Hello. This is an actual comic cover drawn by legendary comic artist Frank Miller. It’s the cover to a companion comic to Miller’s upcoming Dark Knight III: The Master Race series, and it appears DC is actually going to publish it despite the fact that 1) it is horrible, 2) it is laughable and 3) you can clearly see the outline of Superman’s junk in his red briefs.


I’m basically speechless that this is happening. The only thing I can think of is that DC is so desperate for more Dark Knight Returns money that not only have they brought Frank Miller back, but been forced to accede to his obviously terrible demands, such as naming the third installment “The Master Race.” Given the horrible art of The Dark Knight Strikes Again, it made sense that DC would agree to a problematic title as long as Miller brought on board some decent collaborators. Which is presumably why Brian Azzarello is co-writing and Andy Kubert and Klaus Janson are taking the actual art duties, for the upcoming series.

But I guess Miller also demanded to be allowed draw something for his effort, and DC was forced to allow him to draw this cover to a Superman and Atom DK3 tie-in. And I have to assume they promised Miller they wouldn’t change it, because as much as I give DC crap for being obtuse, I can’t believe anyone in the DC Comics office right is looking at Superman’s face, his body dysmorphia and most especially the outline of his dick, and not praying they had the power to prevent it. And then to delete it and smash all the computers that had ever hosted the image with hammers.


Correction: An earlier version of this article said Brian Azzarello was the artist on The Master Race. He’s actually the co-writer.

[Via Bleeding Cool]

Contact the author at rob@io9.com .