Frank Miller and Klaus Janson held a retrospective presentation to celebrate 40th years celebration of The Dark Knight Returns.
The ComicsPRO confrence hosted a The Dark Knight Returns 40th Anniversary panel DC Publisher, President, and Chief Creative Officer Jim Lee opened up with how the seminal series impacted his personal comic book art journey. He attributed TDKR as one of his inspirations to become a comic book professional.
“[When I read ‘TDKR’, I thought] I must become a comic book artist. Not a terribly fast one. Not the most reliable one… But this is what I have to do… I would not be standing here as President of DC Comics without it.”
Writer and artist Frank Miller recounted why he wanted to tell the story of an older, grizzled Batman coming back from retirement.
“What I had in mind was, I wanted to do a Batman story that introduced the concept of superheroes… With time. The audience was no longer a bunch of kids. I wanted to see what would happen to Batman if the hero became as old as his legend… At the time, I thought what would old age be? Oh, 50. I was 29 at the time….From that point i began reconstructing Batman and getting rid of the junk… And keeping the cool stuff. I ended up keeping a lot more stuff than I expected.”
Carrie Kelly’s Creation
When asked about what led to the creation of new Robin Carrie Kelly, Miller inserted how it was not his idea initially. However, it worked out because now an older Bruce Wayne can act as a surrogate father figure to Carrie.
“I never thought there would be a Robin. It was John Byrne’s idea to make ‘Robin a girl… I set about creating Carrie Kelly… All of a sudden there was a bright spot in Batman’s dark world. All of a sudden this middle age superhero became a father…’I love Carrie Kelly, she won my heart over.’
Why ‘TDKR’ Has Such a Lasting Legacy
Inker Klaus Janson was very brief on why The Dark Knight Returns was so enduring.
“The story was perfect. I had the opportunity when we started working on [TDKR’s sequel] Master Race… I was really taken aback by how good this story. I think it is as close to perfection as Frank and I can come. It’s really, really good. And Frank did an amazing job.”
For more on the panel, including a few amusing easter eggs, check it out here.
Source: comicbookclublive.com
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