AdvertisementCollects Batman: The Dark Knight#1-4. At least ten printings have been published since its first printing in 1986 with a multitude of different covers used over the years. The name "The Dark Knight Returns" is actually only the name of the first issue of the mini-series, but has become the name most associated with the series as a whole and the one used for this collected edition. The collected edition has been a best seller and remains so even decades after it was first published.