In 1986, Frank Miller cemented his legend as a comic book creator by writing and drawing Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, a four issue miniseries that brought an older Bruce Wayne out of retirement and pit him against Two-Face, The Joker and even Superman.
Aspects of The Dark Knight Returns are very evident in the recently released trailer for Zack Snyder’s Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Miller’s work on Batman also influenced the Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy. However, Miller’s sequel story, Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again was not well received by fans or critics when it was released in 2001.
Today, DC Comics announced that Miller is writing Batman: The Dark Knight III: The Master Race, which will once again revisit Miller’s future Batman storyline. But this time, Miller is co-writing the miniseries with Brian Azzarello (Wonder Woman), and another artist (to be named later) will draw the story.
In a statement, Miller said “Batman remains my favorite comic book hero and a sequel to Dark Knight is going to be daunting, but we’ll do our best.”
Azzarello added that “It’s been an amazing experience collaborating with Frank these past six months. I think we have an epic story that these characters truly deserve.”
It should be noted that Miller and DC abandoned All-Star Batman after nine issues in 2008. The Dark Knight III will be Miller’s first DC comic book in seven years.
The Dark Knight III: The Master Race will be an eight issue miniseries, with two issues published per month beginning this fall.
