DARK K~I,GHI DAY~

, BY FRANK 'MILLER

l' 6· 'S ...... ;..~ 1996

, 'I),

1'963. [OR IS; IT '64? THIi'IXACT YUJlIS UII!!'1ERTMN~ Bur 'lit, NlQtOR'!'.S 'llJUID.,

A department store in Vermont. I'm 6 (or 7~_ye;;lt} old. I (orne across an SO-page Gtant comic s.~rnng Batman" ,I Qpe~ i~~ look it~Ver" I!*lln.

I wlsb I'd kept a diary, But! WhO-tOUld've'kn~:i n? Nobody, that's who.

Well, maybe PI(k Giord'no. t<6ybO-Dlck~' so.m. e idea where aU .thi' might lake. us. He was editor-in-chief of Di, € • .andhe'd-been pushing this Batman

thing for many a month. Whet n:4ght cirhe-o.f.i~ ... "or rot. he was relent-

less, He W~ fixated. ~" 1 \~__. -- ~

1984. In'anY..Jlumber-oF resta$~an~aJid hotel bars. Many times. Dick Giordano says sure. Batman'-5yI.ts'"a~:fl.al 'B,L.It 100( atwhat happens any time some¥y ~onduc.ts one of those reader s~ttfey's ill the famines. aatlJlan'~ !ust ah9J.!! ~ery~ooY'~ftavorite character. The tlme-fs"'more, rhiln~"{lpe £or'(a hlgh-prome;",au'0vt relaunctr-oR t\:e old

war horse. A, J' _.- ~ ~ . \\

But that ~as-.Ju'7~t;Thai' was exactly what came to bother m~>a.bol!.t Batman. He wasn't old. damn him. be~.pitepw)Yi&x years of collj:i!!_uolls publicaqon, there hey.'~~. unwrinkled, ha:ndSOj·~e,. perpetually twent\F;]"ilne~,Nevef a ~lnk ln that\ree: .. trunk ne-ck\

I ~ ", ,Iy_/' ,(, l

Never a ~9ment fre4-L~\ the possi~!lity th.a~ his ath:~ic pl:~wess wo~ld ever,lade. \

perpetv.uy.~. OU"g. Y':ll1g~~ than M.gIC, jOhll.O.:)_ oIJflRhf"!).ord.n. Imper,(loPS't6'time,\

itself. /~; N 5 i .~,., 1.£"

'1985. My ,P;,q:menfn. .' ew YO!, city,[, ~~ddeihbli.zation. and nof a ~Ie"'nt

hi, h bir ... ss« /I . I ~ d .....-;,;\ I ~ \,

o~e. My t htiet l:rtful1y IS right arcun the comer. I'm pwsed to turn on~ year older

!han~'tnJnc,' ,'S~~' ,~- ~ >"}j ~ .

,j I've c;,e,e to a~,~ in re-cent years, that spld~~n1s younge-t [han my hrtle I

;brother, ytit. Batman? ~aran? ~y favorite childhood heroi Jl;at lantern.jaw~d, ever-

wise fu~?er flgure1 I'm Agually gQ.nna be old~than Batman. "'"" ,. ...

I this was intolerable. Something had to be dane. -\ ;...J \I

_' Later that s~ y~ar. On boord anfalq,lane headed for Texas, Die' (;jor'dano and I . j sip whit~ine and talk. Enth!J~~i(3Uf;- if1duwsliy, i Jay o~t to b1;p the co.lecuon j(J

tdea] I'v1 got far this Batman tb:mg:2"G warl,t~d me to do, The ~enlfi n~[lon is lO~'~ 'ply ~~ Batman through ttme. and~rO~ide his last case:"¥·ove...~jm:through .. t~"tjJ, : an~Just by happenstance. make him once again much older than ] ~,} ~. I J

...."I I fire a barrage of scenes at Dick. He1~rges me on It's a raw. lrambling narratfve I hit him with. ncl yet a story at all, ~ £If'e~ bag of cool things B1nnan wi"U do-aM say that winds upwlth an ending that could nekr work - and even. should H work. is one

PC would never publish. ~

tit this stage. THE DARK KNIGHT RE'f~RNS is, to use the tech~i[al term. a mess.

But it's ii very eerbususnc mess; I'm red-hot tp get started, And a good editor knows

when to let. the process begin. Dick gives it a thumbs-up, no doubt praying he'll be able (0 ke-ep me from doing too much damage. ]_ Putting the: team together was the easiest part ;rOUT basic no-brainer. A piece of <."'i'ke. When it came to working with other artiste. Iialr.ady been lucky as a foot twice

»over. I.'

.: ~ :MY longnme partner Klaus Janson had brought~ \:UrJd.ing energy and verve to my\

pencil ~on Marvel Comics' Daredevil, By the ?~tflnished. our Daredevil run, ~'Klaus had"ta,~enon the lion's share of the driJWin,g. so much so that he took over as sole , artist when ! ~~ title, The question W<J.S whE!th~~Ih 'd want to collaborate again.

More lu,»' he did,4\..' /I

After ]eaving~Qar.etl.f~}Went to work on ~ftrst comics nove1.llpNlN, pub.:-t lishedjbX DC: comi~~palnte~ Lynn Varley joined me . .-aJd, chapter by chapter, set a I br.aM.n, .wl~tiUl .. '.dd.aa.dird.;.~ .,>C :Cellence in corntc-book (010'. LY';" actually 'I"d<flned the ve_ry·1 II I r9i{~L(I~lor ·o#ffik-b'ook page, bringing such-ihood and Sempeq.ture and drafts-

I rsh~p [c'riiY']inework that the blil(k~ard"'~~ite was.p!.a:inly incomplete ,j a[t's.trf.1:~'lhe story Itself was a colder.unfirushed tbmg before she took her ~':'lFQr_coI~rtl!:;ts to rome. Lynn ral.5e~ the.ba. f to.t.he stratosphere.

\ / A:eteSs -vislble member O.f the ROl:HN, . team was Bob ROl,akiS. DC '

$o'sta~ed U~It. late as we did during grueling press checks and §911~;,,",lO!.!~~ \.Jtmf?rese~ p~ob~\ms. ThJs was an amhtticus projf£t an~d:a .~~.~!c~j!~i~~:~~~~:~

Q~w,:chall.en&fs;hitalmost hourly. Bob's contrfbuncn ~ I~he' !ob.-we.l<jewjwe could set our sights h1gh._

t I Also cfuEiai to the final look and feel-of any book is. the th~ art dtrec-

tor. From the 'late Neal Pamer to Richard Bruning and onward. DC's made.~re to have somebody awfully good in that position. -~s this edition Shc£lcr-de~nstra)~e, that's a

practice DC continue, to tbts day. I ~ \ '\. I

1977:. DC President [enette Kahn's ,ap;utment. A__party. Curious fto look aver

\ [enette's (~'Uection of mystery novels. II run mtc an iI~able,-wltty fellow, writer Mike W. Barr. Alma~~instant1y, a fTiend~~~p begins. I~oesn_'t t~e lon~ b~fote--w~ find p+~elves talking about ~.tn;i\n. Ideas fly Back and fonh.Jhey'wUl continue to·flY1u'l'~',,\,el)l time Mike ana i chat. for all the re'" to come. .J!'

1979. The ~9It~ai offrces of Marvel comics~'t?at's--a..Batman iae;: sa~s~r!ter and then-editor }6" Duffy. Tespondin~to a scene I want ~te Into Daredevil. It's hafdly the ftrst.tune ii¥'S had tols.ay_~at. Ever encouraging and expert in her suggestions~J,o ts editor. colleague. consoltantland frle\d. of course, over the years to come. she has a lot to say aboutBatman. l I '. Nothing jg,created in a va&unr: and brotberl is that true when you're messing with

I a character who's-"'ibved by gen~aflors. jdeas fl~t[er like muses through party charrer'c I and dinner ccnversatlons and brea~~ in dime-ante poker games. . ! ~ Leave ~ s.iy~ere to trY to hs~ every other writer out there who had something

to offer about 'Batman. there wouldn't be room in this volume for the story you're 36Oi:rt

to read.

It was a roller coaster ride. making DARK KNIGBT was, with lurching ups and downs, countless regrettable arguments and welcome su~rlses. Sometimes pulling it aU together. I felt less like an author (han-a clrcus-rinaast_et:. There)Yas so much in the air,

so many of those flutterln~_mu~es. -.,....._..,_- ~~ -t:.;':' I \(

And there was B ~;u;lhfiTrself .. He,~il.s llie ~eal boss. As Batman has a personality 'n~:PI1IJ!6,e all hIS ownJa~efln.ble core. H.,i\'t1i"tth",.l;,,",nOT petulant 'He'00=wh,ncr: there~ ~t a trace 0!ielf~ity In hts sou). He's, . noble. And mOst Important. he's bJtiiis ~5j~re grand, Even his unhappmess ' depressing. but a brooding. WagRe1ian tomfent:--And htsjnumphs are olympi:n~ ..

He insists. I 'f ~ { ~_)r-

Then paradoxically, all the g~fy stuff the on the-face-cf-jt" proJlO't<'JD!)S sMl:o-

nudges in The Batcave)llstlsIl~ com,piete without that"f~ !~t,~n~y.~

When!,o)lJiiiISSi_,,"~ Gordon wants [0 sup1}Don his favorite outlaw he iOesn t do It d~.~ o(sr:..~vJ6uldi~'h. H .ugfi" up t!3-< whole sky with

~,~~_.",.,.hur'dre>(!'n,ore pases of DARK K1-IIGHT to w,lfe"nd draw. I might the Sat· Mite into the N.

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