World Famous Comics: Family Values (Sin City, Book 5: Second Edition)
Family Values (Sin City, Book 5: Second Edition)
By: Frank Miller Publisher: Dark Horse Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Dark Horse Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 128 Publication Date: March 16, 2005
Product Description: Marking a departure for Miller from an entire career of serialized stories, this 128-page epic spilled out of him all at once... and you can't help but read it the same way! Family Values is a milestone among Miller's work, allowing him enough room to tell this classic story of grit and revenge exactly the way he wanted to. With deadly Miho running on roller-blades, Dwight running on adrenaline, and the Sin City mob on clean-up detail, this yarn from the Town Without Pity is not to be missed.
Graphic SF Reader Miller keeps pushing the devil of darkness and brutality found in the Sin City stories, and there is plenty of that to be found here.
A dead hooker, some revenge, and a mission for Dwight and the little white ninja of old town. She has plenty of people to try and blunt her sword and other tools on.
A struggle between the women and the mafia for control of the turf, after earlier events.
Underrated Gem. Frank Miller's Sin City will always stand as the most full-steam, no-holds-barred series out there. Book 5 of 7, Family Values is a tale of justice. Miller's stories of Basin city always deliver, with hardcore violence and gritty dialogue. Don't get me wrong Family Values isn't as nearly as The Hard Goodbye, or That Yellow Bastard, but it is still good. It's the weakest of the Sin City graphic novels, but I enjoyed it, I you do too!
Sin City Slumps After the fast start of THE HARD GOODBYE, the Sin City series seemed mostly able to keep its steam. Although THE BIG FAT KILL was not up to snuff, both A DAME TO KILL FOR and THAT YELLOW BASTARD were solid entries that kept the momentum rolling. Alas, every series hits a dry spell and for Sin City, that dry spell is entitled FAMILY VALUES. Both the story as well as the art work is below the par we have come to expect.
The story is the type of revenge plot that is familiar in the Sin City catalogue. Yet it is not as well developed as others and the characters themselves simply are not as interesting, largely because they are not as fleshed out as they should be. Sure, some of the artwork here is good. But it should be. Frank Miller did not become successful by giving the reader junk. The problem is that, while some of the artwork is solid, some is not only below par but, hate to say it, rather amateurish. This is especially so with respect to some of the portrayals of Miho.
One cannot help but think that Frank Miller was simply going through the motions here and needed a break to regain some fresh ideas. If you plan on reading the whole series, well then of course you will include this book. But if you are only interested in picking the best to spend some time with, pass this one by.
Not bad one bit, but definitely not the best Sin City story As opposed to his otherwise serialized Sin City stories, Family Values finds Frank Miller taking a continuous approach. Dwight McCarthy, the shady photographer with a new face, is back again and teaming up with deadly, little Miho on a mission of, what else, revenge. Without ruining the story, which offers up some surprises, Dwight and Miho run afoul of the crooked cops of the city as well as the blood thirsty mob behind them. As one would come to expect from Sin City, Family Values is packed with enough bloody action and even some dark humor to satisfy the biggest fan of Miller's books, but the book also goes into a breakneck pace as well, which doesn't work out well. Miller's best Sin City books, most notably Hard Goodbye and That Yellow Bastard, worked so well because of the deliberate pacing. That's not the case with Family Values, and that really hurts the graphic novel overall. Negatives aside though, Family Values is still a pretty solid Sin City story regardless. It's definitely worth picking up, but it can be best saved for last after the other books in the series.
Valued Nothing is exactly what it seems in "Family Values," the fifth volume of Frank Miller's gritty "Sin City" series. While keeping the exact motives murky, Miller spins out another dark story of revenge, outlaw justice, and plenty of blood'n'gore. Not to mention the rollerblading ninja.
Dwight arrives at a diner that's been shot up, with everyone around it dead. And at a nearby bar, he gets a tipsy prostitute to tell him what caused the shooting: years ago, a hired killer murdered the niece of the local Mafia don, sparking off a war with the mob. The killer later became a corrupt politician, and one of his sex partners told the Mafia.
But Dwight isn't interested in revenge for a nasty, black-hearted man who killed an innocent girl. With the deadly, silent ninja Miho beside him, he encounters some Mafia thugs, and head to the mansion of the don. There, he reveals the real reason for his interest in this shooting -- and who's going to get some bloody, gruesome revenge.
Love is scarce in Sin City. But each of Miller's "Sin City" stories has a kind of flawed chivalry, with not-so-innocent damsels being defended by cynical knights in tarnished armor. And "Family Values" continues that tradition, even though Miller won't actually reveal what Dwight is thinking of until the final pages.
The storyline is actually pretty simple and straightforward, and takes place within a day. But Miller lays down some subplots (Dwight comforting a saddened prostitute who calls him an "angel"), and blood and gore when Miho gets called a "Japanese slut" by a pair of Mafia thugs. And before the final bloodbath, Miller lays out a tragic history in stark, noir prose.
But he sprinkles in some humor too, such as Dwight telling a sultry female cop, "But you gotta spank me and call me 'Belinda.' That's what Douglas does!" to get her to go away. Or Miho taking "knock it off" literally. And his artwork is striking -- all shadows and stark white edges. Miho is the only exception -- she's entirely white, from head to rollerblade.
Dwight comes across as a pretty cool guy, with a soft spot for women in trouble, or who have been wronged by the world. And woe betide anyone who harms them. And Miho gets to shine in this volume -- tiny, deadly, and swoops around on her rollerblades with a katana. She doesn't say a word, but she doesn't have to.
"Family Values" is a straightforward story told in a twisty way, with plenty of gore and fighting, both in flashback and the present. Definitely a solid read.
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