Set Description:
CGC Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Books that i own.
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| Slot: |
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns 1 |
| Item: |
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns 1 Signature |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
4655068009
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Owner Comments
June, 1986
"The Dark Knight Returns"
Frank Miller - Writer
Frank Miller - Penciler
Klaus Janson - Inker
Frank Miller & Lynn Varley - Cover Artists
Lynn Varley - Colorist
John Costanza - Letterer
Dennis O'Neil - Editor
Dick Giordano - Executive Editor
Synopsis:
In a grim Gotham ruled by crime and the ruthless Mutant gang, a 55-year-old Bruce Wayne, long retired after Jason Todd’s death, drowns in guilt, alcoholism, and reckless behavior while funding Two-Face’s failed rehabilitation. On the eve of Commissioner Gordon’s forced retirement, a crime wave and Harvey Dent’s relapse compel Wayne to don the cape again, his return symbolized by a bat crashing into Wayne Manor. Now older and diminished, he faces a world where criminals are more savage, public opinion is divided, and the Joker stirs back to life after years of catatonia. As debate rages over Batman’s morality, he thwarts Dent’s attempt to destroy Gotham’s Twin Towers, discovering the once-scarred man outwardly healed but inwardly shattered. In Dent, Batman recognizes a reflection of himself: a man whose hidden persona has only grown stronger in the shadows of time.
Notes:
- Signed by Frank Miller on: 10/12/2025
- Signed by Klaus Janson on: 10/10/2025
- This series takes place in an alternate continuity from that of the mainstream DC Universe. It has been retroactively classified as an Elseworlds story. In the Post-52 Multiverse, this reality has been allocated as Earth-31. It shares continuity with Frank Miller's All-Star Batman and Robin, which is set many years in the past.
- This issue is reprinted in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: The Dark Knight Saga Deluxe Edition, Absolute Dark Knight, Millennium Edition: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Book One, Batman Essentials: The Dark Knight Returns Special Edition #1, and in black and white in Batman Noir: The Dark Knight Returns.
Trivia:
This issue establishes Batman's origin in which he falls to a dark cave filled with bats as a child.
Quotes:
"You've got rights. Lots of rights. Sometimes I count them just to make myself feel crazy." —Batman
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| Slot: |
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns 2 |
| Item: |
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns 2 Signature |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
4655068010
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Owner Comments
July, 1986
"Dark Knight Triumphant"
Frank Miller - Writer
Frank Miller - Penciler
Klaus Janson - Inker
Frank Miller & Lynn Varley - Cover Artists
Lynn Varley - Colorist
John Costanza - Letterer
Dennis O'Neil - Editor
Dick Giordano - Executive Editor
Synopsis:
Batman battles Gotham’s vicious Mutant gang and their brutal leader, while Jim Gordon, nearing retirement, narrowly survives an attack by a teenage gunman. In saving a child, Batman uncovers that a desperate Army general has been supplying the Mutants with weapons to fund his wife’s medical care, leading to the general’s suicide when confronted. Meanwhile, Ellen Yindel is appointed as Gordon’s successor, admiring him but despising vigilantes, and a young girl, Carrie Kelley, inspired by Batman saving her life, adopts the mantle of Robin. Batman tracks the Mutants to their lair, using his rebuilt Batmobile to subdue them before suffering a near-fatal defeat at the hands of their leader, only to be rescued by Carrie. While recovering, Batman learns the Mutant Leader has killed the Mayor in custody, prompting him and Gordon to stage a public rematch; this time, Batman cripples the Leader, breaking the gang’s spirit. Some Mutants are jailed, while others become the ruthless “Sons of Batman,” twisting his crusade into violent vigilantism. As Gordon retires, he reflects with unease on the fate awaiting Gotham and the aging Dark Knight, forever caught between criminals and the law.
Notes:
- Signed by Frank Miller on: 10/12/2025
- Signed by Klaus Janson on: 10/10/2025
- This series takes place in an alternate continuity from that of the mainstream DC Universe. It has been retroactively classified as an Elseworlds story.
- This issue is reprinted in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: The Dark Knight Saga Deluxe Edition, Absolute Dark Knight, Robin, the Boy Wonder: A Celebration of 75 Years, and in black and white in Batman Noir: The Dark Knight Returns.
Quotes:
"You don't get it, boy... this isn't a mudhole... it's an operating table. And I'm the surgeon." —Batman
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| Slot: |
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns 3 |
| Item: |
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns 3 Signature |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
4655068011
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Owner Comments
August, 1986
"Hunt the Dark Knight"
Frank Miller - Writer
Frank Miller - Penciler
Klaus Janson - Inker
Frank Miller & Lynn Varley - Cover Artists
Lynn Varley - Colorist
John Costanza - Letterer
Dennis O'Neil - Editor
Dick Giordano - Executive Editor
Synopsis:
The Joker, newly awakened from catatonia, manipulates his fame-hungry psychiatrist, Dr. Wolper, into presenting him on live TV as a supposed victim of Batman, but instead, he murders the audience with smile gas and escapes. Batman pursues him to Selina Kyle—now a broken, alcoholic madame—whom the Joker humiliates and uses in a political suicide scheme, leaving Batman a trail to follow. After narrowly escaping the police with Robin, Batman confronts the Joker at a county fair, where Robin saves a rollercoaster full of people from a bombing while Batman engages in a brutal showdown with his nemesis. Though prepared to kill the Joker, Batman stops short, leaving him paralyzed, at which point the Joker commits suicide to frame him for murder. Meanwhile, Superman works covertly for the U.S. government amid rising tensions with the Soviet Union, and the Sons of Batman emerge as violent vigilantes, escalating public and political hostility toward the Dark Knight.
Notes:
- Signed by Frank Miller on: 10/12/2025
- Signed by Klaus Janson on: 10/10/2025
- This series takes place in an alternate continuity from that of the mainstream DC Universe. It has been retroactively classified as an Elseworlds story.
- This issue is reprinted in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: The Dark Knight Saga Deluxe Edition, Absolute Dark Knight, and in black and white in Batman Noir: The Dark Knight Returns.
- Todd McFarlane inked at least one page of this issue.
Trivia:
- Dr. Ruth Westheimer appears as one of the guests on the talk show whom the Joker kills.
- The "David Endochrine Show" is a parody of Late Night with David Letterman.
Quotes:
"A gun is a coward's weapon. A liar's weapon. We kill too often because we've made it easy... too easy... sparing ourselves the mess and the work." —Batman
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| Slot: |
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns 4 |
| Item: |
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns 4 Signature |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
4655068012
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Owner Comments
December, 1986
"The Dark Knight Falls"
Frank Miller - Writer
Frank Miller - Penciler
Klaus Janson - Inker
Frank Miller & Lynn Varley - Cover Artists
Lynn Varley - Colorist
John Costanza - Letterer
Dennis O'Neil - Editor
Dick Giordano - Executive Editor
Synopsis:
When the USSR launches a nuclear warhead, Superman diverts it to the desert, but the blast cripples electronics across the Western Hemisphere and nearly kills him, plunging Gotham into chaos. As the city riots, Batman—wounded but resolute—rallies Robin and the Sons of Batman to restore order with non-lethal methods, turning Gotham into the safest city in America. Embarrassed, the U.S. government sends Superman to stop him, and with Oliver Queen’s warning, Batman prepares for their final battle. Armed with an exoskeleton, kryptonite, and strategy, he defeats the weakened Superman in Crime Alley before apparently dying of a heart attack as Alfred destroys Wayne Manor and the Batcave, perishing himself soon after. The world mourns Bruce Wayne as Batman, but at his funeral Superman secretly discovers Bruce is alive, having faked his death with Carrie’s help. With his legacy preserved and hidden, Wayne retreats underground with Robin, Green Arrow, and his followers to continue his fight for justice in secrecy.
Notes:
- Signed by Frank Miller on: 10/12/2025
- Signed by Klaus Janson on: 10/10/2025
- This series takes place in an alternate continuity from that of the mainstream DC Universe. It has been retroactively classified as an Elseworlds story.
- This issue is reprinted in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: The Dark Knight Saga Deluxe Edition, Absolute Dark Knight, Batman vs. Superman: The Greatest Battles, and in black and white in Batman Noir: The Dark Knight Returns.
Quotes:
"You're beginning to get the idea, Clark. This...is the end for both of us. We could have changed the world. Now...look at us. I've become...a political liability...and you...you're a joke. I want you...to remember, Clark...in all the years to come...in your most private moments...I want you to remember...my hand...at your throat. I want...you to remember...the one man who beat you." —Batman
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