Batman: The Dark Knight Returns [Versions]

Original issues

When first published in 1986 (February-June), each book had its own (sub)title:

#1: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns;
#2: Batman: Dark Knight Triumphant;
#3: Batman: Hunt The Dark Knight;
#4: Batman: The Dark Knight Falls.

When the series was collected into a single volume later that year (October 1986), the story title for the first issue was applied to the entire series.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (Book One) (February 1986)

Batman: The Dark Knight Triumphant (Book Two) (April 1986)

Batman: Hunt The Dark Knight (Book Three) (May 1986)

Batman: The Dark Knight Falls (Book Four) (June 1986)

- REPRINTS -

Hardcover
(HC)

1986 (DC)

1996 (10th Anniversary) (DC)

1986 (DC/Warner Books. later printings)

1996 (Slipcased 10th Anniversary edition) (DC)

Includes a softcover sketchbook, a copy of the script for #1, a special press booklet, and two 6-in. x 9-in. full color Dark Knight prints with art by Frank Miller. All held within a beautiful black vinyl slipcase. Limited to 10,000 copies.

The Complete Frank Miller Batman

In 1989, DC Comics was celebrating the 50th anniversary of Batman. DC had started slowly publishing reprint material in softcover trade paperbacks, but hardcover editions were left to Warner Books and Graphitti Designs. Then came these two volumes from Longmeadow Press, with leatherbound covers, gilt edging and silk bookmarks.

The Complete Frank Miller Batman collects three stories:

Batman: Year One;
Wanted: Santa Claus -- Dead Or Alive!;
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.

Batman: Year One and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns are reprints of their trade paperbacks and not individual issues, so they include the introductions to those volumes by Frank Miller and Alan Moore. Wanted: Santa Claus -- Dead Or Alive! comes from DC Super-Star Holiday Special #21 (1980) and was recolored for this volume by Richmond Lewis (colorist on Batman: Year One and the wife of David Mazzucchelli, the artist on Batman: Year One). The only new material for this volume is an introduction by Richard Bruning, then DC's design director.

Following the success of the first volume, Longmeadow Press followed with another handsome hardcover titled Stacked Deck: The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told [Expanded Edition] in 1990.

Visit the Greatest Stories Ever Told section for information about its contents.

The Absolute Dark Knight

The Absolute Dark Knight collects both Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and its sequel Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again in a slipcased hardcover edition with dust jacket and cloth bookmark.