In the early 1990’s Frank Miller decided to take control of his own properties and release work through the publishing house Dark Horse Comics. Miller’s next project, Sin City, premiered in Dark Horse Presents #51 (1991) and was subsequently collected in a trade paperback titled The Hard Goodbye in 2005. For the first time Miller was able to explore new narrative techniques without being bound by the conventional narrative requirements and editorial restrictions of the traditional superhero characters he worked on for Marvel and DC. Not since Ronin, has Frank Miller explored such expressionistic territory on his own. Sin City is a very personal work and demonstrates how the artist explores new techniques to express the narrative.
The stark black and white imagery clearly reflects the film noir elements of crime drama. This dark and brooding technique visually carries the narrative along. Many panels are wordless because they clearly express the author’s intention. Some panels are very simple, as though something has been left out of the frame. Miller allows the reader to fill in the empty spaces making for a more complex experience. Deep shadows blanket the pages while certain defined characters and objects are highlighted by single light source. Later in the Sin City series of books we find Miller reversing the darkness into light, bathing the page in white hot backgrounds where characters are just silhouettes. Toward the end of the series we find Lynn Varley’s contribution of color adding yet another punctuation to the expressively dark work.
After Frank Miller’s frustration with Hollywood system making the movie Robocop 2 it would be hard to believe he would accept the challenge again. It wasn’t until Robert Rodriguez asked him to co-direct an adaption of Sin City for the screen that he again showed interest. Rodriguez, a big fan of Miller’s work, shot a proof of concept short to show how he could produce a translation of his work, following the source material as close as possible. Rodriguez was inspired by the visual layouts of Miller’s Sin City books. The film is based on three of Miller’s works: The Hard Goodbye 1991, The Big Fat Kill 1995, and That Yellow Bastard 1996. Rodriguez wanted to work directly from the comic book panels as storyboards for the motion picture. He understood the photographic qualities of lighting and effects and was able to produce the look and feel of the world of Sin City on film. The inks of Miller’s comic book work literally jumps off the screen in this collaboration. The shadow and light play Miller used so effectively in the Comic Book is genuinely stunning on screen. The film was released in 2005 to critical attention.
Exhibited Titles:
Sin City That Yellow Bastard #1-6 (Dark Horse Comics) (1996)
Sin City The Big Fat Kill # 1-5 (Dark Horse Comics) (1994)
A Dame To Kill For: A Tale From Sin City by: Frank Miller (Dark Horse Comics Trade Paperback) (1995)
Frank Milller: The Art of Sin City by: Diana Schultz (Dark Horse Books Hardcover) (2002)
Frank Miller’s Sin City: The Making of the Movie by: Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez (Trouble Maker Publishers) (2005)
Sin City: Recut Extended Unrated directed by: Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller (Mirimax Lionsgate DVD) (2011)
Frank Miller: Transformation of the Medium, From Comic Book Artist to Motion Picture Director 