Use of colour in Frank Miller's 'The Dark Knight Returns':

Lynn Varley’s deft use of colour in The Dark Knight Returns has been much praised as contributing to a new emotional ambience for superhero literature. This can be considered effective for a number of reasons. The superhero Batman first appeared thanks to Bob Kane during the 1930s, and The Dark Knight Returns was written by acclaimed writer Frank Miller and published during the 1980s.

Along with Batman, Superman was also first published during the 1930s. The two characters each offer a very different perspective of the world, and the main differences between the two ‘heroes’ are that while Superman works alongside the government, Batman is a vigilante; Batman is merely a human with no actual superpowers and he does not adhere to the traditional family values image that is associated with Superman. The colours which are used to bring each individual to life are also a stark contrast. On the one hand, the colour scheme in Batman is very dark, which is a reflection of the tone and mood of the character. On the other hand, Superman contains mainly bright and unrealistic colours, which are thought to be uplifting and patriotic, but are also exaggerated and childish.

The Dark Knight Returns contains a mixture of dark and bright colours to set the mood of the scene. Lynn Varley uses an extensive colour palette which was not only considered a revelation for the Batman series but for comic books as a whole.

Batman himself is a lot of the time only seen as a black figure in the shadows, and the primary colours are often reserved for more light-hearted scenes including his side-kick, Robin, or scenes involving the much more honourable Superman. The darker colours are also used when Batman, or Bruce, is re-living a traumatic experience from his childhood, such as in Book I, p.10-11 where a young Bruce falls into a bat cave and thus begins his great terror of the creatures. These two pages both mainly consist of only a black, white, and grey colour scheme, which shows the reader how awful an experience this was for the boy as the only images which are coloured are the bats, depicted in a bright and fiery red. One panel contains only a pair of red eyes in the darkness of the cave, and another of the same, demonic bat breathing fire. These images are surely a figment of the child’s imagination and the contrasting colours highlight the trauma that has led to his future madness. The same pages also contain a splash panel showing an adult Bruce standing unclothed in his darkened bat cave, with only Robin’s costume in colour. This tells us that Robin is a more hopeful and optimistic character in comparison to the brooding Batman.

The graphic novel also displays a number of outstanding splash pages, meaning a panel which takes up a full page. An example of this is a page in Book II which shows Batman in full costume holding in his arms the general completely covered by an American flag apart from a gun hanging down at his side. This image and colouring is triumphant as the bright colours of the flag are seen as a symbol of freedom which is a contrast to the suicidal general and shows how far Gotham City has descended into darkness. Although Batman is meant to be the hero he is still depicted in Black, as is the general’s gun, a sign of evil and destruction.

A similar yet contrasting page shows a splash page of Superman holding a military tank above his head. This page contains a very similar image to the one previously mentioned, but it differs as Superman is seen in a fully coloured costume, compared to the shadowed Batman. As well as this, the tank and surrounding army men are coloured in browns and blacks, and this again emphasises how Superman is a symbol of hope and peace, and is considered the opposite of Batman. It also displays Superman’s strength, fact that he has superpowers and is not merely a man. Even the speech balloon is written in black against a bright blue, and contains the words “We must not remind them that giants walk the earth,” which adds to the confirmation of what Superman symbolises.

Another example of Varley’s vast colouring is a page containing this time Clark Kent instead of Superman. In this he is standing in a statuesque stance, looking muscular and almost comical as he is surrounded by colourful butterflies and flowers. This page also contains panels along the bottom, as well as a panel showing the “Good Morning Gotham” television screen which plays a large role in the text. In this page the screen has a bright yellow and orange image of the sun behind the newsreader, whereas usually this would be a picture of the Bat Signal or just a plain blue. This whole page again gives the reader an idea of Clark/Superman’s wholesome, family image, and tells us that he is admired rather than viewed as a criminal. When we see Bruce without his bat costume on, he is usually again coloured in dark shades, proving again the dark and bitterness associated with him.

To conclude, the colour palette constructed by Lynn Varley for The Dark Knight Returns is deserved of praise as it is unpredictable and daring. Until this graphic novel was released colour schemes such as this was almost unheard of and the use of splash pages and bleeding, where an image runs of the page, gave ‘a new emotional ambience to superhero literature’. It can be seen from the examples mentioned previously that dark shades have been used to great effect to show the angry, bitter and weaker state of the ageing Batman, and that more powerful primary colours are used to show the power, strength and likeability of his rival Superman. Each of the four books contained in the text continue to surprise, and differing colour schemes are used in each. Certain colours are designated to particular characters and plotlines, which make them instantly recognisable when they disappear and reappear, shown in characters such as the Mutants and the Joker. The novels lasting impact can be seen on how it influenced later novels such as Alan Moore’s other superhero tale, Watchmen.