Frank Miller's groundbreaking 1986 comic book series still packs a punch today. (I first read it only a few years ago.) This was the story which proved superhero comics can be powerful drama and social commentary. This tale of a middle-aged Bruce Wayne returning one last time to fight crime as the Batman is an original and interesting mixture of ironic frivolity and serious themes. It is the themes in the subtexts of the story that most make this work intersting. These themes include the issue of pure justice (as typified by the Batman) versus the corruptible system, and whether the power of justice best belongs in the hands of the legal system or to individuals. Miller offers scathing satirical sketches of spineless politicians, vacuous mass-media, and criminal-coddling pop psychology. Miller's fascinating portrait of Batman as a complex, tortured, and three-dimensional human being cannot be soon forgotten. The Dark Knight Returns is a compelling story of of a troubled hero in an unheroic world.