REVIEW: ‘Dark Knight Returns: The Last Crusade #1′ has the Price of Evil

Before comic book fans sentenced Jason Todd to death in The Death in the Family in the late 1980s, Frank Miller already prophesied the Boy Wonder’s demise in his 1986 superhero comic landmark, The Dark Knight Returns. Jason’s exit forced the Dark Knight to retire his mantle and his crusade until, well, he “returns” to war in his late 50s as illustrated in the said seminal masterpiece. Now, after exactly 30 years later, Miller, with Brian Azzarello, John Romita Jr., and Peter Steigerwald, revisits the last story of Jason Todd that serves a prequel of the classic: DARK KNIGHT RETURNS: THE LAST CRUSADE.

The book reminiscences the same treatment of the single-issued TDKR: glossy 64 pages, strong binding, cardboard cover, and best of all, no advertisements whatsoever. In addition, co-writer Azzarello makes sure the feel, tension, grittiness, vision and Miller-esque storytelling retain, respect and resonate with the TDKR universe; but Brian tries his best of toning down the “goddamned” language that was mired and severely criticized in another Frank’s TDKR’s still unfinished prequel, All-Star Batman and Robin: The Boy Wonder. There are few explicit words here actually, presenting a more mature and reflective (yet stubborn) Batman/Bruce Wayne. The mature terms “sucks” and “bullshit” are mentioned once, and the rest are virtually safe for most readers out there. The brutality highlights on the second Robin, which both Frank and Brian play out well to make sense why Jason was the key factor of Bruce’s abrupt retirement. Emotional concepts of pride, ego, arrogance, denial, youthfulness, over-confidence and hubris are seen explicitly in the central characters, unlike the antagonists who play as mere distractions that prove fatal in hindsight to Bruce’s so-called “war”. The role of The Prince of Madness here is brilliantly portrayed as a true master of psychological manipulator who actually applies his uber-chaotic intellect without even using much of his combat skills, reminiscing once again to Heath Ledger’s Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. The dialogues between Bruce and Alfred Pennyworth are also noteworthy due to the lyrical simplicity and producing a more humanistic view between a headstrong but physically weakened crusader and a very wise and observant father-like sage/teacher. Also, Selina Kyle is more feminine here, though she serves as Bruce’s true love in the most visually way possible here.

In all seriousness, I was worried then when John Romita Jr. was assigned to illustrate this prequel. Yes, this one is a reunion between Miller and John in the Daredevil origins mini-series in the early 1990s, which is still the essential Daredevil reading. Personally, Frank’s then storytelling carried the heavy load on the overall quality of the said work, while Romita’s art relied more on sequential visual mastery and the overall tone of the story, not the aesthetics per se. But The Last Crusade is a Frank Miller book, and I must compel to read it no matter what is inside, especially the artist’s illustrative credentials. I was totally surprised, if neither astonished nor shocked, on Romita’s current art. John vastly improves his illustrations. There are definitely some of the artist’s trademarks, but the typical bulkiness and the chunkiness of the characters he once drew are now gone, except to a certain Killer Croc that is justifiable. There are pages that John draws the faces of Jason, Bruce, Selina, Alfred and even the mad clown as realistically as possible. The eyes of these characters are strikingly believable. The mood and the background of Gotham City and the Bat-cave are definitely major improvements of his previous superhero artworks. There are some moments of tensions that the artist himself can only pull off to further enhance the already cryptic and heightening feel of Miller and Azzarello.  My major beef on John’s artistic resurgence is how he draws both Batman and Robin’s legs in the latter part of the book. There are proportionally thin to view with, unlike the cover art he also illustrates. And, these are close-up perspectives that are hilarious, if not cringed-worthy, to see these. Perhaps, if he maintains the same level of consistency from the beginning, these “legs” could have been prevented. Peter Steigewald’s inks and colors contribute much to the overall creepiness and tragedy this story wants to deliver. Additionally, Peter transcends John’s artwork further in making the latter’s drawings as intense as possible. Seriously, John’s works should be complimented or paired with Peter’s excellent inking and coloring.

Dark Knight Returns: The Last Crusade #1 is an exceptionally good prequel to the TDKR lore because it finally answers why Bruce abandoned his “war” in the first place. Brian Azzarello serves as an exceptional catalyst to Frank’s vision and storytelling, and Romita’s surprising improved art. Although the book’s binding is a perennial problem in reading experience for DC Comics, the general quality in both visual and narrative is nonetheless anything except mediocre.