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Absolute Dark Knight
- Frank Miller is a GOD !!!The is a great Book in hard cover ! And it's FRANK MILLER - Nuff Said !
Rating:
- THE GREATEST GRAPHIC NOVEL OF ALL TIMEFrank Miller's THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS redefined the superhero for an entire generation, and has had a deeper and more profound impact on the way comic book heroes are perceived by the general public than any other single work. This edition presents this seminal tale in a deluxe, oversized format that does the material justice. Collected also is the inferior but still compelling sequel, THE DARK KNIGHT STRIKES AGAIN. This follow-up, coming out over a decade after the original, is a work that is initially puzzling, but grows in stature with subsequent readings. Marred by some clearly rushed artwork and amateurish computer coloring, the story still draws some interesting conclusions about our current media-drenched society. Copious amounts of ancillary materials from both works are presented, giving the reader some insight into Miller's creative process. HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION.
Rating:
- The Dark Knight Returns is Essential even for non-comic reading book fans.A one-two punch of a set in one amazing volume. There are examples of a medium that so much represent the best there is that it transcends the traditional audience. The Dark Knight Returns, the first of two volumes in this set, is such a work. The 15-years between it's sequel, The Dark Knight Rides Again, seem to change the momentum. While it is sometimes fun and always interesting, it is merely a ride-along compared to the first volume. Bottom line, this is worth it alone for The Dark Knight Returns- the sequel is just icing.
There are two odd omissions here- one was the Frank Miller Batman:Year-one story and the other was his Batman x-mas short.
Rating:
- Perhaps Absolute, But Far From UltimateI'm sorry that I have to be the little skunk at this garden party. I can not share the enthusiasm for this edition which many reviewers have expressed. In fact, I discourage you discriminating collectors from buying this, as it is notably flawed.
I was compelled to buy this by the publisher's product description which claimed that it "set the standard for high quality." As a book collector I love buying these ultra-deluxe editions of all types of subject matter. Recent examples in the comics genre would include: The Deluxe Edition of Frank Miller's Sin City; The Complete Far Side; The Complete Calvin and Hobbes; The Completely Mad Don Martin. Each of these sets is packaged in a very impressive manner: cloth-bound; slip-cased; tipped-in plates on the covers, super-high quality paper. I presumed this Absolute Dark Knight was going to be be in this same spirit, and given the high price (even when discounted by Amazon) I was confident the book would exceed my expectations for quality.
Alas, I was wrong. This large, heavy book is bound in a shiny-paper cover, just like the covers you had on your Dr. Suess books x-number of years ago. These covers get dinged up very easily and look cheap and cheesey from day one. The slip case? It is also covered only in thin shiny paper, and if this book gets any real usage at all it will look like garbage very promptly. And, with the heavy weight, this book is particularly susceptible to damage because when you bump it, there is more inertia behind it. And the torque pulling on the binding and spine from merely reading it is considerable. This production concept MANDATED quality construction, and the idiots who produced it are hoping the majority of consumers are not scrutinizing enough to note, or care about, the compromises. And it is further infuriating when you realize this malfeasance was motivated merely by the desire to shave a few bucks off the production costs.
I should admit this issue of cheap book-making is a huge one for me, and I think once people make the distinction it is a big issue for them as well. Cloth covers (or "buckram," as they are often called), will last for decades even with heavy use. As the cover ages it even takes on some character which arguably enhances the book, or at least it does not detract. With the cheap paper-covered cardboard covers used on so many books nowadays, the cover get scraped, dented, dinged, and otherwise degraded in an amazingly short time. If you spend any time in used-books stores, or on Advanced Book Exchange (abe.com), you can see the difference in appearances, and dollar values, displayed vividly.
If they had put a quality cover on this it almost certainly would have become a highly-valued collectable ten or twenty years from now. But, no, they cut a significant corner, and instead this will probably be only of nominal value. Or, perhaps, it will be of virtually no value if they get around to doing it right in an upgraded edition which really does deliver the quality which the subject matter deserves. Meanwhile, I'm sending this right back to Amazon.
Rating:
- I'm a casual comics reader ... disappointedI was given a $100 gift card to Amazon, so I splurged and purchased this book without knowing the author's work (I know he created Sin City, but never read it), without knowing its significance in terms of how it impacted comics from this point on, etc. I'm judging this purely in terms of how much I enjoyed it as a long time Batman fan BUT casual comic reader. I didn't like it at all. First, the story arc was disappointing ... I didn't feel that it best represented Bruce Wayne's character at an advanced age. There were some interesting story elements for sure, but the quality of the writing was a huge disappointment and the artwork -- both the drawing and the coloring -- was really bad. I know it was supposed to be stylized and such -- and there are glimpses of brillance, like the front cover for example -- but panel to panel it was difficult to enjoy. If you're a die hard Frank Miller fan, I'm sure you see things quite differently and perhaps this isn't the best representation of his work. This title simply didn't resonate with me.
Absolute Dark Knight
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