The Dark Knight Returns is one of the all time epic stories written by Frank Miller. In 2012 the legendary story was converted to an animated film in two parts and its mirror image of the graphic novel was applauded. It’s my favourite graphic novel, and I’ve read plenty.
Frank Cho is an American/Koren comic book artist and writer, he has re-drawn the epic final battle between an ageing Dark Knight and Superman. In the animated film this was the conclusion of Part 1.
Frank Cho isn’t a big Superman fan and doesn’t traditionally accept art commissions like this however this was different.
On his personal blog, the famous artist explains:
“I rarely do art commissions. For the simple reason that I have too many projects to do and don’t have free time to devote to commissions,”
“However, I do take a commission or two, usually for a friend or art collectors that I know and trust – In this case, Hawaiian Dave.”
“One day the impossible happened, I was bored and I had some free time and Hawaiian Dave gave me a big wad of cash. On top of that, he told me that I can draw whatever I desire as long as Batman and Superman is in it…
Frank Cho goes onto his:
“Since I hated Superman so much, the only logical conclusion was to do the scene in Frank Miller’s masterpiece The Dark Knight Returns where the old Batman comes out of retirement and beats the s**t out of Superman. And off I went.
“This simple pin-up morphed into an elaborate pin-up which then turned into a two-page sequential action scene complete with dialogues. To tell you the truth, I had a great time drawing this. But I can honestly say that this will probably be the last Superman art I draw.
To compare the work done here to the original graphic novel take a look at a snapshot below from Frank Miller’s story.
If you have not read the story, I highly recommend you get yourself a copy and take a look.
Source: Digital Spy
