Even those on the very periphery of the comic book landscape have heard of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen - it’s difficult to escape these two books. I can’t overstate the degree of influence the two have had on comics for better or worse since their debut in 1986. It almost feels silly to talk about them, but as there’s always someone new getting into comics (which is a group I want to encourage), how about I talk about these books a bit and get you guys up to speed?

Both are deconstructions of the superhero comic, picking through conventions to try and paint a “real” world setting while illuminating certain quirks and abolishing others. Neither story relies on the conceit that the bad guy will escape from prison every other issue to wreak havoc, nor will that story takes place in some limbo time where no character ever ages and the status quo is eternal.

Dark Knight Returns has an advantage in being about a character who is truly world renowned, and especially in having the campy 60’s Batman show in the public consciousness which perpetuated an image of Batman as a boy scout, a duly deputized guy who’s wholly adherent to traffic laws and whatever the guys in charge says. It was a show played for laughs (although to be honest I took it as completely serious while growing up) and as such Dark Knight Returns is all the more striking for its ugly, brutal action.

The motivation behind throwing on a costume and fighting crime is something that had been only sparsely explored in the past, and is a key element of these two stories. In Dark Knight Returns it’s implied that dressing up as a violent bat is a compulsion which goes beyond a simple altruistic spirit. Watchmen takes the idea much further, exploring characters who love the violence of it, the publicity, the eroticism, or they simply require an alternate persona to hide away from the ills of the world.

Whatever the reason, it’s a valid one as far as Watchmen is concerned - it helps that no single character is the focus (or “the one we readers are supposed to agree with”) and the complexities and contradictions of each character create a situation where we as readers are never comfortable saying “that guy’s the villain.” Each character is so beautifully constructed that any one in a starring role would be a triumph of creativity, but to have each character exist and interact, each giving their own views that bounce and mutate in relation to each other characters viewpoint, it’s like the difference between a single melody and a symphony.

An essential comic technique is the juxtaposition of images: say one panel has a guy carrying a ball, and the second has the same guy with his arm extended and the ball hanging in the air beyond his reach, the reader would decode those images as being “a man throws a ball.” Obviously different effects can be created depending on the contexts and images, and I’m particularly struck by the juxtaposition used in Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen.

Dark Knight Returns takes the panels and gives them to us out of order - we’re given a single panel that can stand on its own as a poetic testament, but then a page later we’ll find another panel that expands on the previous idea, fleshing out what’s going on and threading everything together. The effect is a re-creation of the real world perspective, of getting one part of the story on a single channel before getting more information on another channel. Who needs an omniscient narrator, right?

Watchmen takes an opposite tack where the images may differ one from the other and jump to other characters or subplots but with an overwhelming adherence to a particular theme which reinforces everything being expressed. Not only is this interweaving incredibly complex, but it comes together in such a way that the story could only end the way it does. Though you never see it coming, it makes perfect sense, and that kind of tight creation is what the best stories are all about.

I haven’t told you anything specific about what happens in these books, which is especially important for Watchmen seeing as it’s a murder mystery. I have to make sure you read these at some point, which means warning you that these aren’t easy books to read! I remember that the first time I read Watchmen, the prose backups to each issue felt like they take forever to get through. They aren’t really that long, probably the same as four pages of a scholarly magazine, but I know a lot of people that can’t deal with them. It sounds like they’d rather skip that section or stop reading the whole book. Don’t do that! If you’re tired, quit for now and pick it up later, rather than just skip over to the more fast paced images of the comic book proper (though even those are pretty packed with text - Watchmen is a dense read, no doubt about it).

Dark Knight Returns is comparatively a much easier read, it helps that it stars a single mega-star protagonist Batman, and is much shorter. If you want to jump into one of these books, start with Dark Knight Returns.

And now that I’ve piqued your interest in these two famous books, I’ve got to hold you back. Both of these texts engage thoroughly with established comic language and history. If you’re going to get the most out of these books you’re going to have to warm up a bit first. Read a couple of Archie comics, some old school Justice League of America, or something… and then dive on in and impress your friends.