The Dark Knight Returns Response

     

    
 #1. 
      In Frank Miller's comic, The Dark Night Returns, we the audience are introduced to a Batman, and by extension, Bruce Wayne, that is significantly different than we knew before. The story opens on a 55 year-old Bruce Wayne who's been out of the vigilante business for ten years after the loss of Jason Todd on the job. He's a little bit older, a little bit more experienced, and noticeably more unhinged. 
     When we're first introduced to Miller's Wayne, he is in the middle of a race and wrecks his car doing so. It's clear then that he's having trouble adjusting to life without the thrill of being Batman and after all this time hasn't managed to settle down in his retirement fully. When the opportunity arises to return to the Batman mantle, he barely hesitates, heading out into the streets to track down Harvey Dent and find out if any of them can really escape these masks they crafted for themselves.  

     I for one like this version of Bruce Wayne; not because he's a good person mind you, the opposite, actually. I like this version of Bruce because it does seem very close to what I imagined an older Bruce would be like after years of fighting psychotic villains all over Gotham only to lose one of the few people close to him along the way. He's old, he's angry, and he has a vendetta against the criminals in Gotham and doesn't plan on letting anything get in his way. This certainly isn't the most morally good version of Batman ever given to us, but it is one of the more interesting versions we've had. 

#2
     One of the biggest questions raised by this new portrayal of Batman, and by extension, Bruce Wayne is "Is he good?". Throughout the comic, Batman is significantly harder on and more brutal towards the enemies he fights. He shows little mercy and puts more emphasis on fear and brutality when he fights. It's not only the criminals who have to deal with this either, the police and Gotham's citizens do as well. As Batman's brutality and recklessness increases, so does the damage done to Gotham's police force and anyone who gets caught in the middle.
     This new brutality is seen most clearly when Batman is dealing with the Mutant gang. He decides that to truly rid Gotham of the Mutant gang, he needs to make an example out of their leader who outmatches him in speed and strength. This leads him to challenge him to hand to hand combat in a mudhole in front of the entire gang. He then brutally beats the Mutant leader and leaves him with several major injuries to make his point to the rest of the gang, fully demonstrating the new levels of brutality he has resorted to.

      While Batman's new, more brutal methods might not have flown in the Gotham most of us know from the films and other comics, it seems a bit necessary in Miller's Gotham, at least from Bruce Wayne's perspective. The world of Gotham ten years after Batman's retirement is far more brutal and unforgiving than it once was. This Gotham seems to require a more vicious hand in order to quell the chaos and violence it has fallen into since Bruce's departure. Rape, murder and assault happen on a large scale nightly and it has become a kind of terrible norm for the people of the city and the gangs don't seem to be willing to give up control. This gives Bruce only one option: He has to take it from them.