My Knight in Shining Armor

In comparing The Dark Knight Returns to the Batman Chronicles, they might as well be two separate stories that have nothing to do with each other. That’s an exaggeration but the disparity in depth is huge. It is obvious that character and plot development are what makes them so different from each other. Looking at just Batman’s character in The Dark Knight Returns, the scope in which we see him, but also think about him is complex. The first panels of the book open with an internal monologue that carries on throughout the rest of the book. I think this monologue is one of the crucial elements of the book that provide depth. It shows us the inner workings of Batman’s mind and that alone engages the reader and creates investment because it’s almost as if you know him. Another aspect that I felt added depth was the fact that the story started later on in Bruce Wayne’s life; I was really thrown off that he was so old. Even so that gave Frank Miller the opportunity to explain what was going on, what had happened, things that were never even almost touched on in the Batman Chronicles. The artistry from comic to comic also differs greatly. The illustrations in The Batman Chronicles are so simple—I don’t mean unskilled in anyway, just that illustration-wise, there’s nothing too crazy. I will say that the panels are not exactly standard and all the same size which is interesting, but nothing too eye-catching. There are no big risks taken in the panels; a fair amount of the panels don’t show a detailed background but rather just a solid color. On the other end of the spectrum The Dark Knight Returns seems to have a slightly different panel layout on every page. If you could even set a standard perhaps it would be a 16-panel grid, but that’s every so often, and I don’t think ever a full 16 evenly spaced panels. The backgrounds are so much more detailed and real, the shadows and colors are unique in that they seem understated but in a meticulous way, somewhat washed out but still bright (if that makes sense!). Also there are tons of splash pages. Overall it’s just exponentially the better comic book.