The Dark Knight Strikes Again: Difference between revisions

Set three years after the events of ''[[The Dark Knight Returns (Comic Book)|The Dark Knight Returns]]'', the world has managed to go downhill since then- the President is a fake, and the police state of a world is run by [[Lex Luthor]] and Brainiac, who has many a hero enslaved.

Overall it goes further off the deep end than ''[[The Dark Knight Returns (Comic Book)|The Dark Knight Returns]]'', almost to the point of being a Deconstruction of the [[Darker and Edgier]] nature of the first story though, naturally, [[Your Mileage May Vary|not everyone thinks that makes it any good.]] The color palette is much more varied than ''[[The Dark Knight Returns]]''' muted colorization, taking it to an almost garish degree, that takes a little getting used to (many reviewers termed it ugly).

=== This miniseries contains examples of: ===

* [[Ambiguously Gay]]: {{spoiler|Dick Grayson of the [[Depraved Homosexual]] variety}}

* [[Art Shift]]: {{spoiler|When searching the ruins of Metropolis, Superman discovers a locket containing [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] pictures of him & [[Lois Lane]].}}

** The art in general is also very different from the first book. The coloring is the most obvious change (from muted and dirty to garishly bright) but everybody has really exaggerated figures either in terms of proportions or angles. Lex in particular looks like a shaved gorilla.

* [[Creepy Child]]: Saturn Girl.

* [[Decoy Leader]]

* [[Depraved Homosexual]]: it's implied that {{spoiler|Dick Grayson}} had the hots for {{spoiler|Batman}}, but was rejected by him, which lead to {{spoiler|Dick}} becoming a villain. At the end of the comic {{spoiler|Batman}} taunts him with all sorts of quasi-homophobic euphemisms relating to his supposed "sissiness". And since {{spoiler|Dick}} is the villain, apparently Miller thinks we're supposed to side with {{spoiler|Batman}} here. Although, since large parts of the comic are completely over-the-top, [[Your Mileage May Vary]] on how to interpret this scene.

* [[Destructo-Nookie]]: Superman and Wonder Woman have sex so over-the-top it ''alters the earth's weather patterns''.

* [[Expy]]: A weird inversion, or something. This story's [[The Question]] is basically Rorschach from ''[[Watchmen]]'', and Rorschach himself was a [[Captain Ersatz]] of the original Question, so this makes this version of the Question closer to the original Ditko Question and [[Austin Powers|oh dear, my eyes have crossed]].

* [[Flat What]]: "[http://gyazo.com/3dd8fcd8ed0de8cdae1baa6d560e884d.png It's about to blow!]"

* [[Villain Decay]]: Brainiac and Lex Luthor aren't nearly as smart in TDKSA as they are in other stories. In fact, some of the decisions they make are downright moronic.

* [[We ARE Struggling Together!]]: [[Green Arrow]] and [[The Question]], in that one wants Marxist Socialism, and the other Randian Objectivism.

* [[Wife Husbandry]]: {{spoiler|Dick Grayson}} implies that this is what Batman is doing with Carrie, though [[Word of God|Word of Miller]] denies this vehemently. Also, {{spoiler|Dick Grayson}} was [[Incredibly Lame Pun|bat]]shit insane at that point, and had just spent a good amount of time {{spoiler|[[Cold-Blooded Torture|mutilating Carrie]] out of [[Ax Crazy|psychotic jealousy.]]}} {{spoiler|He}} is an unreliable source, to say the least.

* [[Willfully Weak]]: This is apparently Batman's (and Miller's) main problem with Superman, as he stops being treated as a [[Butt Monkey]] once he starts taking the attitude to match his power as a [[Physical God]]. He even makes a [[World of Cardboard Speech]] (though it's not quite on the same level as the trope namer).