Did You Know? The Greatest Batman and Daredevil Stories Both Launched in February 1986

If you Google "Greatest Comic Book Stories", you'll see the same collection of titles near the top of all of them - Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, Killing Joke, Maus, etc.. It really just depends on where they land on said list that makes it an interesting conversation.

Recently, Comic Book Resource published their updated Top 100 greatest comic stories of all-time list. And it's all the usual suspects. But, this time, I noticed something that I never picked up before. Dardevil: Born Again and Dark Knight Returns came in at 2 & 3 on their list of the greatest comics of all time. Since they were right next to each other on the list, I saw something I never noticed before - two of Frank Miller's most iconic pieces were written and released during the same time period in 1986!

40 Years Ago, Frank Miller Was at the Top of His Game

Admittedly, I'm a HUGE Frank Miller fan. Huge. From Sin City to Daredevil to 300, there's not much that Frank Miller produced that I didn't like. But, it's crazy to think with all the amazing books Frank worked on and produced, that two of his best came out at the same time!

The first issue of the Dark Knight Returns and Daredevil: Born Again were released in February of 1986. Both books were hugely successful and influential. Batman, once again, became a central figure in the pop culture world.

Daredevil was dying when Frank took it over in 1979. Once he took full creative control of the title with issue #168, sales immediately skyrocketed. During the period of time, Daredevil was getting published bi-monthly and was on the verge of getting canceled. With Frank's creative influence and rising sales, it once again became a monthly issue.

He really came into form and hit his peak with Born Again. Much like the Dark Knight Returns, the storyline reinvigorated and redefined what the title characters could be. Those influences can still be felt today.

The Lasting Impact of DKR & Born Again

As I said, 40 years later, both titles remain at the top of the list for the 'Greatest Comic Stories Ever Told". Both stories are incredible and won Frank a LOT of awards in 1986. But, the impact of both tales have an impact on how we think and feel about both Batman and Daredevil today. He took them from campy and grounded them in a gritty reality.

Key characteristics of both characters started in 1986 with Frank Miller's iconic works (and for Batman was further redefined in 1987 in Batman: Year One), and remain to this very day. Did you love the Netflix Daredevil show? Pure Frank Miller with much of the 2nd and 3rd seasons coming straight out of Born Again. Love Tim Burton's Batman? HEAVILY influenced by The Dark Knight Returns. Same with Christopher Nolan's Batman, Zach Snyder's Batman, etc., etc..

Whether on the big screen, the small screen, or in books, these characters that we know and love are the way they are because of Frank Miller in 1986.

On the grander scale, the success of both DKR and Born Again led to an era of 'dark superheroes'. Many characters were either created or redesigned to be more grounded with a dark, gritty and more grounded approach. Without Frank changing the game in 1986, we probably don't get Spawn. We probably don't get the Wolverine we know and love (this more directly impacted by Frank, as he worked on the mini-series with Chris Claremont in 1982). The Punisher once again saw a resurgence in popularity due to the darker heroes popularized by Frank Miller. Even when Spider-Man didn't change, his villains became a little darker and a little more dangerous.

Without Frank Miller & Alan Moore's work in 1986 (Watchmen was also released in 1986 and he was doing GREAT work on Swamp Thing during this period), there's no telling what comic books would be like today. Would they be as popular? Would Daredevil or Batman still exist? Heck, would comic book movies be as popular as they are? What I do know: thankfully, we'll never have to find out.