(no subject)

[yendi]

Got to bed at 2:30. the cure for insomnia? Finally reading The Dark Knight Returns #3. Worst comic I've ever read. Ever. By a longshot (and yes, that includes all comics featuring Longshot, not exactly a good groups of books itself). Had to read it twice to make sure it wasn't supposed to be a parody of otherwise bad comics. If it was, it sucked on that level, too. Just plain awful. Ungodly so. When I said Frank Miller had lost it, I was talking about the mediocre DKR#2. #3 goes beyond losing it. It takes suckitude to a whole new level.

So, for anyone with sleeping problems, it comes highly recommended. Unlike sleeping pills, there's no way this is addictive.

Comments

[tarpo.livejournal.com]

You are the second person who has said that DKR sucks.. whats so bad about it? I've been a huge fan of the bat regardless.. but to see 2 people seem to go out of their way to say its terrible seems pretty bad

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

Sad to hear... I tried looking at the first issue when it came out and it didn't grab me, but I never expected it to be that bad.

You should check out laubster. Here's his review:
"DK= Fantastic DK2= Sucktastic"

[voltbang.livejournal.com]

Don't hold back, give it to us straight.

[rollick.livejournal.com]

It didn't put me to sleep, it just made me go "Eew."

It's overwrought and overwritten. It's very rushed, with things happening spontaneously with little motivation and no buildup. In some cases, these things are apparently supposed to carry some sort of emotional impact, but they can't, because they come out of nowhere and go nowhere. There's a major plot twist toward the end that's nothing short of ludicrious. The whole story is weak. How many times can Batman all-but-die, then decide he has to soldier on, he just has to, and then go on to casually take damage that would kill an elephant?

But mostly, it's the art. Someone needs to let Frank Miller know that real women have two legs and something in between them, not one big leg and then an extra line to the side. And they do not have right angles where their rib cages become their waists. The whole book just looks sloppy and thrown-together, and much of the art looks absolutely terrible, just hideously ugly.

Reading it right before you went to sleep, I'm surprised it didn't give you po-mo mod-art nightmares.

[terracinque.livejournal.com]

Is it even worse than Jim Starlin's Batman: The Cult miniseries?

[yendi]

Yes, if only because of the god-awful art and the lack of an attempt to even remember DC continuity.

[yendi]

rollick's comments below sum it up more eloquently than I could hope to. Add to her list the fact that Miller seems to have no concept of what the DC universe is, or who the characters are. Unlike the first miniseries, which could have fit into DC continuity perfectly, this one not only couldn't fit into the current continuity, it could not fit into any known continuity. Miller just pulled in whatever felt convenient. He hit us with more characters than Waid did in the overrated Kingdom Come series, with less background on them. He thought he was being cute with Vic Sage, even though he did nothing more than Moore did with the "same" character in Watchmen, and without half as much style. He fell for his own one-note writing of Ollie Queen in the first series. He has less understanding of Superman than any writer who's ever touched the character. I'm seriously not sure if he understands Batman anymore, either. Other than Ray Palmer, not one character was in any way, shape, or form interesting. His Hawk and Dove panel was beyond pathetic. And Zuul help the reader who doesn't actually know who all the characters he's using are.

I just have this feeling that Miller was laughing a Beavis laugh the entire time he was writing the series, with one hand firmly wrapped around his dick (which might explain the "art"), uttering, "huhuhuh, this is cool. I'm gonna score with some hot fangirls again or something." Because the entire series is an exercise in mental masturbation, and Miller's fantasies are less mature than a 12-year-old's.

[yendi]

Reading it right before you went to sleep, I'm surprised it didn't give you po-mo mod-art nightmares.

I went and stared at some Dali prints for a few minutes before bed, to push Miller's stuff from my memory.

I've always thought he was a mediocre artist, but this is the first time his art was so bad, it completely destroyed his ability to tell a story (although with the quality of the writing, it's hard to draw the line).

[rollick.livejournal.com]

rollick's comments below sum it up more eloquently than I could hope to.

Don't sell yourself short…

the entire series is an exercise in mental masturbation, and Miller's fantasies are less mature than a 12-year-old's.

…I think this is an absolute spot-on summary, and it's also got brevity and pith going for it.

[yendi]

*blush* Thanks. I was more concerned that my summary of the problems was an emotion-filled rant, as opposed to a well-reasoned list of the problems from a more objective pov.

[phantom_wolfboy]

I've been hearing a lot about this in rac.dcu, and your opinion is far from the minority. No one even wants to do reviews of it, because that would entail reading it twice. Most people dropped the series from their pull lists after #2.

[tarpo.livejournal.com]

Ouch...

I'd find it hard to read even if I was familiar with it.. There is a huge comic gap in my life.. between reading my dads old Sgt Rock and Haunted Tank comics.. and ONLY reading Marvel when I was collecting and into comics I have no real concept of alot of the DC characters.. I got into Superman for a little while..

man what I would do for a complete set of DC war comics

[rollick.livejournal.com]

I tend to think that objectivity in reviews is a myth. I'm just not sure there is such a thing as objective appreciation of art.

[yendi]

Agreed 100%. I don't even think it's possible. Hell, I'm not sure I'd like a world where such a thing could be possible -- it would remove the possibility of finding something uninteresting at first, but then being able to gain an appreciation of it later.

[yendi]

Have you seen the recent DC war stuff that's come out? Some new Enemy Ace tales, some great Garth Ennis stuff, lots of other interesting tales. And Suicide Squad, a comic that's ending next month, sadly, has featured Rock and Bulldozer in major roles.

[tarpo.livejournal.com]

oooh no I hadn't seen any of that.. I might have to take a look..

I loved how they were written.. How could a kid read Superman.. when Sgt Rock was SO cool.. maybe thats why i transferred over to being a Punisher fan so easily..

Some of the single page shorts were better and told more than some full length movies..

[rollick.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's a broad statement, and a lot further than I would go. First off, it wouldn't necessarily make such things impossible, unless objectivity completely replaced subjectivity as an option. And second of all, there's room for reconsideration and noticing more detail and analyzing more thoroughly, even within an objective paradigm.

What would be interesting is if objectivity and subjectivity were both possible, but mutually exclusive, and we could toggle between them at will.

*click* "Well, this is certainly an amateurish painting. The canvas appears to have been inexpertly stretched, such that it's currently shrinking, causing cracks to appear in the facade of the paint, which appears to have been liberally applied with little sense of planning."

*click* "Oooh! Pretty colors! Looks at the way the blue melts into the gold!"

[yendi]

Well, I guess I see objectivity as necessarily replacing subjectivity once the idea of standards are brought into play, or at least a forced attempt at it. I do see the room for reconsideration on a "oh, I missed that detail" level. But it would seem that if an objective paradigm is applied, then the statement "the colors are too garish to convey the horrors the artists intends to portray" can never evolve into "the very garishness of the colors provides an ironic touch, highlighting the horrors the artist feels so strongly about." I guess that's my problem with the idea.