Is Frank Miller as Great a Writer as He is An Artist?

[DrNewGod]

Narration: I stand in the corner of this thread. A corner as dark and desolate as an old midwife’s snatch. The coffee-swilling college brats above gab away about Frank Miller and his legacy. I chuckle and think to myself sometimes that the only reason cancer hasn’t ended that man’s life yet is that the malformed cells in his body found the acidic bitterness running through his veins too damned corrosive to leech off of. Heh. Stubborn bastard. Holding onto the ghost tighter than a homeless person’s lips when giving a yuppie some business in an alleyway - all for the sake of a goddamned 2-day old sandwich. I thumb my cell phone with all the delicacy and precision of a dog’s nose awkwardly trying to pinpoint his own balls so he can clean them. God, when did hell on earth go digital? <swigs bourbon; coughs> Ol’ Frankie’s artwork I can only describe as the kind of shitfaced wonderland this bottle nuzzled up to me is about to send me to. Scribbled lines; human faces that look like pockmarked concrete trying to look presentable for a potluck dinner; the most cynical “modern art” you’ve seen since Warhol got big enough to where he could smear his grandma’s ashes and cigarette butts on canvas and be called brilliant for it. An acquired taste, I suppose. An acquired habit like alcohol. Like alcohol you swiped from a church pantry during a funeral.


That’s kind of what I get from Miller’s writing. Depressing or Freudian metaphors, an element of sneering dry humor throughout, and an alienated attitude towards more modern trends and attitudes. He’s kind of like an 80s Robert E. Howard if he had veered away from fantasy and dedicated himself full time to pulp noir.

That's pretty damned artful.

[Joker]

It really isn't, though.

[BeastieRunner]

It really isn't, though.

Hi Mr. Miller. Loved your early stuff on Daredevil and Batman.

[Joker]

Sorry, I don't think taking a dig at a guy's cancer and alcoholism is "artful".

[Ragged Maw]

Sorry, I don't think taking a dig at a guy's cancer and alcoholism is "artful".

Thing is, I intended it is a kind of compliment to his grit in battling such a disease up until now. Not the classiest way to get it across, but that's kind of the point. It's supposed to illustrate the sort of biting, "hard-boiled" style he became renown for.
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[batnbreakfast]

Sorry, I don't think taking a dig at a guy's cancer and alcoholism is "artful".

That's the first time alcoholism is brought up. Didn't like his last Dark Knight Master Race much but glad he gets work from DC

[DrNewGod]

Sorry, I don't think taking a dig at a guy's cancer and alcoholism is "artful".

Thing is, I intended it is a kind of compliment to his grit in battling such a disease up until now. Not the classiest way to get it across, but that's kind of the point. It's supposed to illustrate the sort of biting, "hard-boiled" style he became renown for.
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I didn't know enough about Miller personally to be aware of either problem until you mentioned them. I could hear a voice that sounded a lot like the Miller I've read in Ragged Maw's writing. That's what I meant by artful.

[BeastieRunner]

I didn't know enough about Miller personally to be aware of either problem until you mentioned them. I could hear a voice that sounded a lot like the Miller I've read in Ragged Maw's writing. That's what I meant by artful.

It sounded like him to me, too. I didn't really see it as a dig. It was a near perfect summary, IMHO.

[Joker]

Thing is, I intended it is a kind of compliment to his grit in battling such a disease up until now. Not the classiest way to get it across, but that's kind of the point. It's supposed to illustrate the sort of biting, "hard-boiled" style he became renown for.
.

Fair enough. Maybe I'm just used to Miller getting dragged on these boards. Often fairly, but none the less.

I mean, you did do the style well.

[Ragged Maw]

Fair enough. Maybe I'm just used to Miller getting dragged on these boards. Often fairly, but none the less.

I mean, you did do the style well.

Ah, good to hear. Was afraid I might've drifted a tad close to some other writer's style. At first, I thought, "Isn't this drifting into Garth Ennis's or Alan Moore's orbit?" But I remember that Garth doesn't narrate as much as Miller (unless it's Punisher: MAX), and Moore, even when he's at his darkest, doesn't get quite as grimy/vulgar when describing details or metaphors.

[GOLGO 13]

Fair enough. Maybe I'm just used to Miller getting dragged on these boards. Often fairly, but none the less.

I mean, you did do the style well.

Deservedly so.