The Dark Knight Returns. This series
changed the medium perhaps more than any other comic ever published.
It changed the notion that comics are merely cartoony childrens'
books, and gained rave reviews even outside the small comic-book
industry. The effect the story had on comics cannot be understated;
essentially, what happened was that in telling a story of Batman in
the future, Frank Miller defined the character of Batman for
present-day stories as well.
It is said that every story revolves around one of ten possible basic
plots. One of these is the late return of the hero, and it is this
theme which is explored in 'Dark Knight'. The second theme, explored
later in the series, is the clash between law , embodied in Superman
and justice , personified by Batman. The series is written and
illustrated by the legendary
Frank Miller with inks by Klaus
Johnson and colors by Lynn
Varley.
Watchmen:
Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
It's the greatest comics
story ever told.
<<Selection
in Document>>
When published in 1986, DC's
revolutionary mini-series WATCHMEN took comics up a notch. It
deconstructed traditional superheroes, presenting them as complex
individuals in an elaboratesociety where their decisions had profound
consequences. In short, WATCHMEN proved comics could offer drama.
In the mid-'80s, superheroes lived
in sterile universes; the uncertainties and horrors of real life never
trespassed into the panels of a comic. Wanting to shake things up,
Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons envisioned a book where the characters and
world they existed in would be ambiguous. "Our idea was to do a
variant take on the superhero," Moore explains. "What would
happen if you took their world and applied real-world values to it?
The idea of seeing that enthralled me."
WATCHMEN took place in a world on
the brink of nuclear war, where costumed champions were outlawed. When
an unsavory government agent called the Comedian was murdered, several
heroes reunited to unravel a conspiracy that eventually placed the
fate of the planet in their hands. Originally, Moore and Gibbons
planned to use the Charlton Comics superheroes DC had acquired, since
"there might be a bunch of characters people cared so little
about me and Dave could have fun with," Moore recalls. When DC
decided it wanted those characters for other books, Moore and Gibbons
created new characters in the same vein, including the nigh-omnipotent
Dr. Manhattan, the indecisive hero Nite Owl, and the tragically
psychotic Rorschach.
Moore realized that the book's
potential for shattering pre-existing notions of what superhero comics
were when he saw Gibbons' artwork and layout for issue one. "It
forced you to consider different possibilities. Together we could take
WATCHMEN far beyond the confines of what was out there and give it a
different degree of emotional realism for superhero comics. How far
could we take this?"
Moore found the answer to that
question when he submitted his script for WATCHMEN # 6. Receiving
"complete, stony, silence," Moore finally asked if there
were problems. On the contrary, the impact of his story had left his
editor speechless. WATCHMEN received further accolades from such
publications as ROLLING STONE, and helped boost the industry to new
heights. Moore had always sought dignity for comics, and he was
delighted with the publicity.
That victory did not come without
side effects. WATCHMEN shares the burden for today's darker and
grittier comics. "[WATCHMEN] is responsible, to some degree, for
the malaise of comic books in general today," Moore acknowledges.
"Sometime in the mid-'80s comics achieved the goal they wanted
and now [the industry] finds itself without a direction. It's like
someone has left the top of the soda bottle off--the effervescence has
gone."
In a very real sense, today's comics
are a result of living in the sgadow of the WATCHMEN. That might mean
they're dark, but it also means the best of them can go toe-to-toe
with anything else in literature.
