CBR: When Words Collide - Nov 30, 2009

[DevynRodriguez]

For the record, Paul Pope is probably my favorite artist of all time.

And Sin City? Cartooning 101.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

I gave DKR and DKSA a flick through the other night - and it just re-affirmed for me that Miller wasn't just 'doing it for the cash', but that he was trying to say something different and do something different than he before.
One element that stood out for me showing his different approaches was his portrayal of the media.
In DKR the television is in quite a bit, but always in panels done to resemble a television screen, and never breaking for this. It's important, and encroaching, but contained.
In DKSA, reflecting the shift in media caused by technological increases in our day and age, the panels of tv or internet coverage are all overlapping, shouting for attention, and taking over any page they are on - it is no longer contained to the television, it's everywhere, drowning out everything else it can.

[Reptisaurus!]

I gave DKR and DKSA a flick through the other night - and it just re-affirmed for me that Miller wasn't just 'doing it for the cash', but that he was trying to say something different and do something different than he before.
One element that stood out for me showing his different approaches was his portrayal of the media.
In DKR the television is in quite a bit, but always in panels done to resemble a television screen, and never breaking for this. It's important, and encroaching, but contained.
In DKSA, reflecting the shift in media caused by technological increases in our day and age, the panels of tv or internet coverage are all overlapping, shouting for attention, and taking over any page they are on - it is no longer contained to the television, it's everywhere, drowning out everything else it can.

BUT they're also somewhat... I dunno if anachronistic is the right word, but they're not serving a NEW purpose or elevating the discourse. They're still the chorus in the Greek tragedy.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

BUT they're also somewhat... I dunno if anachronistic is the right word, but they're not serving a NEW purpose or elevating the discourse. They're still the chorus in the Greek tragedy.

Well, isn't that what the media is? It was a satire after all, so giving them extra flash and even less content seems about right to me.

I just don't think that someone doing a rush job to cash in - as many say he was - would have thought out a new way of doing something new with something he could have left exactly the same and no one would have complained.

[krushjudgement]

Well, isn't that what the media is? It was a satire after all, so giving them extra flash and even less content seems about right to me.

I just don't think that someone doing a rush job to cash in - as many say he was - would have thought out a new way of doing something new with something he could have left exactly the same and no one would have complained.

I agree with the first part about media for sure.

I'm still not sold on the "not cashing in" argument.

[TimothyCallahan]

Did Frank Miller do it to cash in?

Who cares? I don't care about why an author did anything.

I only care about how it turns out.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

I agree with the first part about media for sure.

I'm still not sold on the "not cashing in" argument.

Well if you're convinced, you're convinced, but Miller has enough cash from previous big projects (DKR, Sin City), film projects (Robocop's & Sin City would have been on the cards at that point) and such that I don't think he has to do anything he doesn't want to do - the man's not short a dime.

[krushjudgement]

Did Frank Miller do it to cash in?

Who cares? I don't care about why an author did anything.

I only care about how it turns out.

Valid point. But it sucks when a work of art is so sloppy that you can't help but question it.

[TimothyCallahan]

What you call "sloppy," I call "boldly stylish."

DKSA looks better than almost anything on the superhero shelves this year.

[Reptisaurus!]

Valid point. But it sucks when a work of art is so sloppy that you can't help but question it.

I think it accomplishes what Miller's tryin' to do, though. Everything looks BIG and EXCITING and kind of off-kilter. I always picture Frank goin' "YAH! YAH! YAH! ATTACK!" and laughing like a goddamn maniac with every brush stroke.

[Adam K]

What you call "sloppy," I call "boldly stylish."

DKSA looks better than almost anything on the superhero shelves this year.

Maybe not "better," but definitely more interesting.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

I think it accomplishes what Miller's tryin' to do, though. Everything looks BIG and EXCITING and kind of off-kilter. I always picture Frank goin' "YAH! YAH! YAH! ATTACK!" and laughing like a goddamn maniac with every brush stroke.

Well as he's trying to get the audience to go "YAH! YAH! YAH! ATTACK!" and laugh like a maniac whilst reading his Batman books, it does seem appropriate.

[Rebis]

What you call "sloppy," I call "boldly stylish."

DKSA looks better than almost anything on the superhero shelves this year.

Yikes Tim. I read this column back when it was first published and couldn't quite believe an intelligent guy like you really bought into what you were asserting about Miller. I try not to think about DKSA, but when I do, I still recall the burn in my eyes from that wretched artwork. About the only part that gave me a memorably enjoyable thrill was the early sequence with the Atom.

Anyway, here's a dissenting view that made me smile.

[TimothyCallahan]

I saw that guy's comments on DKSA, Rebis, and I'm pretty comfortable saying that he doesn't know what he's talking about.

DKSA looks pretty damn good!

[Reptisaurus!]

I saw that guy's comments on DKSA, Rebis, and I'm pretty comfortable saying that he doesn't know what he's talking about.

DKSA looks pretty damn good!

Yeah, I've never read anything by anyone who didn't like DKSA who seemed to get what it was about on a basic thematic level. (The media being used as the tool of future wars, the generation gap.)