Thursday, January 20, 2011

Comics From My Youth: The Dark Knight Returns


I've been compiling a visual catalog of important comics I read in my youth for fun, and putting them up on my Super-Duper Facebook lately (click the link at the top right of this blog to Be My Good Friend). Naturally, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (DC, 1986) needed to be in there- it was the first graphic novel I ever read, and in the midst of "Bat-Mania" at the end of the 80's, it set my imagination on fire. As you can see by the picture above, it received A LOT of attention. From what I understand, this is a reprint from, with a variant cover design by Chip Kidd.

The artwork was somewhat avante-garde compared what I was used to, almost loosely sketched in some parts, and the storytelling validated my belief that comics were a form of high art. I'm not going to attempt a thesis on the publication here- there are other blogs for that. After fellow toy blogger Jason recently began posting some comics from childhood, I thought I'd share some of the comics from my younger days. I've done a little of this, but wanted to show some more in 2011. It's so strange to find myself reading comics & collecting action figures at the age of thirty-eight... if you told me I'd be doing this five months ago, I would have laughed in your face. Yet here I am, quite deeply in love with all over again...

If you haven't read this book for whatever reason, please do yourself a favor. I was talking with Hubba Bubba the other night about the fact that nearly every action figure collector we know has a thing for Batman- he's the favorite. I mean, am I right or am I right?


*Read a review on this book at ComicsBulletin.Com!
*New Readers...Start Here blog! Very interesting to me as I had been away from comics all my adult life until recently and have missed a lot.
*Hilarious blog, Comics Make No Sense ...really funny!

5 comments:

  1. ...well, ther ya have it Kids- right from The Horse's Mouth :D

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  2. Frank Miller got the whole world to sit up and take note of THE BATMAN because of this :) too bad the long awaited sequel couldn't do the same but still, BEST Batman comic ever!

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  3. Thanks for the shout out! Batman is tied for my favorite comic character with The Punisher. In my opinion, they are pretty much the same. Both are vigilantes, but Frank Castle is out for blood. Franks wife and kids were mowed down by the mob, and Bruce's parents were killed right in front of him. I can go on and on, but I'm sure everyone here knows what I'm talkin' about, even Willis. :)

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