Frank Miller isn't exactly what you'd call revered when it comes to Batman, and why not? Because he "blessed" us with All Star Batman and Robin, and the surprisingly okayish Batman: Year One, which no matter how okayish it was, paled compared to its legendary pseudo-sequels The Long Halloween, Dark Victory, and even Catwoman: When in Rome (of which he had nothing to do with any of them, thank god).
Onto the book itself: It's main flaw are the characters. While this interpretation of Batman stands out as being the most grizzled, square-chinned and impressively good at inner-monologues yet to be matched, it's about the only redeemable aspect concerning the character field. On the heroes side, you have the new Robin who feels more like a half-assed self-insert than an actual sidekick; Det. James Gordon, who, as expected, is the shining beacon in a den of corruption, but has absolutely no character value except just being there to show how awful this Bad Future is (which is more than Supes can say, who's just there for no good reason other than to have yet another pointless fight with Bats) and Alfred, who dies like a bitch at the end. Oh, and Catwoman is a prostitute who provides nothing to the story except being beaten up viciously.
On the villain side, Two-Face could be called the one villain worth reading about (even if his story was sorely predictable). The Joker is laughable, and not in a good way. The mutants are the evil version of Gordon's issue: there to show how much the world sucks. ...And what else is there? Bruno? Pffffhahaha.
What else to say? The art is atrocious even for 80s comic standards, one need only look at the most recent cover.◊ The story is one heinous crime after another with Strawman Political rants not-so-subtly hidden between the lines.
In short, it's an utter travesty how revered this supposed "masterpiece" is, and how its credited for bringing in the Dark Era of comic (which, considering the state, is not as big an achievement as it sounds).
Go read The Long Halloween instead, or better yet, Watchmen. Released the same year, and actually worth a damn.
ComicBook The Most Overrated Piece Of Garbage In Comic Book History
Frank Miller isn't exactly what you'd call revered when it comes to Batman, and why not? Because he "blessed" us with All Star Batman and Robin, and the surprisingly okayish Batman: Year One, which no matter how okayish it was, paled compared to its legendary pseudo-sequels The Long Halloween, Dark Victory, and even Catwoman: When in Rome (of which he had nothing to do with any of them, thank god).
Onto the book itself: It's main flaw are the characters. While this interpretation of Batman stands out as being the most grizzled, square-chinned and impressively good at inner-monologues yet to be matched, it's about the only redeemable aspect concerning the character field. On the heroes side, you have the new Robin who feels more like a half-assed self-insert than an actual sidekick; Det. James Gordon, who, as expected, is the shining beacon in a den of corruption, but has absolutely no character value except just being there to show how awful this Bad Future is (which is more than Supes can say, who's just there for no good reason other than to have yet another pointless fight with Bats) and Alfred, who dies like a bitch at the end. Oh, and Catwoman is a prostitute who provides nothing to the story except being beaten up viciously.
On the villain side, Two-Face could be called the one villain worth reading about (even if his story was sorely predictable). The Joker is laughable, and not in a good way. The mutants are the evil version of Gordon's issue: there to show how much the world sucks. ...And what else is there? Bruno? Pffffhahaha.
What else to say? The art is atrocious even for 80s comic standards, one need only look at the most recent cover.
◊ The story is one heinous crime after another with Strawman Political rants not-so-subtly hidden between the lines.
In short, it's an utter travesty how revered this supposed "masterpiece" is, and how its credited for bringing in the Dark Era of comic (which, considering the state, is not as big an achievement as it sounds).
Go read The Long Halloween instead, or better yet, Watchmen. Released the same year, and actually worth a damn.