The Dark Knight Returns: The Last Crusade

Bought for my son who enjoyed it.

It’s a good read. The feel is similar to The Dark Knight Returns—it’s gritty and often revolves around Batman’s thoughts and doubts. Though, the story is far less grand than the story of TDKR. There’s no Superman or planet threatening nuclear bombs. Instead, the story simply revolves around Batman and Robin trying to solve more low key crimes commited by the usual Batman villains. Overall, it’s a well written, interesting Batman tale that shows what Batman was up to before he retired and then returned for TDKR.My main gripe with the book is, as other reviewers have mentioned, it’s very short. There are only 57 pages, and they aren’t even densely packed. Reading the whole book only takes about 30 min. Further, the story ends right as it’s getting interesting. I can see why Mill chose to end it where he did, but it still makes for a somewhat unsatisfying read. I really wish it would have been 4x the length, if not more.

I really liked this book, I wish it was a little bit longer. I hope frank miller can write more stories with Jason Todd, and given his type of style he should write a book with the focus being Jason Todd getting tortured and killed by the joker, and batman desperately trying to find and save him.

I know there's a lot of critics that put this novel in a negative light, but I think it's great. The artwork is beautiful, and there's a whole underlying arc with Jason Todd that I feel stays very true to his character. It depicts the batman of the dark knight universe in a pre-gritty, pre-angsty way. But at the same time, it shows you drive of the events that will eventually lead up to those moments in the main series. And the bits with the joker? Brilliantly done. Some call it a rehash of the Jason Todd story, but I think it's an important backstory and overall retelling of this robin.

A good story with good art that ended too soon. Just as it opens up and gets interesting, having lay the foundation for something good... It ends far too abruptly. It feels like book 1 of 4. I enjoyed it, but finished wanting more.

Frank Miller strikes again with an amazing batman story. this deluxe hardcover is absolutley beautiful the pages are a thick stock paper and the art shines on it . along with the story this includes some great sketches from the original pitch for this story as well as some of the scripts. i know some of the hardcore batman fanatics will be upset with frank for changing the story of jason todd but as we all know the dark knight saga is not really cannon and in frank millers world of batman this is perfect

Miller’s brilliance has only been vaguely referenced in the comic movies.We get endless movie retoolings of comics like Superman and the Fantastic Four, yet The Dark Knight Returns, the one comic that entirely changed the course of the comic industry, is only honored in an Anime grade release?Cowardice I say.

Great set all around, but a little on the short side.

That about sums it up for me. I was really looking forward to this book but I was pretty underwhelmed by it. I've never been a massive fan of John Romita jr. His style just doesn't appeal to my eye, not that I hate it or anything. I've enjoyed plenty of his past work.( kick ass, world war hulk for example, but I've always felt they could have been vastly better works with better artwork.) So that was kinda sorta a point deducted from the get go. It feels far too short and seems like a wasted opportunity to me. I genuinely got to the end and thought that was an ok, but far from great first chapter. Then turned the page and all that was left was alternate covers and a brief overview of the script, and that's all she wrote folks. I was expecting a lot more. Is there another part I don't know about? I get that it's set before the dkr and you're supposed to fill in the blanks a bit, but. Really? Really, that's all? The joker on the cover is misleading as he and bats don't cross paths at all except in a sort of flashback scene. Everything thing is crammed in and feels like a cash grab to me. I didn't hate it and was quite enjoying it actually but the end is so sudden and everything is left up in the air, to the point that I felt cheated. It was only getting going then bang it's over. I get they were trying to show Bruce at a point that he was struggling physically with the demands of being batman, but he was needlessly sloppy and Jason too at the end, fell victim to this too. If the story simply reworked A death in the family giving us a Miller-esk twist on it, I feel that would easily be enough of a catalyst for Bruce's retirement in the dkr without showing him to be incompetent. ( not completely inept mind you, but struggling a little more then he maybe should have.) I don't think I would recommend it tbh as it isn't really necessary and doesn't add enough to the dkr continuity to justify itself, save your money for something more fulfilling in my opinion, but saying that it's gotten good reviews from other people so each to there own I suppose.

I was expecting a spectacle like the original Dark Knight Returns but was disapointed by the shortness and straightforwardness of the story. It was cool that the style and choices in panels and the media commentary resembled the '80s original.The artwork would DEFINITELY have benefitted from the mastery of Klaus Janson. I like JR JR and the pencils were great but the inking was a bit sloppy. In the wrong way! We need more Janson!

If you have read The Dark Knight Returns and it's two sequels. You need to read this as it helps you understand why Batman acts like he does towards a certain villain.

Good short read for any Batman fan. Get some insight into Batman and Jason Todd before tragedy strikes the Batman family.

love it.