Frank Miller

Previously unpublished paper originally presented at the American Image/Text Conference, University of East Anglia, Norwich, June, 2011. A narratological and semiotic study in context and intertext. This paper argues that, in addition to the familiar gothic archetype of the ‘divided self’ implicit within the continuing, multimedia mythology of the Batman (seen, for example, in Alan Moore’s exploration of ‘Rorschach’ in Watchmen, 1986), the concept and character can be read visually/textually as much more multi-layered gothic intertexts. The paper focuses on three key texts and areas by way of illustration, the first being the Theosophical origins of Batman, most recently re-told in Christopher Nolan’s movie Batman Begins (2005), with Bruce Wayne, like Madame Blavatsky, studying in Tibet under the immortal master Ra’s Al Ghul, in an esoteric occult frame the origins of which can be traced to Bulwer-Lytton’s gothic romances Zanoni (1842) and A Strange Story (1862). I also look at the Jungian Arkham Asylum by Grant Morrison and Dave McKean (1989) as a deconstruction of the American gothic from Poe to Vincent Price, and conclude by considering Pat Mills’ 50th anniversary parody of Batman in Marshall Law: Kingdom of the Blind (1989) in which a middle-aged millionaire vigilante, ‘The Private Eye,’ uses the rhetoric of the superhero to protect his own wealth and to prey, vampire-like, upon the urban underclass that he despises. The framing quotation is taken from Arkham Asylum. The design layout of the visual presentation is again by Gracie Carver. This and the EC paper (above) were very short presentations – about 20 minutes I think – so please excuse the brevity. I will try to edit and post the longer versions later if anyone’s interested.

Der Film No Country for Old Men erzählt die Geschichte einer brutalen Verfolgungsjagd. Dabei zeigt der Thriller eine amerikanische Wirklichkeit, die mit ihren Werten und Traditionen nicht mehr in Übereinstimmung lebt und liefert eine fundamentale Kritik an der amerikanischen Gesellschaft.

Robert Rodriguez claims that his Sin City “translates” Frank Miller’s graphic narratives, its source texts, “directly to the screen.” Surprisingly, however, Ro- driguez’s film includes almost constant references to film noir, to film production, and to cinematic conventions – conventions Rodriguez either adheres to or throws into relief. But this overt remediation of Miller’s narrative actually mirrors Miller’s own remediation of early noir fiction. Noir, in Rodriguez’s hands, becomes more than a style or a story that might appear in various forms. It is a discourse that consists of a particular relationship between a text’s style and its structure. This discourse thus depends upon style, but “style” understood to be the particular way in which the signs will obtain in the context of a medium and its conventions. And if we can define style in this way, we can better understand the relationship between discourse and the material medium in which it presents.

This article demonstrates the importance, when considering style and discourse, of investigating medium-specific methods of signification, as what a sign “means” depends on what the medium is capable of. Particularly at this moment, as investigations of narrative tend toward the cognitive processes and contextual elements involved in its reception, we would do well to bear in mind the relationships – among medium, style, and whatever histories and conventions come with them – that make up discourse, as these relationships constitute the real process of signification.

This colloquium paper is an attempt to reflect my thoughts on stories, and telling thereof using visual sequential art as the media. It also briefly discusses my understanding of the art form and its parallel evolution over time, in dispersed locations on the face of Earth, sometimes citing a few examples to illustrate the point, and at other times quoting the exemplars of the field to suggest the influence they had on ideas and perceptions of the followers, here mostly being the comic book readers and artists. The paper also towards the end opines on the current surge of graphic novels in the popular yet not so mainstream readership, India being the context.
Following is the sequenced outline of this colloquium, yet the subsections can be read on their own, irrespective of the order; coherence being subject to the familiarity of the readers with the media of sequential art.

1. The Inception
1.0 The Need To Tell Stories
1.1 In Early History
1.2 Medieval Make-believe

2. In The Modern Sense
2.0 Sequential Art, the Term
2.1 Modern Comics, an Introduction
2.1.1 Manga
2.1.2 Franco-Belgian Comics
2.1.3 American Comics

3. The Graphic Novels
3.0 Graphic Novels
3.1 Criticism of the Neologism

4. End Note.

A década de 1980: O gênero Superhero experimenta a transformação mais significativa desde a criação do Superman em 1939. Começa uma nova era de super-heróis, na qual os personagens engraçados ficam mais escuros, violentos, brutais, mais e mais realistas, desencantados e adultos. Em Supergods, Grant Morrison vai chamar de Dark Age, quando o anti-herói toma o lugar do super-herói. A Idade das Trevas é considerada a maior revolução nos quadrinhos dos super-heróis - e ainda é possível ver muitos sinais de alerta durante a Era de Prata: um homem - O Homem - já havia começado a revolucionar o mundo dos super-heróis: Stan Lee. Stan criou dezenas de personagens: seus super-heróis são mais complexos e humanos do que nunca. Eles estão antecipando a Idade das Trevas, vinte anos antes. Graças a algumas das criações mais icônicas do The Man, este artigo mostrará a característica desses personagens que antecipam a revolução da Idade das Trevas.

About 300 and the Latin translation of Asterix by Rubricastellanus (Karl-Heinz Graf von Rothenburg). Draft of the study "Asterix Gallus ad maiorem Caesaris famam", published in  "Intercod. Estetiche del fumetto, letteratura & cinema. Saggi di metodo e letture" = "IF. Rivista dell'insolito e del fantastico" 3, n. 8 (ottobre 2011), pp. 14-18.

An examination of Frank Miller's comic, 300 inspired by Edward Said article, "Clash of Ignorance." Although Miller’s 300 weighs various stories in its depiction of the Battle of Thermopylae, it ultimately relies on a simplistic framework of clashing civilizations. The inherently Western lens situates the Persians as antagonists in the story and negates to properly develop the Persians’ motivations or humanize them, resulting in their reductive and stereotypical reflection of an East versus West archetype.

The 1980s: The Superhero genre experiments the most significant transformation since the creation of Superman in 1939. A new age of superheroes begins, in which the funny characters for children become darker, violent, brutal, more and more realistic, disenchanted and adult. In Supergods Grant Morrison will call it Dark Age, when the antihero takes the superhero’s place. The Dark Age is considered the biggest revolution in superheroes comics – and yet it is possible to see many warning signs during the Silver Age: a man – The Man – had already started to revolutionize the superheroes world: Stan Lee. Stan created dozens of characters: his superheroes are more complex and human than ever before. They are anticipating the Dark Age, twenty years before it. Thanks to some of the most iconic creations of The Man, this article will show the characteristic of these characters who anticipate the Dark Age’s revolution.

https://revistas.unilasalle.edu.br/index.php/Dialogo/article/view/5788

O presente artigo tem por objetivo apresentar a representação do período do governo Reagan dentro da Graphic Novel A queda de Murdock (Born Again) utilizando a perspectiva da visão da História Cultural. Busco apresentar neste trabalho como os acontecimentos do governo de Ronald Reagan são representados pelos autores Frank Miller e David Mazzucchelli, roteirista e ilustrador respectivamente, na criação da Graphic Novel.

This article aims to present the representation of Reagan 's period within the graphic novel Born Again  using the perspective of view of cultural history . I seek to present this work as the Ronald Reagan government events are represented by the authors Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli , writer and illustrator respectively, in the creation of the Graphic Novel

The antihero embodies competing values; he is the symptom of a crisis, and he exasperates it. During the 1980s these characters have their greatest success in superhero comics. The so-called Dark Age follows a profound crisis in American society, marked by the Vietnam War, the fear of nuclear conflict, but also by alternative cultural and social movements. Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, together with Alan Moore’s Watchmen, are the graphic novels that represent this transformation.Today, the western world faces a new crisis. Economic uncertainty, mass migrations, encounters and clashes with different cultures, terrorism, pandemics: our worldview and our truths are wavering. Superhero universe mirrors all of these. Antiheroes become more and more numerous, and superheroes lose a clear definition. Marvel’s Civil War is probably the most emblematic example.We are witnessing a new proliferation of antiheroes, and even superheroes are changing. The classic superheroes have begun to kill. Their relationship with the mask, with society, becomes much more problematic and "anti-heroic".I will refer to Nietzschean concepts, such as the mask to distinguish the superhero and the antihero. Comparing Dark Age’s antiheroes with contemporary films and comics I will show how our perception of “heroes” has changed.
Link: https://figshare.arts.ac.uk/articles/presentation/Marco_Favaro_-_What_if_Superheroes_kill_Evolution_of_Superheroes_and_Antiheroes_during_the_Post-heroic_Age/12562214

In 2009, The Economist noted that "Atlas felt a sense of deja vu": in the wake of the economic crisis and the market interventions by the US government, the novels by Ayn Rand (1905-1982) experienced an actual renaissance and would keep making news thanks to the Tea Party movement as well as due to high-profile US politicians like Paul Ryan, who had to explain the extent of Rand's influence on them. Once again, Americans discussed the appeal of novels like The Fountainhead (1943) and Atlas Shrugged (1957), and how a Russian immigrant could become "the ultimate gateway drug to life on the right," as historian Jennifer Burns put it. While most people are aware of Rand's political impact, her legacy in American culture-low and high brow-is less frequently commented on, even though it is the one arena in which she has been a constant source of inspiration. From Mary Gaitskill's novel Two Girls, Fat and Thin to the "Ayn Rand School for Tots" feat...

An investigation of the different ways Snyder's 300 (2007) has been interpreted by critics and academics, with my own suggestion of how these interpretations have taken form and how the film should be regarded. Within these interpretations, I investigate in particular how the film was discussed in relation to the War on Terror and 2003 Invasion of Iraq.

¿Qué es para la arquitectura el cine?, ¿Y la fotografía?, ¿Y la pintura?, ¿Qué es para el cine la arquitectura?, ¿Y la ciudad? Son preguntas que se me presentaron el momento en el que leí "Fénomenos hístoricos de la arquitectura. La ciudad y el cine", y serán preguntas que sigan en mi mente hasta el final, intentado analizar y comprender todo aquello que rodea la arquitectura y que la influencia.

Frank Millers Batman Die Rückkehr des dunklen Ritters und Francis Ford Coppolas Bram Stokers Dracula I Die Flügelspannweite des großen Vampirs betragt circa 70cm Das ist nicht viel, aber innerhalb der Familie der Fledermäuse, Flattertiere und Handflügler schon die obere Grenze. Im Volksglauben spielte die Fledermaus eine positive Rolle: als Amulett, das kugelsicher macht, als Glücksbringer. beim Spiel, im Abwehrzauber gegen Hexen. Sie lebt in Höhlen, und man sollte aufpassen, daß sie einem nicht in die Haare gerät, die sie mit ihrem Echolot nicht wahrnehmen kann. Außerdem ist sie fester und widersprüchlicher Bestandteil der Trivialkunst, Superheld und Superschurke in Animalunion. Seit 1897 Bram Stokers Roman erschien, sind der bulgarische Fürst Vlad und die Fledermaus in der Figur des Grafen Dracula untrennbar verbunden -es gibt inzwischen über 200 Filme zum Thema. Und seit Bob Kane 1939 The Batman erfand, ist das Fledermauskostüm aus dem Fundus der maskierten Kämpfer nicht mehr wegzudenken. Der eine tötet seine wehrlosen Opfer, der andere tritt als Beschützer der Schwachen auf. Beide sind nachts unterwegs. Und beide sind inzwischen Klischees, in endlosen Wiederholungen der immer gleichen Bilder und Geschichten auf. den reinen Wiedererkennungseffekt reduziert. 1986 hat Frank Miller einen neuen Batman gezeichnet und ist dafür mit zahlreichen Preisen ausgezeichnet worden. Sein Batman hat wenig mit der bekannten Figur gemeinsam und ragt inhaltlich und stilistisch deutlich aus dem üblichen Sortiment des Comic heraus. Man fragt sich, wie es nach diesem Entwurf möglich sein konnte, in Tim Burtons Film von 1989 das Rad wieder vollständig zurückzudrehen.

Zack Snyder's 300 has been defined as both homoerotic and homophobic. In examining the way Spartans and Persians are depicted in the film, I explore how the film amalgamates influences from preceding ancient historical films, the historical record and Frank Miller's graphic novel source to create an intentionally contradictory depiction of sexuality that helped reinvent the ancient historical epic genre.

Criticato per i suoi contenuti ideologici, 300, nella sua versione filmica e disegnata, è stato accusato di essere un’opera reazionaria. Una serie di approfondimenti progressivi rivela la coesistenza di più livelli di lettura, non sempre coerenti. Sotto la patina reazionaria si celano suggestioni irrazionalistiche e volontaristiche che, a loro volta, sembrano essere espressione di una forte ansia di assoluto. Più che esaltare la violenza l’opera prefigura per l’occidente un bivio, forse impossibile, tra due diverse alienazioni.

Resumen Este artículo estudia el diseño gráfico en el cómic Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (1986), de Frank Miller, en tanto elemento fundamental para el concepto, tratamiento narrativo y formato de publicación de la obra, aspectos cruciales en su impacto innovador y repercusión cultural. Se analiza en particular el diseño de portada, de página y del estilo gráfico con herramientas de los estudios de Cultura visual, Historia del arte, Sociología y Estética. Palabras clave: comic book, novela gráfica, diseño gráfico, imagen/texto, Frank Miller. Abstract This article studies Frank Miller's 'Batman: The Dark Knight Returns' (1986) graphic design, as a key figure for the concept, narrative treatment and publication format of the book, which were important parts of its formal innovation and cultural impact. In particular, cover design, page design and graphic style are discussed, using Visual culture, Art history, Sociology and Aesthetics tools.

Welche Rolle spielt die Kategorie Gender für die Konstitution von Comic und Film?
Véronique Sina geht dieser Frage anhand ausgewählter Comic- und Filmbeispiele wie Frank Millers »Sin City«, Enki Bilals »Immortel (ad vitam)« oder Matthew Vaughns »Kick-Ass« nach. Auf Basis einer detailreichen, vergleichenden Analyse beider Medien entwickelt sie das Konzept des performativen Comicfilms und verdeutlicht dabei gleichzeitig, wie sich Comic, Film und Gender wechselseitig generieren und produktiv aufeinander einwirken. Mit dieser Fokussierung auf die reziproke Beziehung der Performativität von Gender sowie der Medialität des Performativen leistet die Studie einen wichtigen Beitrag zu den Gender-Media Studies.

En los últimos años ha habido un resurgimiento del mito de Esparta, gracias en gran medida a la película basada en el cómic homonimo de Frank Miller 300, pero no ha sido el único caso. La saga de videojuegos God of War también incide en la amplificación del mito de que esta polis griega era una sociedad que sólo vive por y para la guerra.
Si bien es cierto que Esparta se organiza a partir de un concepto militarizado de su ciudadania, la imagen que nos está llegando a través de estos medios tiende en algunos aspectos a la exageración, mostrándonos una idea más cercana a lo que nuestra sociedad entiende qué es una sociedad te este tipo, que lo significaba este concepto en la Grecia clásica.
Por lo que pretendemos realizar un análisis comparativo de lo que se nos presenta en 300 y en el God of War, para ver por una parte cual es el más cercano a la realidad y por otra parte como se nos ha reelaborado el mito para hacerlo más cercano a nuestra sociedad con especial incidencia en un publico juvenil.

This article studies Frank Miller's 'Batman: The Dark Knight Returns' (1986) graphic design, as a key figure for the concept, narrative treatment and publication format of the book, which were important parts of its formal innovation and cultural impact. In particular, cover design, page design and graphic style are discussed, using Visual culture, Art history, Sociology and Aesthetics tools.

O objetivo de nosso trabalho é fornecer uma contribuição ao debate relativo à tensão entre Estado e liberdades individuais na obra de Frank Miller (1957). Para tanto, cotejaremos Holy Terror, graphic novel publicada por Miller em 2011, e a série de revistas que, iniciada em 1990 com Give Me Liberty e concluída em 2007 com Martha Washington Dies, narram a trajetória da militar Martha Washington. Miller, autor e desenhista de inegável talento, é frequentemente associado a polêmicas no que tange a sua ambivalente orientação política. Não são raros os que buscam, em seus trabalhos, manifestações de tendência proto-fascista. Em virtude de comentários, feitos em 2011, acerca do movimento Occupy Wall Street, Miller envolveu-se em celeuma midiática com o (igualmente talentoso) autor Alan Moore, que o acusou de misógino e homofóbico. A recepção de Holy Terror foi, igualmente, objeto de controvérsia. O próprio Miller definiu a obra como "peça de propaganda". Para muitos, seria um esforço para endossar a Guerra ao Terror que o governo norteamericano promoveucom as inúmeras restrições aos direitos civis que a Casa Branca impôs ao povo estadunidense. O debate políticoa corrupção das instituições, a hipocrisia da correção política, a apatia da população, a necessidade de resgatar a moralidadeé central à obra de Miller, que frequentemente recupera temas clássicos da cultura política ocidentalcomo a representação de Esparta como modelo de organização social, em 300, ou uso de distopias futuristas como crítica à presente conjuntura, na saga de Martha Washington. Assim, inúmeros trabalhos do autor poderiam servir ao propósito de nosso ensaio. Se Holy Terror e a série sobre Martha Washington ganham destaque, em nosso estudo, isso se deve ao aparente contraste na forma como ditos trabalhos lidam com o problema da relação entre as esferas pública e privada. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Frank Miller; Estado de Exceção; Distopia 1. Introdução O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar a relação entre Estado e liberdades individuais na obra do autor e desenhista norte-americano Frank Miller (1957)tomando por foco

2012. Arkæologisk Forum #27

Et af de absolutte højdepunkter i sværd-og-sandal-blockbusteren 300 er scenen, hvor den spartanske konge Leonidas skriger: ”This is Sparta!” ad perserkongens sendebud og med et velplantet spark sender eneherskerens lakaj ud over afgrunden. Men er det virkelig Sparta vi bliver præsenteret for? Her får I en klassisk arkæologs syn på baggrunden og konteksten for 300 og ikke mindst et bud på, hvorledes vi som fagfolk bør forholde os til genren.

New developments in comics studies have begun to consider the superhero comic as a transnational, rather than American, phenomenon. This approach offers a new way of thinking about the typical story that Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns and Alan Moore’s Watchmen jointly upended the comics world in 1986. While there is robust criticism to challenge the idea that 1986 was a miraculous year for comics, the continuing attention drawn by the two works requires us to think further about their apparent similarity. This article proposes the importance of a narrative of American exceptionalism within comics culture as a defining feature of the contemporary context for the production of the works. It then examines their responses to this context, arguing that they undermine the American monomyth of the superhero in different ways that originate in the different national positions of the two writers.

Published in Comparative American Studies 14:3-4, 15 Dec 2016

Readings of covert progression have expanded the study of rhetorical criticism but are usually limited to analyzing short stories. Through an analysis of Frank Miller’s 300, the present article extends covert progression to comics, a medium in which language and images work together. After discussing the insightful, but piecemeal critical background of 300 (section 1.1), assessing style, a basic element of covert progression, in comics (section 1.2), and introducing a cultural-semantic tool of analysis necessary to understand 300 (section 1.3), the article reads the overt plot and covert progression of the comic. First the article reads the overt plot for two increasing layers of depth (section 2) and then analyzes the narrator’s voice prior to possible distances between implied reader / author, narrators and characters created by narrative progression (section 3.1). The article then analyzes the covert progression of the story by following the sequence curiosity – suspense – surprise, mimicking the overt plot, but also reinterpreting it. To do so, images, combinations of images, and of images and language will be analyzed with an emphasis on stylistic traits (sections 3.2-3.4). The article closes by discussing how covert progression has enriched our understanding of 300, and the significance of extending covert progression to the reading of comics, both for comics and covert progression (section 4).

Am Beispiel der Sin City-Reihe (1991-2000) untersucht Véronique Sina das Zusammenspiel von Comics und der Kategorie Gender. Nicht zuletzt aufgrund des bis heute dominierenden Superhelden-Genres wird der Comic gerne als ein ‚triviales’ Medium abgetan, welches durch die Repräsentation stereotyper Geschlechterentwürfe gekennzeichnet ist. Im Rahmen des Vortrags soll diese ‚pessimistische’ Leseweise der ‚Neunten Kunst’ hinterfragt und verdeutlicht werden, dass es sich beim Comic um ein hybrides, uneindeutiges Medium handelt, welches aufgrund seiner (hyper)medialen Beschaffenheit das (subversive) Potenzial besitzt, geschlechtsspezifische Zuschreibungsprozesse nicht einfach nur zu (re)produzieren, sondern als solche sichtbar zu machen und kritisch zu reflektieren. Traditionelle Norm- und Wertvorstellungen können so untergraben und alternative Repräsentationen von ‚Geschlecht’ eröffnet werden.