'Dark Knight Returns' No. 2 cover to be auctioned

[Hum]

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? It is the comic book cover that captured the grim visage of an older, wiser ? and meaner ? Batman.

Now, the 1986 pen and ink creation ? drawn by writer/artist Frank Miller ? that is the cover to "The Dark Knight Returns" No. 2 will be sold next month in Dallas by Heritage Auctions.

It's the first cover from DC Comics' 1986 four-issue "Dark Knight" miniseries to be sold and is expected to go for more than $500,000.

Miller's story "radically altered the direction of comics," said Todd Hignite, Heritage's vice president.

"For fans of modern comics, this drawing is where everything really begins," he said. "This moment defines Miller's Dark Knight, and the modern day perception of Batman, like no other drawing."

"It represents not only one of the most memorable images from the 1980s, but from Batman's entire illustrious history," Hignite said. "Miller's revolutionary Dark Knight radically altered the direction of comics with its prestige miniseries format, combined with the fact that it was one of the first modern mainstream features to put a gritty noir patina on the squeaky-clean Silver Age hero mythos previously exemplified by DC."

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[sanctified Veteran]

One of the best graphic novels ever, along with Watchmen.

[Syanide]

Granted, I'm not a big comic guy, but +1

[DocM]

Absolutely a freakin' classic. Took Batman back to his pulp roots in 1939 to the early 1940's. This violent, vengeful early Batman would use guns, examples being he dispatched some vampires with silver bullets and would carry one, and kill at the drop of a hat if he felt it was necessary. One I remember was he whacked a crook in the face with a statue so hard it knocked him out of an upper story window. Many others.

[Syanide]

There are so many iconic images in it.