# What was the worst thing about DK2?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-worst-thing-about-dk2/261573>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [August 26, 2004, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-worst-thing-about-dk2/261573 "2004-08-26T08:22:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 18\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Asbestos_Mango)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-worst-thing-about-dk2/261573/1 "2004-08-26T08:22:54Z")

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Not that anyone would actually read that piece of crap, but the completists among us might have purchased it for the sake of not having it missing from their collections, and maybe accidentally dropped it and it landed in an open position so they were accidentally exposed for the most craptacular piece of crap in the history of crappy comic book crap.

Nominations include, but are no means limited too…

Wonder Woman’s outfit. What was Miller thinking?

Barry Allen apparently providing power to the entire eastern seaboard by being locked into a giant hamster wheel. Uh, yeah…

Obese Lex Luthor.

Batman’s new cape. It slices, it dices…

The Superchix.

We’ll vote later.

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**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-worst-thing-about-dk2/261573/2 "2004-08-26T11:31:56Z")

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Wonder Woman’s outfit seemed to be a stylized feminine version of the Spartan uniforms Miller designed for 300. If you read 300 before reading DK2 her costume is not so weird, but without that knowledge it seems like an abrupt change.

**Things I actively disliked:** Superheroes in athletic shoes, Catgirl’s computerized leopard print costume, Geriatric Captain Marvel, Flash in Speedos, holographic Prez Rickard, Supes and Wondy’s sexcapade and her instant pregnancy, 21st century Saturn Girl, homidical Dick Grayson, J’onn J’onn as Marv from Sin City, Hawk and Dove’s appearance validating Miller’s rabid homophobia and 75% of the coloring.

**Things I sorta liked:** Everything involving the Atom (except his haircut), Hal’s deux ex machina return, The Question typefaced thoughts, Captain Marvel’s revelation that Billy Batson was already dead.

DK2 t might have been better accepted not as a DKR sequel per se, but what it really was – a Justice League story set in the DKR universe.

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**Author:** ![Psycho\_Pirate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Psycho\_Pirate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Psycho_Pirate)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-worst-thing-about-dk2/261573/3 "2004-08-26T12:20:30Z")

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The entire series was an abomination that should never have been made. DKR was a pretty good story, and should have been left to stand by itself. DK2 just cheapened it by reducing the quality of the overall product.

I can’t choose just one thing to dislike.

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**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-worst-thing-about-dk2/261573/4 "2004-08-26T13:00:25Z")

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I found it passable. I mean, huge let-down from DKR, but otherwise passable.

Worst thing for me was the treatment of Dick - and the whole silly Batcave security code sequence.

Next up would be Barry’s shorts.

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**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-worst-thing-about-dk2/261573/5 "2004-08-26T13:44:37Z")

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> [@Askia](#):
>
> Hawk and Dove’s appearance validating Miller’s rabid homophobia

Can you elaborate on this? I only know Miller from Daredevil and DKR/Year 1, and rack my brains though I might, I can’t think of anything particularly homophobic. (Though admittedly I often miss these things.)

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**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-worst-thing-about-dk2/261573/6 "2004-08-26T14:12:28Z")

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It was very buggy, and the map wasn’t the interesting map they had n the previous one. Also, the imps don’t multi-task as well, I think.

What? Isn’t everyone talking about **Dungeon Keeper 2**?

sorry, I’ll see myself out…

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**Author:** ![Winston\_Bongo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a9adbd/32.png) [@Winston\_Bongo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Bongo)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-worst-thing-about-dk2/261573/7 "2004-08-26T14:42:25Z")

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> [@The Asbestos Mango](#):
>
> Barry Allen apparently providing power to the entire eastern seaboard by being locked into a giant hamster wheel. Uh, yeah…

Actually, that was one of the few things I _liked_ about the series. I mean sure, it’s absurd, but in the context of the Flash’s already absurd abilities, it’s pretty consistent, and a pretty imaginative (if evil) idea. Although how Lex Luthor ended up looking like Jabba the Hutt I have no idea.

As for the worst thing about _DK2,_ I’d say it’s a tie between the atrocious day-glo computer coloring job and the fact that Miller couldn’t bother himself to draw actual backgrounds. What were Frank and Lynn smoking when they came up with this crap??

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**Author:** ![ussentinel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ce7236/32.png) [@ussentinel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ussentinel)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-worst-thing-about-dk2/261573/8 "2004-08-26T14:56:08Z")

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I cast my vote for the depiction of Dick Grayson, as mentioned by some of the others.

It didn’t help that the series was late after the first issue, and got caught up in the “cover variations syndrome” either.

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**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-worst-thing-about-dk2/261573/9 "2004-08-26T15:10:43Z")

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> [@Nonsuch](#):
>
> Can you elaborate on this? I only know Miller from Daredevil and DKR/Year 1, and rack my brains though I might, I can’t think of anything particularly homophobic. (Though admittedly I often miss these things.)

Miller’s characterization of gay men is consistently negative in a lot of his work, just as he frequently depicts black men as brutes or wimps and often trots with relationships with weird sado-masochistic sexual overtones.

**DKR** : Miller’s lipstick wearing Joker fixtation of Batman has a partly homosexual undercurrent… the first words out of his mouth when he awakes from his catatonia are “Batman… darling.” Bruno – the Nazi thief in the liquor store in part 3 – is implied to be the Joker’s lover, wears leather ass-out chaps and may in fact be a transsexual (that comment about body work and stretch marks).

**300.** Despite the fact that Spartan soldiers almost certainly had sexual relations within their ranks, Miller depicts them as being hard-boiled he-men who have a lesser opinion of Greeks who openly engage in homosexual sex.

**DK2:** More blatant. Dick Grayson is depicted as a repressed gay man. Batman mocks and taunts Dick Grayson with a variety of endearments before killing him – plus the slam at Hawk and Dove. (“Don’t ask.”)

**Give Me Liberty**. Two words: Gay Nazis.

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**Author:** ![Chairman\_Pow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-worst-thing-about-dk2/261573/10 "2004-08-26T15:16:33Z")

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I actually kind of liked WW’s outfit.

The worst thing though was the problem Miller has in ending a miniseries. He alwas builds up too many subplots and then can’t finish them in time. Take Elektra: Assassian for example. That last issue ruined the series.

Anyway. The “you moved the Earth” line really blew too.

I didn’t think it was as bad as everyone else seems to think though.

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**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-worst-thing-about-dk2/261573/11 "2004-08-26T15:34:28Z")

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> [@Askia](#):
>
> **DK2:** More blatant. Dick Grayson is depicted as a repressed gay man. Batman mocks and taunts Dick Grayson with a variety of endearments before killing him

Wait…Batman killed Dick? The hell?

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**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-worst-thing-about-dk2/261573/12 "2004-08-26T15:35:02Z")

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> [@Chairman Pow](#):
>
> The worst thing though was the problem Miller has in ending a miniseries. He always builds up too many subplots and then can’t finish them in time. Take Elektra: Assassin, for example. That last issue ruined the series.

\>\> Moe Szyslak Voice \<\< WHA-AaaAAaa-?

Not to say you’re wrong about Miller’s leaving some subplots unresolved – but ELEKTRA: ASSASSIN was freaking brilliant, **Chairman.** I never saw the ending coming.

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**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-worst-thing-about-dk2/261573/13 "2004-08-26T15:38:24Z")

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**Tengu.** Oops. Guess I should’ve used a spoiler box, eh? But, yeah. Dick Grayson is rendered essentially unkillable so Batman blows him up in the batcave. Sorry you found out the way you did.

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**Author:** ![shy\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-worst-thing-about-dk2/261573/14 "2004-08-26T16:16:03Z")

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The Hawk and Dove thing was what initially came to mind, although the whole Dick Grayson thing was just… bad.

I’ll also add his treatment of Elongated Man (the _fuck_?) and the god-awful costume Green Arrow was wearing.

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**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-worst-thing-about-dk2/261573/15 "2004-08-26T21:03:15Z")

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That it was published.

Nope, scratch that…

That I paid for it.

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**Author:** ![The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Asbestos_Mango)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-worst-thing-about-dk2/261573/16 "2004-08-26T21:54:52Z")

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> [@Askia](#):
>
> Supes and Wondy’s sexcapade and her instant pregnancy, .

Accomplished through at least three layers of Spadex, assuming neither of them was wearing their Fruit of the Looms…

with no apparent damage to the fabric on either one’s costume.

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**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-worst-thing-about-dk2/261573/17 "2004-08-26T23:18:06Z")

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> [@Askia](#):
>
> Supes and Wondy’s sexcapade and her instant pregnancy,

Well, he **is** faster than a speeding bullet.

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**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2004, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-worst-thing-about-dk2/261573/18 "2004-08-26T23:19:15Z")

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> [@The Asbestos Mango](#):
>
> Accomplished through at least three layers of Spadex, assuming neither of them was wearing their Fruit of the Looms…
> 
> with no apparent damage to the fabric on either one’s costume.

If this were Marvel Comics, they would have had a read-made explanation: their costumes were made of unstable molecules.
