Having delved deeply into several aspects of Film Noir, I feel I am in a much better place to review Frank Miller’s graphic novels. The obvious question here is: What do a set of comic books have to do with Film Noir?

Frank Miller, along with Alan Moore and a handful of other authors, has been known to revolutionize the comic book genre. Comic books, once considered the B version of literature, akin to pulp fiction crime books, were transformed into masterpieces of plot and artwork by the likes of Miller and Moore. Most importantly, they added lucid prose to the comic book genre, elevating it to what is now christened the ‘Graphic Novel Genre.’

Between 1981 and 1983, Frank Miller created what are now considered masterpieces of Marvel’s Daredevil comics. His graphic novels on the blind hero earned him critical acclaim.

He then repeated his magic with DC’s Batman, with two noteworthy works, ‘The Dark Knight Returns’ and ‘Batman: Year One’. I will cover all of these works in a separate post. Let us get back to Sin City.

We saw earlier that Film Noir plots are often based on or inspired by pulp fiction crime novels. Miller was a fan of both Film Noir and crime books.

In the Sin City Series, which he first released in serialized form in Dark Horse comics in April 1991, Miller attempts to bring the Film Noir magic into graphic novels, adding more contemporary ‘enhancements’.

The comics are almost completely black and white, created with black ink and make use of shadows in their images. While Film Noir used lighting to accomplish this effect, Frank’s Sin City does the same by mixing shades of black and gray with white.

Besides, many of the themes and male and female characters of Noir also show up throughout the series. On occasion, Miller brings in a certain new color in the midst of the black and white to accentuate a certain aspect of the plot. I will revisit this idea in my review of each of his novels. One of his novels includes a section entirely in color for this reason.

Some of Sin City’s characters appear in more than one story. Sometimes, an entire story could be devoted to one such character. At other times, these characters may simply make ‘cameo’ appearances in the storyline. Why not? All the Sin City stories (or ‘yarns’) happen in the same Universe, created and gifted to us by Miller.

One other fact that needs to be mentioned is that the yarns are not sequential. Each story is self-contained but can happen before, after, or even around the same time as another story.

Miller brings in elements that could not be brought into classic Film Noir movies of the 40s. The Hays censorship Code was introduced by the Motion Picture Association in 1935. As a result, movie themes became even more restrictive from 1935 through 1950, unfortunately impacting the age of classic noir. I will cover this in more detail in a forthcoming article on Pre-Code movies.

Miller’s Sin City graphic novels are filled with macabre graphic violence, gore, sex, nudity, and strong language and are not recommended for younger viewers (or the faint-hearted). In all his novels, the setting is a fictitious city, Basin City (Sin City for short), in the Western United States in a fictitious era.

In April 2005 and August 2014, Robert Rodriguez made passionate attempts to bring Sin City to the big screen. (These will be reviewed in future posts.) In his review of the first Sin City movie, film critic Ebert provided an ingenious description of the Sin City Universe that also applies to the Sin City comics:

“Skylines suggest the movie is set today. The cars range from the late 1930s through the 1950s to a recent Ferrari. The costumes are from the trench coat and G-string era. I don’t think ‘Sin City’ really has a period, because it doesn’t really tell a story set in time and space. It’s a visualization of the pulp noir imagination, uncompromising and extreme. Yes, and brilliant.”

In 2016, the entire collection of Sin City yarns was consolidated and released as a seven-volume collection. Let us look at the first of these books, which only includes one ‘yarn’.

The Hard Goodbye

The Hard Goodbye is the first volume in the Sin City series and introduces us to Marv. Marv is a favorite among Sin City novel fans. Marv is a no-good loser, a thug who cannot stay away from brawls. In many ways, he has a lot in common with the psychopath of Film Noir male archetype.

Marv has his heroic side too. He does not mistreat women. He would not hesitate to risk his life for a friend but can be fierce, ruthless, and cruel to his enemies. It would be unwise to provoke Marv, especially when he is inebriated.

Unlike most film noir heroes, Marv has superhuman strength, can take on an army, and is almost unstoppable. Sometimes he seems immortal, bulletproof, and unfazed by any amount of pain inflicted on him.

Marv also suffers from amnesia from time to time and loses track of where he was or what he did earlier on. He is often seen piecing together what he did earlier.

The ‘yarn’ includes some typical Film Noir themes such as murder, the anti-hero protagonist, and the ‘seeking retribution’ theme. Now, let’s step into the plot.

Marv is in a state of bliss. He cannot believe his good fortune. He is making love to a woman, Goldie, who looks almost divine. This is how he describes that moment:

Marv almost feels a gratitude towards Goldie, for he cannot believe that a person who looked like her would be with him. Unfortunately, for him, his time in paradise is short-lived. He wakes up a few hours later and finds her dead, right beside him.

Mysteriously, an army of cops is at his doorstep at that very moment. He realizes that he is being set up. He is now a man on a mission, for retribution, for himself, for being implicated, but mostly for the woman who chose him, trusted him, and wanted to be with him.

When asked if it is worth risking his life to seek vengeance for a prostitute’s murder, Marv responds:

Marv is not very intelligent. However, his strength and unbridled quest to find the ones who framed him and murdered Goldie would take him where he needs to go and uncover the truth.

“The Hard Goodbye” is a sexy and violent tale that takes Marv and the reader across Sin City’s back alleys, bars, and some other locales. As we follow Marv on his quest, we are introduced to many unsavory and strange characters. One is Marv’s seductive and drug-addicted female parole officer. Another is a murderous, psychopathic midget, an expert in martial arts. We will also meet Goldie’s twin sister, a splitting image of Goldie. Another character is a perverted priest, a member of the dangerous Roark family. The Roarks are known for their power, wealth, corruption, and influence that controls all of Sin City, including its cops and politicians. They specialize in organized crime, and some of them hold powerful positions in government. In other Sin City stories, we will be introduced to several Roarks. With Marv, we visit the Roark family farm, a locale that hides dark secrets.

We also get a glimpse of Nancy, a beautiful exotic dancer, a significant character in the Sin City Universe. We are also introduced to some of Sin City’s key locations that we will revisit in other Sin City stories. One of these is Katie’s bar, where Nancy performs and a place Marv frequents. Marv is almost an unofficial bouncer at Katie’s, who takes care of its performers, employees, and patrons.

Another is ‘Old Town’, a popular part of Sin City, inhabited by Amazonian, ruthless, deadly, but beautiful prostitutes who cater to Sin City’s inhabitants. The prostitutes ensure that none of their patrons overstep their boundaries when they are in Old Town. Painful death is not uncommon to anyone who misbehaves in Old Town.

“The Hard Goodbye” is an unapologetic fast-paced tale of revenge with sex, morbid violence that ultimately culminates with a gory climax and an explosive end. It packs eloquence of language in its dialogs and narration. Frank Miller’s mesmerizing artwork on every page of this graphic novel brings the story ‘alive’ before our very eyes! Miller also throws in dark sardonic humor into the plot.

If you can stomach the grisly violence and adult themes, do read this book. I would recommend this book to any adult with a strong stomach, even if he or she is new to Graphic Novels. Stay tuned for future posts that will cover the remaining six volumes of this iconic series.