Our high school library has been increasing the number of graphic novels on its shelves and purchased Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns just in time for my King Lear unit. As with The Watchmen, I find a lot of appropriate parallels to Shakespeare’s masterpiece, not the least of which is an aging figurehead unable to accept retirement, a power-struggle for the kingdom, and a lot of gratuitous violence.

While my students are creating multi-media presentations for their assigned King Lear scene, it helps to show them example pages from Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.

Alan Moore and Frank Miller have repeatedly proven to be ahead of their time; it seems incredible to me that their work was published in the mid-80s — the last great decade. The power and the fear, the hope and the despair, the tragedy and the comedy — it belongs in a Shakespeare unit, and it never disappoints the students.