So Frank Miller has written two of the most revered Batman books of all time (“The Dark Knight Returns” obvs, and “Batman: Year One”) as well as two of the most derided (“The Dark Knight Strikes Again” and “All-Star Batman and Robin”). He was also working on the super-mega-xenophobic “Batman: Holy Terror” before DC decided that the blatant anti-Islamic attitude probably wasn’t doing them any favors and they cancelled it. Legendary released that later as “Holy Terror!” which, at the risk of editorializing, was a terror in and of itself.
I hope that by now my silence is deafening pic.twitter.com/4E0xi4LHju
— Frank Miller (@FrankMillerInk) April 24, 2015
Things have been quiet on the Miller front since. He had that second Sin City movie come out and contributed to a handful of comic covers. But in a tweet today and an announcement from Brian Azzarello at C2E2, it turns out he’s been working on “The Dark Knight III: The Master Race.” Brian Azzarello, fresh off his magnificent stint on “Wonder Woman” will be co-writing it with him.
Miller isn’t drawing the book this time around, and the official artist has yet to be announced. But it will apparently run for eight issues, shipped out twice a month.
Here’s the official press release from DC:
“THE DARK KNIGHT III: THE MASTER RACE” is the sequel to Miller’s 1986 classic THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS – heralded by TIME Magazine as one of the 10 greatest graphic novels of all time – and its 2001-2002 follow-up series BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT STRIKES AGAIN.
Miller will be joined by acclaimed writer Brian Azzarello (100 BULLETS, JOKER, and WONDER WOMAN) on the eight-issue comic book periodical, to be published twice a month under the DC Comics imprint. Marking the 30th anniversary of THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS original series, this periodical is slated for publication beginning in late Fall 2015.
“Batman remains my favorite comic book hero and a sequel to Dark Knight is going to be daunting,” said Miller, “but we’ll do our best.”
“We are thrilled to have Frank back home at DC writing Batman,” according to Dan DiDio and Jim Lee, Co-Publishers for DC Entertainment. “The story he and Brian have crafted is an astounding and triumphant conclusion to this seminal body of work which influenced and shaped generations of readers and creators alike.”
According to Azzarello, “It’s been an amazing experience collaborating with Frank these past six months. I think we have an epic story that these characters truly deserve.”
Artists for the project have yet to be announced.
The title itself seems to be a joke on Miller’s view of the world, but I’m sure if the book tilts more toward “Dark Knight Returns” or “Dark Knight Strikes Again,” it will be something interesting to see. I’m sure that the upcoming movie where Batman and Superman are duking it out probably helped bring this project to fruition, though.
We’ll keep you up to date with more of this project as we hear about it.
