The first thing you'll notice is that although Frank Miller wrote and drew this himself, I also credit Klaus Jansen, his inker, and his wife and colorist Lynn Varley. This is because both had such an impact on the final product, that they can't be overlooked. Take one look at one of the full-page drawings in Dark Knight and you'll know what I mean.

What does this book mean to the comic industry? Everything. This is the book that did it all: it inspired the Batman movie, revitalizing the comics-on-screen paradigm, it changed the way comics stories are told and drawn and laid out, it brought the name Batman back from the underground, and it created a renaissance in international interest in comics.

The story, the artwork...every little aspect of the book is as good or better than anything else that's been done. With the release of the four part series, Frank Miller ascended from top of the comics world, to a recognized genius and was finally acknowledged as the pioneer that he had always been (see: Daredevil, Ronin, and everything else he's touched).

There may be a better writer out there (Alan Moore) and better artists (Bill Sienkewicz, Alex Ross), but no one has even combined the two disciplines on anywhere near the same scale as Miller has, and Dark Knight is Miller at his very best.