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Frank Miller made quite an impression at Wondercon, with a couple of articles appearing this week after it ended. Peter Hartlaub at the San Francisco Chronicle talked to Miller and extracted more information about the new Batman graphic novel that Miller is drawing. It's going to be titled "Holy Terror, Batman" and it's going to be a whopper at 200 pages. Miller has finished 120 pages so far; previous rumors indicated it was going to be black and white, like Sin City. Batman isn't going to fight Republicans any more...
"I wish the entertainers of our time had the spine and the focus of the ones who faced down Hitler," Miller said. "I just think it's silly to have Batman out chasing the Riddler when you've got al Qaeda out there."
Yeah, but the minute you make superheroes enter into real world conflicts, it's just not realistic. Batman could invade Iraq all by himself. The Flash could find Osama Bin Linden in a few minutes of super-speed searching and bring him to US Navy aircraft carriers in the Gulf. That's why Roy Thomas wrote that story about the DC heroes not being able to go to Europe or Japan during World War 2.
I am constantly confused by Miller's politics. Is he liberal or conservative? He bashed Reagan in Dark Knight Returns and took swipes at big corporations (Starbucks) in Dark Knight Strikes Again. Yet Miller loves punishing criminals mercilessly through his characters, and now he's going after al Qaeda.
Miller also made an appearance in Berkeley for a screening of Sin City that benefited the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. There are some good behind the scenes info on Newsarama about how Miller worked with Bruce Willis and Mickey Rourke.
External Links:
Who needs comic-book villains when real ones lurk? Not Batman.
SPACE Channel Video showing Holy Terror pages
CBLDF's Benefit Sin City Screening Report.
Frank Miller Wondercon Spotlight Part 1
Frank Miller Wondercon Spotlight, Part 2
Giant-Size Marvel: Marvel artwork, classic covers, reviews.