..Just wondering if Frank Miller's famous comic is the most iconic comic...it seems to feature highly in an awful lot of reader top 10s I have seen on various internet forums and Amazon fan lists and the like. It also usually tops the "top 10 Batman graphic novels of all time" list. If not TDKR, what is?

IMO,Year One is.

It and Year One but if we are talking about the best Batman comic then it's most definitely R.I.P.

I think its the most famous comic book, even many people who don't read comics know about it.

Wouldn't it be like, Amazing Fantasy 15, Action Comics 1, Detective Comics 27, or hulk 181? Or something like that?

Most iconic IMO is The Phoenix/Dark Phoenix Saga.

No.The appropriate comic for Batman,in this pack of comicbooks,is Detective #27.

It's like Spider-Man's "Kraven's last Hunt"

@punyparker: I'm not sure I know what you mean.... He was asking what was the most iconic comic, so those were my answers.

@punyparker: the OP asked for the greatest comic of all time. Matthewparker's answers were appropriate...

@redlantern23:

You mentioned the most iconic comics for the most famous Superheroes,and i disagreed.

I mean that the comics you posted is another category of "iconic" -ness.

And added that what's KLH for Spider-Man ,that's TDKR is for Batman.

Watchmen is the most iconic comic off all time

@punyparker: ....ok? I wish the op would respond and say what he's looking for.

Uhhh, no. So much no.

That and the watchmen. Detective comics and amazing fantasy and all all that stuff aren't actually great comics. If batman and Spidey didnt blow up in popularity no one would've looked twice at those.

Hmm...

@jayc1324: they don't have to be good, to be iconic. Also I'm not sure as a person of this age how well you can really judge older comics....unless you are older, in which case I apologize.

@papinacho: The it is the most iconic BATMAN book of all time. Not sure how a false characterization of one hero for the sake of glorifying another gets considered a good book anyway.

I think he wants verification that TDKR is the most iconic Batman story.

@papinacho: none of my mainstream friend have ever heard of watchman or TDKR....

I would say it and Year One are the 2 most iconic Batman comics of all time....but THE most iconic comics? No. Hell, TDKR isn't even the best Frank Miller run in 1986, Daredevil's Born Again is.

Depends, if we're talking about how it handled the politics, violence and social structure of its time it is very close to TDKR and Watchmen. While most people say Watchmen was more spot on I go with TDKR. Watchmen might be more "realistic" but the way Miller touched all those aspects through the comic/pop culture prism was more entertaining, the corrupt government, that complete jerk of a president, the idiots in tv, the dirty Harry style scenes of Batman like saving that hooker from her pimp in the cub, the punk style mob of mutants, the criminals fooling the system, the soviets making their move and the panic of the masses, and all these leading to a climactic fight of a man who never compromises and someone who wants to be accepted by helping. Comics like this helped an entire generation of people understand the world and there are more than you may think just not written in the same fashion or based in the same era and problems of humanity.

It's one of the most, but not the most. The first comics I thought of were the Phoenix Saga, All-Star Superman, Year One, and Watchmen. But, IMO, after some thinking, the most iconic comic would be The death and return of Superman. National News stations reported the event. That's huge. You can go up to anybody off the street and 9/10 they would know that Superman died fighting Doomsday over anything in TDKR.

@buttersdaman000: I was about to come here to say that. I'm surprised you were the first. Maybe some other comics might be more iconic in the eyes of the fans, but Death of Superman is definitely the most iconic over all as far as the general population goes. I don't think that many people outside of comic fans have really heard of the Phoenix Sega. With it's connection to the upcoming film and to some extent to Nolan films people probably have become more aware of TDKR, but I think there are still plenty of people who haven't heard of it. Death of Superman is just hands down the most well known comic and I would say that makes it the most iconic.

Honestly, I feel the Dark Knight Returns was a rather underwhelming storyline. I don't understand the hype. Can someone explain the appeal to me?

People hang on to the fact that this book (and Watchmen) changed how comics were written.. Thats all.

..Interesting, I agree Death of Superman and Watchmen are right up there as is Year One, but Batman TDKR consistently features in the top 10 graphic novel lists that people publish and obviously it was quoted at the announcement of the new Batman v Superman film last July....I think it probably shares equal bill with Watchmen. Death of Superman was a landmark story at the time, but I am not so such its appeal is so enduring. TDKR is coming up to 30 years old and still seems a big deal with the Batman and comic world universe.....I need to get Watchmen actually, I already have All Star Superman, Death of Superman, Year one, Kravens Last Hunt and TDKR, so I have a good number of the big ones....