The Green Knight Returns (The Many Nations of North America)

The Green Knight Returns was a 200-page sequential artwork (or 'comic book', to use the terminology of the 1940s) by Frank Miller, a Vermonter who drew and wrote the work in order to support the Second Vermont Republic. Only one issue of the work, which Miller intended to be the beginning of a continuing series, was completed. Although copies were made, almost all were destroyed in a firebombing raid by New England bombers on Second Vermont Republic-occupied portions of Burlington, which also killed Miller.

However, one copy survived, which was forwarded by Zach Braff, a New York soldier, to Alan Moore, an anarchist recluse in Cornwall, England. There, Moore was inspired to continue Moore's work, and continued his saga. The Green Knight Returns became world famous as the work that sparked off the Comic Book Revolution.

Synopsis
As a child, Bruce Wayne, a Vermont millionaire, was forced to watch his parents gunned down by New England soldiers during the Winter Rising. While appearing a vacuous socialite to the outside world, he trained himself to become The Bat-Man, a guerrilla fighter who fought against New England during the Vermont Revolution.

However, he failed, and Vermont was once again crushed. In the not-too-distant future (which nonetheless is still recognisable as a parallel for Miller's times), Wayne has given up his mantle as the Bat-Man, and sunken into despondancy. At the same time, Vermont has fallen into poverty, as gangs of New England soldiers roam the countryside, killing and looting. Wayne is forced to return to his old guerrilla identity to protect his country.

The Bat-Man, also known as The Green Knight, strikes fear into the heart of New England, especially once he slays The Man Who Laughs, a psychopathic New England soldier who Wayne hideously scarred ten years before, and temporarily frees Vermont. In the end, however, he is brought down, by his old ally Ultiman, who has sold out to New England. In his death, he manages to bring down the superpowered Ultiman (a novel concept at the time; the cover of the graphic novel, depicting Ultiman crushing the Bat-Man with a car, aroused considerable attention at the time), delivering a stirring message of hope to the newly patriotic Vermonters.