Why does The Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child work so well when its plagued by so many of the same problems as the execrable Superman: Year One? Possibly its because Millers callousness and distance from humanity dont seem out of place in Carrie Kelley or Lara Kent in the way it did with Superman. Possibly its because Rafael Gramps art elevates the book so much that Millers foibles are easily overlooked. Regardless of the reasons, this title is a must-read for the art alone. Read Full Review

Both too strange to live and too rare to die, Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child #1 is a high point for late period Frank Miller. Read Full Review

A gorgeous, slightly flawed, but an infectiously fun entry in the Dark Knight Returns universe. Read Full Review

This is The Dark Knight Returns updated for a new generation by conversion to a rollercoaster ride. It may not have much to say, but Gramp's approach ought to have you more concerned with who's getting punched and how hard. Read Full Review

Overall, Dark Knight Returns - The Golden Child is a decent side story in Frank Miller's Dark Knight canon. The story presents some interesting ideas in tandem with a bit of contemporary political commentary, though this is Golden Child's weakest aspect. The art and characters are stronger, offering strong action scenes and generally decent designs while building on characterization from Dark Knight III. It's not bad, but it would have been nice to see more of it. Read Full Review

I love the original Dark Knight Returns and I liked DKIII eventually. I even enjoyed The Dark Knight Returns: The Last Crusade (purchased in the discount bin), but I am a sucker for John Romita Jr. art With all that said, I am not sure why we have this book. Could it be that DC are going back to the well a little too often. After all, its not like there is a shortage of Black Label bat-centric books out there. For fans of Miller, rather than fans of Batman, this book may be of interest, as will perhaps the pull of Gramp on art. For me, I think this book is a bit of a storm in a tea cup, that once read actually offers nothing new to the world, and like that oft visited well, is seemingly running dry. Read Full Review

The Golden Child doesn't quite live up to Frank Miller's original epic. Read Full Review

Frank Miller comics are more an experience than a coherent reading experience at this point, but there's some interesting elements in this tale. I just wish they came together into a story that knew what it wanted to be " a political satire, a cosmic epic, or a gritty crime thriller. It tries to combine all three and comes out as a gorgeous mess. Read Full Review

Fans of Miller's current style of writing will find plenty to enjoy, and those who are not will find something to appreciate in the contemporary realization of his take on the DCU as depicted by Grampa and Bellaire. Read Full Review

It has the surface-level stylings of a great Dark Knight story: sharp writing, visceral art, high-level concepts. But beneath that surface, I can't find anything but anger. Like so much discourse today, it's just another Howard Beale from the film Network, raging from the rooftops: "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!" Read Full Review

There's something interesting in the Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child but the end result is a mess of a result. The story comes off as if it thinks it's an intelligent take on the current state of affairs. But, then the dialogue betrays all of that with such memorable lines like “I'll rip yuh gonads off.” The dialogue at times is laughable, and not in a good way. It's a frustrating comic with flashes of Miller's brilliance but a final result that's a chaotic mess. Read Full Review

While there are a few standout moments and aspects that work in this book overall it flounders in its over-focus on the theme at the expense of narrative. While it delivers a better tale than my last experience with the writer, it still doesn't reach the level that I would expect from one so widely vaunted as a legend in the medium. Read Full Review

It's hard to see why this exists. While many will buy this just because of Frank Miller's "triumphant return" to the TDKR universe, it doesn't warrant its price or length. As satire, it's weak. As a story in general, it's sloppy. As a Frank Miller comic? Predictably disappointing. Read Full Review

Not even the hardest of hardcore Frank Miller apologists could find redeeming value in this comic. The art is nice and does its best to elevate a non-existent plot, but that alone isn't worth the price of admission. Stay very, very far away from this comic. Read Full Review

I won't pretend there aren't things to enjoy from this book, but I can't find myself liking it as a full package. Despite the wonderful artwork, all I can think of is how ironic it is that this story is much like many politicians: full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Read Full Review

Final Verdict: 3.0, This is Frank Miller fighting to express his beliefs, tell an interesting story, and to stay relevant and he fails in all attempts. Time to hang up the cowl. Read Full Review

Overall, if you enjoyed DK III and thought the series had you asking for more, keep waiting because I'm not exactly sure what this book is supposed to be but it doesn't feel like any Dark Knight book I've read previously.  This read like a fever dream with little to no narrative thread linking thought together and will make me question any future Dark Knight purchases in the future. This is more Frank Miller Superman Year One than Frank Miller Dark Knight. Read Full Review

I really enjoyed this more than I expected to honestly. Great art and a fun story. Love Carrie Kelley as Batwoman. Her character progression from Robin to Catgirl to Batgirl and now Batwoman is an entertaining read. I also really like Miller's portrayal of Darkseid here; probably one of my favorite depictions of him as normally I don't care for him. I wouldn't mind Miller and Grampa doing another one-shot.

It looks like propaganda, but I don't care

I feel a bit like the odd man out but I enjoyed this book. Yes, it's not as good as his original Dark Knight Returns but I had fun reading this. It's meant to be satirical, right? People still have a sense of humour, don't they? And the gorgeous artwork, holy macaroni Batman, Rafael Grampa has created a visual treat.

Artistically there is much to love here, sadly all marred by Miller’s unhealthy Trump obsession. Rafael Grampa’s bizarrely unique style is fantastically suited to the DKR Universe, if only the narrative could have fit the design.

If this was written 1990- 2007 I would have said, what a crappy portrayal of Darkseid, but since this is written 2019 & Darkseid is portrayed as a joke since New52 started in 2011 I have to say it’s nice to see a better portrayal of Darkseid again. I hate that he fights Superboy or however you call Supermans son these days, because Darkseid has an army to fight for him. His Omega Beams are way more powerful than this story is showing us, but they are more powerful here than in the majority of Darkseid stories we are getting these days. So as a Darkseid fan I can like the story a bit, because Darkseid isn’t treated like total trash in this story ( for this look up: New52 JL, the abomination that is Darkseid War& of course Female Furies). However the dialogue isn’t as bad as King‘s, but also could be way better. Many lines don’t sound like Darkseid at all. more

Is this really a one-shot? It feels incomplete. The standout here was Rafael Grampa's art. Loaf of bread Darkseid was a visual treat. It really almost made the book worth reading, but the story itself can only be summed up as confused.

The art was good... 🤡

Art is about a 9; Story is -1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. Six bucks - I should have had a couple of cigarettes and a box of Twinkies- that’s about the same level of mental nutrition you can get from this. To say this was a bad comic is akin to saying the sun is a hot mess - it doesn’t come close to describing the sheer scope of suck.

At some point every writer has to ask themselves, if there's a point in continuing something they've created years ago, epecially when every previous attempt to resurrect it, or cash on the name recognition, either failed, or was mediocre at best. Maybe it's better to leave it as it is, and don't risk burning down its legendary reputation? Miller doesn't seem to realize that his recent works continuously leave audiences dissatisfied, disappointed.
Just move on, Miller, do something different, write something new, intead of despeately trying to bring back the good old days, which won't work.

Why did I read this? I felt like wasting my time and sanity, that's why. Ugh, this was an insane slog filled with social commentary and all the bullshit that entails. I was getting hints of Legends Darkseid until he became... whatever he became. And then he was taken out like a chump *yet again* by Wunderkind Jon Kent. So, I guess he was Legends Darkseid throughout. I don't know if any of this was set up in DK3, as I opted out of reading that one. I hope so, or else this book is even worse than I am giving it credit for. When is DC going to learn that sometimes dead is better?

I stopped reading it at page 13...This book was just bad. Honestly I read comic books to relax and enjoy myself not to be preached at or have the author promote their political view point.

I can't believe I purchased variant covers for this garbage. The colors looked amazing so great work Jordie Bellaire.

I don't even know why Miller insists on writing comics.

Pure garbage. Miller really needs to move on to something new.