Aliens vs. Amazons.
It's becoming more and more common for major event comics at Marvel and DC to receive a last-minute extra issue. It happened with Secret Wars in 2015 and Civil War II in 2016, and now The Dark Knight III is getting in on that action. In every case, the reasoning is the same. The creators realized as they were crafting their superhero epic that they needed more room to give the story the finish it deserved. Time will ultimately tell if that approach was justified here, but it's hard to ignore the fact that issue #8 feels particularly light on story, even by the book's usual standard.
Issue #8 follows two main story threads. On one hand, we see the fallout from Superman's decision to drop a dying Bruce into the Lazarus Pit in the previous issue. That's a pretty huge twist considering that the Dark Knight mythos hinges so fundamentally on the idea of an aged Batman coming out of retirement. Strangely, writers Frank Miller and Brian Azzarello show little interest in exploring the impact of that development on Bruce himself or Carrie. At the very least, you'd expect the backup feature to dig a little deeper. But instead, the backup dwells on a mostly pointless and confusingly rendered side-story involving the return of a minor character from the original Dark Knight Returns.
The other main focus in this issue involves the massive war between Quar's Kryptonian army and the Amazons of Themyscira. It's an appropriately epic confrontation given that we've now reached the climax of the story. That battle plays out very much like the super-powered version of Miller's 300, right down the the Grecian-inspired armor and battle tactics. Never has Andy Kubert's ability to channel Miller's art style come in more handy. Kubert brings a terrific sense of scale and bloody chaos to this issue. Rarely has Diana looked more fearsome in battle than she does here. Kubert's page layouts, while nowhere near as intricate as those in the previous Dark Knight books create a clear, easy flow that gives the battle a very cinematic quality.
This issue has visual spectacle to spare, but again, it's annoyingly light on plot. Nor does it do a particularly great job of establishing the stakes leading into the final issue. It's not even clear what role Bruce and Carrie are meant to play in their own comic. All of a sudden the spotlight has been stolen by Wonder Woman, which begs the question of whether Miller and Azzarello should have crafted a Wonder Woman-focused story from the start.
The Verdict
The Dark Knight III has plenty of spectacle and visual excitement to offer in its penultimate chapter. Andy Kubert directly channels Frank Miller's work on 300 as he chronicles the ultimate battle between Amazons and Kryptonians. But the story feels more spartan than ever in this issue, which calls into question whether a an extra ninth chapter was truly necessary.
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