Review of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 (2012) by Josh L — 25 Feb 2013

Not as good as Under the Red Hood for my money, but a step up from Year One. The plot takes awhile to get going and the lack of a proper back story robs it of some much needed motivation towards the beginning because how things got to this point would be interesting to know without having to re-read the whole Batman mythology.

It's not like we need a huge background check, just a little reminder like they did in Under the Red Hood. The plot is not one of the strong points, especially since this ends on a cliffhanger and has that incomplete feeling Part 1's tend to have.

The mutants are not particularly the best of villains for Batman even though their leader is certainly his equal in terms of muscle power. It does have some decent animation and brutal action sequences that are bloody and intense.

Not for little kids in other words. The news segments carried over from the graphic novel simply do not work and feel tacked on. The vocal performances are alright, but not as good as past entries. There's potential here for an even better Part 2 and I certainly hope that is the case.

Part 1 is watchable and with a promise of bigger things to come, I am certainly looking forward to Part 2.