Dark Knight III: The Master Race #3 Review

Writer: Frank Miller, Brian Azzarello / Artist: Andy Kubert / DC Comics Oh… so that’s what Master Race means. Fair. Issue #3 kicks off with the real threat in this book thanks to Atom’s “good deed” of trying to restore some diminished Kryptonians. Well, doesn’t it always end well when some Kryptonians not named Kal-El or Kara start ghost riding Earth’s atmosphere? They possess a big enough threat that Bruce Da Gawd is compelled to come out of retirement death to see what can be done. Much of the book from the Dark Knight’s perspective is spent waxing on about his contrast between himself and his young apprentice Robin and what her ascending to his cowl could mean.

[divider type=”space_thin”] Unlike the first two installments of this book, the story is much more streamlined and doesn’t go off the main course much at all. The stage has been set, the players (thus far) have been introduced and now that the threat has shown itself. And they are quite the threat. Azzarello gives us a slightly different approach to the “Kryptonians want to rule the world as gods” angle with their methods and sacrifice. It shows that appealing to their ego or talking them out of their goals has less wiggle room considering the lengths they are willing to “cleanse the Earth.” While nostalgic, what doesn’t always work is the very cynical tone of people, especially the talking heads and faux news transcripts. What may have surprising and edgy when Miller was showing his disdain of Reagan years ago,…