Good, but not great.
With its predecessor (The Dark Knight Returns) being such an amazing novel, this sequel has a lot to live up to. Unfortunately, it struggles to pass muster. And there's some jarring reasons to why I suffered a bit to get through this.
First, the story. In the prequel we have a world where all the superheroes have been chased away by the people (similar to what happened in The Incredibles). The only one left is Superman, now a lackey for the US government. So when Wayne decides to return as Batman, it's a fairly straight story of him reclaiming Gotham, fighting the old nemeses of his universe, and finally concluding with a showdown a Superman who's lost his way. Gripping and simple to follow. In this take, Miller pushes the story to the next level. Basically the novel is supersaturated with heroes and villains from the DC universe. You've got your Justice League squad, but then Wayne begins encountering a bunch of heroes that I have no clue how who they are with very little introduction to help the uneducated reader to understand who's who.
Side note: In an attempt to release a former villain who they need to join their side (Plastic Man - a guy who can morph his body into anything he can conceive) they break into Arkham Asylum. There's a litte side story here claiming that patients of Arkham gained control of the building years ago. The city kept them locked in while meeting some of their demands. Mostly TV's and entertainment equipment. When the police asked if they needed food, the inmates responded that there was still plenty of hostages to eat. Haunting. Wish they could have incorporated that more into the story. Shoulda, woulda, coulda.
My other issue with the story is that it felt very disjointed. There's a couple different plot lines running around, which is fine, but how Miller switches to one storyline to the next can get really confusing. I'll blame a bit of this on the illustrations. Miller pencils everything, and, frankly, he's just not my cup of tea. His style is abstract and chaotic. If you have a story that's heavily layered with a vast array of characters all on different missions, maybe make the visuals a little easier to follow. One in particular is near the conclusion. Lex Luthor is about to destroy the world via satellite weapons that will reign Hell down on Earth. Then Green Lantern does... something(?) that saves the day. There's basically 5 panels of green light everywhere. Luthor is screaming in his defeat. Then we cut back to the green lantern who now holds the world in his hand - either he got really big or the world got really small. Regardless, it's really difficult to decipher what the fuck is happening even after rereading the storyline through several times.
The disjointed story and abstract illustrations aside, there are still some really cool moments throughout the book. Batman and Superman duke it out again, right at the beginning. Batman kicks his ass once again. Not only that, but makes a giant fool of him, sending him crawling out of his cave a broken man. Batman goes around freeing heroes who have been imprisoned by the government. For instance, we find the Flash stuck in some turbine where he's been imprisoned to run like a hamster in a wheel to generate electricity for eastern America. Interesting idea. The only character that really confused me was the Green Lantern. Even though Hal Jordan is a human, the story randomly cuts to some weird ass creatures in another universe/planet. And it's the Green Lantern in another form... with another family... in a place that he now calls home... I mean, check it out for yourself.
It's only till you get a few pages in that the green alien on the dinosaur tells his wife and child to close their eyes and he transforms to the Green Lantern and flies off into the sky to return to Earth where his help is needed. It's so confusing to understand that this was suppose to be the Hal as the Green Lantern. I dwelled on this for quite a while. I mean, I get if all super heroes abandon Earth to find new homes. Hal goes to some strange alien planet. Then changes his look and meets and alien woman to marry; fine. But he has a fucking kid? How does that work?! He's human! Shouldn't the kid by a hybrid or an abomination of some sorts? I'm sure this is bothering me way more than is should, but I can't shake lack of logic in this. Why couldn't Miller just have him chill at the intergalactic Green Lantern Corps HQ? Whatever, I'll leave this be... Still... Ugh.
I'll wrap this up. You have to read this if you've already read and enjoyed The Dark Knight Returns, but - for me - it clearly doesn't measure up. Still, there's plenty to enjoy and stakes are raise very high. Cities are destroyed. Heroes die. Superman and Wonder Woman's daughter is introduced - she kicks ass. There's also a very cool idea that Batman raises. He claims that corrupted corporations now rule the world and it's all his fault. He spent far too long focusing on street thugs while CEOs built their powerful empires entirely unnoticed. Hence Lex Luthor being one of the main villains in this story. Plus there's one very surprising twist villain at the end that's a fun payoff.
I'll leave you with the last panel that gives hope to Miller possibly doing one final Dark Knight story. The Bat is still alive after he blows up his cave and - despite his appearance - is feeling better than ever!
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