Frank Miller

Once again, the backup story outshines the main story in The Dark Knight III #4 as Andy Kubert and Klaus Janson provide some iconic imagery, especially in the scenes featuring the Atom and Superman’s execution, but Frank Miller and Brian Azzarello’s storyline jumps around and portray the characters not named Bruce Wayne, Carrie Kelly, or Ellen Yindel in an arbitrary way. Plus there is that always problematic Islamophobia, which is starting to set in as the Kryptonians call Batman an “infidel”. Last time I checked, this wasn’t Holy Terror.

When it’s not awkwardly taking shots at texting young people, making non-statements about the media, various world leaders, striking up a Strange Fruit-esque conversation about race involving only white people , or turning Bruce Wayne into a Randian hero with Carrie Kelly as his mouthpiece and Superman as his attack dog, The Dark Knight III #3 is an intergenerational superhero epic that boasts Andy Kubert’s best artwork of his career and flaming post-apocalyptic palette from Brad Anderson.

With Born Again, the greatest Daredevil writer gives readers the quintessential Daredevil story. It’s a story that has a soul to it, overflowing with literary themes, and social and political commentary. Miller’s writing is probably the best it’s ever been and artist Dave Mazzucchelli is on the top of his game. Miller writes a crazed Matt Murdock phenomenally (Probably because he can pretty much only write crazy people.), Nuke is imposing and horrific, and Captain America is so well written that it’s a crime that Miller was never given an opportunity to write the character’s title. Daredevil: Born Again is a great comic book that does everything perfectly. It’s an incredibly nuanced story of good vs. evil, but can be analyzed on a myriad of different levels. The most important thing about Born Again is that it demonstrates that absolute evil can be combated and defeated wherever the smallest sliver of hope remains.

The Dark Knight III #2 has some wooden dialogue and a chase scene that is a little too similar to last issue’s magnificent one, but it does a great job establishing the characters of Carrie Kelly’s Batman and Lara while setting up the conflict between humanity and the Master Race. The Wonder Woman backup story is a real treat and positions Diana as a wild card in the issues to come in her roles as both warrior and mother. (Risso nails this part of her as she swings a sword with a baby slung on her back.)

The Dark Knight III #1 is bombastic in its themes and scale and type of art drawn by Andy Kubert, Klaus Janson, and Brad Anderson. There are ideological differences between gods and mortals, the law and citizens hinted at or show vividly on the page with blood flowing like red wine on the Gotham rooftops leading to the kind of conflict that spawns one of the biggest, final page cliffhangers in recent memory.

The first panel at New York Comic Con’s main stage on Friday, October 9 marked the triumphant return of an old favorite as DC Comics editors and creators gathered to celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Dark Knight Returns. They also previewed the upcoming The Dark Knight 3: The Master Race. This miniseries is co-written by original Dark Knight creator Frank Miller and seasoned comics veteran Brian Azzarello (100 Bullets) with pencils from Andy Kubert (Flashpoint) and inks from the legendary Klaus Janson (Daredevil). All of these creators were present at the panel with Miller making a surprise entrance in his trademark fedora to thunderous applause. They were joined by DC editor and moderator Brian Cunningham and publisher Jim Lee, who worked with Miller on the controversial All-Star Batman and Robin.

Only separated by two years “The Man Who Falls” and “Year One” attempt to tell the origin of Bruce Wayne becoming Batman. Frank Miller’s story is much better known than Dennis O’Neil’s one shot, but O’Neil had a much bigger impact on the tone of Batman Begins. Christopher Nolan showcases Batman’s search for his abilities rather than giving them to Bruce Wayne at the beginning of the film. Thus, Bruce’s training and its effect is of paramount importance during the film.

At East Coast Comicon, comics historian and researcher of the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe Peter Sanderson, former Uncanny X-Men editor and Daredevil writer Ann Nocenti, and former Amazing Spider-Man editor Jim Salicrup chatted and swapped stories about what Marvel was really like in the 1980s.

Daredevil is a character more or less defined by two extended runs by two specific creators. Created in 1964 by Stan Lee and Bill Everett in a clear attempt to tap into the success of Spider-Man, Daredevil has one of the all time great superhero hooks: he’s a blind lawyer who puts on a superhero costume and takes the law into his own hands. Unfortunately, that hook only takes the character so far, and like the X-Men, Daredevil existed in his early years as something of an also-ran at Marvel

If you’ve read any of Frank Miller’s comics, you’re probably familiar with some of his most beloved tropes found in his work from Daredevil to Holy Terror, including pudge-faced, long coated wearing anti-heroes, prostitutes, a crapsack urban setting, and hardboiled voice-over narration that ranges from unintentionally hilarious (” Sin City, she’s a big, bad broad flat on her back begging for it and I take her for all she’s worth and then I take her again and still she’s begging.”) to tight and poignant (“Worth dying for. Worth killing for. Worth going to hell for. amen.”) In “Hard Goodbye”, Miller plays with these tropes and devices like a kid with his favorite action figures, but he also constructs a three dimensional character in Marv, who is the dark grey anti-hero Sin City needs. Marv is a driven character, who will go to any means necessary to avenge the death of Goldie, a prostitute and “goddess”, who gave him the time of his life before she was killed. The plot of “Hard Goodbye” is filled with forward momentum and doesn’t go down any rabbit trails. Miller fleshes out some of the backstory of (Ba)Sin City, its ruling clan the Roarkes, and supporting characters, like Lucille and Nancy, but it mostly focuses on one violent, mentally unhinged (yet well-intentioned) man’s quest for vengeance , justice, or something in-between.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For Written by Frank Miller Directed by Robert Rodriguez & Frank Miller USA, 2014   When Sin City exploded into theaters in 2005, we had never seen anything like it.  It was a resounding declaration that digital filmmaking had finally arrived.  The new Robert Rodriquez-Frank Miller collaboration, Sin City: …

Batman Year One was the first Batman (and DC) comic I read back in 2010. The things that stood out to me were the poetic nature of Frank Miller’s writing (mainly the caption boxes), the parts that Batman Begins homaged, and how Jim Gordon seemed to have more page time than Batman. After rereading this story a few times over the year, I realized that Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli could have named this story “Jim Gordon Year One” and his ups and downs as he goes from a do-gooder cop from Chicago to an overworked Gotham policeman who has an affair with one of his co-workers to an ally of Batman. His character arc is just as compelling and more down to earth than Batman’s. Letterer Todd Klein shows this more grounded story by using more traditional letters in contrast with the fancy cursive script he uses for Batman’s caption boxes. However, both characters have their share of great moments in “Batman Year One”, which is also a little bit of an origin story for Selina Kyle’s Catwoman too. Sit back, relax, and enjoy this highlight reel of the best parts of “Batman Year One” in chronological order.

  When artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger teamed up to create Batman in the late 1930’s, they faced the task of creating a character who could capitalize on the pandemonium surrounding Superman, but who would nevertheless have a look and personality all his own. Kane and Finger came up with a hero who …

RoboCop vs Terminator is a crossover where the two properties mix perfectly. RoboCop vs Terminator finds a way to make RoboCop relevant in the Terminator universe.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is the second book in Frank Miller’s seven-book series, originally published in 1993. For fans of the 2005 film Sin City but are perhaps unfamiliar with the original graphic novels, A Dame to Kill For provides necessary context behind one of the protagonists, Dwight McCarthy, and his troubled past with his ex-lover, Ava Lord.

Inebrion: The Superhero Who Can’t Stay Sober by Frank Miller & Wildstorm Scantily-Clad Woman by J. Scott Campbell & Matt Milla The Entomologist by Dave Gibbons & Wildstorm Mediocre Man by John Byrne & Wildstorm Sloggtor of Globbzorr by John Romita Jr. & Wildstorm Vocabulon by Mike Allred & Laura Allred Apathenia: The Queen of …

Elektra Lives Again Written and Drawn by Frank Miller Colored by Lynn Varley Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl when her father is killed in front of her and she leaves the country only to become a ninja assassin who reenters the boy’s life after he’s become a superhero and then boy loses girl again …

My Favourite Marvel Runs: Frank Miller’s Daredevil & Grant Morrison’s New X-Men There’s something going on at the House of Ideas that has me a little…perplexed. Let’s just say, for a guy who has a quarter of his body covered in Marvel comic tattoos it saddens me to have to dropped every Marvel comic from …

Three #1 Writer: Kieron Gillen Art: Ryan Kelly Colours: Jordie Bellaire Lettering: Clayton Cowles Historical Consultant: Professor Stephen Hodgkinson Publisher: Image Comics Purchase: https://www.imagecomics.com/comics/releases/three-1 At the beginning of Frank Miller’s seminal tale 300, we see a young Spartan expertly hunting and killing a pack of wolves. This young boy, pitted against nature, outnumbered but never …

“Lone Wolf and Cub Omnibus Volume 1” Written by Kazuo Koike Drawn by Goseki Kojima Cover by Frank Miller Published by Dark Horse Manga The Dark Horse Comics imprint Dark Horse Manga may not be one of the giants of North American manga distribution but they make up for their smaller library with consistently and …

With Scott Snyder’s highly anticipated Batman: Zero Year just around the corner and Man of Steel hitting the box-office this month, I felt that it was a perfect time to delve into some of the best re-vamped origin stories in comic books. While many may fall flat (looking at you Marvel: Season Ones) some have …

Here the focus will be on the Joker and the argument will be we have yet to see a proper rendition on the big screen (I’m not counting certain interesting videogame versions). Before beginning, one has to concede the Cesar Romero interpretation, whatever its genuine brilliance, was too tame by half to truly merit the top spot yet an argument can be made this is the closest to seeing the Joker in the flesh.

Wolverine is Marvel’s most popular character after Spider-Man, and he’s everywhere. Hugh Jackman has played him in four X-Men films, one solo film, and is set to return for a solo film this summer along with X-Men: Days of Future Past in 2014. In comics, Wolverine can be found in Savage Wolverine, the upcoming Wolverine …