Back in April,DC Comicsannounced that legendary comic book artistFrank Milleris returning to close out his iconic seriesThe Dark Knight Returnssaga withThe Dark Knight III: The Master Race. This comic will continue the story ofMiller’s 1986 classicThe Dark Knight Returns, one of Time Magazine’s 10 greatest graphic novels of all time, and its 2001-2002 follow-up seriesBatman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again. Today,DC Comicsrevealed thatThe Dark Knight III: The Master Racewill be released on November 25, while debuting the first in a series of variant comic book covers.
The Dark Knight III: The Master Raceis heading to local comics retailers everywhere on November 25, and in addition to the fantastic array of retailer-specific variant covers available, DC Entertainment is revealing the first of several “standard” variant covers for the series! This 1 in 50 variant cover is rendered byDave GibbonsofWatchmenfame, and features an iconic pose of bothBatmanandRobin(Carrie Kelly) bounding across the rooftops of Gotham City.
Frank Millerwill be joined by acclaimed writer Brian Azzarello (100 Bullets,JokerandWonder Woman) on the eight-issue comic book periodical, to be published twice a month under the DC Comics imprint.The Dark Knight III: The Master Racewill mark the 30th anniversary of theThe Dark Knight Returnsoriginal series. With the books debuting in November, the series should end its run in March 2016, fittingly, just beforeBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justicehits theaters.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justicehas long been thought to be either adapted from or inspired byThe Dark Knight Returns, but since very little plot details have been announced, we don’t know for sure. When directorZack Snyderfirst announced the project at Comic-Con 2013, the filmmaker brought actorHarry Lennixonto the stage to read a passage fromThe Dark Knight Returns, before they displayed the official logo. Hopefully we’ll get more concrete plot details between now andBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’s release next March.
Unfortunately, DC hasn’t released any plot details forThe Dark Knight III: The Master Raceyet, but with its release just two months away, stay tuned for more information. We’ll keep you updated about more variant comic book artwork as soon as they are announced, but in the meantime, take a look atDave Gibbonsartwork below. Are you looking forward to this new comic fromFrank Miller?
