I know that dark, grim and gritty comic books are not the current fade in comics and I realize the current trend is a Wholesome Silver Age moral nostalgia/revival but there's a rebel lying deep in my soul. Anytime anybody tells me the trend is such and such, I go the opposite direction. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns really isn't "bad" writing at all. Frank Miller makes Gotham City a believably corrupt dangerous place like the real world because Batman works only in a world that's in terrible shape. If Gotham is a nice safe clean town then Batman is an unnecessary idea. DC was dark in the beginning in the Golden Age. Batman has his roots in the pulps, specifically The Shadow. Bill Finger and Bob Kane's Batman's Gotham City was a believably dark place full of crime. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's Superman fought believable realistic crime and corruption. Catwoman having been a Dominatrix and later in life running an escort service is very believable. I love Frank Miller's cartoony art. Cartoony art goes back to Batman's roots. Frank Miller brought Batman back to his dark roots further than anyone else had, more in line with the original vision of the character. Closer to the police-beating, bone-breaking brutal Bill Finger-Bob Kane original. First is the use of the bat emblem on his chest without the yellow moon in Batman The Dark Knight Returns. In the Golden Age this was the standard. Batman carrying and using guns, which hadn't been seen since 1940. Frank Miller brought back Robin's sling shot which had not been seen since 1940. The gadgets and bat vehicles which had been toned way down in the '70s. Batman originally was a terror striking creature of the night wanted by the police. Batman The Dark Knight Returns was a return to that concept. Frank Miller clearly made Batman darker - far more brutal than he's been in decades - breaking bones, beating cops. He redesigned the batarangs - they're much crueler. If you actually look at the source material - the early stories by Bill Finger, Gardner Fox and Bob Kane - Batman's methods were not nice. He was extreme in his actions. They've castrated the Grimms' fairy tales. And they've castrated the American superhero fairy tales, too. I'm glad Frank Miller doesn't soften Batman any. There is humor in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns such as Robin putting a firecracker in a guys pants, Superman saying to Robin, "Isn't tonight a school night?" Even Joker having Selina in bondage dressed up in a Wonder Woman costume is dark humor.