Frank Miller

Kevin Smith has no small amount of praise for Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns.” “‘The Dark Knight Returns,’ for many people of my generation, for many people that followed, from the moment it was published forward is kind of like ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ of comic books,” Smith said at the West Coast premiere of “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2,” the concluding chapter of Warner Bros.’ animated adaptation of Miller’s landmark 1986 miniseries. “It’s a very important book that we all carry with us and just like the ‘Catcher in the Rye,’ they’ve never done a movie of it, because most people thought it was unfilmable,” he said. Perhaps, though the animated format seems to have served the story just fine, judging from the reaction of the audience attending a screening of the new PG-13 rated […]

Frank Miller’s genre-shaking graphic novel “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns” is getting the movie treatment. The second installment in the two-part animated adaptation premieres Monday evening at the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills. The premiere includes a panel discussion moderated by filmmaker and geek personality Kevin Smith, featuring director Jay Oliva, dialogue director Andrea Romano, executive producer Bruce Timm and screenwriter Bob Goodman. The panel will be live streamed from PaleyCenter.org beginning at approximately 8:30 p.m. The film — which doesn’t stray far from Miller’s classic 1986 story — features the voice talent of Peter Weller (“Robocop,” “Dexter”) as a time-worn (and probably psychopathic) Bruce Wayne who becomes so disturbed by Gotham’s worsening crime that he decides to come out of retirement against the wishes of local and national government. The president turns to none other than Superman to […]

The defining moment in the history of the fictitious city called Gotham is when a trembling young boy in a tuxedo — he’s dressed up for a night at the theater — kneels next to his slain mother and father as a gunman runs off into the night. The gun-metal grimness of that scene in the 2005 film “Batman Begins” echoes in every part of director Christopher Nolan’s bleak and bruising franchise. And now, after the shooting at a midnight screening of “The Dark Knight Rises” in Aurora, Colo., the record-breaking Hollywood franchise will be remembered in shades of funereal black and lurid tabloid red. Police said the 24-year-old suspect had “painted” hair and told them after the shooting that he was the Joker, the warped murderer played by Heath Ledger in Nolan’s previous Batman film, “The Dark Knight.” According […]

The latest direct-to-video animated film from Warner Home Video is “Batman: Year One,” an adaptation of the landmark 1980s comics that became a template for the Christopher Nolan version of Gotham City and its corrupt police department.  Bryan Cranston, who has won three Emmys for his work on the AMC series “Breaking Bad,” stars as James Gordon, the cop who is trying to sort out his personal life and survive the mean streets of a city on the edge. The cast also includes Benjamin McKenzie as Bruce Wayne, Eliza Dushku as Selina Kyle and Katee Sackhoff as Det. Sarah Essen. Our Geoff Boucher caught up with Cranston to talk about the film, which is now on sale.  GB: Whether it’s in animation or in one of the live-action films, it seems like Gotham City is a must-visit place for character actors […]

For the better part of a decade, Frank Miller has been talking about a graphic novel on terrorism called “Holy Terror,” but it was only this week that he could say the one sentence everyone was waiting to hear. “I’m done,” Miller said. “It was eight years in the making, but I’m done.” The 120-page book will hit the shelves right after the 1oth anniversary of 9/11 and Miller — the 54-year-old creator of “”The Dark Knight Returns,” “”300” and “Sin City“ – promises that the tale and imagery will be “pretty rough,” which is saying something given his history of scorching political rhetoric and ultra-violent artwork. For many followers of Miller’s career, though, the biggest shock of “Holy Terror” is the fact that it’s actually reaching stores. Miller is arguably the most important comic book artist of the last three decades  but […]

I sent a note to Frank Miller asking if he had a moment to draw a holiday greeting for Hero Complex readers. I wasn’t sure what to expect. A “Sin City” Santa? A “Xerxes” Xmas? Here’s what I got back: “Christmas 2010,” Frank Miller – Geoff Boucher RECENT AND RELATED: Miller returns to “300″ without apology Zack Snyder: “Xerxes” script underway ESSAY: An Iranian-American wrestles with”300′s” message Miller searches for “The Spirit” of Eisner Miller: Imagine Sly in “Dark Knight Returns” Miller drops “terrible, glorious” F-bombs

As reported at Hero Complex, Frank Miller is well underway with “Xerxes,”  a follow-up to the graphic novel “300,” and filmmaker Zack Snyder is also laboring on a screen adaptation that would take moviegoers back to the battlefields of antiquity shown in the 2007 surprise Warner Bros. hit. That first film touched off international debate: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad bitterly denounced it, and the Iranian Academy of the Arts filed a formal complaint through the United Nations that framed the movie as nothing less than an attack on the historical identity of a nation — especially with its portrayal of Xerxes (portrayed by Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro) as leering and androgynous and the Persian army as a demonic horde. Now, with a looming companion comics series and probable feature film on the horizon, are we ready for another round of the East-versus-West […]

For years, Frank Miller spoke of a Gotham City graphic novel that would be like no other — for the 120 bone-crunching pages of “Holy Terror, Batman!” Miller — arguably the most important comic book artist of the last 30 years — envisioned a story in which the Caped Crusader went on a blood quest against Al Qaeda. Earlier this week, sitting over coffee at the U.S. Grant Hotel in San Diego, Miller said the elusive project is finally close to completion but that the name and central character have changed and that DC Comics won’t be the publisher. Miller frames all of this as a decision that was driven by the work itself and not dictated by a DC leadership that, according to insiders, has long been leery of the politically charged concept. “It’s almost done; I should be […]

EXCLUSIVE It’s official: Zack Synder, the director of “300,” is going back into battle on the side of the ancient Greeks — and Frank Miller. “We closed the writing deal on ‘Xerxes.’ We started writing about a week ago,” Snyder said, referring to his script work with “300″ collaborator Kurt Johnstad. “So we’re doing it. It’s happening.” Snyder has a first-look deal with Warner Bros. (which is taking his 2011 film “Sucker Punch” down to Comic-Con International in a big way this Saturday) and the presumption is that Snyder will direct this film, but that’s not a done deal yet. “It’s really going to depend on what the studio wants to do and what we do when we finish; I don’t have a directing deal in place but we are writing it, so call it intent,” Snyder said with a chuckle when I visited his […]

Let’s be Frank — there are few investments better than comic-book or fantasy original artwork, especially if the signature on the bottom is Frazetta or Miller. That was proved with two recent sales: Frank Frazetta’s original 1955 artwork for Weird Science-Fantasy No. 29 been sold in a private treaty sale for $380,000 — a price that is reportedly the largest ever paid for a single page of American comic-book artwork — and Frank Miller’s 1982 cover image for Daredevil No. 188 sold for $101,575 on May 21, a somewhat startling number for a piece from the 1980s — it’s the most ever paid for a single-page piece from that decade, by some estimations.  At the center of both sales was Heritage Auction Galleries of Dallas. The Miller cover sold at the auction house’s Signature Comics & Comic Art sale (which dropped the gavel on $3.5 million in sales). […]