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Great article. A lot to agree with. I think Dark Knight was my first graphic novel and I’d now say I have similar thoughts to you on Frank Miller.
When I first read it and some of his other Batman stuff I thought how great it was to have a graphic novel starring a "hero" so clearly portrayed as the bad guy. Only later did I realise that no, Miller thinks his Batman is the good guy…
I’m not super informed on Frank Miller’s whole oeuvre, so I’ll just ask: Is it? Maybe it is? Partially? Unintentionally?
I seem to recall in 300 (at least, the movie—I know, I know) having Chrome-masked Samurai warriors and rhinoceroses assaulting the Hot Gates with fire grenades. Surely this is not Frank Miller going "Dudes, you just would not believe how crazy it was at Thermopylae."
Love for those who are more informed to fill me in, here.
There’s a certain amount of over-the-top you expect in comics, and Miller goes beyond that. It’s part of his style, for sure. But his fascist, totalitarian views have been in since early on, as noted in the DKR portions of this article. And since 9/11 they’ve been much more nakedly visible, but they’ve always been there.
Superheroes, when they’re tackling normal (or zany, but normal-ish) crimes, are inescapably despotic. They’re one person (or several people) deciding that the government must be augmented with their own morals and standards. Miller’s Batman is an extreme example of this, in DKR raising a cult army to take over the world and make it in Miller’s/Batman’s image of justice and order. This might be satire, but over the years I’ve gotten the impression from his public statements that he truly believes that Batman is doing the right thing.
2011 was a hell of a year for Miller. That was the year Holy Terror finally released, initially a Batman story but he decided that Batman wasn’t a good fit, because Batman just wasn’t violent enough: "This character is much more well adjusted in committing terrible acts of violence on very evil people." A few months later he’d have his "existential threat" quote published. And then, this:
"Occupy" is nothing but a pack of louts, thieves, and rapists, an unruly mob, fed by Woodstock-era nostalgia and putrid false righteousness. These clowns can do nothing but harm America. […] Wake up, pond scum. America is at war against a ruthless enemy.
I think it’s clear that Miller has always been a raving lunatic. He’s done some excellent comics work. But his right-wing authoritarianism has always been just below the surface, woven throughout his works. What could have been called over-the-top satire now appears to actually just be Miller himself.
My first Frank Miller story is thankfully Daredevil Born Again. Though not as popular as Year One or The Dark Knight Returns but I think Born Again is near flawless. And I can say that it still holds up as a great story so many years after.
To think that its a DD story that doesn’t even feature a lot of DD in it – all the focus is on Matt Murdock. There’s something about Matt that when Frank writes Matt he does his best work. A lot of the complaints about Miller is how he writes women and yes, he does make Karen Page into a junkie but there’s also something that’s worth noticing. The way he wrote Glori O’Breen. In Born Again, she starts off the damsel in distress but by the end of it she’s found her calling as a photo journalist and even has a hand in exposing the Kingpin and Nuke alongside Ben Urich.
What is surprising as well is he’s even able to write a really good Captain America story within a Daredevil story.
Didn’t like that he made Daredevil’s ex a drug junkie porn star after not doing too well in some commercial acting given she was a paralegal and I think working towards a law degree when she worked with Matt. That just seemed so out of left field, like it was done just because he needed someone to fall hard and low enough to sellout Matt and make that story. His other stuff such as Sin City and Batman Year One I liked a lot and did enjoy 300 for what it was. His other stuff…I try not to think about too much.
When I discovered Miller I was impressed by his boldness, and what I assumed was subversion and criticism of city, crimes, heroes and so on. (I discovered him first with Sin City). Marv is still a huge character for me.
But in time, I understood the world of Miller was simple and he believed it. I still think events changed him for worse.
Maybe he was always like that but at least the darkness of his work was just comics, interesting and beautiful made, but comics : fiction with a dark take on the world, maybe a warning. Now, because of more and more interviews from him and recents work, it looks like despaired propaganda. I was also more and more disturbed to see time after time the same treatment of women. I know what is artistic creation and imagination. But at one point, I’m forced to ask myself if it’s a story or what Miller really thinks about people.
I just simply can’t swallow his desperation.
- (by the way, I have a love-hate relationship with "The Killing Joke". It’s both stupid and smart. I can’t deny its value even when I’m still angry for the token women in it, I’m still in awe for its ending, the drawing and pacing.)
I wanna disagree since there are authors who stem away from that or at least know how to write well enough to work things properly, but it’s used so often I can’t help but agree in some ways. The fact that Women in Refrigerators is so expansive is just the proof.
An excellent article and fairly accurate depiction of my relationship to Miller’s work as well. He’s stands about the same place as Neal Adams for me, in that I recognize his work is highly influential, but their personal beliefs and how it works their way into the medium seems to be setting it back, rather than forward.
Agreed. See also Dave Sim. Cerebus is an astounding body of work, and is often brilliant. That said, I’m not sure one can separate it from its creator (and in particular, his views). So while it’s something I enjoyed immensely, I won’t often recommend it.
That’s one of them, which is such a strange view to hold given modern science. He’s also come off as having quite the ego in the interviews I’ve heard him in, but that’s more of a personal beef I have with him that’s most likely not shared by most.
It’s weird that what seems to be an intelligent and progressive man would be swayed by such a theory. The interviews he’s given on the Fatman on Batman podcasts were always full of insight. That being said, Batman Odyssey was a hard read. I’ll always have mad respect for him as a champion for creators’ rights. He is an award winning creator at this point so I can see that he could have an ego.
I don’t think I could explain Frank Miller’s impact on Western comics any better. His creativity lead to a lot of things that helped the industry grow and become more interesting, but the more he showed us, the worse he got.
Luckily there were some comic writers and artists that continued from Miller’s influence and took the good path.
I also feel that Hollywood caught up to Miller decades later. We had the happy-go-lucky superhero movies for so long, and now everything has taken a darker turn (from Nolan’s Batman to the Daredevil show and Arrow). While I love the realistic grit for many of these stories, I often wish it would balance out with something a bit more lighthearted.
I agree. I’m not the Batman Year One fan everyone else is, but I loved and still mostly love the first Dark Knight. And I mostly like about half the Sin City books and I love the work Lynn Varley did on the 300. But I stopped reading Miller a while back. He really lost what little he had left after 9-11.
Great article, but the "Boy lovers" line wasn’t about homosexuality… But pedophilia. Thought I’d point that out (and see the differences in Sparta and Athens):
Comments
Great article. A lot to agree with. I think Dark Knight was my first graphic novel and I’d now say I have similar thoughts to you on Frank Miller.
When I first read it and some of his other Batman stuff I thought how great it was to have a graphic novel starring a "hero" so clearly portrayed as the bad guy. Only later did I realise that no, Miller thinks his Batman is the good guy…
By TimOLP on 03.01.16 4:10pm
Literally the ONLY way I can get through any Frank Miller comic is by convincing myself that it’s satire.
By NobleSasquatch on 03.02.16 12:47am
I’m not super informed on Frank Miller’s whole oeuvre, so I’ll just ask: Is it? Maybe it is? Partially? Unintentionally?
I seem to recall in 300 (at least, the movie—I know, I know) having Chrome-masked Samurai warriors and rhinoceroses assaulting the Hot Gates with fire grenades. Surely this is not Frank Miller going "Dudes, you just would not believe how crazy it was at Thermopylae."
Love for those who are more informed to fill me in, here.
By Zed_Freshly on 03.04.16 3:44pm
There’s a certain amount of over-the-top you expect in comics, and Miller goes beyond that. It’s part of his style, for sure. But his fascist, totalitarian views have been in since early on, as noted in the DKR portions of this article. And since 9/11 they’ve been much more nakedly visible, but they’ve always been there.
Superheroes, when they’re tackling normal (or zany, but normal-ish) crimes, are inescapably despotic. They’re one person (or several people) deciding that the government must be augmented with their own morals and standards. Miller’s Batman is an extreme example of this, in DKR raising a cult army to take over the world and make it in Miller’s/Batman’s image of justice and order. This might be satire, but over the years I’ve gotten the impression from his public statements that he truly believes that Batman is doing the right thing.
2011 was a hell of a year for Miller. That was the year Holy Terror finally released, initially a Batman story but he decided that Batman wasn’t a good fit, because Batman just wasn’t violent enough: "This character is much more well adjusted in committing terrible acts of violence on very evil people." A few months later he’d have his "existential threat" quote published. And then, this:
I think it’s clear that Miller has always been a raving lunatic. He’s done some excellent comics work. But his right-wing authoritarianism has always been just below the surface, woven throughout his works. What could have been called over-the-top satire now appears to actually just be Miller himself.
By parasyte on 03.04.16 5:58pm
My first Frank Miller story is thankfully Daredevil Born Again. Though not as popular as Year One or The Dark Knight Returns but I think Born Again is near flawless. And I can say that it still holds up as a great story so many years after.
To think that its a DD story that doesn’t even feature a lot of DD in it – all the focus is on Matt Murdock. There’s something about Matt that when Frank writes Matt he does his best work. A lot of the complaints about Miller is how he writes women and yes, he does make Karen Page into a junkie but there’s also something that’s worth noticing. The way he wrote Glori O’Breen. In Born Again, she starts off the damsel in distress but by the end of it she’s found her calling as a photo journalist and even has a hand in exposing the Kingpin and Nuke alongside Ben Urich.
What is surprising as well is he’s even able to write a really good Captain America story within a Daredevil story.
By rockart9 on 03.06.16 3:10am
Didn’t like that he made Daredevil’s ex a drug junkie porn star after not doing too well in some commercial acting given she was a paralegal and I think working towards a law degree when she worked with Matt. That just seemed so out of left field, like it was done just because he needed someone to fall hard and low enough to sellout Matt and make that story. His other stuff such as Sin City and Batman Year One I liked a lot and did enjoy 300 for what it was. His other stuff…I try not to think about too much.
By doomrider7 on 03.06.16 10:09pm
Of course it’s a male fiction writer’s go to plot device.
By pillar81 on 03.09.16 10:42am
Jesus Dear Lord God that comment made me remember Mary Marvel from Countdown. Who in DC thought that was good idea I don’t even…UGH!!!
By doomrider7 on 03.12.16 11:44pm
yes ! it’s exactly that.
When I discovered Miller I was impressed by his boldness, and what I assumed was subversion and criticism of city, crimes, heroes and so on. (I discovered him first with Sin City). Marv is still a huge character for me.
But in time, I understood the world of Miller was simple and he believed it.
I still think events changed him for worse.
Maybe he was always like that but at least the darkness of his work was just comics, interesting and beautiful made, but comics : fiction with a dark take on the world, maybe a warning. Now, because of more and more interviews from him and recents work, it looks like despaired propaganda. I was also more and more disturbed to see time after time the same treatment of women.
I know what is artistic creation and imagination. But at one point, I’m forced to ask myself if it’s a story or what Miller really thinks about people.
I just simply can’t swallow his desperation.
-
(by the way, I have a love-hate relationship with "The Killing Joke". It’s both stupid and smart. I can’t deny its value even when I’m still angry for the token women in it, I’m still in awe for its ending, the drawing and pacing.)
By Sassette on 03.06.16 3:25pm
Killing Joke is Alan Moore’s not Miller.
By rock_rolla on 03.06.16 8:54pm
Face it. Male authored fiction will always use women’s suffering as a plot device. I’m not going to say that is what he thinks of women though.
By pillar81 on 03.09.16 11:05am
I wanna disagree since there are authors who stem away from that or at least know how to write well enough to work things properly, but it’s used so often I can’t help but agree in some ways. The fact that Women in Refrigerators is so expansive is just the proof.
By doomrider7 on 03.12.16 11:46pm
An excellent article and fairly accurate depiction of my relationship to Miller’s work as well. He’s stands about the same place as Neal Adams for me, in that I recognize his work is highly influential, but their personal beliefs and how it works their way into the medium seems to be setting it back, rather than forward.
By Herald_of_Ceald on 03.01.16 4:12pm
Agreed. See also Dave Sim. Cerebus is an astounding body of work, and is often brilliant. That said, I’m not sure one can separate it from its creator (and in particular, his views). So while it’s something I enjoyed immensely, I won’t often recommend it.
By chrisash on 03.01.16 4:31pm
What personal beliefs do you have issue with? Expanding Earth?
By pillar81 on 03.04.16 11:43am
That’s one of them, which is such a strange view to hold given modern science. He’s also come off as having quite the ego in the interviews I’ve heard him in, but that’s more of a personal beef I have with him that’s most likely not shared by most.
By Herald_of_Ceald on 03.04.16 12:34pm
It’s weird that what seems to be an intelligent and progressive man would be swayed by such a theory. The interviews he’s given on the Fatman on Batman podcasts were always full of insight. That being said, Batman Odyssey was a hard read.
I’ll always have mad respect for him as a champion for creators’ rights. He is an award winning creator at this point so I can see that he could have an ego.
By pillar81 on 03.04.16 12:49pm
I agree 100% about Batman: Year One.
I read that comic until it fell apart.
It had such a feeling of reality to it, Batman seemed human, made mistakes.
By Kevin Thoman on 03.01.16 4:27pm
Definitely one of my favourite comics.
By Hapijoel on 03.01.16 6:02pm
I don’t think I could explain Frank Miller’s impact on Western comics any better. His creativity lead to a lot of things that helped the industry grow and become more interesting, but the more he showed us, the worse he got.
Luckily there were some comic writers and artists that continued from Miller’s influence and took the good path.
By Lerkero on 03.01.16 4:31pm
I also feel that Hollywood caught up to Miller decades later. We had the happy-go-lucky superhero movies for so long, and now everything has taken a darker turn (from Nolan’s Batman to the Daredevil show and Arrow). While I love the realistic grit for many of these stories, I often wish it would balance out with something a bit more lighthearted.
(to Susana Polo, fantastic article!)
By calibiri on 03.01.16 10:18pm
I agree. I’m not the Batman Year One fan everyone else is, but I loved and still mostly love the first Dark Knight. And I mostly like about half the Sin City books and I love the work Lynn Varley did on the 300. But I stopped reading Miller a while back. He really lost what little he had left after 9-11.
By musim on 03.01.16 4:38pm
Sucks that it had to bleed into Dark Knight Strikes Again and make such a mess of the Dark Knight stuff. I’m still on the fence on The Master Race.
By pillar81 on 03.04.16 11:45am
Great article, but the "Boy lovers" line wasn’t about homosexuality… But pedophilia. Thought I’d point that out (and see the differences in Sparta and Athens):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pederasty_in_ancient_Greece
By brainstewdgeek on 03.01.16 4:45pm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athenian_pederasty
That was the slight at Athens.
By brainstewdgeek on 03.01.16 4:50pm