REVIEW: Dark Knight III: The Master Race, #2

[t hedge coke]

While I'm giving you props for the pun I think you should be careful what you wish for as Miller has been pretty off the rails in the past few years. All Star Batman & Robin was unintentionally funny and Holy Terror was just down right terrible.

Opinions being opinions, I'd still suggest that most of what people find funny in All-Star is intentionally funny.

[Joker]

While I'm giving you props for the pun I think you should be careful what you wish for as Miller has been pretty off the rails in the past few years. All Star Batman & Robin was unintentionally funny and Holy Terror was just down right terrible.

Having read ASB&R I'm not sure I agree it was unintentionally funny. Still, I'd rather read actual Miller than bland Miller fan fiction.

[HsssH]

I see that its not Miller but I'm still finding it very interesting.

[borntohula]

I see that its not Miller but I'm still finding it very interesting.

I sort of think Azzarello as Miller's Carrie Kelley

Miller still had part in planning/plotting it. I don't get it how some think he had nothing to do with it. That he -for example- haven't read the ending isn't that surprising, since it's probably still just a plot outline.

[Steven Ely]

To me, she shares the core of the DKSA Wonder/Warrior (basically, a hard mother.), but I agree it's apperantly Azzarello's way of writing her.

Brian Azzarello said about the writing of Wonder Woman in The Master Race in contrast to his own way of writing, "Well, my Wonder Woman didn't have any kids. This one has two. And it's interesting playing — like you said, I've worked on her — but now to actually work on here where she's a mother, it's a completely different wrinkle to her. It's been fun. She's more of a hard-ass, I think, in the Dark Knight universe than when I was doing her. Frank really pushes the warrior aspect of her. Next to Batman, she's the toughest character around. And in some ways, she's even tougher than him." http://www.newsarama.com/26564-azzar...ive-title.html

About Frank Miller's involvement in The Master Race...

Brian Azzarello: I thought about it when Frank said, "We're going to call it The Master Race." I'm like, "Are you sure you want to do that? I would call it World's Finest."
Frank says "No!" [Laughs.]
http://www.newsarama.com/26564-azzar...ive-title.html

As the Comic Book Resources interviewer said, "I wish there was a recorder or some fly on the wall when you (Brian Azzarello) were working with Frank because I've been reading about you and Frank acting out the voices (for the dialogue) as you were making the story, where Frank of course is Batman, you're playing these other characters."

Brian Azzarello said, "I was Carrie."

Comic Book Resources interviewer said, "Talk about that and what it added to your writing partnership."

Brian Azzarello said, "It made it like it was a gas, man. I looked forward to going over there (to Frank Miller's New York studio) everyday. I'd leave at about 6:00, 6:30. Usually, when I'm writing it's solitary. This was different. He was really fun... Definitely there's dialogue from those (voice acting) sessions. It's in the book."


Brian Azzarello said, "Coming up with the story with Frank, then writing it with him, then sitting down and going over the scripts."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T0MfIPMwho

Frank Miller said, "When it comes to Batman, I'm a raging dictator. I'm looking hard to remind Brian Azzarello about what I think the essence of the character is. Batman is very, very unlike other heroes. Superman is very much a super ego, wanting an orderly world, whereas Batman is an agent of chaos (compared to Superman), looking to disrupt that order (which he believes is wrong and flawed). He's a super id (Batman's a super ego). They're a perfect balance — they're the World's Finest team, they belong together … punching each other senseless." http://news.yahoo.com/frank-miller-t...MwXzEEc2VjA3Nj

Scott Snyder also explained about how closely Brian Azzarello has written right beside Frank Miller in Frank Miller's studio, "In the last year especially, [Brian Azzarello has] been coming to New York a lot to work on the Dark Knight III project. That's something I was initially going to be more involved in. But once Brian Azzarello came in and started working with Frank Miller - they have a long history and they work so well together - they were working so intimately in Frank Miller's studio that I felt like I would be more of an interloper if I tried to be a part of that process." http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/09/...he-master-race

So Frank Miller had much more involvement in this than most people here seem to be aware of.

[aereohalen]

i think Lara is going to try to be part of the Kryptonian cult,but they wont except her because she isnt fully kryptonian.

[Joker]

I'm aware of Miller's level of involvement, but it still doesn't come off as a Miller comic. Just doesn't feel right.

[HsssH]

I think its natural once you start adding more people to the project. DKSA was all Miller + colours by Varley. Here we have like 6-7 people for each issue (including backups).

[thwhtGuardian]

For me, I still think my biggest complaint is the pacing. Reading issues one and two back to back I feel like the story would have been much better served if the two had been condensed down into a single, regular sized issue. Part of what made the previous entries of the Dark Knight, and Year One, so special was the way Miller packed so much punch into a single page and with this decompressed storytelling we're not getting that same feeling.

[borntohula]

So Frank Miller had much more involvement in this than most people here seem to be aware of.

Good write up on Miller's involvement. A bit why I called Azzarello Miller's Carrie Kelley (the end of DKIII#2 )

Like Kubert and Janson on art, he was brought in to write it. While Miller has said it's Azzarello's story, it's quite easy to see why. He wants Azzarello to get credited for it. They're friends and Miller has -in conventions- spoken very highly of him. Saying he's his favourite writer, as well as a better one than him.

For me, I still think my biggest complaint is the pacing. Reading issues one and two back to back I feel like the story would have been much better served if the two had been condensed down into a single, regular sized issue. Part of what made the previous entries of the Dark Knight, and Year One, so special was the way Miller packed so much punch into a single page and with this decompressed storytelling we're not getting that same feeling.

The Dark Knight Returns: The Last Crusade (a preq. to DKR.) issue in February will be a 64 page prestige format issue, perhaps it'll read more like DKR.

While DKR's pages are packed, I'm not so sure regarding DKSA. When they "--scared the crap out of Luthor.", there are 3 splash pages in a row. Personally I don't mind it, I like for each book to have their own feel.

[Joker]

Miller does a lot of splash pages in a row with Sin City. It's a deliberate pacing choice. It slows down the moment/event. It works wonderfully. Just like going from 16 panels to a splash page makes that moment huge! Miller's pretty brilliant in his pacing/use of splash pages.

Unfortunately, I don't really see that same quality of pacing happening here. Again, this just feels like a comic set in that universe, not one that really belongs there.

[t hedge coke]

Miller does a lot of splash pages in a row with Sin City. It's a deliberate pacing choice. It slows down the moment/event. It works wonderfully. Just like going from 16 panels to a splash page makes that moment huge! Miller's pretty brilliant in his pacing/use of splash pages.

Unfortunately, I don't really see that same quality of pacing happening here. Again, this just feels like a comic set in that universe, not one that really belongs there.

In a surprising way, really, since I know both the co-writer and the penciler know how to do it better.

Miller is a master of pacing and layouts - Warren Ellis and Grant Morrison have talked about learning from studying Miller's pacing and page construction - and that is, more or less, missing so far. We do have six issues, and more mini-comics to go, though, maybe the pitch will shift.

[borntohula]

Miller does a lot of splash pages in a row with Sin City. It's a deliberate pacing choice. It slows down the moment/event. It works wonderfully. Just like going from 16 panels to a splash page makes that moment huge! Miller's pretty brilliant in his pacing/use of splash pages.

Unfortunately, I don't really see that same quality of pacing happening here. Again, this just feels like a comic set in that universe, not one that really belongs there.

I fully agree that Miller is a master at pacing and setting up a story. Also VERY daring, which I think DKSA is a example of. It's talking-sh!t-heads of the ME-ME-ME-media not only takes up space of the comic pages, but also space from actual issues at hand as well as the story itself.

What I commented upon thwhtGuardian writing "Part of what made the previous entries of the Dark Knight, and Year One, so special was the way Miller packed so much punch into a single page and with this decompressed storytelling we're not getting that same feeling."

Which is why I mentioned Dark Knight Strikes Again. Which -again- has a very different structure from that one in DKR, especially regarding how much punch packed into a single page.

[thwhtGuardian]

I fully agree that Miller is a master at pacing and setting up a story. Also VERY daring, which I think DKSA is a example of. It's talking-sh!t-heads of the ME-ME-ME-media not only takes up space of the comic pages, but also space from actual issues at hand as well as the story itself.

What I commented upon thwhtGuardian writing "Part of what made the previous entries of the Dark Knight, and Year One, so special was the way Miller packed so much punch into a single page and with this decompressed storytelling we're not getting that same feeling."

Which is why I mentioned Dark Knight Strikes Again. Which -again- has a very different structure from that one in DKR, especially regarding how much punch packed into a single page.

Even with the talking heads and splash panels DK2 was still very compressed, with a lot of plot being developed very quickly which isn't the case here. Now that doesn't make this a bad book per say but it's a very different feel.

[blackbolt396]

Even with the talking heads and splash panels DK2 was still very compressed, with a lot of plot being developed very quickly which isn't the case here. Now that doesn't make this a bad book per say but it's a very different feel.

And that's what I'm loving about this story .