The opening panels of “Dark Knight III: The Master Race” depict a break-in at the Batcave. A display case containing the imposing costume of Batman, the DC vigilante, is smashed open and his emblematic cape and cowl are stolen, leaving only a bare mannequin.
This sequence can be seen as metaphor for the transformative effect that the “Dark Knight” comics, created by the artist and writer Frank Miller, have had on the 76-year-old Batman superhero.
When his original series, “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns,” was published in 1986, its depiction of an older Bruce Wayne, who had returned to fight crime after a period of retirement, reinvigorated the character. It was a shadowy hero for a new generation and it helped strip away the colorful affectations of the 1960s “Batman” TV show.
Beginning with Mr. Miller’s comics and culminating with Christopher Nolan’s multibillion-dollar “Dark Knight” movie franchise, this somber Batman became the character’s definitive incarnation.
“Dark Knight III,” a comic book series whose first issue will be released on Wednesday, is an opportunity for Mr. Miller to revisit the dystopian world of his venerable crime-fighter, and to reflect on the influential series he initiated on the cusp of his 30th birthday.
“I decided to make Batman impossibly old — I made him in his 50s,” a wry Mr. Miller, now 58, said in a recent interview. “It was a way to recharge the character, creatively, but also make myself feel a bit younger in the process.”
Among readers, “Dark Knight III” is being met with a mixture of anticipation and wariness. Some fans have soured on the strident, violent work of Mr. Miller, whose graphic novels have spawned hit movies like “300” and “Sin City,” and what they perceive as his reactionary politics.
Moreover, audiences wonder whether this new “Dark Knight” can have any effect in a cultural landscape saturated with moody, brooding takes on Batman.
“The downside of being so omnipresent is that people get sick of your story,” said Glen Weldon, who wrote “The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture,” a coming Simon & Schuster book.
“He could become cultural background noise,” Mr. Weldon said.
The character is certainly ubiquitous in Mr. Miller’s Midtown Manhattan studio which, beneath a haze of cigarette smoke, is well populated with Batman books, art, statuettes and model Batmobiles.
A few days ago, Mr. Miller gathered there with the writer Brian Azzarello (“100 Bullets”), his co-author on “Dark Knight III,” and Andy Kubert, an artist on the project.
Discussing the story, which revisits characters from the two previous “Dark Knight” chapters — the aging Bruce Wayne and his female disciple, Carrie Kelley; future versions of Superman and Wonder Woman, and their superhuman daughter, Lara — the creators said there was no limit to how much they could twist and stretch the members of DC’s pantheon.
“How much can we damage the characters without breaking them?” Mr. Azzarello said. “It’s pretty much almost impossible.”
Mr. Miller added: “Think of having the Hope Diamond in your hand. You can throw it around the room, drop it to the street — anything you want, and you won’t break it.”
With similar abandon, Mr. Miller tackled the original “Dark Knight” (which he worked on with the artists Klaus Janson and Lynn Varley, then his wife). Its story of a squalid, crumbling Gotham City and its distinctive illustrations of a brawny, lantern-jawed Batman struck a chord during the hawkish era of Ronald Reagan, “Die Hard” and “The Terminator.”
The series had significant visual and narrative impacts on the Batman movies of Tim Burton and Mr. Nolan.
Its influence persists on the Fox TV series “Gotham,” about that city’s pre-Batman history; the “Batman: Arkham” video game series; and the coming Zack Snyder movie “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” (which mimics a similar showdown in the “Dark Knight” comics).
But Mr. Miller alienated some fans with projects like “The Dark Knight Strikes Again,” published in 2001-2 and which was criticized for its looser, cartoony style and satirical story line; and “Holy Terror,” a 2010 graphic novel about an uncompromising Batman-like hero who fights Islamic terrorists, which was denounced as jingoistic and bigoted.
“You could sense in him a delight at how much he was getting away with,” Mr. Weldon said of these comics. “An 8-year-old boy just giggling at the stuff he’s doing.”
Beyond a general feeling of Batman fatigue, some readers say that proliferating versions of the character have diminished what was special about the first “Dark Knight.” At a time when Batman is so valuable to DC Entertainment (and its parent company, Time Warner), few meaningful chances can be taken with him.
In the mid-80s, Mr. Miller’s unique interpretation “was connected to the reality of what Batman was then, what he could become,” said Tom Spurgeon, a writer who chronicles the comics industry at comicsreporter.com.
Now, Mr. Spurgeon said: “He’s one of the Batmans that we get. That’s a much less considered effect, and a less powerful pop-culture trigger.”
Jim Lee, the co-publisher of DC Entertainment, said that keeping alive a roster of heroes published since the 1930s required bold reinventions from time to time.
“It needs people coming in and redefining what these characters mean for the times they live in,” said Mr. Lee, a prolific artist who worked with Mr. Miller on the comics series “All Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder.”
Mr. Lee said that Mr. Miller and Mr. Azzarello (who share story credit on “Dark Knight III”) were among the trusted talents who had earned the right to take these chances with DC’s intellectual properties.
“As publishers, who are we to get in the way of these great discussions?” Mr. Lee said. “We’re excited to see them want to unleash more of their ideas.” (Mr. Miller has said he intends to write a “Dark Knight IV”; DC has declined to comment on this.)
Even some readers who are skeptical of “Dark Knight III” say that a current environment of redundant and unadventurous Batmen could be just the right moment to do something subversive with the character.
Jeff Lester, a comics critic and co-host of the “Wait, What?” comics podcast, pointed to a scene from “Dark Knight III” in which Batman fights with a group of police officers who have pointed their guns at a young black man.
That sequence, he said, might be an encouraging indicator of a story that is striving for contemporary relevance.
“We may end up getting a more inclusive Batman that actually addresses the world we live in,” Mr. Lester said. “It could very well feel like a radical act, at this point in which everything’s very safe.”
For his part, Mr. Miller said he could not imagine a time when readers would cease to care about Batman, unless, he said, “the world became a much nicer place to be.”
“All we need to do is change world history for the better,” he said sardonically. “If all the world leaders get together and decide to get along, and there are no more wars and everybody’s dead, there won’t be a Batman.”
“It’s as easy as that,” he said.