Monday, September 19, 2005

Frank Miller sucks

Okay, now that I have your attention, let me tell my story. I work at the local comic store on Sundays. Every once in a while, the most Annoying Customer in the world comes in. And yes, yesterday was one of those days. His usual routine is to stand around reading comics for an hour, then try to make annoying conversation with his tiny little brain, and then he leaves without buying anything. Never a single book. You can read all you want, but at least buy a book to pay your share of the rent.

So yesterday, catching up on a few titles, he wanders over to the counter where I'm reading a comic of my own. His attempt at thought-provoking conversation goes something like this:

AC: "Man, comics these days. I don't think the industry can keep it up."

Me (not looking up from my comic): "Hmm?"

AC: "Well, like DC for example. They're trying to re-invent themselves again. And I don't think they can pull it off, do you?"

Me (really not wanting to get into this line of conversation with him because DC is currently doing some very compelling things and industry sales are climbing in part because of them): "Well, they're all always trying something new."

AC: "Yeah, I guess. So, what're you reading?"

Me (holding up the comic): "The new Allstar Batman & Robin."

AC: "Oh yeah. Jim Lee can draw some pretty good characters, but that Frank Miller just can't write worth a damn!"

And he was dead serious in his opinion.

At this point I just stared at him with the blankest of looks I could muster. What I really wanted to do was grab his shirt collar and drag him out into the street. His survival instincts must have kicked in at this point because he mumbled something about the time and soon left the store.

For those who don't know, Frank Miller is probably the most $ucce$$ful comic book writer of the modern day. And there's a reason for it. Two of them, actually. Creativity and Talent.

But everybody has an opinion.

15 comments:

  1. At least he didn't try to tell you that Green Lantern could kick Darth Vader's ass. Those are the guys that REALLY piss me off.

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  2. Oh dear. Yes, I don't have time to put up with that stuff. And NOBODY can kick Darth Vader's ass.

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  3. Anonymous4:58 AM

    Frank Miller writes shit. 300 was terrible, Sin City is lame as shit, asbar is horrendous. The Dark Knight was crap also. I thought Frank Miller was cool when I was 13, mainly because of the violence and sex in his comics, but thankfully my brain has developed since then. I cant recall reading anything by Miller that portrays humans realisticaly or has any meaningful character development.

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  4. Anonymous9:09 PM

    Holy damn does Frank Miller suck. How can someone suck so badly?

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  5. Anonymous6:18 PM

    Frank miller does suck.

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  6. Anonymous8:40 AM

    He's WAY OVERATED, that's for sure. An artist that work his ass off to deliver beautiful kick ass art must feel devastaded at the sucsess of a totally lame artist like Miller. He's creative, I give you that, but come on, the guy can't fucking draw.

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  7. yeah he dose suck now DK2 is the worst comic i have ever read, he used to be creative and talented with works like DK returns and year one( my favorite batman comic of all time, his recent stuff is also. Its crazy how much his quality has dropped.

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    Replies
    1. Captain Marvel8:02 PM

      The "Annoying Customer" was right 'All Star Batman and Robin' is widely acknowledged to be rubbish, Miller's work is usually just sex, violence, a bit of racism, crap dialogue ("I'm the goddamn Batman!") and no depth. He hasn't written anything readable in years (since 'Dark Knight Returns') and nothing truly amazing. He isn't as untalented as, say, Liefeld but he is just an overrated hack!

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  8. Anonymous5:05 PM

    There is no denying the potency of his earlier works

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  9. Anonymous5:54 PM

    Miller's crap outways his gold, SinCity and Batman YearOne are solid but Dark Knight Returns is SO overrated it's sick.

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  10. Anonymous6:45 PM

    I'd probably be on your side in 2005 when u wrote this, but he's really gone downhill since then

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  11. Daveyboyswish4:18 PM

    The annoying customer with the tiny brain was spot on. Frank Miller fell off a long time ago.

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  12. Anonymous4:19 AM

    I can’t knock someone who does what they love for a living. His art though? It’s hard to stomach with Sooo many great artists in the game. His stories? Not a lot of it holds up over time and I think it has to do with him being one of the main guys who influenced the writers we know and love today. So while he is an originator, the medium has evolved along with the writers who grew up with his work and it makes him seem analogue in a digital world. Hmm after rereading this it seems I can knock someone for doing something they love.

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  13. millars dialog is soooo bad! lee is the best, customer was spot on.dont be so dogmatic

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  14. I appreciate your sentiment. Frank Miller actually can write. What he doesn't do well is illustrate. I've been reading comics now for decades, in fact I cut my teeth on Frank Miller's work with the Batman stuff he did late 1980's. I've read a LOT of comics since then and having recently gone back to the Dark Knight stuff, I realize how poorly illustrated they are. Not to mention hard to follow. The story boarding is equally terrible and makes for a confusing read if you don't already have an idea about what's going on.

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