World Famous Comics: Sin City: The Frank Miller Library, Set I (Volumes 1-4) (v. 1)
Sin City: The Frank Miller Library, Set I (Volumes 1-4) (v. 1)
By: Frank Miller By: Frank Miller Publisher: Dark Horse Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Format: Deluxe Edition Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 840 Publication Date: December 07, 2005 Studio: Dark Horse
Amazon.com Review: The first Sin City volume of the Frank Miller library is an exceedingly handsome compilation of the first four books in Miller's gritty pulp-comic series: The Hard Goodbye, A Dame to Kill For, The Big Fat Kill, and That Yellow Bastard. These four stories--Marv's attempt to track down the killer of a perfect woman, Dwight's encounter with his ex-lover, Dwight's ill-fated attempt to teach a lesson to a brutal thug, and Hartigan's attempt to protect a young girl years after he saved her the first time--have the hallmarks that convinced Robert Rodriguez to turn three of them into the Sin City feature film: brutal violence, dangerous femmes fatale, mob leaders and dirty cops, and stark black-and-white art punctuated by the occasional splash of color. They all look great in these four oversized and heavyweight volumes of glossy paper. Also included are many of the color covers from the original Dark Horse comic books, though there's no supplemental art or creator commentary. Regardless, the presentation alone makes this a collection to savor. --David Horiuchi
Product Description: A collector's dream! Sin City fans the world over are clamoring for oversized archival editions of the legendary noir series from Frank Miller and Dark Horse is rising to the occasion! In the tradition of the EC Library, these deluxe hardcovers measure 9" x 12", are printed on high-quality paper stock, and collect each original series along with the color series-covers. The four hardcover volumes of set I are packaged in a handsomely designed slipcase - a long-awaited addition to the bookshelves of discriminating comics fans. This slipcase holds volumes one through four of Sin City, the hard-boiled stories that started it all! Never before seen at this size, the now-infamous Marv, Dwight, Gail, Miho, Hartigan, Nancy, and the Yellow Bastard will transport you to Sin City and show you the bloody lives they lead ... bloody by choice or by circumstance. Frank Miller's Sin City is a triumph for its fiercely independent creator, and has been honored with Eisner awards, Harvey awards, and the prestigious National Cartoonists' Award.
Worth Every Penny ^ This deluxe hardcover edition is worth every penny. The art is gorgeous. Owning this oversized volume makes looking at the pretty pictures even more enjoyable.
WILL BE REPRINTED BY DARK HORSE IN EARLY 2010 ^ Beautiful books, and a great read... Just passing along some information... These will be reprinted as part of Dark Horse's 2010 line... Yes, in this format... They are currently redoing the smaller version as well...
Worth buying ^ I am very lucky that this set exists as I have never read Sin City before. To read it in this glossy oversized edition has been a treat. It is totally worth the money - I purchased it on Amazon in 2007 and notice the price has only gone up for the used sets - and looks really nice on the shelf. My only regret is that I bought too many paperback copies of other graphic novels - slowly they are coming out with archival editions and I have to begin the expensive process of replacing my old copies with these new cooler editions!
Flawed & Warped Genius ^ SIN CITY is one of my favorite movies. It is a wonder to behold. What makes the film work is the stunning, breathtaking visuals that fill the screen, as well as some fine acting by an impressive all-star ensemble of a cast. The movie transcends its source material.
While Miller is a talented artist, one with a visual eye, he really has very little to say that is new or enlightening. His work is over the top..violent & gruesome for violent and gruesome's sake. For all of the hard-boiled exteriors of these characters, they rarely break out of a one dimensional caricature. They are predictable and not particularly characters with whom one will empathize nor feel any connection. Frank Miller doesn't create characters...he creates cardboard cutouts & cliches.
Much like Alan Moore, Frank Miller will try to bring in a tender moment of humanity. Yet, one gets the feeling that it pains him to do this (but it's a necessary evil in order to justify the carnage he creates within his work). Like Alan Moore, Frank Miller is more than gratuitous when it comes to laying bare a soul that has a bleak/nihilistic view of humanity.
Much has been made about the way that comic books have grown up over the years. For sure, we've been fortunate to live in an age of past masters such as Will Eisner...and to live in an age of still living masters such as Harvey Pekar, Art Spiegelman and Neil Gaiman. They are the ones who took comic-books to great heights. They are the ones who showed that a comic-book could shine a light on the human condition every bit as well (and sometimes even better) than prose. And there are a few dozen others who are worthy of helping comics achieve the credibility they deserve.
The likes of Frank Miller and Alan Moore are not two such folks. They may appear to be dealing with adult issues. But, c'mon...SIN CITY and WATCHMEN are far removed from anything remotely human in this world. Instead, they are the more graphic, detailed and indulgent musings of creators with the Id of an adolescent, trying to pass off their works as "mature."
Mind you, I don't mind disturbing subject matter or material that is gritty and realistic. I just like it when its done for an ultimate/higher purpose other than to indulge the adolescent that never quite reached adulthood.
If one wishes to read comic-books that will appeal to adults, then seek out the works of Harvey Pekar, Lynda Barry, Art Spiegelman, Neil Gaiman...and several dozen other fine creators.
Compared to those listed above, Frank Miller and Alan Moore come off as little boys playing with grown-up tools. Try as they like, style will never trump substance.
Very Nice Collection ^ If you're looking at buying this, you know what Sin City is. This collection is an oversized printing with thicker paper and darker inks. It's a very high-quality product and at ~$25 an issue, not a bad deal. I could only give it 4 stars because I noticed that at least 2 pages of story are missing from the second book as compared to the trade paperback. I don't know if those pages were added to the paperback version and not in the original comics, thus not used here, or if they were removed for some other reason, but since they are my two favorite pages in the book, I'm a tad disappointed. I'm not sure if anything else is missing; those two pages were all I noticed.
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