Get a sneak peek of the long-awaited animated movie adaptation of Frank Miller’s ‘The Dark Knight Returns’

Ever since DC Comics launched their PG-13 animated straight to DVD/Blu-ray line, fanboys have clamored for an adaptation of Frank Miller’s iconic 80’s Batman tale “The Dark Knight Returns”. And now they’ll get their wish.

I’ve been impressed overall by  DC’s animated movies. “The New Frontier”, “All Star Superman” and “Batman: Year One” were very faithful to the drawing style and narrative tone of their comic book source material.

Comingsoon.net has a clip of the upcoming release which you can view here.

While this looks a bit cleaner than Miller’s drawings, you can still see his design influence. (You can also check out some animated stills from comicbookmovie.com). Peter Weller of ‘Robocop’ fame will be doing vocal duties for the Caped Crusader (but when I think of Batman, it’s “Batman: The Animated Series” Kevin Conroy who sounds like Batman to me).

Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight Rises” and his other Bat-pics, were in part influenced by Miller’s saga. ‘The Dark Knight Returns’ was the first of many ‘grim and gritty’ superhero tales which appealed more to teenagers and young adults than children. It reflected the Reagan era, one which involved Cold War tensions and high violent crime rates.

Unfortunately Frank Miller has gone off the reservation with these reactionary values. The vengeful glee of his Batman was welcome in that paranoid era, but feels anachronistic in many ways now. (Hopefully there will never be an animated release of his right-wing fever dream ‘Holy Terror’).

But I’m still anxious to see the results (I’m all about Batman) of a story that has captivated me since my adolescence.

What makes this Blu-ray/DVD release unique is that it’s Part 1 of 2 different releases. While this will make things pricier for Bat-fans, at least they won’t rush through the story.

Fingers crossed that at some point DC will release an R-rated animated version of Alan Moore’s ‘Watchmen’. The motion comic included with that feature film release leaves much to be desired. Wishful thinking, I know.

You can pre-order “The Dark Knight Returns Part 1” animated movie from Amazon below. It will be released on September 25th. I’ve also added links for the original graphic novel collection, and some other assorted DC/Batman goodies.

UPDATED: Check out my review!

[amazon_image id=”B008RV5K5E” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 [Blu-ray][/amazon_image][amazon_image id=”1563893428″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Batman: The Dark Knight Returns[/amazon_image][amazon_image id=”B0058YPN4G” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Batman: Year One [Blu-ray][/amazon_image][amazon_image id=”1401233422″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Batman: Year One Deluxe (New Edition)[/amazon_image][amazon_image id=”B0010AEPHS” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Justice League: The New Frontier Special Edition [Blu-ray][/amazon_image]