The system of moral values ​​of America has collapsed, the Batman legend endures.

It's been 10 years since Bruce Wayne hung up the mantle of Batman to conduct only a civil life. He even renounced his vow of abstinence to sample the tasty delights of alcohol. But that summer, the convergence of several circumstances made the reverse his decision: he can not stay arms dangling in front of a company of the "me first" whose elected leaders guide Gotham City and the United States on Basic popularity polls. Just 50 years ago, Batman is back in action and this time each procedure is final. This is what will learn at their expense Harvey Dent, the Mutant Leader, the Joker and even Superman.

When this appears comics in 1986, it is a revolution. Even today it remains one of the 10 best stories of Batman and a story that takes guts from the first to the last page. Frank Miller is not content with a future projection of the character to put an end to her story with Joker. It is the finding of a deadly city where everyone is a potential victim who will swell the crime statistics (in a paranoid atmosphere reminiscent of the most desperate passages from the novels of Patricia Cornwell). It uses the hegemony of the society of the spectacle to ridicule the use of the lowest human instincts for the hearing. In this context, the resurgence of Batman is like a return to traditional values ​​in contrast to the glitz and commercialism outrageous of a ruthless capitalism.

The illustrations are also very visceral and worked. At first, the player can be put off by drawing little pleasing to the eye, or even ugly in some cases (the appearance of the Mutant Leader for example). But soon, it seems that Miller has put at the service of history all the experience he has gained on Daredevil (Daredevil 2) and Ronin (Ronin). This volume includes some superb full pages (eg Batman holding the body of a general who has just committed suicide with the American flag as a shroud) and lots of pages comprising 10 to 16 squares. Again the form is inseparable from the bottom. The full pages whoop in a disconnected superhero iconography of all realism: Miller is used to image the legend, the greatest side that kind of Batman. The pages divided into many boxes are used to provide a rapid pace, a sense of immediacy consubstantial TV by inserting fragments of talk show dialogues.

The use of these talk shows is masterful. The reader attends live on recovery actions by the Batman television industry. Not only this narrative device allows the reader to measure the impact of Batman in American society, but also the different moral values ​​that will crystallize face this urban legend. Again, Frank Miller is not intended realism; it conforms to the codes of superhero stories that require a suspension of disbelief (suspension of disbelief) to believe these gugusses costumed. The fan of superheroes find all choke points such as: exchange of punches, superpowers demonstration extraordinary resistance hero (Miller goes there really hard on this aspect), etc. It also find all the Batman universe in more or less distorted versions: the Batcave, Alfred Pennyworth (with still sarcastic humor), Robin (Carrie Kelly), James Gordon, Selina Kyle, Green Arrow, etc.

Warning, this Batman is not for children. At his age, every shot must count and it is not in half measures: it is violent, cruel, sadistic, determined, obsessed even by his thirst for justice and revenge. Again, using visual cleverly thought out, Frank Miller gives a new interpretation of the bat as totemic animal without falling into the ridiculous.

The inking of Klaus Janson is perfectly in unison with the Miller designs. The reader receives no hiatus between illustration and rendering inked. The merger between the two is perfect. And these illustrations have color layout Lynn Varley which also demonstrated an inventiveness and an adult sensibility. She opted for a less aggressive than the usual comics pallet while distilling few touches of bright colors that will emerge more.

I have already read a dozen times this story and I do not get enough. Each time the strength of the story takes me to the guts and takes me to this dark vision of urban life in this force of nature that is Bruce Wayne, in this critique of a society dedicated to the pursuit of entertainment, in this great stress relief and good triumphing of the wicked in this cruelty that permeates every human relationship (although I'm not necessarily agree with the author's pronouncements). Frank Miller gave a sequel to this story in Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again.