BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS #1
1986
I was never much of a Batman fan–popular theory has it that children either love Superman or Batman, depending on their particular psyche, and I was clearly in the Superman camp. I’d read some decent Batman stories over the years, but nothing that really enamored me of the character.
And, truth to tell, I’m still not a big Batman booster. But DARK KNIGHT came close to changing that, at least with this first issue. I remember having returned with the highly-anticipated book from Captain Blue Hen in Newark, DE (my regular comic shop for most of the 80s, which is still in business today.), and cracking it open. For the duration of these 48 pages, I wasn’t anywhere but within the pages, immersed in the story.
The follow-up issues failed to strike my fancy in the same way, each subsequent one feeling less and less like a Batman story to me, and more like some bizarre Judge Dredd/Robocop affair that happened to star some guy in a bat-costume. I thought it was overrated then, and I still think so now.
Except for that first issue.
