Detail

Title: The Hard Goodbye (Sin City #1) ISBN: 9781593072933
· Paperback 208 pages
Genre: Sequential Art, Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Mystery, Crime, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Noir, Thriller, Comix

The Hard Goodbye (Sin City #1)

Published October 20th 2010 by Dark Horse (first published 1991), Paperback 208 pages

Note: Alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here.

Worth dying for. Worth Killing for. Worth going to hell for. Amen.

It's a lousy room in a lousy part of a lousy town. But Marv doesn't care. There's an angel in the room. She says her name is Goldie. A few hours later, Goldie's dead without a mark on her perfect body, and the cops are coming before anyone but Marv could know she's been killed. Somebody paid good money for this frame...

The first volume of the crime-comic megahit that introduced the now-infamous character Marv and spawned a blockbuster film returns in a newly redesigned edition, with a brand-new cover by Frank Miller—some of his first comics art in years! With a new look generating more excitement than ever before, this third edition is the perfect way to attract a whole new generation of readers to Frank Miller's masterpiece!

Frank Miller (1957–) is an American writer, artist & film director, notable for the singular works product of his unique and sometimes twisted mind. He is as famous as he his infamous for his film noir-style comic book stories. Besides being one of the most widely-recognized and popular creators in comics, he is also one of the most influential comics creators of his generation. His most notable works include 'Sin City' (1991), 'The Dark Knight Returns' (1986), 'Batman Year One' (1987) and '300' (1999).

Edition MSRP: $17⁰⁰ US (ISBN 1-59307-293-7)
Printed in Canada

User Reviews

Baba

Rating: really liked it
Frank Miller written, drawn, inked etc.- tick
Neo-noir in black, white and shadows - tick
First person neo-Mickey Spillane-esque narrator - tick
Unreliable narrator with mental health issues - tick
Almost uniquely constructed reality, speculative fiction setting - tick
This. Book. Is. Smoking!

I can't imagine what is was like for a comic reader to pick this up and read for the first time back in 1991! It would have blown people's minds on so many levels. A absolute must-read as one of the most essential comic book series ever written. It's not perfect, but what it does well, it does really well. It's ultimately a lad's fantasy, which some may see as a negative. 9 out of 12.

2019 read


Stephen

Rating: really liked it
Photobucket

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.

Assumption 3: Wedding Crashers and The Hangover are two of the funniest movies ever and you really should see them if you haven’t already.

STATEMENT OF PREMISE

While Sin City: the Hard Goodbye was a very well written and original graphic novel worthy of both its critical and commercial success, it was in the FILM VERSION of the story that the material found its truest and best expression. This conclusion is based on 5 indisputable facts that our colleagues on the other side of the debate, while they may try, will be unable to answer or challenge in any cogent or compelling way.

SUPPORTING FACTS

FACT 1: Mickey Rourke IS MARV!!!
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In his portrayal of Marv, Mickey Rourke “out Marved” the graphic novel Marv and turned graphic novel Marv into his [this portion of the transcript has been edited for violation of debate rules and referred to a derogatory term for a woman]. Now, our worthy colleagues on the other side will be quick to point out that Mickey Rourke’s make-up had him looking a little like MARVenstein’s monster and that the few scenes in which Rourke was seen shirtless could be viewed as an unfortunate choice by the director. To this, we would respectively respond that the other side are a bunch of whinny haters who need to brush their teeth and chomp on a few tic-tacs before engaging in close quarters debate.

FACT 2: Photobucket FRODO BAGGINS cast as the psychotic, murdering cannibal killer with Ninja skills, wolverine-like claws, Robert DeNiro “taxi driver” glasses and wearing a Charlie Brown sweater and a “Potsie” hair cut…Nuff said, Nuff said and NUFF SAID!!!! For the record, we believe the debate should be declared over with us as the victors based on this fact alone. Frodo "friggin" Baggins eating people....game over!!!
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FACT 3: Sin City the graphic novel was done in subdued black and white with ‘impressionist” art in order to give it that “noir chic” feel that left some of the more violent parts of the book a little “underwhelming.” On the contrary, the movie was filmed in gritty black and white with moments of “extreme” color that made some of the more violent parts of the book “OH SO MUCH MORE BRUTAL.” By way of illustration, I refer the judges to the following: (a) MARV driving while cleaning the street with nameless bad guys face; (b) MARV preparing our demented little “hobbit” Frodo as a snack for Fido; and (c) MARV’s final little “chat” with Cardinal Roark. Disturbing, yes. Graphic, yes. Gratuitous, certainly. Memorable, DEFINITELY!!

FACT 4: A bald Rutger Hauer as Cardinal Roark. Let me repeat that, A BALD RUTGER HAUER as Cardinal Roark. That is just plain FUN!!

FACT 5: We will generally conclude by saying that the “rest” of the eye candy, hot babeness, Jessica Alba casting was absolutely top notch. However, in order to avoid the risk of either (a) appearing even more like a 40 year old stuck in adolescence or (2) having my beautiful wife read this review and deciding to go Glenn Close on me, we will simply say that the "cinematography" was excellent. By the way, honey, I love you more than anything in the world now please put the bunny down and take the pot off the stove!!!

Thus, for all of the above “indisputable” reasons, we submit that the graphic novel was very good and worthy of 3.5 stars but the MOVIE VERSION is a classic and worthy of a full 5 star rating!!!

Thank you for your time.


Hannah Garden

Rating: really liked it
Ok I am tired of people liking this dumb review so I'm erasing it.

Jesus.

And while we're here, fuck Trump.


Matthew

Rating: really liked it
I am so glad that I am finally reading this. I saw the movie years ago and loved it! This first volume was fantastic and almost every frame of it is included in the movie as is! I love it when they don't mess with the story.

The black and white art is great. It had to be more difficult to do a simple face using only the negative space through the rain or in the shadows than a complex picture with all of the colors you want.

If I could give it more than 5 stars I would! It is creative, raw, dark, action-packed fun!



Ivan

Rating: really liked it
DNF.Again.

This is my second attempt to get into Sin city but I simply can't.Problem isn't the writing, I think that Miller is great writer(two of my favorite Batman comics are his work) and there is good story in here too.Problem are illustrations, I loathed them from the start and I couldn't enjoy the story properly.

I couldn't enjoy it but I don't think this is bad graphic novel, as I said above there is good story in there and if illustrations don't bother you than I would actually recommend you give it a try.


Tina Haigler

Rating: really liked it
I don't normally enjoy murder sprees that don't have a deeper reason but this was an exception. Honestly I love Marv. He is a badass but he's not a generic badass. He is vulnerable mentally but he's hard as hell to kill. The other characters were just kind of there. The villains were overly strange and had no depth. The art was really good but I have to admit there was a panel or two that looked like Rorschach tests to me. The story was good as well but it wasn't quite fleshed out enough. More back story on the villains would've helped. I'll still be reading Volume 2 though.


Lono

Rating: really liked it
description

Miller’s “The Hard Goodbye” is a noir masterpiece that would’ve given the great Jim Thompson a legendary hard-on. This was so obviously a labor of love for Frank. He was really at the peak of his career when he put pen to paper with this one. The descriptions and dialogue were hard-edged and to straight to the razor-sharp point, just like good noir should be. And because of it, this book might not be for the easily offended. Frank doesn’t pussy around with what he wants to say and words like “faggot” and “retarded” manage to find their way into the finished product. For me, words don’t offend, so I liked it when Frank cuts loose. I live and work in an environment where insensitivity reigns, the thin-skinned cringe, and these types of tactless remarks tend to bead off. Miller, much like myself, could give a rat’s ass about political correctness.

description

Frank’s portrayal of women could also be off putting for some. Strippers, hookers, and topless parole officers pretty much sum up the kinds of ladies that populate Basin City. A school boy’s fantasy that I’m ok with. The men of Sin City aren’t any better. They’re violent, corrupt, greedy, and always lead with their dick. Actually, that’s pretty much accurate everywhere. AND I LOVED EVERY GODDAMNED MINUTE OF IT.

description

Miller’s protagonist, Marv, is so fuckin’ great. Tough, simple-minded, loyal to a fault, and as dangerous as they come. What you see is what you get. I like that he’s got a sense of decency. A brutal killer that’ll shoot you in the nuts or carve you up with a hacksaw, but still loves his mom and doesn’t hit dames. Miller’s own description of Marv as Conan in a trench coat pretty much hits the bullseye.

description

The artwork is magnificent. It’s almost unbelievable what Frank was able to produce with just a pen and some black ink. And it just got better and better as it went. Some of the best black and white comic art ever produced. And Miller did it ALL. Artwork, inking, and lettering. Fuckin’ mind-blowing. I especially liked the rain effect. Sick.

description

So many fantastic moments, I was surprised it took Hollywood so long to put it on film. If you enjoy the book, check the movie out. Mickey Rourke kills as Marv. Frank peaked early with this book because most of what follows in the Sin City series falls a little short of the bench mark set by this one. I don’t think any of it was bad by any means, just that none of the later volumes were able to grab me by the short and curlies and command my full attention like meeting Marv for the first time. Loved him so much I named my dog after him. RECOMMENDED. Unless you’re a pansy. Right Marv?

description

Get this review and more at:





Algernon (Darth Anyan)

Rating: really liked it

There's no settling down. It's going to be blood for blood and by the gallons. It's the old days. The bad days. The all-or-nothing days. They're back. There's no choice left and I'm ready for war.

Marv is taking medications to keep his anger and his killing impulses under control, but his efforts to become a better person are sabotaged when he wakes up from a drunken stupor to find Goldie, his gorgeous one-night-stand, dead beside him. He is not anybody's idea of a knight in shiny armor - a hulking brute, ugly as sin and with a temper to match. But he has his own code of honor, and nobody is messing with his women. A bloody chase starts seconds after Marv wakes up, and continues relentlessly for the rest of this first Sin City episode.

Marv

I have grown weary of excessive violence in novels, comics and movies, especially the Quentin Tarantino brand of smug infatuation with killers, yet there is a gut wrenching rawness of despair and rage in the story offered by Frank Miller that puts it in a class of its own. Marv is not a suave psychopat with sarcastic wit, dancing along to the tune of cool retro tracks. He is a desperate man pushed over the edge by a world gone mad in its thirst for power. He is a creature of the night, a walking nightmare that laughs at goons threatening him with firearms while he tears their limbs off with his bare hands. Yes, the level of explicit violence and gore and cussing is over the top, but in the context of the story penned by Frank Miller, it doesn't feel out of place. His Basin City gathers in one fictional location all the criminal underlife of the American noir canon: serial killers, vilent thugs, drug lords, snitches, corrupt police officers, venal politicians, debauched clergymen, rundown neighborhoods where even the SWAT teams fear to enter, sleazy strip bars where the gangs meet to settle their affairs, derelict tenements where poverty rules supreme. Marv is one of the top predators of this dark world, his murderous obsession in chasing a mystery killer the product and the mirror of the larger sickness that envelops a town governed by Sin.

The air cools. The sounds change. The suits and the briefcases scurry to their fortresses and bolt their doors and balance their checkbooks and ignore the screams and try not to think about who really owns Sin City,

Sin

The blending of Miller's razor sharp writing, delivered in tense, minimalist sentences with the power of a machine gun burst, with the jagged-edge, monochromatic artwork results here in one of the most memorable and disturbing adult themed comic albums I have ever read. It pays homage to the classics of the 1940's and 1950's with the interplay between light and darkness in the construction of the panels, with the unusual camera angles and with the twisted threads of the plotline. It takes the game to a new, up-to-date level of cynicism and despair. The only minor complaint is surprisingly not with the explicit violence and language, but with the portrayal of women, strong in characterization but with a marked preference for nudity. I know most of these Miller girls are supposed to be hookers, but the author walks here a too fine line between eye-candy and gritty pulp fiction.

I have been so caught up in the atmospheric drama of Marv, the killer with a keen sense of street justice, and in the poster-like quality of the graphic art, that I have already finished the second Sin City album before I even tried to write down my impressions of the first. I am now trying to slow down, to take it easy and spread the next installments out, so I don't get mixed up in the storylines.

Final note: Initially I had reservations about the movie versions for these first two Sin City albums, but now I realize they are quite good and mostly faithful to the source material. Mickey Rourke is a great choice for Marv, and Nancy Callahan in the drawings looks like the twin of Jessica Alba in the movie. I would leave my opinions about Eva Green pending for the next review (I had enough excitement already for today).

recommended for readers not easily offended by explicit violence or nudity, fans of noir literature and of finely drawn artwork.


Chad

Rating: really liked it
Good god, that art! Miller is a master of using negative space. These pages are just gorgeous and so original looking. Marv is a great character. A killer but a dope. Easily confused but fights like an oncoming freight train. The story is seriously effed up, as is Miller's outlook on women. But that art! I'm sure classes are taught today on that art.


Carmen

Rating: really liked it
THINGS I LIKED:

The writing. It was excellent.

The drawings.

Marv's distinctive dialogue. I've read enough Miller to know that he doesn't make all his main characters the same. This is much to his credit. Examples:

By way of a for instance...

...I probably would have had to paste you one...

Just give with the scoop.

The fact that Marv is almost impossible to kill.

Marv sleeps during the day and hates the sun. Like a vampire.

Lucille is a lesbian. She is strong physically and mentally but is not a "bull-dyke" stereotype.

There were no sex scenes between Lucille and her girlfriend.

The women aren't super-skinny and I like the way Miller draws their hair.

How Miller gave us little glimpses into Marv's (slightly more vulnerable) past. I loved hearing about his time at Catholic school, his bad experiences at camp, and his "retard" friend Chuck. I loved seeing how Marv sees and interprets the world and why. Almost perfectly done (ruined by him striking Wendy, IMO).

The fact that Marv, big tough he-man, cries, vomits from nerves, and admits fear.

The scene where Nancy patches Marv up. He's carrying an unconscious Wendy. She trusts him and does what he says.

The scene where Wendy is driving Marv to the farm and she's taking orders from him and asking no questions. She just trusts him to know what he's doing and get the job done.

The scene where Marv is confusing Wendy with Goldie and climbs into bed with her. Wendy tells him off and orders him back to the sofa. He obeys and feels really bad. I wish she didn't hit him, though.

Marv doesn't kill the dog. It's a small thing, but small things matter.

Marv says "breasts" and not some stupid-ass word instead.

Marv likes nice coats and when he sees a "bad guy" (I use this term very loosely - everyone is a "bad guy" in this world) who's big enough he starts saying stuff like, "Nice coat you're wearing." etc. It's funny. Then he kills them and steals it.

THINGS I THAT DIDN'T BOTHER ME ONE WAY OR THE OTHER:

All the naked women. I know I should probably feel that this is bad or exploitative or something, but honestly it didn't bother me at all.

Marv's constant comments about what a waste it is that Lucille is lesbian. If I felt Miller was just being a jerk here, that would be one thing. But instead, this trait suits Marv to a T and I'm choosing to interpret this as just excellent characterization on Miller's part. Also, Lucille punches him in the face for one of these choice comments, so... I feel like she's got it covered.

(view spoiler) Again, and I can't reiterate this enough, I think women in this book are having-sex or not-having-sex with Marv for all the wrong reasons. Except for the lesbian women and his mom, of course. They are not-having-sex with Marv for the right reasons. LOL

Marv is Catholic and wears a cross but breaks every commandment ever written.

Marv names his gun Gladys after a nun who taught him. He has conversations with (to?) it.

Marv has an unnamed, unspecified mental illness which he treats with illegal prescription drugs. He takes these drugs whenever he feels like it or whenever he "remembers to." And then he takes 1, 2, or a handful depending on what he feels like.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE:

The fact that, due to the font, every time I saw the word "Marv" it looked like "Mary."

The world.

The ending.

There isn't much Nancy wouldn't do for me. Not since a year back when a frat boy roughed her up and I straightened him out but good. Maybe I went a little too far, but I was plenty steamed, seeing her crying like that. It really gets my goat when guys rough up dames.

What's Marv doing on this page? Carrying Wendy's unconscious body. Why is she unconscious? Because he knocked her out by striking her face. Bit of a disconnect? After spending the whole book going on and on about how he doesn't believe in hitting women, how it almost seems like this is a point of pride with him, he goes and ruins the whole thing in the end with this. "But it was for her own good." That's bullcrap and you know it. He could've tried a hundred other things, but he didn't.

Every woman is either a whore or Marv's mother. That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but not much. Let's see... Non-whores... Marv's mom. Little old lady. Birthed Marv. Lucille, parole officer. A lesbian, so I guess she's off the table for Marv, sexually. Is gorgeous. Is naked/barely dressed in every scene. Her girlfriend, Claire, who only exists off-page. Nancy, a stripper, who is gorgeous and is naked/barely dressed in every scene. Kadie, transsexual who Marv respectfully addresses. Off-page. All other females = prostitutes.

I wasn't never even able to buy a woman, the way I look. This whole Marv-is-living-a-sex-free/sex-deprived-life-because-he's-ugly bullshit. I don't care whether the women would be having sex with him because they need some muscle around, think he's cute, are giving him a pity fuck, are saying thank-you or even because they just genuinely like the guy - there would be no shortage of women willing to go to bed with him. He'd only have to pay if he preferred it that way. Also, even if I did think he was ugly enough or evil enough for women to shun him - which I don't - there's NO WAY he wouldn't be able to buy some temporary female companionship. BULLSHIT. This was more unbelievable than any other aspect of the story.

Cops and priests are corrupt, evil scumbags.

(view spoiler)
...

In short, Miller has created a horrible world that I don't want to think about, see, or visit. A world where murder, rape, torture and prostitution are just facts of life.

Similar to Joe Abercrombie, Miller has - through amazing writing and illustrations - made me feel a kind of grudging respect for his work.

P.S. I hated the movie, SIN CITY. And I haven't seen the sequel, nor do I have any desire to.


Mike "true male feminist cuck"

Rating: really liked it
Thematic BuddyRead with that gang we shouldn’t even be admitting to belonging to (but somehow proudly emblazon it wherever we go), the Shallow Comic Readers.

Criteria: An embarrassing amount of jugs on display

Yes, Miller had a real talent for drawing...


[Composition]


[it's almost balletic]

...even if he spent a remarkable amount of time focusing on the female nipple...














[I mean, seriously Frank. Porn wasn't *that* hard to acquire in the 80's...]

And no, I can't approve of the throwback-to-unapologetic-misogyny times.





For the most part this is less "great noir homage" (cf. Brubaker/Phillips) and more "cliche-ridden tripe" - he executes the basic maneuvers but lacks any finesse:





Given that Miller fridges a woman in Act One, bathes women in the Male Gaze and zealously populates the 'world' with distasteful caricatures of 'independent' women, it's hard to believe Miller sees women as a species as equal to men, or ever would put in the effort to portray them as such.

(Note: there's only one type of woman who's worth respect, the nurse:)


[spoiler: Miller's mother was a nurse]

I ask this question every once in a while, 'cause I'm genuinely curious: if a writer consistently and deeply takes on a slur/bigotry-ridden tone in their writing, is that just an ironic distance thing, or do they actually enjoy embodying and proliferating this kind of prejudice and hatred? Every writer has a blank canvas upon which to spatter their imagination - if they continue to choose a specific subject matter time after time, is that choice, compulsion or just random chance?

I ask the same thing of Garth Ennis, who 'liberally' garnishes his hilarious writing with homophobic slurs. It makes me pause when I keep coming across this kind of streak (and with Ennis, it's a lifelong thing). In his case, he's a good enough writer (see some of his less-exaggerated over the top works to get my meaning) that it makes me wonder whether he's being ironic/holding up a mirror to society, or if he's just a bigot and enjoys expressing it. Occam's Razor or artistic commentary?

Looking at the twisted wreck of a man that Miller became in later life (the later books like All-Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder, Vol. 1 & Holy Terror, his attitudes towards Occupy Wall Street), and comparing it to the dark/fascist hints in his earlier works, it's hard for me not believe that the later man was always in Miller and just was amplified after 9/11 - set free to fully embrace his angry/fearful/under-empathetic personality.

IIRC, in later Sin City books, the best a woman can be is the gang of murderous prostitutes.

Marv on the other hand is Miller's libertarian ideal: the ubermensch, fighting against the forces of order and oppression, overcoming them all with the super-strength and iron resolve of a Man who knows he's right when all others say he's wrong.

Marv looks like just a twisted, flat copy of Batman - the Batman Miller wanted to write, the Batman he's finally fully realized years later in Holy Terror:






[Put a pointy cowl on the guy and give him a giant penny]

Are there people in the world like Marv? Or Goldie? Or the dirty cops, or prostitutes, or Angry unsanctioned racist not-batman? Of course. Welcome to a planet of 7 billion. I guess that makes Miller an historian, a sociologist, a cartographer of the disgusting wasteland of humanity.

Very egalitarian and progressive of you Professor Miller.

Is Miller notable in comics history? Of course. He's taken steps that dragged comics out of the technicolor 70's and into the dark 80's. We gained an art form that took on adult levels of anger, violence and sad disappointment.

Does he deserve a place on the current shelf of "best comics creators"? That's for each of us to decide. Not hard to see where I stand on the matter, but I'd be an ass to assume mine is the only opinion that matters.

At least the climactic confrontations were fun.



Four stars for some generally great art, minus two stars for a sad little tale from a sad little shell of a man, aspiring to become the more powerful, brave, righteous, merciless man that he drew.


Stuart

Rating: really liked it
Sin City (The Hard Goodbye): A hard-boiled noir tale of revenge
Originally posted at Fantasy Literature
Frank Miller’s SIN CITY hit the comic scene back in the early 1990s like multiple shots to the head and body. Readers were blown away with this hard-boiled story and its stark, iconic black-and-white artwork. In fact, Miller does all the writing, artwork and lettering for SIN CITY, which is pretty damn impressive. The stories tapped into that rich vein of crime noir pioneered by writers like Dashiell Hamett, Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, Cornell Woolrich, Jim Thompson, etc, filled with down-on-their luck gumshoes, seductive dames with dark secrets, vicious hoodlums, corrupt politicians and cops, and powerful criminal masterminds lurking in the shadows. The archetypes are so ingrained in our consciousness that we don’t even think about them when we watch a dark crime drama or detective procedural. The lone private eye sitting in his empty office, with street light shining through the blinds as he smokes a lazy cigarette, until a gorgeous femme fatale shows up, on the run from dangerous enemies and concealing secrets that will make our hero regret ever taking the case.

So what was so special about SIN CITY ? Well, clearly the amazing artwork had something to do with it. And the unabashedly over-the-top characters. Not to mention the hard-boiled narration and dialogue – so many classic lines. And the brutal violence of the action sequences. Especially since the movie version came out in 2005, with three parts directed by Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez, and Quentin Tarantino, there were many complaints that the story glorifies violence and objectifies women. Well, it’s pretty hard to deny those accusations. So if you prefer a more nuanced, high-browed crime story, you’d best look elsewhere! But that’s not to say the story is not intelligently written – it just exults in its own excesses, so you either go along for the ride and enjoy it, or not. I can enjoy a wide range of genre fiction, so I don’t really care as long as the story, characters, and world-building grab me.

SinCity_HG_2-2

There are seven collected volumes of the SIN CITY comic, and the original 2005 film focuses on the first, third and fourth volumes, with the 2014 sequel A Dame to Kill For based on volume two. The first volume is called The Hard Goodbye , and it's the story of a hulking lug named Marv, a likeable but down-and-out guy with massive muscles, a hideously deformed face, a penchant for violence, and his own code of justice. One night a beautiful woman named Goldie approaches him in a sleazy saloon. As Marv later narrates, “I’m staring at a goddess. She’s telling me she wants me. She sounds like she means it. I’m not going to waste one more second wondering how it is I’ve gotten so lucky. She smells like angels ought to smell.” The next morning, Marv wakes up with Goldie dead beside him, not a mark on her body. Before Marv has time to think, he hears the sirens of cop cars approaching, and realizes he’s been set up. He quickly decides on a course of action: "No reason at all to play it quiet. No reason to play it any way but my way. Whoever killed you is going to pay, Goldie…” The rest of the story speaks for itself.

SinCity_HG_3-2

Marv is played extremely well by Mickey Rourke in the film. It’s a brilliant performance, with the help of some facial prosthetics. He IS Marv, and his gravelly voice, distorted face, and powerful frame are perfect. In many ways, the movie version is a perfect rendition of Frank Miller’s vision, which is hardly a surprise since he co-directed it. It must have been quite an experience to be actively involved in directing his own creation. The result is visually one of the most striking and original renditions of a comic ever to hit the big screen, and a hell of a lot of fun to watch. I’m planning to watch it again now that I’ve read the comic. I would recommend reading the comic first and then seeing the film, but you can enjoy both independently. What are you waiting for?


James DeSantis

Rating: really liked it
So I never had much interest in Sin City. I saw parts of the movie and the style never stuck with me. So with the graphic novel I never really wanted to dive in because Frank Miller, while I respect, usually isn't my style of comics. Yet, I'm kind of glad I picked this up, because it was pretty fun ride.

Marv is a old asshole ready to fuck some shit up after he wakes up to a dead girl on his best. After making love and waking up and seeing her dead he flips out. He goes on a hunt to find out who could do this? Especially behind his back since he is a trained killer. The story takes us to the worst parts of Sin City trying to track down who did what. The trip is...trippy (get it?) and brutal and downright fucked up.

Good: Enjoyed the monologue for the most part. Usually it can go to the side of boring but it worked well here. I also liked the brutality of this world. That everything is bitter and broken. The villain here is truly creepy and the way he does his "thing" is disturbing to say the least. The ending also was well done and had that "the only way it could end" yet still surprise you somehow.

Bad: The woman in this seem...useless. As if they were written as plot devices and that's about it. I especially didn't like the way Marv talked about them, almost like children or dumb. Was annoying. It could just be a product of it's time, or Marv's views, but still. I also thought the art wasn't that great. I know it's a style but sometimes I had to re-look a page 2-4 times to get what the fuck was happening.

Overall it's good. I didn't think I'd like it at all so it was a surprise for me. I'll def read the rest of the series but this was a solid fun start. A 3 out of 5!


Richard

Rating: really liked it
Frank Miller’s Sin City series is one of the most recognizable comic book series of all time. It not only inspired other crime fiction but its imagery is instantly memorable and indelible. It’s a classic series and this first graphic novel is one of its most popular installments. The story is of a brute named Marv who has one lovely night with a prostitute named Goldie ( “She smells like angels ought to smell…” ) and, after waking up next to her dead, murdered body, sets out to avenge her when no one else will.



It’s a mean, sad piece of noir that feels like it would have been created by David Goodis if he knew how to draw. And then there’s the art. What can I say that hasn’t been said already? It puts the “hard” in hard-boiled and looks like it was drawn on chipped steel instead of paper.
"And when his eyes go dead, the hell I send him to will seem like Heaven after what I’ve done to him.”



Ayman Gomaa

Rating: really liked it
"Walk Down The Right Back Alley In Sin City And You Can Find Anything "


One of the most known Comic\Movie , not only coz of it dark action story but also coz of it's drawings \ it drawings was unique and different from any other comics and it made it one of it kind.

Volume 1 was all about Marv Story :

Begins when Marv wake up and found Goldie the only girl who was nice to him and treated him good no matter his awful looking is dead and someone set him up and made him the criminal of killing Goldie and 6 more girls .

Story shows corruption and the sins around the sin city from all kind of people with Frank Miller great mix of Story , twist, Violent, side stories and Cannibal .

Frank Miller is a great novelist and comic writer , we saw his work with Batman Stories and 300 \ his partnership with Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino as guest director Produced a movie equal to the comic with no differences at all and with great one of a kind style movie .