Fenxy

The guy made Daredevil an interesting character with his Born Again arc in the 80's, then blew the doors of Batman with DKR and made him into the grim badass he is today. In the last fews years he's slacked off with the DKR sequel and boring reads like his Batman and Robin All Stars book, but he's still a damn good writer if given the right material.

His good stuff is few and far between but you have to respect the things he's done for a number of characters he's worked with. Dark Knight Returns and Daredevil, as Heliophage noted, are both great works.

I think he does get a lot more credit than he deserves but I wouldn't say that I dislike him...

...although Batman and Robin All Stars is really, really bad.

He is definitely going to be known more for the works now that get made into movies than all the bad work he has done. Sin City and 300 were exceptional though so I have to give the man my props. I think the problem is that there are truly great works he creates and so the expectations get notched up higher and he simply can not maintain that level. Happens to all greats. I'm a fan of him, but not necessarily a fan of all his work.

Hrm, I've seen a couple of scanned chunks from DKR but I might have to go find a copy and read it right through. It's interesting, though, because my usual crew I talk to about comics have all distinctly recommended against it, except as a kind of exercise in self-inflicted masochism. Guess I just have to read it and see for myself.

I've read Year One and I just... think there's something inherently wrong about Miller's Batman. Like I know he's the father of DARKER and EDGIER and I do like that characterisation but... just not how Miller writes it. Like, 'broken, obsessive introvert' Batman I can do; 'sadistic sociopath' Batman gives me the creeps.

I guess it could also be a gender thing; most (but not all) of my comic-loving friends are also women.

Sin City and 300 were exceptional though so I have to give the man my props.

Scrivs if I can ask, what did you like about these films? As I mentioned, Sin City was a real let-down for me, and I haven't seen 300 but my husband describes it as (and I paraphrase a little), "You know that scene at the end of the film where the hero is ragged and half-beaten and then he gets up and you're all cheering like, 'Go Hero! You can do it!'? Yeah, well, the whole film is like that, except without the preceding two hours of plot that make you actually care about the characters in the first place."

The entirety of Sin City really evens out, there are some parts (mostly what was put into the first movie that are fantastic pieces and probably some of the best comics I've read, but there are other parts that just make you wonder what the heck is going on. 300 as a graphic novel is iffy for me, I really enjoyed the movie because of the situational humor, what I consider to be some of the best done action scenes in a movie yet, the pure adherence to historical fact (sarcasm - ie - I like that it's not purely historical but makes me feel like I'm watching something mythological), I think visually it was amazingly beautiful, and really it just struck all the right cords with me, my wife, and pretty much all of my friends.

The Graphic Novel of 300 to me really best served to create a good movie, as a comic I like the coloring but the art and storytelling leave some to be desired. Frank Miller's other works really just fill a good niche that I don't think anyone else attempts to fill, he takes a lot of risks and like with Allstar Batman & Robin it falls flat on its face bordering on downright histerics, but with things like Sin City it came out better from it. Oh also he had a lot to do with the Robocop movies, all 3 of them, which you can interpret as a good or a bad thing...

Some good trivia I have for Frank Miller is that he was born relatively close to where I grew up in Maryland.

I'll agree with alisdee, I've read the Frank Miller's batman, and he definately gives him a really (wacky) dark side. I have seen Sin City and didn't really take to it that much. I don't think the movie was what I expected. As far as 300, I've heard good things and bad things. I haven't seen it, so I guess I can't give my opinion on it.

I personally enjoy Frank Miller's work. I've been a fan since the 80's and, yes, while he has had some flops, and a good number of the movies based on his works - which I think everyone forgets is the case - (RoboCop specifically) are just plain... well... crap, you have to remember that the movie adaptations are not under his control. If you go back and read the Frank Miller's RoboCop comics, it's not the goofy stuff that Hollywood put out. That's why he quit letting his stuff be made into movies.

Sin City (the movie) I liked because it kept to the original purpose of the comics - to stay true to the crime genre comics of the "golden age" (find a couple of issues and read them - they're the same type of stuff). Take into consideration that it was a Tarantino film and I think it's obvious where the campy stuff came from. Also, keep in mind that the movie only touched on the many, many stories that Miller wrote that took place in Sin City. Find some of the Dark Horse Presents from the 90's (or at least read The Hard Goodbye that was released in 2000 and... 4? 5? which is a reprint of the first and possibly second storyline) and you'll see all of the stuff that was "missed" in the movie.

The 300 movie was a gorgeous movie. I don't know how I feel about the comic. It's one of the first works that he's done that I didn't either instantly like or dislike. My personal opinion on this is because all of the emotions and psychology and whatnot that was evident in the movie could not be represented properly in the comic. And that just bugs me I guess :/

The Elektra storylines that he wrote would prob appeal to you more. And, honestly, they're excellent reads.

The one series (albeit only a couple of issues) that I loved was Hardboiled. It was something that he did offhandedly, and his subtleties were lost with the over-the-top imagery but... I don't know... It just stands out as some of his best work because it was so subtle. To me anyways.

Now, let me say that yes I'm biased :) I like the grittier stuff, I like the fact that, as mentioned above, he takes risks and chances that other writers stay away from (and he never apologizes for at least trying!), and, most importantly, I like the fact that his stuff is not your typical comic book stuff. There's more going on in the characters' heads that you pick up on and, in some cases (granted, not too many) you can relate too.

I don't know... Maybe I'm just off-kilter too :) Thanks for listening tho!

In my opinion, the good stuff from Miller definitely outnumbers the bad books. Apart from the already mentioned titles (Sin City, 300, Dark Knight Returns, Daredevil, Elektra) there are also Martha Washington and Ronin. Together with Alan Moore, he almost completely fills out of the Top Ten List of my most favorite comics. I have to agree, though that he hasn't published anything really good lately (Although All Star Batman ist getting a bit better now).