The Dark Knight Returns/Headscratchers


 * Does the Bats actually shoot the thug who takes Nigma's kid hostage? Or does he only shoot the wall next to his head? Because there is a bullet hole in the wall after that but none visible in the thug. Yet the current Doesn't Like Guns example write-up says he killed the thug (whatever happened to his no-killing rule). I am confused.
 * The panel certainly doesn't make it clear...I've always read as Batman non-fatally shooting him since he takes the baby from the Mutant without a struggle, although he certainly could've just shot by his head to scare him into giving up.


 * I've always wondered why it is that Batman gets more and more deformed as the series goes on. In the first issue, in his blue-and-greys, he's practically Neal Adams' svelte acrobat. But by the time he's taking on the Mutant leader, he's a stubby pile of muscle. One could say that this is an artistic choice, but since all the other character designs are so consistent, it feels like there should be something to this.
 * There is. He wears down on the outside at the same pace, and in the same way, that he wears down on the inside.