I don't think the president was a caricature of Ronald Reagan. I'm pretty sure it's straight up Ronald Reagan

Grant morrison mocking Miller and telling him to enlist is still funny to me.

Funny, Matt Draper did a video on DK2 this same day

@Ben10man2

2 жыл бұрын

Ikr?

@Vegitodraws

2 жыл бұрын

@@Ben10man2 kzread.info/dash/bejne/haei2ZSAcZmbZ9Y.html

@GibbySoapBox

2 жыл бұрын

I was about to say! 😂

@rubenpereyra2967

2 жыл бұрын

Am i the only one that read that as “Donkey Kong 2”

@nerdwarp112

2 жыл бұрын

@@rubenpereyra2967 Nope, I also immediately thought of “Donkey Kong 2” lol

I just yesterday Read Spider Man:Life Story...Is the Best thing Marvel has done with the character in Modern times...It's like this comic But with much more Focus on the Lifetime issue

@paulakroy2635

4 ай бұрын

It’s so medicore. It’s litterally just a greatest hits repackaging

As I have always described the Dark Knight Returns, it's all about Batman representing humanity's ability to overcome and master the various challenges that face us in life. In the first two acts, he must face and overcome his alcoholism, his depression, and the power of youth - so Batman is the master of mind, spirit and body. In the later parts, he is confronted by the police and the government, as well as the insanity of the Joker and the anarchy of the citizens of Gotham in the power outage - so Batman is the master of both order and of chaos. Finally, he must face Superman and the limits of his role as Batman - showing that he is the master over power itself and of destiny. It's odd, the way that Miller simultaneously created this idealized ubermensch, but in a world where isolationist libertarians are just as reviled as the over-reactive progressives. Miller's work is often cited as being 'Randian,' but I don't think that is accurate: I think that people are recognizing the influence of Nietzsche and nihilism in this work which was profoundly influential for Any Rand, but still distinct. The consummate demonstration of this comes in the fan-favorite quote "...the world only makes sense when you force it to." That is what Miller's Batman is all about, and why it's so important that the last panel of TDKR is of Bruce Wayne in civilian clothes and surrounded by all the Sons of Batman and Carrie: after the trials of this book, he has transcended his former limits and no longer needs to wear a costume to be who he is. It's also why TDKSB was so perplexing to me, beyond the issues of tone and questionable digital coloring. I don't think there would have been much interest in a Batman graphic novel where Batman was never dressed up and simply played General, but that seems to be where the story was leading. I would love to see you take on the Batman comics anthologies for the first appearances of Batman, like you did with Spider-Man. Specifically, I would say beginning with Batman: The Golden Age Volume 1, I prefer this version over the Batman Archives series which only collects the printings of Detective comics, at least in the first few volumes. I would also like to encourage you to check out Batman and the Monster Men (Matt Wagner), Batman and the Mad Monk (Matt Wagner again), Batman: the Man who Laughs (Ed Brubaker), and Batman: Strange Apparitions (Steve Englehart) for modern retellings of the

@cherishporter5314

2 жыл бұрын

Interesting analysis I would definitely love to see him doing more Batman contest.

Haven't watched this yet, but I will make *one* defense for TDKR2. Frank Miller was there on 9/11. He saw it happen. I see TDKR2 as Frank's form of therapy. Is it good? No, it's pretty awful. But I find it difficult to bash it too much because of why I think it is, the way it is.

@Comicbroe405

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah exactly... TDKSA is also when his career started falling off which basically lead to his next Batman comics not doing well & Holy Terror. That's really sad to see but he was just traumatized all those years.

@dr.cheeks3589

Жыл бұрын

I don't want to be mean but I think that the whole story of the 9/11 Frank tells is just excuse ( a very insensible one) for the backlash he recieve after. Maybe he was very confident that he was going to write his Next máster piece but fail miserable and he just use that tragedy to blame his late deadlines and guano insane story

@RaptorJesus

Жыл бұрын

@@dr.cheeks3589 He's never used it as an excuse. At least, not that I've seen. I just know TDKSA had begun before 9/11, and wasn't finished until after, with there being clear references to it.

@RonanStreamkiller

9 ай бұрын

I'm gonna be that guy, I think it's a flimsy excuse at best for a shit story. Frank couldn't balance the tone in DK2, meshing in absurdist Silver Age elements in a story that plays with contemporary politics and real life tragedies. It must've been awful for him to be there on that day, but the hacked together plot likely wouldn't have changed much from whatever he initially planned.

Can I recommend diving into Batman: White Knight series? So many good moments and amazing story I think it would be fun to give that series some love since the new and supposedly final chapter is coming out this year

@jupitxr23

2 жыл бұрын

not the final chapter

@GibbySoapBox

2 жыл бұрын

@@jupitxr23 hence the “supposedly” since I’m pretty sure we don’t know of Beyond will be the last chapter or not.

@jupitxr23

2 жыл бұрын

@@GibbySoapBox hes said several times that hr has plans to expand the universe after beyond

@GibbySoapBox

2 жыл бұрын

@@jupitxr23 must have missed that, I’m glad it won’t be ending. I like that universe

@jupitxr23

2 жыл бұрын

@@GibbySoapBox yeah same if you wanna see some of his plans you can check out the wikipedia page for the murphyverse :)

I'm really very torn about how I feel about Frank Miller's Batman writing. On the one hand he gave us Year One and TDKR which are two of the best Batman stories ever written, but he's also given us TDKSA and Dark Knight III which are both terrible. I think that Frank's problem is that he doesn't really understand Batman as a character, but he understands Gotham City perfectly. When you read one of his books it's clear that he based it on New York in the 70s and 80s, and when you want a Crime Ridden Hellscape that's actually imaginable to the average person, that's the perfect example. When Frank writes Gotham it's like Time Square in the 70s was stretched out to a whole city. Frank's writing popularized the sentiment that you see nowadays of "Batman is just as unhinged as the villains he fights" and that's never really been true. Frank views Gotham as a meat grinder that crushes and drags down everyone in it, including Bats, but that's not really the point of Batman as a character. He is both within and without. The city is his home and he cares about changing it and making it better, but He's above the corruption that Gotham causes and that's why he stands as the defender, because he can't be broken down. On the other side while I'm iffy on Mark Miller's writing, I LOVED the writing of this video. Keep up the good work Leo!

@JimmyneutronwasokayIguess

5 ай бұрын

I think this kind of works in TDKR because it’s about Batman going down a darker path and coming out the other way. Leaping around with a gun in issue 1 (like he did in the first couple years of his golden age stories but hadn’t for decades) and ending the story with “these are the weapons of the enemy, we will not use them”. Year One by being an origin story doesn’t really corrupt him too much though which is probably an exception for Miller

Probably my favorite video yet. Keep up the awesome work!

Dude your content is AMAZING, keep up the good work man.

So(...) Batman the dark knight returns take place in the 1980s but all-star Batman and Robin takes place in 2008 How does that make sense ?

@Ben10man2

2 жыл бұрын

Nothing about his writing post 1990's makes sense

@Mansplainer2099-jy8ps

2 жыл бұрын

That's how superhero comics work. What decade was Captain America found frozen?

Drinking game. Whenever he says trauma.

@macmcleod1188

2 жыл бұрын

I'm not russian. I can't handle that much alcohol.

Great video!

Having some context for DKSA was very helpful, i was so confused when i read it I might need another run through

Yo, the beginning. It be like that a lot recently and stressed like storm damage, academics and the potential of losing friends and world events impacting my friends’ lives really doing that at the moment. -A ‘boy’ doing work at 2am. Stressed, tired and probably several months burnt out

6:06 those panels are incredible, Robin's face, just hysterical

I wish you would have coverd Master Race too, I feel like that's one of the most under rated Batman graphic novels

I remember when DK2 came out, I was in the majority as HATING it unreservedly (a trenchant fan criticism that still sticks with me was "inked with a baseball bat"). It was clearly the pre-social-media equivalent of a shitpost. It didn't help that Frank Miller's devolution into a full-on right-wing crank had already begun, and coincided perfectly with both this comic and 9/11. As the years go by and I revisit it from time to time, I find a comic I initially dismissed as just ugly and hateful and meaningless bizarrely compelling as both a time capsule and legitimate work of art. I mean, I still don't LIKE it exactly, but there's a lot more going on there than I was able to acknowledge at the time. For a really insightful and evenhanded breakdown of the paradoxical shittiness/greatness of DK2 from the perspective of brutally honest comic book professionals, I highly recommend the excellent KZread channel Cartoonist Kayfabe.

I have seen people argue Dark Knight Returns is fascist (which is a legit argument that I totally get based on Frank Miller's later works both in the DKR universe and outside it) but based on what I have seen from the movie, I'd argue that Bats in DKR is a counter to the real fascists in the story (the mutants, the police, and US government).

I've always disliked how violent and borderline sociopathic DKR Batman is honestly.

@spoonybard2380

2 жыл бұрын

i agree, although i think it partially works in the first DKR story. bruce, while sell intentioned, is out of control and by the end seems to understand this to some extent. it's moreso when it stops being a single story and more of a miniseries that just ends up being miller's standard portrayal of batman it becomes a problem imo.

Coincidentally, Matt Draper just did a video on the same topic

You should change the name of the channel to tempur-petic mattress the way everyone be sleeping on it. Great content man cant wait for the 1 million sub special.

Man, how do you keep publishing such high quality videos at such a high clip!

A character analysis on all live action Batmen? 👁️👁️

I forgot about the giant SWASTIKA Mommy Milkers.

Aw sweet I love Donkey Kong Returns.

Another great video but can you turn down the music a bit? It's like twice as loud as your voice and it's super stressful to have to constantly adjust the volume. Love what you're doing tho, keep up the good work!

@kostazarikos3383

2 жыл бұрын

Yes I agree. Make the only music parts a little quieter then when u talk plz

Interesting seeing two of my favorite comic book content creators make videos about Dark Knight Strikes Again on the same day. Nothing wrong, just an observation.

woo

TDKR2 is a masterpiece

Yes. Please do “Master Race” and “Golden Child”. Please. PLEASE.

@TupocalypseShakur

2 жыл бұрын

The casual racism of the "Master Race" was a surprising slap in the face

@themilkman5004

2 жыл бұрын

Don’t forget “The Last Crusade”

@ratatouilledrinksclorax9897

6 ай бұрын

​@@TupocalypseShakurto be fair its the most bold in your face critism of the Bush Administration. It is not Holy Terror thankfully

I LOVE TDKSA! Frank literally wants you to hate the story and hate the characters and hate the art, because the world they live in is ugly, and the decisions the “heroes” make are ugly. Don’t forget that villains were running the world. If he drew it all nice and pretty, the book would be looked at as just “okay”. Also Joker has always “shape shifted”. There have been multiple times in both comics and animation that both Joker’s face and the people he gases’ faces become stretched and warped. It’s like some sort of a virus.

How do you upload so frequently

Joker a shapeshifter 😂

Im a fan of comics so i eat different points of view to see if i can form a different opinion... So yeah keep then coming if you want do then

Three Jokers, plz

I hope one of the videos coming is for batman beyond return of the Joker.

I love Dark Knight Returns and Dark Knight Strikes Again

Hey. If you happen to come across this comment, here's something you might want to come back to. In the past, you've made two videos which put the journey of Peter Parker in three respective incarnations back to back and compared them. "Comparing Spider-Men" and "Comparing Spider-Man sequels". I wonder if you could do a final essay, maybe called "Comparing Spider-Man endings" when you put Peter-2's ending from SM 3 as well as Peter-1 and Peter-3's finale in No Way Home. Just a thought.

Best ending speech ever. If it were to be interpreted, I'd say it was a commentary for "go and draw your own conclusions". I'm tired of the whole "you will be made to care" BS I'm always fed. So, even if that wasn't your intention, thanks for it nonetheless.

Maybe I'm minority, but I do enjoy DKSA

dude your angry voice is now what i imagince everytime i see spiderman.

Fouth

I honestly think Frank Miller is a genius. He may be a crazy fucking weird one, but if he wasn't crazy, his books would be disregarded.

Wow I just reread these yesterday Edit: what the fuck is dk2

This video is good, very good. Dark knight strikes again is a sad disappointment. Almost like dkr but without the sincerity, like frank forgot superheroes can do real, heroic things. Batman becoming a political figure guarantees his controversial status and ascension into the status quo rather than a rejection of it. He also becomes a psycho who performs acts of violence without purpose

Between this and Ivan krolo’s video, kzread.info/dash/bejne/lnyVypKbqdvblZM.html understands the book more than most people I’ve seen.

second

Your assertion that DK2 is an Absurdist piece doesn't seem to coincide with Albert Camus' Absurdism, granted I'll concede that Batman is an Absurdist Hero forging meaning in a meaningless world and that it is those same existentialist features which the Nihilist Joker leans into thereby believing that Batman could, through enough suffering and pressure, share the Joker's Nihilist outlook; did you perhaps misspeak and mean to say that DK2 revels in absurdity because imo it's plot and themes just don't seem very Absurdist at all let alone exemplify pure Absurdism.

This is a pretty big sale you're trying to make.

I like TDKSA more than TDKR.

Frank Miller’s fascism is my kind of fascism.

I haven't read number 2...but it sounds shit. And what people would call woke.

@Elfenlied8675309

Жыл бұрын

Frank Miller is a really shlt writer, this entire second book Dark Knight Strikes Again was scrapped and rewritten entirely after Miller saw 9/11 happen outside his hotel window in New York. He then made a book called PLANET TERROR which was entirely about how evil Muslims are and the evil brainwashing of religion. Dude went crazy. Dark Knight 3: The Master Race is even worse and Miller even put out a Dark Knight Part 4 like last year.

@ApolloCalrissian

Жыл бұрын

Define Woke

That was just annoying.

I disagree with your perspective on Dark Knight Strikes Again. That book predicted our current lawless vanity filled times. And Frank Miller's Batman is absolutely correct about the superheroes fought the wrong kinds of bad guys. The real bad guys have taken power unopposed. But continue living in that bubble of yours.

DKR has gotten pushback lately for being "right wing" and I just shake my head. What makes it such a brilliant work is how malleable its various themes are. I'm so sick of how utterly reactionary art criticism has become. If somebody's worldview gets challenged in any way now, they cry about about "bad art." People look to art now to feel validated in their beliefs, and when they don't immediately get that validation they attack it. If you're so fragile (and yes I'm talking to both the right and the left) in your political identity that fiction makes you fly off the handle, get a better brain. It seems more and more people are looking for art to offend their beliefs instead of giving art a chance in good faith. This goes for the left finding everything problematic to the right thinking everything is some woke attempt at ruining pop culture. Shut up. All of you. And PAY ATTENTION.

@Mansplainer2099-jy8ps

2 жыл бұрын

But it does read kind of right wing, that "those soft lefties" of the world (the Mayor and the therapist) are going to get mowed down by the lowlifes so it's up to Clint Eastwood to rekindle the military discipline in which he reforged himself and set those lowlifes straight and if some caped government lapdog comes to take away his guns... or order him to put away the Bat-tank, rather, well, then he'll just show him what a man of steel really is. It's very Team America that way; "[Bleep]s don't like [bleep]s because [bleep]s get [bleep]ed by [bleep]s but if you don't let [bleep]s [bleep] the [bleep]s the whole world will be covered in [bleep]!"

@nope5657

2 жыл бұрын

@@Mansplainer2099-jy8ps It can just as easily be read as left wing. That's my point. It shows the theater and commoditization of even something as needed as mental therapy. It's about everything be perverted by self-interest, not a denouncement of liberal or leftist thought. Your comment proves my point. It's nor that cut and dry.

@Mansplainer2099-jy8ps

2 жыл бұрын

@@nope5657 So in DKR it can be read as "right wing thinking" led to the theater of Harvey and Joker being "cured rather than rotting behind bars" and the therapist having dollar signs in his eyes can be read as due to him _actually_ being a "right wing thinker"? And the Mayor getting his throat ripped out can be read as Frank Miller saying "The Mutant leader symbolizes extreme right wing, never try to reach them as people, those you wage war on like Batman (except if some of them clearly start to be reached _by_ your warfare then you recruit them as your soldiers)"? I am not trying to be difficult here, I've always had trouble understanding this about us humans. I'm kind of like some autistic people that way. Or Spock. Or Dr Manhattan.

@nope5657

2 жыл бұрын

@@Mansplainer2099-jy8ps *sigh* You're still doing it. Get out of the binary RIGHT VS LEFT thinking. Art is more nuanced than that. DKR is a critique on the system as a whole...not an argument for or against a political ideology.

@Mansplainer2099-jy8ps

2 жыл бұрын

@@nope5657 I just told you, I don't really do binary right vs left thinking, especially the American kind, all I can do is try to recognize what the art is doing e.g. Ozymandias is a utilitarian, Rorschach is a deontologist, Rorschach is connected to the American right wing. You say DKR is a critique on "the system as a whole", that doesn't really mean anything to me. That's like you telling me "DKR is Frank Miller saying '80s America is broken." I already knew that. Watchmen says the same thing but is a _very_ different story from DKR. EDIT: In other words, when you say DKR can be read as favoring the left wing I am mystified as to how because I'm used to not reading things in a political light but I shine the slightest light on DKR it just glows "This is how Rorschach sees the world." like neon fingerprints to me. You say that then I am not seeing the whole picture, then please explain, I want to understand how for example you perceive Miller critiquing "the commoditizing theater" and the "self interest" as utterly neutralizing the right wing glow.

You should ruin the Batman fandom too you’ve done a great job ruining the Spider-Man fandom with your bad takes 👍

@madhursaxena2645

2 жыл бұрын

Seriously how ? , he is doing a good job by making people understand these characters more

@haidenmartin5910

2 жыл бұрын

You wanna explain more? Hes explaining the entire point of dkr quite perfectly, it is a political superhero story

@a............

2 жыл бұрын

if the fandoms accepting his takes they probably aren’t bad lmao

@skylerloggins4902

2 жыл бұрын

Boo hoo.

I feel like I'm the only one who really enjoyed DK2. It was a fun a superhero adventure with some fascinating ideas and lore. I enjoyed it for what it was and it still scratched that "Miller Batman" itch for me. Upon first seeing the artwork, i hated it. But my perspective changed after reflecting on the dark, ugly tone of this specific universe. Miller's dc universe is dark, ugly, and fucked up and i believe that's the point. Bad things happen here and the visual style reflects that perfectly. Even DKIII seems to translate this well. Thanks Frank for giving me my favorite version of the Dark Knight and making me love the DC comics universe.

@Elfenlied8675309

11 ай бұрын

Just an FYI DK3 and DK4 Golden Child are pretty bad and his art gets even worse in my opinion.

Do DK3: Master Race please and maybe DK4: Golden child as well since it's super short? Maybe? Pretty please?