The Comics Journal's blog Journalista for November 10th featured a short quote from Dick Giordano, a comics creator and DC Comics' Executive Editor from 1983-1993. Giordano was on hand when the company published both Alan Moore's Watchmen as well as Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns in 1986, and he commented on the latter:
"The Dark Knight Returns additionally helped start the grim and gritty trends in comic storytelling that still exist today. That was an unintended result, and I'm truly sorry it happened. Comics are much too dark today. Er -- in my opinion."
Criticism and apology? You're probably wise to clarify yourself there at the end, Mr. Giordano. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Miller's work not only inspire Tim Burton's first Batman movie but also last summer's Dark Knight, the $1billion+ box-office record breaker and cinematic phenomenon? Aren't the proceeds from that movie paying for your retirement?
And while the movies are great, let's not forget about the comics themselves. The Dark Knight Returns comes about as close as any comics work can get to being a force of nature, arguably even closer than Watchmen. As a former DC Executive, you know better than I, Mr. Giordano, that those two series heralded the sudden and drastic departure from the boring if not broken conventional compass that guided and defined the comics industry for decades.
What shape would the industry be in today if not for Frank Miller's revolutionary Batman tale? Consider the depth and a richness of comics storytelling today, just one hallmark of the sophistication that might otherwise never have been possible if not for Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen.
Both comics stories, for example, are skillfully set against the backdrop of nuclear Armageddon, a powerful symbol of the helplessness and self-destructive bent of their respective characters. Furthermore, the relevance of Miller and Moore's bombs as metaphors for precious endings and important changes extends even beyond the context of the comics! As an artist yourself, Mr. Giordano, surely you must recognize that their metaphor ingeniously also comments upon the very impact of both books on the comics medium itself.
Yes, sir, Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns rocked the comics world like A-bombs under your watch. And you know what? They're still shaking things up with the unforgettable impressions they've left on an entire new generation of creators. That extreme acts of creation are equally extreme acts of destruction that leave an even more extreme world in their wake is a legacy of literary talent today's creators can only hope to achieve within their own works.
I hope I've helped clear things up for you, Dick. For the record, I hope I've set you straight. I did, didn't I?
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