'The Dark Knight Returns' Trailer Hits, Animating Frank Miller's Classic

Long ago, before he became a crazy person who makes horrendously offensive anti-Islam comics and rants against peaceful Occupy protesters, Frank Miller was a pretty great and well respected comic book artist. This is, after all, the guy who brought us "300" and "Sin City," which in turn were made into a couple of quality comic book movies at a time when there weren't too many of those.

But some would argue that Miller's greatest work was The Dark Knight Returns, his claim on the legacy of Batman. Miller's graphic novel told the story of Batman well after his retirement, as an old man who sees some of his arch enemies return to light and Gotham once again fall to crime. Despite his age, he suits up again and begins fighting crime with a new Robin, this time a young girl, by his side.

The book is being adapted into a multi-part animated movie, and the trailer for the first part is out now. If you're not a fan of the comics, there's still a reason to care: The Dark Knight Returns was a big inspiration for "The Dark Knight Rises," the final installment of Christopher Nolan's Batman series, which hit theaters last weekend.

See the movie and you're likely to see some parallels, especially in the design of the Batmobile, which was shown more as an armored tank like the movie's Tumbler for the first time in Miller's comic.

Check out the trailer for "The Dark Knight Returns: Part 1" below: