I hope the holidays find you well. Today I'm reblogging a review I wrote close to 2 1/2 years ago on the
Bronze Age Babies blog. I'm running this as is - you'll notice near the end I reference a Jack Kirby Artist Edition. You can bet your bottom dollar I'll get to that at some point in the near future. But for now, enjoy the incredible original art of Frank Miller and Klaus Janson from the landmark Dark Knight mini-series.
THIS POST WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON 5 JULY 2016 AT BRONZE AGE BABIES.
Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Gallery Edition
Graphitti Designs, May 2016
Doug: Hey, I'm not one to toss about texting lingo, but
OMG
Is this a cool book, or what? (Yes, it's a very cool book, as I think you'll see.)
First off, the nuts and bolts of the book, courtesy of the folks at
Comic Book Daily --
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns – Frank Miller Gallery Edition
Includes artwork from Dark Knight Returns 1-4, covers, related art
and previously unpublished pieces. Though Graphitti Designs was unable to locate every
original from this story, they are pleased to present to fans everywhere
the best presentation of the artwork from this historic series ever
seen.
Some
may see the price and think "no way", and I'd most likely be in that
camp as well had I not been earning revenue from the sale of my
collection. I pre-ordered this book from
Westfield Comics
in Wisconsin; I'd done business with them as a subscriber during my
college years and was pleased to make their acquaintance once again.
They sold me the book in October for $148 (which included S&H),
and I waited patiently through two publication delays before getting my
mitts on the book on June 9. As you can see from the tale of the tape
above, it is big -- way bigger than the average Artist Edition from IDW
(though not as large as the twice up
John Romita's Amazing Spider-Man or my pre-ordered
Jack Kirby's Thor
(already delayed and now due to arrive this week)) and weighing in at
close to 10 pounds. Not exactly the sort of book one would rest on the
lap.
Here are a few of shots of the packaging -- the
book's transit appeared to have been smooth. The cardboard "case" is
standard for these types of books, as IDW uses the same product. I keep
all of my Artist Editions nestled in this original packaging. Note: All
images henceforth are photographs -- I'd have gotten a hernia attempting
to scan from this monster.
I've
also included an image of the inner spine of the book to show the
stitching. The craftsmanship is solid, and what's especially nice is
that although it's not a "lay flat" book it does not want to close once
opened. I could look at it or read from it without having to hold down
pages on either side.
Below
are shots of the title page, as well as the back cover (just ignore my
reflection in that pic). The image of Batman towering over the Gotham
City skyline was the cover of the first Warner Books trade paperback
(which I owned at one time before a colleague to whom I'd loaned it lost
it); it was also a 16"x20" poster, which I also own.
And
here, kids, is where the awesomeness begins. Below you'll find a vellum
(not sure if that's the exact nature of the material, so I'm going with
it anyway) overlay with Frank Miller's original pencils to the cover of
The Dark Knight Returns
and the finished graphic design that saw publication. You can see how
the color version shows through the top sheet. I'll have several more
examples of this feature of the book.
I
sent all of these images to Karen shortly after I received the book.
One of the things she remarked about was her love of the margin notes.
Those of you who have read Miller's collaboration with Bill Sienkiewicz,
Elektra: Assassin, know that Sienkiewicz repeated certain
images, and often. Note below that Miller's bottom left panel is marked
for "stat" and is repeated two panels to the right.
As
you saw from the product description above, Graphitti Designs could not
locate all of the pages. They do, however, include scans of the
published pages for the purpose of completion. Below is a common
example; however, when a page in question is paired with a vellum
overlay the scanned page is full-size to match the size of the overlay.
The coordination of the printing and bindery process in this book was
meticulously carried forth.
The
two pages below are here to show you the creative process of Miller and
Klaus Janson. Lots of white-out, stats, etc. The second of these two
pages is my favorite vignette in the entire graphic novel. When I first
read this page, I knew this wasn't any Batman I'd known. I had a "heck
yeah!" moment during that first reading.
Note Miller's signature on the bottom of the page above (enlarged detail below).
The
scene below was pretty tense -- love the splash page of Batman with the
chest logo blown open to reveal a bullet-proof vest. Note the creative
process in the enlarged detail.
In another example of the overlay, you'll find Miller's pencils to the cover of
The Dark Knight Triumphant on the left, and Janson's inks on the right.
Another
example of white-out, as well as Miller laying out a grid system for
the building heights and the lettering. Note the margin call-out to the
punctuation in the word balloon. Note also that Janson signed and dated
this page -- lucky for whoever owns it!
Two more examples of editing and mark-ups.
Great
image on the left, below. Given that Janson signed here, and the page
above, both in June of 1986 has me wondering if the same collector owned
both pages.
Miller and Janson both signed this page. Memorable panel from
The Dark Knight Triumphant.
The cover of
Hunt the Dark Knight
was just plain white, except for the image of Carrie Kelly in the
bottom right corner. A graphic designer must have done the Bat logo.
Detail
of a single panel, when Bruce and Clark were riding horses and
discussing the coming storm. Miller did not care for Janson's inks, so
re-inked the image himself. The overlay at right is Miller's version.
I
thought this was interesting -- several panels redrawn by Miller. It
seemed that as the story wore on he became fussier about the work. For
those of us who bought the book as it was released, this might explain
the longer and longer delays as the series progressed.
Awesome splash...
Again,
enjoy the process. And Miller's tinkering. I'll tell you, looking
through this book it struck me how much Miller must feel the same way
about this work as George Lucas feels about his original trilogy of
Star Wars films. Perfection is an unattainable thing.
Detail. White-out and redrawing. I love seeing stuff like this!
One
of the iconic images of the entire series. I thought it would be cooler
than it is, but for the most part it looks like Miller and Janson were
satisfied the first time. Or, perhaps it's because of the tardiness of
the series that there was no reworking here.
Near
the end of the book there are several extras. As you may know, all of
these original art collections are color scans of the art. That's why
you feel as if you're looking at the actual bristol board and it's also
why all of the white-out, blue line pencil, and even eraser marks are
visible. Near the top you saw that there's no shortage of color images. I
was surprised to see this huge fold-out at the back of the book. If you
were buying this back in the day, you may recall a large counter
display when The Dark Knight Triumphant was released. This is a
reproduction of the artwork for that display. Nice touch, Graphitti!
Lastly, here are a couple of other promotionals. On the left is Miller's design for a
Dark Knight statue, while on the right is his portion of the cover to
'Mazing Man #12 (June 1986).
I
hope you enjoyed the tour. I've been through the entire book three
times and just love it. Of the original art reproductions that I own,
this is one of the best. Of course, all this may change when the Kirby
one arrives in a couple of months. You know I'll keep you informed...
