Posted in: Batman, Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, DC Comics | Tagged: dark knight returns, DC Compact

Dark Knight Returns And White Knight Come To DC Compact Comics Format

Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns and Sean Murphy's White Knight come to DC's Compact Comics format

Published Fri, 25 Jul 2025 10:01:05 -0500

Article Summary

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns joins DC Compact Comics, set for release on April 7, 2026.
Sean Gordon Murphy's Batman: White Knight also announced for the Compact line, out February 3, 2026.
Fan-favorite Batman stories arrive in a new, portable DC Comics Compact format for collectors and new readers.
DC expands its Compact lineup with milestone Batman titles, perfect for fans wanting classic stories on the go.

Maybe they will announce this at San Diego Comic-Con. Maybe not. It seemed a missed opportunity when the DC Comics Compact line was originally announce., But now, for 2026, Frank Miller, Klaus Janson and Lynne Varley's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns will be coming to the Compact line for the 7th of April 2026. And so will Sean Gordon Murphy and Matt Hollingsworth's original Batman: White Knight series as well, for the 3rd of February 2026.

: Sean Gordon Murphy and Matt Hollingsworth's Batman: White Knight Compact Comics

: Frank Miller, Klaus Janson and Lynne Varley's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Compact Comics

DC Compact Comics has a 5.5" x 8.5" standard book trim for trade paperback novels, the new format pulls bestselling, new-reader-friendly titles from DC's evergreen library. It has gained a bookstore-style presence in a number of comic stores courtesy of the DC Compact Comics-sized stands, as well as a television advertising campaign.

The Dark Knight Returns was originally a 1986 four-prestige-issue comic book miniseries that tells an alternative story of Bruce Wayne, who, at 55 years old, returns from a decade of retirement to fight crime while facing opposition from the Gotham City police force and the United States government. Time Magazine chose the collected edition as one of the ten best English-language graphic novels ever written. Decades later, Miller would work on a number of sewuels with Janson, Varley and others.

Batman: White Knight was an eight-issue limited series from 2017 in which the Joker is seemingly cured of his madness and sets out to become a politician under his real name of Jack Napier, seeking to change his public image as a "villain" and save Gotham City from Batman, whom he views as the real enemy of the city. There have been a number of more contemporary sequels, and more are planned in that universe.

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