The Dark Knight 3: The Master Race #3 Review and *SPOILERS*

Gods Among Us...

*Non Spoilers and Score at The Bottom*

Written by: Frank Miller, Brian Azzarello
Art by: Klaus Janson, Andy Kubert, Geoff Darrow
Cover Price: $5.99
Release Date: February 24, 2016

It has been a while since we've been in the Miller-verse. We had Carrie Kelly pretending to be Batman, Lara went to Ray Palmer to grow the Kandorians in the first issue. The second had Carrie reveal that Bruce was dead to the cops(which is a lie) and then escape into the night with the Bat-Tank, and Ray Palmer not growing the Kandorians... but a Kryptonian cult that follows the charismatic and terrifying Quar, who after getting the rays of the yellow sun, now has a bit of a god complex. He kills Ray and Kandor and with his cult flies off to be the god of this new world.
I have liked the series so far, with the exception of some continuity errors and strange art on the side stories. There are some down sides, but the story continues to intrigue me...but then it got pushed back and is coming 2 months apart, which is never a good sign. Enough talk though, let's dive in and see what's in store...

We open up to find Bruce going to check on Carrie after she returned from her grand escape from the GCPD, thinking how she will be a better protector after he’s gone. That’s when he hears commotion on his television: Quar has announced his presence to the world. He explains how he and his cult are from Krypton, meaning they are “gods on earth” to free them of their false masters, and as such shall be worshipped by humanity. If not… Well we can’t have a cult without righteous fire. Quar feeds “seeds” to his seven children and sends his son flying into Moscow...yeah, that seed was a nuke.

Bruce then does the most sensible thing he has ever done in all three series by Miller… SUCKS UP HIS PRIDE AND GOES TO WAKE CLARK! He and Carrie head up to the Fortress of  Solitude where Superman is still doing his best impression of the Lich King...and Bruce doing his best impression of what Frank Miller wants to do with Superman with a sledgehammer. After Bruce’s failed attempts at convincing him, even going so far as admitting the world needs Clark over him, Carrie gets through by saying it’s HIS people. This phrase has him break out from the ice and wants to know what the french toast is going on!

Meanwhile Quar and his crew are flying across the world, trying to spread the good word… except nobody cares. I kid you not, the Kryptonian Cult is flying across the world, destroying major landmarks, literally nuked a major city...and all the people are staring at their smart phones. If you think that message is a little heavy handed, it gets worse. The moment the cult realizes this, they fly up to space and destroy the Telecommunication satellites of the world...that’s right...they destroyed the connection to the Internet. When we look back down to Gotham...we get a single “Fuh” and then the city is in flames. I actually had to stop and read through the last 2 pages to make sure I saw that right… I guess this entire scene was supposed to be one of Miller’s parodies of the world...but I actually just laughed at the ridiculousness of it.

Quar heads to the Pentagon, preparing to hear the World Leaders praising him...but all he finds is Batman on all screens telling him to go to hell...and Superman ready for a battle. That's right! The Last Son of Krypton stands with Earth after witnessing what the Kandorians did to Moscow! What could possibly go wrong?! But the Cult has a new member… Lara. Looks like daddy has to show his little monster who the top dog is...except he's a little out of practice... and she's been training with Wonder Woman... and while I should be afraid that a half kryptonian half amazon superpowered being working for the bad guys, I can’t help but giggle at her trying to be serious while she holds her legs under her but like always. Either way looks like theres gonna be one helluva fight ahead.

The mini-comic this time around revolves around Hal Jordan returning to earth away from his alien family to fight the wives of Quar. The art has improved a little...but the story felt... underwhelming... To those who don’t know Green Lantern became something of a god like entity during Strikes Again...and to get played by three kryptonians feels like it demolished anything cool about this version of the character...plus even if he lost his hand and ring, wouldn’t the ring just fly back? Hal isn’t dead! So why is the ring not returning?! EXPLAIN MILLER! EXPLAIN!!

Bits and Pieces:

This issue had some promise of greatness...but after waiting for 2 months doesn’t justify what we got. The art continues to be amazing as we focus in on Batman and Carrie, but the story made the issue feel short. Cult appears to world, shows power, then skips 3 days to have them order the surrender. The biggest downfall of the series continues to be the mini-comic at the end of each issue, showing bland art and poor character representations. This issue does promise a big violent war ahead, and hopefully we get that sooner rather than later, because if we get pacing like we got in this issue, this series will fall hard.

6/10