15 DC Comics Graphic Novels You Must Read Before You Die
6. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
Back in 1986, before Frank Miller's brain warped into a pit full of misogynistic howler monkeys, he created the greatest Batman story ever.
The Dark Knight Returns is set in a dark and seedy future, in which a retired Batman must put on the costume one last time to fight the Joker, the Mutants gang that have overrun Gotham and even Superman.
The story strips Batman of a lot of his gadgets (a noticeable exception being a now tank like batmobile) and instead plays more into the fear and intimidation angle of the Caped Crusader. This is a Batman who takes no prisoners and leaves a trail of broken and battered bodies in his wake as a warning to anyone even thinking about committing a crime. This savagery is accentuated by Miller's rough art, which paints Batman as a hulking dump truck of a man in a grimy run-down world.
The Dark Knight Returns also contains one of the best comic book fight scenes ever written. Batman takes on Superman on his home turf, weakening the Man of Steel with an array of gadgets before slugging it out with him in a suit of power armour. It's a testament to the idea that, with enough prep time, Batman can beat anyone.
Miller would also go on to write Batman: Year One, a definitive take on Batman's early crime-fighting career and definitely at no point ever wrote a terrible Dark Knight Returns sequel with a shape-shifting, immortal Joker/Robin.