The series about Sin City is like a chronicle without
apparent follow-up,
where different chapters, each with its own title, can be
read in no order.(*)
Sin City tells the story of several characters that may
crossover in some
episodes, all very Noir, very HB and mostly very violent (
close to gore for
some).
Clever and arty use of big black patches and opaque shadows
in the drawing
make the pages very appealing visually.
I tend to find the series flamboyant and baroque, going to
surrealistic
settings (willing it or not). I personally think that with
all its excesses,
but also because Miller's real talent, Sin City gets a poetic
dimension.
I hope Miller will keep the balance and avoid to derive to
pure gore for the
pleasure of it and without necessity.
A last word. Miller always claimed he was impressed by the
inventiveness
and talent of comic creators in Europe, and never hid he was
influenced by
some of them during the 70's and 80's. Besides names like
Guido Crepax and
Moebius, that he often cite, I personally think he has seen
the work of two
top creators of the seventies that renovated completely the
HB in comics at
the time, and used a heavy black patches technique as well.
Munoz and
Sampayo produced first class series with a truly realistic
and Noir
atmosphere, in HB tales of the Big City (they took NY
City)since the early
70's. Alac Sinner, Joe's Bar were all first class series of
the best
creativity. However, compared to Miller's Sin City, Munoz and
Sampayo staged
a more ' realistic' surrounding in which you practically
could smell the
garbage cans in the dark alleys.
(This is not criticism, just comparison)
For those interested, it happens I posted a page about Alac
Sinner recently
in my web site, in the European HB Comics section (were other
Euro comics
are posted as well) with some images taken from the Munoz and
Sampayo series.
Its at: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/6384
(be reassured: no nasty 'pop-ups' from GeoC there!... )
I 'am preparing the Sin City chapter for the section about
American HB
Comics, but there is only a thumbnail for the moment. The
rest about Sin
City and Miller should be posted within two weeks. Some
'historicals' are
already there:
Dick Tracy, Agent X9, Spirit.
But if you do not know Miller, you should at least give Sin
City a try.
E. Borgers
(*) However the miniseries should, at least for a same
chapter, as the
graphic novels are published in that form by Dark Horse
Comics (5 or 6
comics for one chapter). The chapters are published as TB
(trade books) by
the same editor, collecting one complete chapter. Some short
episodes ( or
chapters) can be one single thin comic book. And some others
can be one
single big book.
I think this is of importance for the possible new
readers.
>John Lau wrote:
>
>> there is absolutely nothing more hard boiled than
Frank Miller's black
>and
>> white graphic novel series SIN CITY. particularly
the 1st originally
>> serialized collection which features a serial
killer who makes his
>victims
>> watch as he eats their severed limbs, and then
collects their heads on a
>> wall; and a protagonist who murders a crooked
archbishop, feeds the
>serial
>> killer to his own dogs and dies in the electric
chair at the end.
>
>I'm glad someone mentioned Sin City. All the books are
excellent. I'm not
>a fan of Frank Miller's other work (didn't like The
Dark Knight Returns and
>think it probably had a bad influence on comics in
general), but Sin City
>is very compelling.
>
>James Reasoner
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