it was released in the 80s, it was fun to jump back into this world where every character has their own arc, their own story to tell, and in the end, their own vital part to play in this story. By the time it was over, I found myself craving a full-on Justice League book written by Miller.

The art is fantastic! The combination of Miller and Kubert is a match made in heaven. My only issue with the art is that Kubert does not draw female faces very well (at least to my liking) and it seemed to me that he was hiding Wonder Woman's face for the entirety of her arc. Heavy shadows and bizarre "camera angles" had me scratching my head from time-to-time. Maybe that's just me though. Otherwise, I loved what he brought to the book. It was a sometimes quirky style that works well in this world.

I knew nothing about this book before reading it. I had not read any of the solicitations or promo pieces about it. I actually didn't expect to like it (thinking that Miller might have lost his touch over the years). I was more than pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this story. One of the few that really "stuck with me" after reading it. The potential for this world is unlimited.

Speaking of "this world" Miller sets things up to allow himself to branch off in a lot of different directions and develop a completely unique "Miller-verse" inside the existing DC Universe. I know I would pay to read it.

An insatiably readable entry in the Dark Knight series, and in the world of DC Comics. This story takes the universe crafted decades ago by Frank Miller and extends it, spreading to other characters in the DC canon.

The the storeians enter the Dark Knight world here, as do the Lanterns. There is unforgettable imagery in this book, most notably a panel in which we see characters descending through the clouds of Gotham, pushing through the Batsignal. The overall effect is absolutely cinematic, and the impressive visuals add to the engaging plot.

Highly recommended.

Story: A lot happens, it’s just shy of 400 pages and has almost ten different characters it follows, each with their own section so yeah a lot happens. Three years after the events of Strikes Again Carrie is masquerading as Batman and proclaiming he’s dead. Superman is frozen sitting on a chair in the fortress. Wonder Woman is raising yet another offspring of Superman’s while their daughter Lara acts like a spoiled child. Green Lantern went back to his weird dimension place. The Flash is off running around and the Atom soon gets tricked by Lara and the tiny Kryptonians living in the tiny city of Kandor. And Batman is not dead just really, really old. Ray Palmer works on a way to use this tech to make the Kandorians back to normal size unfortunately the ones that worked with Palmer were part of a weird cult and as soon as they were normal size destroyed Kandor, messed with Palmers suit and make him microscopic, and then proceeded to take over the Earth because they think are gods compared to the lowly humans of Earth. The leader demands our unconditional surrender, Batman comes out with an astounding Go to Hell. They destroy Moscow, threaten Gotham, and think they can defeat the Wonder Woman and the other the stores, ha! Lots of fighting a shocking appearance by Aquaman and Green Lantern gets his hand cut off. Like I said so much happens and a really good ending.

Art: Okay so here’s the deal I really do not like Frank Miller’s style of art. I think Strikes Again would have been exponentially better if he hadn’t of done the art for it. Thankfully he doesn’t do all of it in this one and what he does do is better than what was in Strikes Again. Miller’s artistic contributions are Batgirl #1, Lara #1, Green Lantern #1 with John Romita Jr., World’s Finest #1, Strange Adventures #1, and Detective Comics #1 all with Alex Sinclair doing coloring. Edwardo Risso and Trish Mulvihill do the Wonder Woman #1 and Andy Kubert, Klaus Janson and Brad Anderson illustrate, very nicely, the rest of the Master Race series. Kurbert and Risso manage to keep the look and the feel of the characters in Miller’s style without it looking like trash.

Review: Aside from it being the whole evil Kryptonian trying to take over the world story line I enjoyed it even though it reminded me of that episode of Supergirl and that one of Lois and Clark except darker, much darker and better because this one has Batman. I like Miller’s writing a whole heck of a lot more than his art. I love how dark it gets, and Carrie who goes from Robin to Catgirl, to Batgirl and ends with Batwoman. I love her character she has an unwavering loyalty and love for Batman and along with Superman she knows him best. The ending, no spoilers, but I loved how it ended. Oh my. The Green Lantern story was weird and I don't think it was all that necessary it just seemed like filler.

Love this book! Kubert does a great job of capturing the tone of the old book, and Azzarello does a great job polishing up Miller's rough edges. Definitely a step up from The Dark Knight Strikes Again.

The original Dark Knight series made such an impact that it changed the art of comic storytelling forever. On the other hand, the Dark Knight II series was like watching a train wreck. This story redeems the mess that was DK II and ties up a great deal of things concerning the fates of many heroes in that continuity.

If I had one criticism, it would be that Batman does not truly dominate the story. The action and “screen time” is split fairly well between Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Robin/Batwoman. Batman had most of the scene-stealing moments though.

This is a great story about heroes overcoming an almost hopeless situation.

Wow this work is just incredible. This is definitely the best work on Batman released by DC for the year 2017; I think it would be up there with some of the best works on Batman. This is the third volume in the famous Dark Knight Saga by Frank Miller, with the first one titled The Dark Knight Return and the second titled The Dark Knight Strikes Again. With the release of Batman: The Dark Knight: Master Race it has been thirty one years since the first one began. That’s thirty one year since Frank Miller wrote a story that has shaped Batman’s narrative and also have influenced the movies about Batman. This third work is epic in the same fashion as The Dark Knight Return.
At the beginning of the story events are rather chaotic; Batman has not been seen for some time and suddenly someone like Batman appears only for it to turn out to be a woman. This story is about an older Batman who originally had his assistant Carrie Kelley pretending to be Batman and caught so she can say Batman has been dead. In this storyline people know that Bruce Wayne is Batman. But just as Batman wishes to be left alone something is brewing that threatens Gotham and the whole world. We see the rise of alien members from Kandor led by Quar in the plot for domination over planet Earth. Like Superman these aliens are Kryptonians although unlike Superman they don’t have the appreciation for mankind on Earth. With such big threat the problem evident early on is that Batman is old; and not just old like in The Dark Knight Return but much older and walking around with crutches. Everything before the introduction of the aliens prepares readers mentality to think that Batman has had more than his share of battle scars and beating upon his body. Thus begins a new adventure of Batman getting other superheroes to fight the new threat and also Batman himself getting involved personally in the fight.
I love the angle of how this is a much more older Batman who seeks helps much more quickly than a younger Batman. We see other superheroes such as Superman, Wonder Woman, Atom, the Green Lantern and the Flash. We don’t only see their strengths but also their limitations and at times even their weaknesses or their folly. There’s a big theme here about these superheroes not being God that I thought was really profound. It is found throughout the volume and gets more pronounced towards the end of the book. For instance in the beginning a Kryptonian asked Atom what he meant by the phrase “God willing” that suggested the Kryptonian name Baal (what a name) was slightly triggered. Atom explains what the phrase means; it seems to be a sign of things to come. Then during the more climatic part of the book we read on page 258 Superman saying something rather profound: “Faster than a speeding bullet…is too slow. More powerful than a locomotive…isn’t strong enough. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound…C’mon. Look, up in the sky…I do. And pray to the Lord that I grew up believing in. Because I’m not a bird or a plane…I’m only superman.” What a line! It’s not just Superman, Green Lantern towards the end of the story also recover from a pretty low point for him by realizing he’s not god. This is a tale of what happens when one thinks they are gods and also how heroes need to know that they themselves are not gods. Fascinating theological point.
There’s so much that’s rich with this story. I also thought it was interesting seeing this being an epic story that is cosmic in scale, involving not just only Earth and Kryptonians but also a battle with Wonder Woman and the the storeians. I love how the story also show the fickleness of people’s opinions when the citizens of Gotham went from one moment hating Batman and wanting him dead to the next moment joining in his vigilantism against all odds against the aliens which is really the people partaking in what makes Batman Batman. This is classic Frank Miller except at a more epic scale of the people joining in! I love how the Graphic Novel also has one of the theme being the story about Batman and Wonder Woman’s child and how she struggles with things teenagers could relate to; but yet this is not cheesy but in a real way shows that her parents cared about her and also the folly of youth. The theme of partnership is also something in this book not only with Batman and Superman, or Wonder Woman and Superman since they love each other but also Batman with what would later be Batwoman (as opposed to “Bat girl”). I love one of the painting of Batman and Batwoman towards the end of the book that echoes the cover of The Dark Knight Returns. Truly artistic use of “echoes.”
Again as I said there’s so much in this story that makes it so epic. I recommend it and give this book a five out of five.
NOTE: This book was provided to me free by DC Comics and Net Galley without any obligation for a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.

'Batman: The Dark Knight: Master Race'written by Frank Miller and Brian Azzarello with art by Klaus Janson, Andy Kubert and others includes all nine main issues as well as the nine tie-in issue. At 376 pages, it's a lot of comic, but is it any good?

Following up after The two previous Dark Knight series, this time around Carrie (the Robin from the first series) is all grown up and patrolling Gotham dressed as Batman, because apparently Batman is dead, but this feels like a feint. When a group of Kryptonians threatens the planet, it's going to take more than Carrie and an aging Bruce Wayne to stop them.

This is not strictly a Batman story. It includes members of the Justice League and others, but at it's core, it follows the Batman characters.

I own and love the original Dark Knight. I was less crazy about the odd second part. This one loses some of the darkness and hyperviolence and even feels like it ends on a note of hope. It's a different feeling for this series, but I liked it quite a bit.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from DC Entertainment and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

Batman, The Dark Knight: Master Race by Frank Miller & Brian Azzarello et. al. is a free NetGalley ebook that I read in early September.

Call me a lover of consistency, but Frank Miller's renditions of DC heroes can run the gamut of being depicted as portly, chesty, high-art, stark monochrome, misshapen and underproofed loafy, and porous fleshy. It becomes all the more apparent when the worlds of Gotham City and Metropolis build to a chaotic mass of speech, text, and mass media response during a crime wave inflicted by the children of gods/heroes of Kandor (aka the Master Race) that's barely being held at bay by earthbound DC heroes and their own fairly dysfunctional children.

Pretty good. The main sticking point for me is how there will be a story for the proposed fourth installment. Things seem to be worked out quite well, and this would be a fitting ending for the series.

Did read it in 30 minutes, the rhythm isn't rushed but it moves fast. Of course it ain't as good as the original one, but it's far better then the DK2 bust. I tell you all, read it in a single read, rushed as it seems. It'lll leave an impression.

God in heaven this was a horrible story. The antagonist was boring. The art was good, but there was nothing original, no poignant moments like when Batman almost died at the end of issue 3 in DKR. There really are no words to describe how bad this was, although I must say, I enjoyed the art somewhat.

Wow, DKR IS a classic and I'd put this one right there, this is a epic story that really furthers the story and erases the bad taste left by dk2, I was really pleased with this book and won't go into spoilers but this is one of the few new graphic novels well worth the price. I look forward to Frank's take on Superman year one later

The world made me hesitant on this book. But I still had to know. And sitting, reading this collected as opposed to waiting from issue to issue and buying into all those bad comments...I had one of the best nights ever. I walked away from Master Race, wanting more of Miller's Dark Knight Universe. He touches briefly on characters that makes me wonder what else he could do. And I was in the camp that Dark Knight Returns was an untouchable classic--and while I don't know if I can rightly proclaim that Miller has matched Returns, Master Race is the best kind of sequel in that it warrants its existence and opens the world up for more--if we might be so blessed.

I had come under the impression that Miller had become a curmudgeon in his old age--jaded, and out of touch, but that's based on what others had typed errantly on the Twitterverse. He's in touch, and this isn't a grumpy old man, but a hopeful tale that ranks as one of the best Justice League tales. I will always imagine Dark Knight Returns as 'in continuity' that once Batman ages--this is his tale and Master Race expands upon that to include more of the Justice League.

So I'll leave one more final bit of praise, and perhaps I've overhyped this tale but when I read this, I realized how bad other comics that I 'LIKE' actually are. Miller gets the combination of words and pictures...and the history of characters. So maybe, if you don't enjoy this, you've missed out only have a vague impression of what these characters have stood for and fought for.

Yes. More. Please.