Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns has a
rather grim and serious tone, but there are moments of satire sprinkled
throughout that create some comic relief, although the humor is often dark. Some
of the humor comes from the news and the constant stream of bickering over what
to do about Batman. While this raises a lot of interesting questions about
Batman’s morality, it also pokes fun at the news in how it can be blunt and
matter-of-fact about coverage while also misleading and uninformed. The satire
also comes at the expense of Ronald Reagan and of course Superman who Frank
Miller despises. But for me, one perhaps unintentional funny aspect about this
comic was how Batman happens to be at the right place at the right time all the
time and how he purposefully goes out of his way to sneak attack people from
very unlikely places. For example, on page 28, Batman stops a near murder by
smashing his hand through the glass and then dragging the criminal through the
broken window. For me, this means that Batman was there behind the door just
waiting to stop the crime in the most dramatic way possible. Wouldn’t it have
been more logical and less risky for the life of the woman for Batman to try to
attack the man from behind rather than depend on the criminal happening to try
to murder the woman right in front of the door Batman was hiding behind? He
does something similar again on page 38 when his hand bursts through the floor
and he grabs the ankle of some guy and pulls him down saying “Welcome to Hell.”
It was just so theatrical that I couldn’t help but laugh. One of my personal
favorite times Batman did his trademark over-the-top sneak attack was when on
page 64 he explodes out from behind a wall and grabs a guy with a machine gun
from behind. While these tactics do work in striking fear in the hearts of his
enemies, I do wonder if there are not more effective ways to stop crime. There
is no denying that Batman has got style, even if his methods are a bit
ridiculous.
I think you're definitely on to something when you mention the fear that these rather ridiculous strategies instill. Part of any sci-fi/fantasy/fairy tale story is the suspension of disbelief, so I actually think it becomes quite easy to overlook Batman's perfect sense of timing, especially since the world of superheroes is already strewn with impossibilities. However, like I mentioned before, I think it is the fear aspect that is important here. Unlike Superman, Batman is an antihero who works from the shadows. He's a creature of the night who uses fear as his weapon. Like you said, his take-downs are rather theatrical. He makes a show of destroying his enemies. And, if you think about it, he takes them down in a very horror movie type style. You can almost imagine a character in a B-rate horror movie dying in the same fashion as Batman takes down his enemies.
ReplyDeleteMy argument in my blog post this week was also among the lines of what you're saying here. I would very much agree with you, many of Batman's moments are laughable as a result of how over-dramatic they are. I argued that I found Batman often corny, and that every scene is a climax in the story. While I argued that this comes mainly as a result of the panel composition, your argument here about Batman's comical behavior certainly serves towards the same idea.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you say here but I think the unusual attacks may be a product of ego and thrill seeking more than anything else. As we see in the opening panels of The Dark Knight Returns, Bruce Wayne is clearly a man with a death wish. I do not think he wants to defeat criminals efficiently, rather he wants to feel the rush of being the Batman again. I think the most notable example of this is when he chooses to exit the Batmobile/tank to fight a mutant hand to hand out of pride rather than staying in the seemingly invincible vehicle.
ReplyDeleteI agree, his methods are definitely ridiculous when there are much more simpler ways to handle the situation but in complicating the situation it gives him an extra adrenaline, I think he enjoys demonstrating what he's capable of.
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