reviews
Feb 06, 2012

RESOLVED: The Sin City movie was superior to the graphic novel*.
*Note: This debate covers only the first 45 Minutes of the Sin City movie which encompassed the adaptation of this graphic novel.
BASIC ASSUMPTIONS NOT IN DISPUTE:
Assumption 1: Sin City: the Hard Goodbye was a ground-breaking graphic novel and worthy of its critical and commercial success.
Assumption 2: Sin City: the Hard Goodbye should be read by fans of the graphic novel format and those interested in a grittier, edgier read.
Ass More...
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May 17, 2008
If only boobs really looked like Frank Miller thinks they do . . . I would love boobs SO MUCH.
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Apr 12, 2008
About ten pages into this, I commented to Erica that "I forgot Frank Miller used to know how to draw." That's my first and most lasting impression of this trade, the fact that before he lost his anatomy books and gave way to caricatures-as-commentary, Miller was a damned good writer and artist of comic books that were dark without being oppressive.
Sin City is a really bad place, filled with really bad characters that do really bad things. And yet, none of it--save perhaps the jarring disfigureme More...
Sin City is a really bad place, filled with really bad characters that do really bad things. And yet, none of it--save perhaps the jarring disfigureme More...
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Jul 11, 2010
"Sin City" is over-the-top, but not in a good way. I like the art style, but that was about it.
Now, I know that the town is called "Sin City" for a reason, but come on, no place is that crummy. The villain is a pedophile whose father is a public official, which makes him automatically immune to any sort of law enforcement or punishment. Look, if it's one thing the world unanimously hates, it's pedophiles. It doesn't matter whose son you are, if you molest a little kid - and then brutally kill t More...
Now, I know that the town is called "Sin City" for a reason, but come on, no place is that crummy. The villain is a pedophile whose father is a public official, which makes him automatically immune to any sort of law enforcement or punishment. Look, if it's one thing the world unanimously hates, it's pedophiles. It doesn't matter whose son you are, if you molest a little kid - and then brutally kill t More...
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Oct 01, 2012
Miller mette in scena Davide contro Golia ma fa vincere Golia.
C'è una cosa che odio nei fumetti di Miller, ed è questo mettere in scena il Forte contro l'Astuto e far vincere il Forte.
Purtroppo il mio mito è sempre stato Ulisse, mentre Ercole e Achille li ho sempre trovati goffi, ottusi e brutali. Che è esattamente quello che sono gli eroi di Miller: goffi, ottusi e brutali.
Ora, visto che non puoi mettere in scena Ulisse così com'è e farlo uccidere da un bruto senza che il lettore non si ribelli More...
C'è una cosa che odio nei fumetti di Miller, ed è questo mettere in scena il Forte contro l'Astuto e far vincere il Forte.
Purtroppo il mio mito è sempre stato Ulisse, mentre Ercole e Achille li ho sempre trovati goffi, ottusi e brutali. Che è esattamente quello che sono gli eroi di Miller: goffi, ottusi e brutali.
Ora, visto che non puoi mettere in scena Ulisse così com'è e farlo uccidere da un bruto senza che il lettore non si ribelli More...
Jun 10, 2010
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Oct 15, 2009
Eh. I really wanted to like this one, since it's Frank Miller and Sin City and all, but I didn't, really. I will admit that I found the art stunning. The black and white was gorgeous, and the fact that the movie version followed the visuals of the graphic novel so closely is probably why I found the movie intriguing. I do also like the idea Sin City, of a place that merely exists and prospers due to it's prostitution trade, which has interesting effects, such as the paradox of a town with a thri More...
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Apr 17, 2009
I'm coming at this as an avid fan of the movie. As the movie apperas hyper-faithful, I have no complaints and feel justified in my appreciation for the series in two mediums. If you like/hate one, you'll like/hate the other.
As to my interest in Feminist criticisms of Frank Miller ... yeah, it's pretty machismo. It's no more offensive thus far than most film noirs, barring one rape/violent-sex metaphor which was uncomfortable. Even then, this is an ugly city with Marv being the good guy by virtue More...
As to my interest in Feminist criticisms of Frank Miller ... yeah, it's pretty machismo. It's no more offensive thus far than most film noirs, barring one rape/violent-sex metaphor which was uncomfortable. Even then, this is an ugly city with Marv being the good guy by virtue More...
Nov 30, 2012
What could I say? It's the first episode of this series, and doubtlessly the one that I've enjoyed the most. Don't know whether for the fact that it was the first I got to read, or its lack of corniness found in later episodes, but I am 100% certainly that Marv's character weighed a lot. He is just perfect in the role of the villain with a heart of gold... considering that he is 100% villain with bad guys and 100% heart of gold with helpless chicks. The narration is that type of big-nutted, clum More...
Nov 01, 2012
This kind of comic is not my cup of tea, usually, and it's not from the era when I read many comics, but I picked this up to see what the fuss was all about. It took me a bit to get past the cover image, which has a typical steroid-pumped, crewcutted muscle-ripped dude of the type that all of Image and Malibu and Valiant's identical-looking heroes all looked like in the '90s, always gritting their teeth like Charlton Heston and carrying bazookas as big as tank cannons. I never respected that; it More...
Oct 26, 2009
I thought the Sin City movie was great, when I watched it on DVD in 2007... Since then, the wait for Sin City 2 has been a bit of a pain. (OK, I don't agonise about it every second, but it would be nice to see.) I've flirted with reading the graphic novels on several occasions, until I finally got a hold of the first in the series. I'm going to take a leap here and call it the best.
As has been said, the story in this graphic novel was one of three plotlines in the movie. As has not been said, i More...
As has been said, the story in this graphic novel was one of three plotlines in the movie. As has not been said, i More...
Apr 03, 2013
I couldn't have started this month better. My brother lend this book to me and when I started reading, I had to continue. Off course I saw the movie and this first story is featured in it. "The Hard Goodbye" is sort of a noir detective story, but with Marv as the 'detective'. He's the protagonist of the story. He's not superpowered, but takes an unrealistic amount of injury without dying, and does a few impossible things through sheer brute force and blind determination. And all for one reason: More...
Feb 16, 2012
It is not very often that I say this but, in the case of Sin City, I am glad I saw the film first. I think the film gave a depth and a soul to this graphic novel that it struggles with on its own. Saying that, it is a fantastic comic and took an imagination of the highest, and rather demented, calibre to realise the murky underworld of Sin City.
Marv is an awesome character in every sense of the word; memorable, unapologetically and ecstatically violent, and huge in stature and presence. A tank o More...
Marv is an awesome character in every sense of the word; memorable, unapologetically and ecstatically violent, and huge in stature and presence. A tank o More...
May 01, 2013
Sin City was the next Graphic Novel that seemed to make sense for me to experience. I’ve seen the movie and was utterly confused and entertained (by the movie that is). I figured I should see what the movie is based on.
Let’s get this out of the way first. Sin City has 7 volumes to it, so don’t watch the movie until you’ve read all of them. At least, that is my assumption. When I finished this first book and started to watch the movie again, the first scene in the movie is not in Volume 1. So get More...
Let’s get this out of the way first. Sin City has 7 volumes to it, so don’t watch the movie until you’ve read all of them. At least, that is my assumption. When I finished this first book and started to watch the movie again, the first scene in the movie is not in Volume 1. So get More...
Apr 13, 2012
Summary: Frank Miller tells a riveting story through hard-boiled dialogue and hard-hitting illustrations in glorious black & white. It is not bloody but too implicitly violent for some readers. The Hard Goodbye tells one of three stories in the movie Sin City (2005). The book was published originally as just Sin City.
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Marv is a tough guy. He's a good one too, or at least about as good as people get to be in Basin City, Frank Miller's dark metropolis that is the setting for his acclaimed More...
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Marv is a tough guy. He's a good one too, or at least about as good as people get to be in Basin City, Frank Miller's dark metropolis that is the setting for his acclaimed More...
Jan 01, 2012
I have finally taken the time to start reading _Sin City_! This volume follows Marv as he struggles to uncover the mystery of his lover Goldie's death, a murder that he is framed for. Though Goldie had not met Marv until the night of her murder, Marv still takes it upon himself to find her killer. He sees it as finally finding his own purpose in life and he doesn't care about the consequences. By searching for the people who set him up, Marv gets dragged further into the secrets of Sin City and More...
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Jun 07, 2011
Quickest reading I think I've ever done of a book. Less than 2 days. I feel bad for having seen the film first, which is pretty much exactly the same as this graphic novel but with less nudity. The Hard Goodbye is as pulpy as it gets, at some points a little melodramatic. Frank Miller's drawing is amazing, each frame feels like it could be one of those cool little lino cut they use for printing presses. I especially loved the sections set in the rain...those illustrations were breathtaking.
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Dec 04, 2011
I've heard a lot of things about Frank Miller's Sin City. It's a dark, gritty graphic novel that doesn't pull any punches. It had been on me To Read list for awhile, but passively rather than aggressively. So when I saw the first volume in the library, I knew the time was right for me to read it. I wasn't 100% sure what to expect, but it wasn't what I got.
What I got blew me away. The artwork is purely black and white, but very intricately drawn. The contrasts that Miller shows between light and More...
What I got blew me away. The artwork is purely black and white, but very intricately drawn. The contrasts that Miller shows between light and More...
Sep 02, 2012
While I liked “A Dame To Kil For” by Frank Miller, it does not compare to The Hard Goodbye. This installment is where most of the Sin City movie comes from. It’s the story of Marv chasing down Goldie’s killer.
Marv is such a sympathetic character. Yeah, he’s a violent bruiser but it’s like he doesn’t know how to be anything else. He’s slow and “get’s confused” but that makes him all the more likable. In “A Dame To Kill For,” Dwight describes him as being born in the wrong time, he’d of had girls More...
Marv is such a sympathetic character. Yeah, he’s a violent bruiser but it’s like he doesn’t know how to be anything else. He’s slow and “get’s confused” but that makes him all the more likable. In “A Dame To Kill For,” Dwight describes him as being born in the wrong time, he’d of had girls More...
Jan 19, 2011
Troubling, brilliant. Very vindictive, brutally harsh. I agree with others that Miller may be a closet (an open?) fascist. His view of violence as a means to redemption, as the only adequate language of human experience is both engrossing and disturbing at the same time. Primal.
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Mar 21, 2009
I don't know what it is about this story, but it's my favorite so far. The author managed to make me feel so bad for Marv, it might be because of the simplistic way he refers to his mental disorder ex. "i get confused" or the fact that he really isn't a bad guy just a little off. Who knows, maybe it's because i'm a romantic and the idea of a guy tracking down his girls murderer and killing anyone involved is...kinda romantic to me. Don't let that scare you away though, the book is a bunch of vio More...
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Feb 14, 2013
I remember seeing the "Sin City" movie back when it came out a few years back, and although I enjoyed it, I never really got around to reading the source material. I'm glad I finally changed that.
This is the first little collection of "yarns." The artwork is iconic and incredible. The storyline is darker than a city alleyway, just as a good noir should be. The only weakness is the writing, which seems like an afterthought. It's not that its overly pulpy--it's supposed to be, so I don't fault it More...
This is the first little collection of "yarns." The artwork is iconic and incredible. The storyline is darker than a city alleyway, just as a good noir should be. The only weakness is the writing, which seems like an afterthought. It's not that its overly pulpy--it's supposed to be, so I don't fault it More...
Feb 29, 2012
Interesting take on the noir (neo-noir) genre... really enjoyed the class discussion on this text in Graphic Novel studies. I am troubled by the misogynistic and over-the-top nature of the work, and I sometimes fear Miller is hiding behind his use of genre to make his nasty and anti-heroic characters in some way okay. But, at the same time, the black and white artwork is at times brilliant and there are certainly some unique elements here. Corruption is the key idea with Miller, I think (like in More...
Mar 29, 2010
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Sep 13, 2010
Sin City is awesome - there's not much else to it. I really dig the over-the-top/gratuitous nature of the thick trench-coat-noir style, campy dialogue and all. The artwork makes it and there are some panels that I'd put on my wall. Often I caught myself gazing at a panel, just to find the intricate details that aren't always there at a first glance. It's a thrill to see someone do so much with the simple standard of black and white (no grey) juxtaposition of space. It's the twist and turn of how More...
Oct 31, 2012
I was reading outside my graphic novel comfort zone for class and Tim suggested this to me. I don't think that I would have picked this up on my own, but I am glad I read it.
The story in this first volume follows Marv as he tries to figure out who killed Goldie, dealing with his parole officer, a cannibal, a gaggle of prostitutes, and corrupt police and church officials. The story is flimsy and overly dramatic. The art however is amazingly beautiful. Illustrated in all black and white, the shad More...
The story in this first volume follows Marv as he tries to figure out who killed Goldie, dealing with his parole officer, a cannibal, a gaggle of prostitutes, and corrupt police and church officials. The story is flimsy and overly dramatic. The art however is amazingly beautiful. Illustrated in all black and white, the shad More...
Aug 21, 2012
Frank Miller's incredible misogyny isn't absolutely apparent in the first volume of Sin City. It features strong female characters and the lead is obsessed at avenging a woman he barely knew for a kindness he didn't expect.
I hadn't read this volume since high school and fully expected it to come across as trite, bland, and disappointing, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well it held up. Certainly, Miller, as always, has his flaws, but they're also what draw people to his work: violence, gri More...
I hadn't read this volume since high school and fully expected it to come across as trite, bland, and disappointing, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well it held up. Certainly, Miller, as always, has his flaws, but they're also what draw people to his work: violence, gri More...
Oct 28, 2010
This is an amalgam of contradictory themes, but they meld so well together. Lust, love, violence, self-hatred, redemption...all in one chapbook of a graphic novel (it's roughly 200 pages...you'll chop through it in an hour, no more). The overwhelming violence and abundance of beautifully-rendered naked women borders on hilarity at times, and yet the story is pretty compact and takes a muted but still constantly serious tone. If you're like me, you saw the movie "Sin City" first, and so you're a More...
Oct 08, 2010
This was another one of those formative, mind-blowing comics I read as a kid. I distinctly remember the guy at Sarge's Comics in Guilford, CT eyeing me suspiciously and then warning me it was pretty adult stuff for 14-year-old (or whatever I was at the time). And yeah, there's all sorts of sex and blood and guts (often in the same scenes!), which is fun in a lurid way, but as with the rest of Miller's work, what's really amazing is the artwork, and this first volume of Sin City represents Miller More...
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Jan 11, 2010
This was one that once I started it, I could not put it down until the very end. The art on this is definitely gritty and well suited to the noir story of revenge that Miller presents. I can certainly see why this work was such a breakthrough in its time. It is fast paced, and it grabs you from the start. If you like hard-boiled works like Hammett, Spillane, so on, you should read this even if you are not a fan of graphic novels. This is one that will stay with me for a while. And, after seeing More...

