My “Pick of the Week” for June 15 was The Dark Knight Returns: The Last Crusade.
I’d like to rescind that choice.
I like The Dark Knight Returns and I like The Dark Knight Strikes Again (the first two issues of it, anyway) and I like what I’ve read of The Dark Knight III so far. I am given to understand that Frank Miller isn’t involved directly in the writing (either script or plot) of The Dark Knight III, but Brian Azzarello does a reasonably good job imitating Miller’s style. The Dark Knight Returns: The Last Crusade is also written by Azzarello, so I was expecting the style to carry over. To me, it doesn’t sound so much like an imitation of Miller as it does someone trying to imitate Miller and almost getting it right.
Worse than the script, though, is the plot: it’s boring. I think all of us (all of us who has read The Dark Knight Returns, anyway, and isn’t that all of us?) have our own version of “What happened to Jason Todd?” in our heads, and I think all of them would likely be better than “The Last Crusade.” The title’s a misnomer, anyway: it shouldn’t be “The Dark Knight Returns”; it should be “The Dark Knight just before he went away for ten years.”
Even the artwork (by John Romita, Jr. and Bill Sienkeiwicz no less!) was disappointing.
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Yes, this didn't really blow me away either. It felt more like a fragment or fragments of a story strung together and the ending just kind of sneaks up on you with minimal impact or drama. On the other hand, I did enjoy a lot of the character moments which seemed a little more fleshed out and authentic than the previous books. I think if plot of The Last Crusade was also fleshed out and extended it might actually be better than DKIII.
Sienkeiwicz did one of the variant covers but no inks, although the art did look a lot like something he would have inked.
I read somewhere that there was a mix-up on the credits or the solicits. As Tec says, he didn't do any interior work.
Oh, I pulled his name from the solicitation. To tell you the truth, I don't think the final product looked much like Romita, either.
It sounds like when I finally read this, I will want to put it under the "Bat-Poop Crazy" category?
No. "Bat-Poop Lackluster."