The Dark Knight Returns: Book 2

With this week's blog I want to primarily flesh out the mythos of the Batman/Robin and how Frank Miller uses this famous partnership in The Dark Knight Returns in order to give us insight into Batman's admittedly deranged psyche.
In this story we are introduced to an older Bruce Wayne who has retired the cape and cowl altogether, presumably after the death of the second Robin Jason Todd, based on the comments Bruce and Alfred made after the first battle with the mutant leader. When he was in said battle, Batman had found himself bested. Beaten, and with his body failing him, Batman is practically all but defeated... until the brave/stupid heroics of "Carrie. Carrie Kelly... Robin."
Carrie Kelly is introduced to us as a kid who's parents really don't care about her, or they just don't remember her since they are both usually stoned. Soon though, she is inspired, like many citizens of Gotham, by the return of the Dark Knight. Carrie takes to the mantle of Robin on her own after a chance encounter with Bats when she and a friend are attacked by Mutants. Then, she spends her allowance on a Robin Halloween costume and takes to the rooftops. Later, whilst trying to discern where she can find the Bat, she overhears a conversation about something big going down at the dump and heads over in the hope that "he might be there..."
She eventually finds Batman locked in combat with the Mutant leader, taking a whopping beating from him. She sees him about to strike the finishing blow and can't take it anymore, she rushes in to try and stop him. Bruce, dazed and hallucinating, envisions the original Robin, Dick Grayson, in Carrie's place. It's at this point Bruce begins to reminisce about the days of old, whenever Robin would do something brash and stupid, and Bruce, would be forced to play one last winning move to save Dick. Grievously wounded, Batman has Carrie take him back to the Batcave, where she is officially bestowed the Robin title.
Carrie Kelly is quintessential to this book as Robin is quintessential to Batman. The role of Robin is very important for two specific purposes: It provides The Dark Knight, a motivator, a reason to keep on fighting whenever he's at the end of his rope to save the poor kid; and it reassures him that what he does is working. Robin is symbolic of the meaning of Batman, to inspire ordinary people to rally to arms for what they believe in and by having a Robin by his side Batman is constantly reminded of his own importance to the world.

Frank Miller reinforces the pathology of Batman by giving him a Robin who is symbolically relevant to the people of Gotham. She is the first of many of Batman's disciples and her appearance as Robin symbolically completes the true return of the Dark Knight.

The Dark Knight Returns: Book 1

Here, we arrive to the famous tale of Batman's rebirth. Written by Frank Miller in 1986, The Dark Knight Returns was the turn from the Adam West TV Batman, who many regarded as cheesy and campy , to the modern, dark, brooding figure we know in the current age. The Dark Knight Returns shows strong creative differences from our previous reading material, Watchmen. In Watchmen colors cascade with a warm vibrancy, the colors are strong and bright and pop in each panel, even in the darker areas. Here, though, in The Dark Knight Returns, colors are used sparingly, at best, and even in bright scenes, strong colors are opted out for pale shades. This can be taken, perhaps, as a sign of the times; of the bleak, unending, hopeless nightmare of city that Gotham has become in it's famed guardian's absence. Possibly, it is an indicator of the state of Bruce Wayne's mind. Overtime though, we start to see more colors pour in, blues and yellows, not unlike the silver age batsuit seen in this graphic novel. Undoubtedly, the return of colors, symbolic of hope, is in direct relation to the return of Batman.

Another aspect we can tell is immediately different is the change of panel structure, from Watchmen's standard 9 grid, to a little more crammed 16 grid. Though there is really a lack of consistency in terms of the 16 grid; there are only a handful of pages that actually have a full 16 panels. This graphic novel is definitely a more flexible in terms of style and structure, opposed to Watchmen. As well as sporting many "freestyle" pages The Dark Knight Returns makes use of the background of which the panels are set as a panel of it's own. Typically, the panels are set against a white background, but Miller ventures to have some scenes, expand beyond panels perhaps to provide weight or importance, subtly to whatever is happening within the background. Take for example page 31, where, from the shadows, The Dark Knight takes out a couple of baddies attacking two young girls, in the background, we are focused on a silhouette lurking, tossing batarangs and silently dealing JUSTICE.
Another aspect really expanded upon by Frank Miller in The Dark Knight Returns, is the visual use of sounds. We got little-to-none of this in Watchmen, but here Miller evokes very powerful feelings of epic scale; the primal strike of thunder is as a Que for the Dark Knight to strike his punishing blow upon the rampant criminal underworld of Gotham. It is really remarkable the ways Miller is able to give the impression of a sound through visuals. The rumble of thunder in the distance is long and low, the crack of lightning is large, the sounds of a man being barraged with batarangs "THUNK THUNK THUNK THUNKK" is heard in the mind's ear so clearly, it's as if we can actually hear it.

Watchmen The Movie

All right! So this week we talk about the comparisons between last week's blog subject and its portrayal in the 2009 film by Zack Snyder.
First of all, let us note that the film is essentially the closest thing to an onscreen adaption we will ever get. The story, barring the film's final act, is verbatim the story told within the graphic novel; in fact you can see that the film uses almost the EXACT same dialogue, as well as the exact same camera angles. For that matter, the casting was spot on, Rorschach's voice in the film was EXACTLY what I had in mind whilst reading the graphic novel.
Last week, I spoke mostly about Rorschach, what it means to be a "hero" and the thematic ramifications of the ending, and, in this regard, Watchmen lost none of this in translation to the film medium. Rorschach did exactly what Rorschach did in the graphic novel, definition of the term "hero" is still relative; Veidt saved the world but in an evil manner, but Rorschach was willing to liberate the world from this lie, albeit in the process doom it yet again.
Although, the one difference the movie had from the graphic novel that may actual have some thematic significance is the ending. In the Watchmen movie, Veidt kills a vast number of the population by using a device, that deceptively looks like Dr. Manhattan's handiwork, all around the world in massive explosions. In the graphic novel, however, Veidt used his resources to create a false alien entity, teleport it to New York, and kill half the city with a psychic shock wave, as it died.  The only reasons for this change, that occur to me, are that it gives the audience a less radical notion, and it shifts the blame of the newly united world onto Dr. Mahattan, as opposed to a totally unreal enemy. Fundamentally, this changes nothing. The world is still united, Dr. Manhattan and the gang, except for Rorschach, still acknowledge the gravity of the event and agree to keep it a secret., and Dr. Manhattan still leaves the Earth, permanently, after said events.
Besides the plot materials as well as the thematic materials, one of the chief differences from the graphic novel and the movie are the fundamental differences between any adaptation. The graphic novel provides better tone and structure because it is able to convey color schemes that affect our emotions and understanding. Also, with it's structure, it is able to convey higher literary concepts than could be done in film. My prime example is Dr. Manhattan's chapter in Watchmen. In the graphic novel, it conveys Dr. Manhattan's sense of "time" much better than it does in the film; in the film it felt mostly like narrated flashbacks. So in this regard, the book is a much better medium.

Watchmen Chapters 11 and 12

At last our journey is at an end with the characters of Watchmen. In Adrian Veidt's search for the answer to world peace, he has come up with a plan to slaughter millions to save billions; in turn turning violent attention from man's self to an imaginary foe. In concept Veidt's plan is perfect. No more war, no more conflict, it's all at an end. Veidt is, in the darkest possible way, the true "hero" of the earth. Our protagonists have made it all the way to Veidt, but failed to stop his plan, and, if they have any hope of this whole crusade being worth anything at all, must make a compromise: they must remain silent, or the world will return to a doomed fate of war.
Except, there is only one person who has a problem with this: our dear, sugar-cube loving, ink-blot shifting detective, Rorschach. Rorschach will NOT compromise in justice, in response to the others' telling Rorschach that they must compromise, "Joking, of course... No. Not even in the face of Armageddon. Never Compromise." This really speaks volumes about the Rorschach character. In Rorschach's eyes, there can be no justice if there is to be any compromise. Things are black and white, there is good and there is evil, Rorschach would argue. Which, as I spoke of in chapters 5 and 6, is further attributed to his duality as a character. Things are only one way or the other. Most people would say that Rorschach is way to harsh, or that he is essentially crazy, that he's not a hero at all. But he is the only one willing to stand against the others and fight to let the truth be known. The only character to truly stand for justice. In my perspective, Rorschach is the "true hero" of Watchmen. Fittingly, the world of Watchmen has no place for a true hero...
 After Veidt's plan is fully completed , though, is when we are brought forth a profound, if not disturbing question: Who is/are the real heroes of this story? What defines a hero in general? One could assert that, even though he is the antagonist of the book, Adrian Veidt is the hero. He's saved billions of lives, and effectively ended war on earth. Sounds like a hero, right? If we follow this line of thinking we can boil it down to: Veidt was able to compromise justice to end injustice. This is the antithesis of Rorschach's line of thinking: He is unwilling to compromise in the pursuit of justice in anyway, no matter what the cost, evil must be punished. In a way one could look at any of the characters here and present them as the hero or the villain of the story.
Watchmen breaks our 'heroes' apart and shows us what they are really made of: All powerful beings, who are ignorant and are careless towards humanity, smart, rich kids who are just in it for the thrill, masterful tacticians who are willing to put anything on the line to win, anarchists who see beyond the structures of society and simply don't care, and lastly, unflinching, uncompromising, enforcers of justice, who see only in shades of black and white. While on the surface they appear to be fantastic comic-book 'heroes', these characters are flawed beyond recognition and redefine what it means to be a "hero".

Watchmen Chapters 9 and 10

Truth Acknowledged

In Chapter 9 a stunning truth is revealed at long last: Laurie is the daughter of the infamous Comedian. To help drive this point with a little more emotion, Moore added the symbolic elements of both the bottle of Nostalgia in the present and the snow globe in the past. 

The bottle as well as the snow globe represent Laurie's subconscious ignorance of the fact that she has always truly known she was Edward Blake's daughter. Laurie remarks about the snow globe, “I lifted it, starting a blizzard. I knew it wasn't real snow, but I couldn't understand how it fell so slowly… I figured inside the ball was some different sort of time… Slow time.” This is similar in imagery to the bottle of Nostalgia slowly falling throughout the issue. We can take this to mean several things:one being that Laurie's acceptance of the bottle's snow not being real as her acceptance of her ow repressed truth. Another being that both the globe and the bottle have an aspect of slow time occurring, which implicates a long amount of time until they break. Whenever she was a child and unwittingly glossed over the truth, the snow globe breaks; just as with the bottle when she finally fully understands the truth of her parentage in the present day. Their shattering represents the shattering of innocence, albeit innocence based on a lie. This draws a similarity in meaning to the Comedian’s Smiley button. Instead of blood representing a harsh truth come to light on the button, the bottles are shattered to represent this truth.

This whole exchange sparks another reaction within Dr. Manhattan. His revelation is inspired by Laurie’s and is similar I that it is a truth that was simply innocently ignored: Humanity is a miracle. Dr. Manhattan is reminded that anyone in the world is as special and miraculous as say a thermodynamic miracle, everyone in fact, and that’s why he forgot this truth. Dr Manhattan says profoundly about human life, “…the world is so full of people, so crowded with these miracles that they become commonplace and we forget… I forget.”

Through Laurie’s dark revelation, Dr. Manhattan realized the true potential for good in each human being despite impossible odds, inspiring to come back home and save the world.

Watchmen Chapters 7 and 8

In Chapter 7, our focus is shifted towards the Dan and Laurie, the last two masked avengers who have yet to be removed from the picture, so to speak. While examining the budding relationship between Dan and Laurie, we begin to see that Dan is utterly powerless, afraid and impotent. His lack of self-realization has led to Dan being totally powerless in every aspect of his life: He lives in fear of nuclear war, of Rorschach's mysterious costume-killer, he can't even engage Laurie in sexual activities of which he has longed to do.  This is best summed up for us when he describes his apocalyptic dream to Laurie, "W-we were kissing, and this nuclear bomb, it's just... We burned up. We were gone. Everything was gone... It's this war, the feeling that it's unavoidable. It makes me feel so powerless. So impotent."

 

When Dan is faced with the possibility that the world just may soon end, he goes to the one thing that grants him power enough to face the impossible: his Nite Owl suit. Daniel is empowered through his costumed identity. It gives him a sense of purpose, of meaning. When speaking of the Nite Owl goggles, he says, "As I remember, they work pretty good. No matter how black it got, when I looked through these goggles... Everything was clear as day." Symbolically, Dan is referencing that no matter how bad things got in the world, he could face it, so long as he was in his costume. 

After agreeing with Laurie to go out and "do something stupid" the two go out and save a burning building. Nite Owl is exhilarated, by the act and by seeing Laurie in her Silk Spectre costume; so much so that he is finally able to engage Laurie in some sexual activity above the city skyline. Being a hero is what makes Dan feel alive. It's not so much that he feels obliged to it, like Rorschach or Dr. Manhattan, he is addicted to it, like a drug. Similar, and perhaps metaphorically, Laurie relapses back to smoking at the same time Dan relapses back to vigilantism. One could even argue that costumed vigilantism sexual arouses Dan. It is this self-realization that springs Dan into action. He has come to terms with the fact that he IS a costumed hero and he has to act. Right after his renewed heroic drive Dan is able to confidently face the world, “I feel so confident it’s like I’m on fire. And all the mask killers, all the wars in the world, they’re just cases—just problems to solve.”

Moore added a sense of depth to the personality of characters as relatively simple as Dan. On the surface he seems to be the most well adjusted hero presented to us; but like the rest of our heroes Dan is flawed, in the most human way possible. He is reliant on vigilantism, it gives him emotional drive, it gives him a sexual desire. He needs to be a hero to feel alive. Without it, Dan is shown to emotional wreck, with no will and no drive. 

Watchmen Chapters 5 and 6

The uncanny theme of duality plays a huge role in our reading this week; it is supported by two similar themes: symmetry and causality.
In issues five and six we are fittingly focusing on Rorschach, a character based on symmetry, epitomized by the famous Rorschach ink blot test being his own mask. The issues are littered with symmetrical motifs: Daniel and Laurie viewing each other in mirrors, the silhouette of the embracing Hiroshima couple, the Survivor in The Tales of the Black Freighter, the reflecting panels in chapter five and Walter Kovacs's bleak sociological outlook being rubbed off on to Dr. Malcolm Long.

There are two instances of Daniel and Laurie's mirror situations, the first being when Daniel longingly looks back towards Laurie as she is leaving the dinner, sadly, in search of a new apartment; from our perspective, we are facing Dan and the mirror is behind him, showing the image of Laurie facing away. In the second, we are facing a mirror which Laurie is sitting in front of and facing said mirror, she is preoccupied with her things as she tells Dan "G'Night." Daniel stands in the doorway in the foreground, again, with a longing look on his face. In the first instance Dan longingly wants her to stay him at his place, and in the last instance he wants her to leave her room to come to his. Like a reflection, opposite but paralleled.

The Hiroshima Couple is recurring piece graffiti throughout the city, painted by the local gang, The Knot Tops. Dr. Malcolm Long suggests they remind him of the people disintegrated in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The shadows are reflections of humanity at the moment of great tragedy. It serves as a stark warning to a possible nuclear war; and the humanity we could lose because of it. Fitting Symmetry.
In the Tales of the Black Freighter, we see the Survivor come to a horrid revelation. He kneels on the raft and catches a glimpse of his reflection in the water. After enduring tragic situations and doing the grotesque things he has done, the Survivor looks into his reflection and is shocked to realize that he no longer, truly, recognizes the face he sees. His reflection had given him a true sense of what he has become.

The whole of chapter five is based more closely to symmetry than chapter six; this is made evident not only by the theme of the chapter but also by the structural layout of the book. Starting from pages 14 and 15, going outward from these pages, all of the panels as well as their content are symmetrical. For example, on the first page Rorschach enters Moloch's home, quiet and peacefully; on the final page Rorschach is forced to try, unsuccessfully, to escape as he brawls through the cops and is eventually dragged away from the scene.

Finally, Dr. Long's interviews with Rorschach seem to be rubbing off on him. He is very calm, polite Psychiatrist intent on making Rorschach his reputation maker. Unfortunately for him, Rorschach's stories of his origin, pushed Dr. Long close to depression instead of bringing Rorschach out of insanity, as intended. He focused to closely on Rorschach and he accidentally understood him; and thus shares in his cold views. Concerning the Rorschach ink blot, "The horror is this: in the end, it is simply a picture of empty meaningless blackness. We are alone. There is nothing else." Dr. Long has become a reflection of Rorschach's thoughts, perfectly summarized in the quote at the end of the chapter, "Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."