10 Most OVERRATED Comics Of All Time

8. The Dark Knight Returns

Frank Miller's seminal work The Dark Knight Returns presents Batman in his ultimate form as a man who just can't walk away from his mission, even when that mission threatens to overwhelm him completely.

The comic is best known for putting Batman on the road to the superhero we know today but, that legacy aside, the comic itself moves a little slowly - about 90% of it is copy and pasted news reporters providing exposition dumps on old cathode-ray television screens.

It's the treatment of the Joker that really sets this comic aside though, both providing a subtle twist and forever marring Batman. In the final battle with his nemesis, Bats comes close to breaking his neck, but the Joker mocks him for not going through with it and then breaks his own neck to tarnish Batman's public image.

But the Joker had always used white speech bubbles up to then, and now he was using the grey that had been reserved for Batman's thoughts. The implication is that Bruce finally crossed his line and killed the Joker, then justified it with that imagined final monologue. It's an incredible piece of characterization, but one that crosses the line so much that many fans cannot even admit that it happened.