Legendary writer and artist Frank Miller has had a wild relationship with Batman over the course of his career. His seminal miniseries The Dark Knight Returns was a groundbreaking take on the Caped Crusader and built the template for the enviable onslaught of “one last mission” elderly superhero tales like Old Man Logan, Spider-Man: Reign and Old Lady Harley. The sequels to The Dark Knight Returns have been a mixed bag in terms of quality, but they retained a weird sense of identity even when someone other than Miller handled the art duties. Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child keeps that trend alive.

Miller was no one-trick pony when it came to his work on Batman. On the heels of The Dark Knight Returns, Miller embarked on exploring the character’s beginnings (seeing as how he thoroughly did so with a potential ending) in Batman: Year One. That grounded version of the character’s mythos left a mark on how fans would view the rise of the Batman for decades after. In fact, the idea of Bruce Wayne “slumming it” to get a better understanding of the criminal world before ever donning the cape and cowl has become the go-to origin of the character in countless forms of other media. For a while, Miller was one of the de facto architects of Batman’s grand reimagining.

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And then he made The Dark Knight Strikes Back, a sequel that was rather divisive, even among ardent fans. The years that followed saw Miller dip his toe back in the Old Batman well a few more times with a third miniseries The Dark Knight III: The Master Race (this time with Brian Azzarello, Andy Kubert and frequent collaborator Klaus Janson) and a prequel one shot. “The Batman Millerverse” expanded broadly during this time as well with All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder and the recent Superman: Year One. All of this has led up to Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child, the newest addition to Miller’s weird little corner of the DC Universe.

Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child

Illustrated by the incredible Brazilian artist Rafael Grampa (Mesmo Delivery), Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child focuses on the next generation of superheroes in Miller’s world, specifically the current caped crusader of Gotham City, Carrie Kelley, and the offspring of Superman and Wonder Woman, Lara and Jonathan Kent. Picking up three years after the events of The Dark Knight III: The Master Race, we find Darkseid on Earth, causing heaps of civil unrest due to a contentious election, which forces the trio of young heroes face their biggest challenge yet.

Despite the seemingly innocuous description, this comic does not shy away from politics. In fact, it faces them head on to the point of being ham-fisted, even for readers who agree with every single screed against the current political climate. But again, the aggressive and confrontational tone Miller takes in The Golden Child is nothing new. But the biggest difference from the previous Dark Knight installments is how pointed that tone is. There really isn’t any gray area in this book, which might be bothersome to some readers (you know, the ones who can’t seem to understand all art is inherently political). Of course, Miller has never really shied away from being vocal in his political stances in the past, so it shouldn’t come to a shock to anyone familiar with his work.

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So is Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child any good? Well, it’s certainly not bad. This mostly due to Grampa’s gorgeous artwork, which lives on the same block as works by Geof Darrow, Frank Quitely and Ian Bertram. Grampa’s wild and dynamic style helps elevate what would otherwise be a downtime-middle hit for Miller. In fact, you may find yourself wishing some of these pesky caption boxes could be consolidated so they’d get out of the way of the artwork. And no, that’s not a snipe at Miller’s writing; it’s just Grampa is that good. The plotting is solid, even if it is unremarkable. And while the politics might be preaching to the choir, the writing does teeter into an area where it reads like your grandparents finally started reading blogs and decided that being “woke” isn’t such a bad idea after all. The heart is often in the right place, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

The Golden Child is by no means a perfect comic, but it’s a damn sight better than The Dark Knight Strikes Again and is probably on par with something like The Dark Knight: The Last Crusade or those little ashcan comics in the issues of The Master Race. The best aspect of this comic is the potential it holds. Carrie, Lara and Jon are all great characters and it was nice to see them get some shine. Hopefully, Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child is simply a taste of things to come.

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