The Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child #1 // Review
Comics work best when there’s a synthesis of art and words when both elements come together to create something greater than the sum of its parts. It’s rare, then, to find a comic that is so weighted in one direction that one element’s excellence outweighs the inanity of the other element so much that it’s an amazing work in spite of itself. Such is the bizarre alchemy of The Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child.
This one-shot is a sequel to Frank Miller’s Dark Knight comics, including the recent DKIII: The Master Race. It features Superman and Wonder Woman’s children, Lara and Jonathan Kent, teaming up with Batwoman (Carrie Kelley) to battle Darkseid and the Joker, against the backdrop of a contentious presidential election.
The script by Frank Miller is almost entirely nonsense. Why would Darkseid team up with the Joker of all people? Who knows. How is the Joker still alive, after his death in the original Dark Knight Returns? No idea. What exactly is this version of Jon Kent’s abilities? It changes page to page. Where is Superman during all of this? It doesn’t matter. Miller’s dialogue is overblown and unnatural, and his narration is overused and often confusing. There’s a gesture made to the question of whether or not mankind is even worth saving, but it’s half-hearted and not very well-thought-out because, of course, Carrie Kelley and Jonathan Kent will save mankind. In other words, it’s pretty typical late-period Frank Miller.
And yet it doesn’t matter one iota, because the art by Rafael Grampá is simply transcendent. Grampá’s redesign of the Carrie Kelley Batwoman is somehow both original and firmly held within the iconography of the Bat-family. His rendering of Darkseid is otherworldly and imposing. His action is kinetic, his panel design is stunning. The color art by Jordie Bellaire is equally glorious, almost painterly. The lettering by John Workman and Deron Bennett is consistent throughout, and they manage not to let Miller’s overdone captions crowd the page.
Why does The Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child work so well when it’s plagued by so many of the same problems as the execrable Superman: Year One? Possibly it’s because Miller’s callousness and distance from humanity don’t seem out of place in Carrie Kelley or Lara Kent in the way it did with Superman. Possibly it’s because Rafael Grampá’s art elevates the book so much that Miller’s foibles are easily overlooked. Regardless of the reasons, this title is a must-read for the art alone.
