The name Frank Miller is synonymous with the words "genius" and "legend" or even "legendary genius." His gritty style - in both his art and his writing - have been an inspiration to Lubisan especially the sci-fi/fantasy hybrid that is Ronin and the noir-ish Sin City.
"It was notably Ronin and Sin City that attracted me to Miller's work. That and the fact that he was one of the first artists to actually write and draw his own work."
It must be noted that the images used here are the copyright of Frank Miller and his publisher.
Born in 1957 in Olmie, Maryland, Miller is renowned for his work on the Dare Devil series, Elektra Assassin, Ronin, Hard Boiled, Give Me Liberty and his re-working of DC's classic Batman which helped inspire the look and feel of the Batman movie franchise.
Miller's work is renowned for its realism. During his tenure as artist and scripter for Dare Devil he was known to have actually gone to sketch the real locations where his fantasy stories were taking place. His characters may be superheroes with super powers but in his hands they come across as all too human and flawed, like the guilt-ridden hero of Ronin or the blind hero of Dare Devil sinking into the dark pit of depression.
Part of the reason for the human-ness of his art and stories is the fact that Miller is inspired a lot by movies, Eastern art & literature and the books and thrillers he devoured as a youth. Hence the film noir look and feel of his work.
In Sin City Miller's love for that forgotten genre has been given a chance to come forth. The collection of black & white short stories hark back to the Raymond Chandler and Ellery Queen detective novels and Bogart's The Maltese Falcon.
If the movie genre's god was Alfred Hitchcock, then Frank Miller must be the graphic novel equivalent.