The Dark Knight Returns: Frank Miller’s Vision of Shadow and Light

Janson uses mostly sketchy lines in all of his depictions, but the degree often depends on the object. If he is drawing a character he uses a mix between strong bold lines and sketchy lines. For example, the jaw of Harvey Dent is thick but has some imperfections, as if it were sketched (20/9). On the other hand, Bruce Wayne’s jaw in the third panel of the second row is both bold and generally solid. This is a stark contrast to the first panel of Wayne, which relies on the effect of shading on top of the sketched jaw as opposed to a single bold stroke (20/1). Other lines in this panel, however, are thicker, to demonstrate the shadowing effects of the environment in which Bruce Wayne stands. Janson uses thin sketchier lines for the objects on the page as well. Robin’s costume’s outline is imperfect - lines overlap or extend beyond their usual boundaries (FULL). For example, the right sleeve of the costume has lines that run onto the chest, though this would be impossible because the chest would be in front or on top of these lines. The cards and money on the table are also imperfect - lines are not always connected and object’s shapes are not perfect (20/15). The fan also depicts these inconsistencies without breaking the illusion; some of the metal prongs on the casing of the fan are connected while some have gaps, but we don’t assume the fan is broken. This sketchy style accentuates the other signature art-style in the comic: shading and shadows.

        The contrast between dark and light performs a very distinct function for Miller and Janson. No where is this more evident than the fifth panel of page 20. Both the stairs and Bruce Wayne’s body are outlined in shades that bleed into the area surrounding them (20/6). There are no lines between the stairs because the lighting of the environment conceals their physical connection to each other. They appear to be very simple white blocks of varying sizes and we assume they’re connected because of conventions of our physical world and context from the last panel on the previous page. These shadows also force Miller and Janson to use white as an indication of outline. Bruce Wayne’s left arm ends where the shadow on the wall begins. Inverting standard conventions of color allows the artists to play with darkness-an important theme in the narrative-in similar ways to Film Noir directors.

Equally as important as artistic style is image composition. Miller’s choice of what to include or not include from panel to panel speak as powerfully as the words that provide the context for the images. Between the first panel of Bruce Wayne’s face and the panel in which he walks up the stairs, the reader cannot see what he’s doing. In the panel of his face we only know from the previous page that he has entered his cavernous basement, but do not know where he stands or exactly what he looks at. We might assume that he was staring at the glass enclosed Robin costume, but never exactly know where he is (FULL). The orientation of Alfred in the four frames depicts him as a paternal figure. He stands above Bruce Wayne at the top of the stairs, declaring his omnipotence in his speech. Like a parent calling down to a child, Miller and Janson place Alfred in the light of reason.

Much of the composition in The Dark Knight Returns emphasizes the theme of the shrouded, unknowable, and invisible. The focus on what is not included in the panels is more prevalent in the bottom row, in which none of the characters speaking can be seen within the frame. Objects included in the
panels provide possible context for the voices - the gun, cards, money, and images of a run down apartment indicate that the speakers are probably criminals or gangsters. The composition of the images makes the apartment feel very small and cheap. The window faces a brick wall, the fan provides the only source of cool air, and the television has to be cramped against the door. There’s no vantage point from which the entirety of the room could be drawn. In fact, not even the characters can fit comfortably within the frame. From the conversation the reader can tell the characters are also marginalized by Dent’s absence from the crime world as their boss - what good is a lackey without a leader? Because much is absent within the panels, examining order becomes crucial for understanding.

Miller and Janson vary the amount of “closure” ¹ necessary between panels based on the pacing of the action, but similarly to their panel composition, aren’t afraid to leave more out than they put in. This sequencing can often be disorienting; character’s lines of sight go unconnected (Bruce Wayne in the first panel) or the reader’s spatial orientation to the character suddenly reverses (from panel six to seven). We are also given no context for the shift from the second row of panels to the third row. Bruce Wayne’s face suddenly jumps to television images, but it is not until the next row that we see where these images are coming from and who is watching. Miller also reuses panels sometimes as a unique change to the sequencing’s pacing. Twice on page twenty he repeats an image and each work in a different way. The two Alfreds are used to show how Bruce Wayne was not responding even slightly to his comments. Because Alfred did not get a rise out of Bruce there was no movement to cut to, which the absence of a panel in between the two indicates. The repeated panel at the end of the page of the money and cards on the table allows for both more dialogue within the frame without breaking the sixteen panel format while heightening the mystery of the voices’ identities. These mysterious voices take the form of Miller’s authorial style.