Frank Miller's Holy Terror

[Watchman]

Yeah, I've read people calling Holy Terror a Riefenstahl-like work which is complete bull****.

I think it's still one of the weaker things he's written. Miller raises some interesting question with not-Catwoman's views on things but doesn't seem too bother on answering them, the story does fall flat in a few instances, especially the ending, paper thin plot, weak story structure, poor dialogue (And this is coming from someone who loves all of Sin City and DKSA), and well it's just fails at being a good piece of propaganda. It doesn't feel like it has some incredible rage behind it, it just feels like a run-of-the-mill action Batman comic.

 

[cabel]

I have most of Frank Miller's works, so I'm sure I'll pick this up once I have a couple extra pennies saved up.

 

[theMan-Bat]

This is definitely not a run-of-the-mill Batman comic. Batman hasn't fought al-Qaeda before, Batman comics have rarely been so political, Batman hasn't been this brutal in the comics since the earliest Batman comics written by Bill Finger and Gardner Fox. I'm glad a publisher had the courage to publish this. I feel it's one of the strongest, boldest comics Frank Miller's written and illustrated. This is moving, powerful, intense, vengeful, impassioned, sorrowful, thought provoking. It does pack an emotional impact on the reader if one lets it, and reads it with an open mind. Many people conform to others criticisms, allowing others criticisms to make a judgment for them, taking the criticism to heart and if they do actually go and buy it and read it, do very little but play back the criticisms in their head and look for any negatives in the book to reinforce an already established preconception on the book. I view that plainly as allowing others to make up your mind for you.

 

[KingMob]

Yeah, no. He wants to do propaganda? Fine. But he goes after Islam, not radicals and that is a deal breaker for me. It makes him seem sort of stupid and ignorant to me. I actually don't believe in any religion or think there is a God or Allah or whatever, but I hate this "anti-Islam, my religion is better" attitude so many supposed "Christians" have. Its very annoying, and I hate to see this attitude translated to comic form.

 

[Drz]

But Miller isn't a pro-Christian at all, so don't hate the product, hate the possible consumers.

Bah still waiting for this darn book, i want it now! =) =) =)

 

[jonathancrane]

Yeah, no. He wants to do propaganda? Fine. But he goes after Islam, not radicals and that is a deal breaker for me. It makes him seem sort of stupid and ignorant to me. I actually don't believe in any religion or think there is a God or Allah or whatever, but I hate this "anti-Islam, my religion is better" attitude so many supposed "Christians" have. Its very annoying, and I hate to see this attitude translated to comic form.

Um...no. Miller does not play the denominational game. He is an atheist:

The Onion: Is there a God?
Frank Miller: I don't think so.
O: Any elaboration on that?
FM: No. Well, let's put it this way. This month [not long after Sept. 11, 2001], I don't think so. It's been a long couple of months.

Sure, he's attacking a violent sect, but his comics do not favor religion of any manifestation, particularly Judeo-Christian tradition. He's an equal opportunity hater.

 

[Drz]

This is what Miller draw post 9/11:

The star panel says "i'm sick of flags" the below one says "i'm sick of god" and the panel with two towers falling says "i've seen the power of faith"

Holy Terror is more about having an American hero get some revenge on the terrorists responsible for 9/11. TheManBat's posts are pretty informative and now i kinda regret ever posting those reviews god darnit lol. Bah i want it now.

 

[Nave 'Torment']

I'll definitely be getting this one. It's not surprising that the comics industry wouldn't be keeping an open eye for this one, or any of Miller's shenenigans. He's a much more complex writer than most readers give him credit for. Never forget that this is a guy who loves to **** with the reader. And he loves ****ing hard.

If this really is 'propaganda', he's going to the ultimate definition of what logic really is: to opinion. From what I hear it sounds like he's going for a deep-rooted incision to the entire idea of the War on Terror that's been happening the world over in the past 10 years. From a writer's angle think about it as trying to make sense of what just happened. Think about The Fixer's extremism and our own whenever we are meant to "take sides in a debate". Any argument is a war, and war is an extreme.

If anything, this sounds like Miller going full-fledged into the world of satire, a genre that disguises hate and anger as wit, cynicism as intelligence, and flat-allegories as elements of criticism. The characters are almost always objects, not human beings. But I'm going off topic.

I'm a Muslim. And I ain't gonna hide it. What I don't like is my religion being distorted to fit extremist views, and then being challenged by even more extremist views. But I can't do anything about that now can I? I'll also be buying this book, because I like Miller's work. It's easier to judge Holy Terror, a comic book about extremes, as just another piece of ******** media sell; trying to be objective about it, however, would be harder. Maybe the book goes all meta for all I know.

 

[Drz]

Frank Miller talks Holy Terror

Newsarama: Holy Terror opens on the fictional Empire City and their version of the Statue of Liberty, called the Statue of Blind Justice. This really tells us it’s a fictional place, but one not too far away from New York City. Why do you think it was important to fictionalize the locale, as you did with Sin City?
Frank Miller: “Fictionalizing the locale” frees me up. I’m not trapped by competing re-interpretations of events, by competing definitions of events. I play fair with the reader: This is Frank’s story, and yes, it’s my memories — through my mind’s own filter — of what happened and could happen to the city I love. It’s not history, not reportage. Fictionalize? Of course. That’s what I do.

Nrama: You’ve been quoted before as saying you broke into super-hero comics when you realized you could do them as crime comics but with a hero in them. How has using the super-hero archetype as a metaphor evolved for you, specifically with Holy Terror?
Miller: I’ve always adored superheroes. With Holy Terror, I seek to return to the traditions of the 1940s, back when Nazism was identified as an existential enemy, just as the Islamo-fascists have shown themselves to be in my time. Superheroes fight bad guys. These are very bad guys.
Nrama: Seeing the lead character in Holy Terror named the Fixer reminds me that you used the same in your early days of comics as a character in your strip “Call It Karma” in the APA-5 fanzine. What led you to revisit that name, and did you bring more than just the name forward to this new work?
Miller: It’s a name I’ve kept in the back of my head since my childhood. It was waiting for the right character.




http://i.newsarama.com/images/Holy-Terror-42-44-22.jpg

​

Nrama: How did the Fixer develop for you once you had him in mind for this book?
Miller: He grew. He fleshed out as a new, fresh character, leaving all of Batman’s baggage behind. Batman, by the way, has some pretty nifty baggage. I always love to revisit Batman. He’s a wonderful character. But the Fixer is something all his own.
Nrama: This book famously began life as a Batman story before you decided it needed to break free of that and become its own thing. Once you made that decision, did it free you up to go back to the already completed work and revise it since it was fully yours, 100%?
Miller: I had wonderful freedom, and used it.
Nrama: When this book was originally announced in 2006, you described it as “a piece of propaganda” in the vein of Captain America punching Hitler. What are your thoughts about the potency of comics as propaganda, in the past and through to the present?
Miller: Propaganda has gotten a bad name. Something’s called “propaganda” only when the reader disagrees with it. If they agree, it’s called “relevant.”
An artist expressing a point of view? Whatever the medium, whatever the story’s intent, that’s propaganda, and it’s “relevant.”
Nrama: For Holy Terror you opted to hand-letter the book, essentially doing the whole book yourself except for color covers by Dave Stewart. Why’d you choose to internalize the production of the book?

​

Miller: It’s what the book looked like to me. I had to see it through.
Nrama: After living in L.A. for a number of years, you moved back to NYC in early 2001 – the same place you lived in the 70s and 80s when you first broke out in comics. What brought you back?
Miller: You’d have to be a New Yorker to understand. This is a city like no other.
Nrama: You did a memorial commentary on the September 11 attacks for NPR, which really struck me with your thoughts about patriotism not being this nostalgic relic but being a survival mechanism for a country. Let me ask you this before I let you go– what are you patriotic for?
Miller: Everything in the Constitution.

 

[Watchman]

Mr. Miller, please write and draw another Batman book! Or finish ASB. You'll probably finish before Jim Lee.

 

[Drz]

I wish Marvel would let him do the Captain America story Miller wants to tell.

 

[Nave 'Torment']

Yeah, finish up ASB! And it is history Frank. Everything you're writing. It all goes back to history... at least, the subjective (and perhaps real) view of it.

 

[Watchman]

I wish Marvel would let him do the Captain America story Miller wants to tell.

And his Superman story! I want to hear the collective scream of horror that comes from the internet.

 

[Drz]

When you say "Superman" you mean the sequel to TDKSA? Yeah same here.

 

[Watchman]

That was going to be a sequel to DKSA?! Oh, I need that now.

 

[theMan-Bat]

Yeah, finish up ASB! And it is history Frank. Everything you're writing. It all goes back to history... at least, the subjective (and perhaps real) view of it.

Frank Miller has written the issues. Frank's girlfriend Kimberly Cox, her user name on moebiusgraphics.com was StewiePickleEgg, named after their cat, said in 2009, "he's focusing on HOLY TERROR now because he already has the conclusion for the second half of ASBR written."
Frank Miller said last year about the release date:
“It depends on Jim,” Miller says of his collaborator, “He’s got a helluva schedule."
http://www.nycgraphicnovelists.com/2...-pastiche.html
Jim Lee explained, "It is completely my fault. Frank Miller has written the issues and it's just me finding the time to sit down and draw the pages and I feel horrible that it's fallen so far behind."
Jim Lee said that the delays "had nothing to do with Frank. He's been a prince through this entire process, and I've never had to wait on him. I was swamped with several projects at the same time that went longer than anticipated. I was continually playing catch up. Frank told me in our last meeting that I need to stop, take a deep breath, collect myself and set a realistic date where we could come back out on a regular basis, and that's what we decided to do."
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?p...ticle&id=25536
Newsarama reported on July, 23, this year, that at the San Diego Comic-Con Jim Lee said he has finished both Dark Knight: Boy Wonder and Batman: Europa pages, but both were put on hold for Geoff Johns' Justice League reboot. Jim Lee says he's hoping next year for both Dark Knight: Boy Wonder and Batman: Europa.
http://www.newsarama.com/comics/sdcc...ee-110723.html
Comic Book Resources reported that at the San Diego Comic-Con a fan asked if Dark Knight: Boy Wonder would ever see the light of day. Jim Lee assured the audience that the project was still in development, and that it was something he did, in fact, work on. He said he hopes that it might be available "sometime next year."
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?p...ticle&id=33609

That was going to be a sequel to DKSA?! Oh, I need that now.

Frank Miller said on moebiusgraphics.com in 2009: "I've got a whopper of a Superman story I'd love to tell--a third DK, in fact, and it'd involve Wonder Woman and Lara--but I think I've already pushed DC to their limit. These are multibillion-dollar franchises, after all--they have to protect them from pirates like me.

But who knows? ANYTHING can happen.

FM"

Also, in 2005, Frank Miller came up with another idea of a series taking Wonder Woman back to her roots, with Bill Sienkiewicz illustrating this one, called Wonder Woman: Bondage, which hadn't been given the approval of DC's Paul Levitz or Dan DiDio. Bill Sienkiewicz explained in May, 2011: "Frank and I were jazzed about working together again. We were up for doing another series and churning the waters on some old DC character, as he’d done with Dark Knight. Wonder Woman seemed like a pretty good choice. She been simultaneously revered and handled poorly in some incarnations. To me she’s always been a 'symbol' more than a character that has been well-utilized in a story context. The most interesting stuff was the earliest – and felt the ripest for revisiting. The fact that her creator William Marston also created the precursor to the lie detector and was into bondage lent a weird kinky vibe and made the idea of mucking with her and her origin a potentially fun trip. The image was done by me to visually test the water, so to speak and my own comfort level, if not everyone else’s, about how far it could be pushed. I did some others that were far more extreme, no one has seen those, this one was relatively tame by comparison. Still it was perhaps a bit over the top, but I think Frank and I invited that. So was the idea for the series in very basic broad stroke discussions between Frank and I, with some input from then-DC editor Bob Schreck. The piece was never intended to be seen by anyone else, but of course, someone bought the original, and despite assurances from everyone who had seen the piece that they would not pass it along (I should have known better, it was too provocative NOT to make the rounds)… ah well, so it goes. But as for actually doing the series – who knows?"
http://www.buzzfeed.com/donnad/wonder-woman-bondage
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/05/12/bill-sienkiewicz-and-frank-millers-wonder-woman-bondage/

I'm not surprised that DC didn't publish Holy Terror. I remember Kyle Baker saying "It was the kind of stuff that was getting censored out of DC Comics, any reference to that. Paul [Levitz, DC Publisher] shredded some books that had Columbine references or something. I felt that, at the time, it was such a major thing that at least somebody should talk about it. But that was back then, and since then we've had 9/11. I tend to like to talk about things that nobody talks about. You'd be amazed at some of the stuff that gets cut out of Plastic Man. Because he works for the FBI, I keep trying to put in things that the FBI is dealing with, like the fact that they're not allowed to investigate 9/11."
http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/resources/interviews/2251/
Bob Schreck had first been Frank Miller's editor on the Sin City books at Dark Horse in the '90s. As editor, he basically serves as a guardian, allowing Frank Miller creative freedom.
Bob Schreck joined DC in 2001 and served as the Group Editor in the Batman-office, after Denny O'Neil retired. “I was only at DC for a little while but I got a phone call and it was Frank Miller,” Bob Schreck recalled. "Frank said, 'I think I have another story in me and it's been brewing for a while. Let's go.' Once again, the comfort zone and the ability to know that most of what you want to get done will get done. No one's perfect and I've dropped my share of balls in the process, but there's a certain comfort zone for him to know that I'm going to be fighting for him when it comes to the simplest of things. Yeah, it was a given that once he said, 'Yeah, I want to do the Dark Knight Strikes Again,' that I would be his editor."
There was editorial conflict between Bob Schreck and Dan DiDio early on, indeed Dan DiDio stated that he wanted to do his own continuity-free All-Star-like line (Earth One) in conflict with Bob Schreck's books from Frank Miller (All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder) and Grant Morrison (All-Star Superman), two of DC’s biggest successes in recent years.
Paul Pope revealed he was on board for a “third year of All-Star Superman” that would have seen him “share art duties with J. H. Williams III and Richard Corben.”
Bob Schreck said a Dave Stevens Superman project was also shot down. Another one was a story by Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner that was “dumped” by a higher up from DC. Bob Schreck also mentioned a Batman story to be drawn by Cliff Chiang that was also nixed.
Bob Schreck's move to DC's Vertigo line in 2006 was as a result of clashes with DC Editorial within the main DC Universe Editorial department, and was seen by some as keeping Karen Berger’s kingdom at DC in check - or Karen Berger keeping Bob Schreck in check. But with new Vertigo books continuing to lose money, personalities continuing to clash, and Karen Berger's position assured (longstanding high profile brand line, reinvention of the mainstream comics market) a peace-of-a-sorts and a demonstration of cut-backs was achieved by showing Bob Schreck the door. DC laid off Bob Schreck in 2009.
Bob Schreck became the Editor In Chief of Legendary Comics in 2010. It's very telling that Holy Terror was not published by DC. Bob Schreck calls Holy Terror, "A fast paced, biting commentary on our uncertain and volatile times, told with some of the most gut-wrenching, iconic images Frank Miller's ever produced. It has been my extreme pleasure and honor to have worked so closely with Frank for over 20 years now.
How could anybody in their right mind say, 'No, we don't want to work with Frank Miller?' The guy knows what he's doing. There's not many people you could put in that box, especially in the last 15 years. I can put one in there: Frank Miller. He's got a pretty good track record."
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=954
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=19802http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=19673
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=28130
http://www.bleedingcool.com/forums/...k-The-New-Editor-In-Chief-Of-Legendary-Comics
http://www.digitalspy.com/comics/news/a327521/bob-schreck-holy-terror-is-gut-wrenching.html

 

[Drz]

So i read Holy Terror today, i'll try tonight or tomorrow to write up a summary, going to see Drive soon! I will say this: Frank Miller at his best when it comes to art, but the plot is thin, the dialogue gets abit repetive at the start with not-Catwoman talking about her pain, i didn't feel this comic was offensive to Muslims or pro-Americans or well anyone, it was just a story about a two people murdering terrorists, but the weak link here is the pacing definately as it starts off slow and personal, then the terrorists attack, then Fixer gets help and then the big closure already happens and then the ending comes, i do like the ideas that Miller provides with the last panel monologue, but yeah this book is re-read worthy due to the art, but i think i need to re-read it abit just to understand it as well haha.

I can definately see this as a Batman book that happens post-Year One but pre-All Star Batman and Robin, sure this guy is murdering, but All Star Batman was totally okay with torturing bad guys, so it's just alittle bits of adjustments here and there.

 

[Nave 'Torment']

Great post from the Man-Bat. I don't know how Frank would handle WW, maybe he'd really push the level of bondage from Marston and go all the way. At any rate, I'll be more interested in seeing his Wonder Woman than Grant Morrison's. Frank knows his Greek. Even if it isn't the man-hating angry babe from ASB, his WW, or his Amazons for that matter, might evoke the orgy-infested alphabet soup that is Greek Mythology, and that's something that most writers never dare to venture towards. Nevertheless, I like that he keeps deconstructing the heroes, so yeah it's worth a shot.

On a side note, he'd never write a positive story about the Amazons. Not our Frank.

 

[Nave 'Torment']

Has anyone been to his blog lately? The discussions there are crazy. And I don't mean that in a good way. The commentors seem to bounce back and forth. Good to see Holy Terror is as controversial as it dared to be.

 

[theMan-Bat]

So i read Holy Terror today, i'll try tonight or tomorrow to write up a summary, going to see Drive soon!

Good choice.

I will say this: Frank Miller at his best when it comes to art, but the plot is thin, the dialogue gets abit repetive at the start with not-Catwoman talking about her pain

The plot of Holy Terror was never proclaimed to be a complex mystery plot. From the start Frank Miller described Holy Terror's plot as "Batman kicks al-Qaeda’s ass. It’s a love letter to a city, because it’s about Gotham City coming under attack. So it involves a lot more dramatic, industrial landscapes than I’ve done in years. Emotionally, it’s deliberately raw. Whether it comes between a man and a woman, or a man and his city, or between a man and a guy who’s going to go out and kicks al-Qaeda’s butt. I’m doing this mainly as an explosion from my own gut in reaction to what’s happening now, but also as a reminder to people who’ve seemed to have forgotten that we’re up against an utterly ruthless existential foe who is as vile as any we’ve ever faced. I’m appalled at the equivocations, and I wish that the entertainers of our time had the spine and the focus that the ones who faced down Hitler did. Superman punched out Hitler. So did Captain America. That’s one of the things they’re there for. These are symbols of our people, of our country. These are our folk heroes. It just seemed to be kind of silly to be chasing around the Riddler when you’ve got al-Qaeda out there."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1582772/posts
The repetition in Catwoman's dialogue while in pain -- "Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ! Jesus! This really hurts! Ow! Damn it! It really hurts!" -- is the way people really talk spontaneously while in pain, so that doesn't bother me. It makes it seem more real than it would if all the characters spoke more thoughtfully, properly, politely and eloquently all the time like playwrights with proper edict.

I can definately see this as a Batman book that happens post-Year One but pre-All Star Batman and Robin

That's right. Frank Miller said it's pre-Robin. Frank Miller: "It's a young Batman." Amazon.com: "Pre-Robin?"
Frank Miller: "Yep, pre-Robin."
Frank Miller said, "I'm going to just do the whole thing and then show it to DC."
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=562386
He eventually showed Holy Terror to DC and discovered that DC wouldn't publish it, and he knew the only way he could get Holy Terror published was to change the names from the DC copyrighted names, remove the ears from Batman and Catwoman's costumes, and he has to claim that the Fixer is very different than Batman in order to prevent DC from calling it a copyright infringement. I believe Frank Miller is politely covering for DC by taking the blame for the decision to change the names in the book from Batman, Catwoman, Jim Gordon, Gotham City, because he wants to stay on good terms with DC since he would like to make more comics of the DC characters.

Great post from the Man-Bat.

Thank you.

Has anyone been to his blog lately? The discussions there are crazy. And I don't mean that in a good way. The commentors seem to bounce back and forth. Good to see Holy Terror is as controversial as it dared to be.

Views differ. The commentors there are being civil, at least so far.

 

[Drz]

I also think a certain character in the book is none other than Ras' al Ghul, i'll post this in a spoiler tag:

Spoiler

The Fixer has an ascociate named David, who has the star of David tattooed on his face, we learn that Fixer first met David in Yemen a few years ago. Fixer refers him as "the most dangerous man on earth" and he has two asian assassins protecting her that Fixer refers as his most loyal and dedicated students who are always busy killing in his name. David has also seemingly implanted the idea of terrorists uprising and attacking, and thus Fixer has his entire life been dedicated for this cause.

Now if you swap David from the Jew religion to Ras' al GHul the man who sees Batman as his heir, i'd say that could have been an awesome addition to the Dark Knight Universe, where young Bruce Wayne had been given the idea of terrorists organization rising up, but then again Ras' al Ghul himself (and thus David, who is an asociate with Fixer) are practically their own terrorist group, since David symbols Judaism, it just shows Miller points out that both religions have their fanatics, it's like templars vs. ottoman empire all over again, and thats what i really liked about the Fixer. He's so messed up.

Also theMan-Bat you are right about the pain thing, silly for me to think otherwise. I've read this book 3 times now and i am very satisfied with it. Only thing that could be improved is if it was an actual Batman book, but hey i have imagination.

 

[Nave 'Torment']

Yeah, I can totally see that as Ra's. It's just too much him. Even in Batman Begins The League of Shadows reminded me a lot about extremist factions around the world.

But, the way the Fixer works, I can't help but thinking that if this was Gotham, Batman would have been bringing him in rather than taking sides with him.

 

[Drz]

Here's my thoughts on Holy Terror, i think i go too deep into spoiler territory and alot of it, is me talking about how this works in the Dark Knight universe and so forth. Hope you like!

Frank Miller's Holy Terror
"Empire City will scream. In Agony. In Terror" never change Frank Miller. Never change.

I've read this book 3 times. The first time I read it and finished the story I had a hype backlash, I thought this book was going to about something else than I had in my mind, I loved the art and the dialogue was good, but I thought it would had been better than this. So I read it the 2nd time knowing what the story was, I no longer expected the story to go the way I thought and I came to appreciate it even further. I can see the easy Batman comparisons and how this book can perfectly fit within the Dark Knight universe, which is a shame it doesn't, but i am also very glad DC allowed this book to be released, because I'd assume it wouldn't be too hard to sue Legendary Pictures for copyright infringements. The 3rd time I read it I really came to appreciate the book for what it was. It's a standalone story about Terror with the Fixer being the hero who saves Empire City for doom, but it does dig deeper into the character and it does have its propaganda as well as Frank Miller is clearly a very angry man about this situation, but this is also a pretty typical comic book story, it's not a mysterious detective story, it's not about aliens invading the world, it's about a vigilante stopping an terrorist organization and it wouldn't make any big difference if it was Captain America against Nazis or Nick Fury against HYDRA or Batman against the League of Assassins, really the terrorist villain group can easily be compared with HYDRA, AIM, HAND, H.A.M.M.E.R, KOBRA, LEVIATHAN and the likes, in fact at the very end of the book the terrorists really looked like Hydra Agents to me.

This book is by far the best illustrated comic Frank Miller has done. 3rd of the book feels more like an beautiful art book, it's nasty, it's chaotic, it's Empire City during heavy rain with The Fixer and the Cat Burglar Natalie Stack having a play of mouse and cat due to Natalie stealing a diamond bracelet. Fans of the God Damn Batman can rejoice as Miller inserts a nice "the Fixer. God Damn" when the protagonist of the book gets introduced, but here's where i sort of want to disagree, i honestly believe Natalie Stack is the main protagonist and it really works here, in the book both Natalie and the Fixer share closely the same amount of narration, but the Fixer later in the book is shown to be a pretty messed up person and i'll get to that later, but what I want to bring up is the very wise narrative decision Miller did when choosing to have "Catwoman" in this book: She represents freedom, Catwoman after all is perhaps one of the most self-assured heroines there are, she isn't bound to a desire for justice or a religious cause, no she just does whatever she wants and not giving a damn what people think of her, while also obviously being interested in the only true man she's met: Batman. Very wise decision to use her as the main narrator and heroine of the story, because even if this had been a Batman story, fans of the Dark Knight universe know that Batman considers his mission as a crusade, a holy war and like Batman, the Fixer is a very messed up Dirty Harry person.

The terrorists, like any other great super villain organization has their roots deep, and Empire City like Miller's Gotham City is full of corruption. Captain Dan Donegal (Captain Jim Gordon) is the honest good cop who is an associate with the Fixer, but alas the Empire City police force gets scattered as the Commissionaire is corrupt and the terrorists also have teenagers such as exchange students up on their sleeve alongside international mercenaries who'll kill anyone for their love for money and of course the terrorists are full of extremists Zealots. The terrorists aren't shown as faceless villains as a scene where the Fixer keeps murdering wave after wave them, we actually see panels of what these people look like beneath the cowls and masks, thus giving them abit of humanity and not as some mutant monsters or faceless evil.

The 1st wave of attack is thru suicide bombers who explode full of nails scattering all around the city in multiple places, hitting people and thus impaling body parts, the 2nd wave of suicide bombers happens thru razor blades to cut people, and here comes my 1st favourite scene of the entire book. This beatiful story telling flow almost like it was an motion comic movie feature the Fixer saving Natalie, carrying her on his chest like she was weightless the Fixer swings to safety and we see Natalie asking "The bastards. How many of my neigbhours have they murdered?" in which Miller further shows his story telling ingenius where everything simply goes white, it's a very sad moment and just reflects how many people indeed die from these attacks.

Miller's political attacks begin right this instant we see people such as Michael Moore, Vladimir Putin, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Sarah Palin, Benjamin Netanyahu, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Kim Jong-il and so many other political figures i can't even name them all. Most of them are just all smiling amidst this chaos, perhaps reflecting how these said people talk about terrorism and world peace while not being an average joe such as Frank Miller who is an victim of the 9/11 terrorist attack so he has a lot of anger, you can feel the anger as he attacks politicians and he also attacks today's society of people in the form of a Michael Bay movie. Yes, the Michael Bay Transformer movies receive a cameo showcasing teenagers talking how epic, awesome and "kewl" it is, which might be either Frank Miller attacking how we simply don't care about what's happening in the real world as long as we have our mindless entertainment, it could be about how people endorse violence, since considering the latest Transformer movie had the protagonists rip the villains into little pieces with no mercy whatsoever. There are also attacks on the Islam religion, but i would say Miller does a big attack on Judaism as well, which i'll now dig into alongside the Fixer's motivations.

As we enter the 3rd Act of the story the Fixer takes Natalie to an old warehouse where the Fixer's associate David is. David is a mysterious man with a Star of David tattooed on his face, he has two Asian assassins as his pupils & bodyguards. Fixer remarks him as "the most dangerous man alive" if this was a Batman book, I'd swear this man was none other than Ras' al Ghul, it's like Frank Miller watched Batman Begins and liked the idea of Ras' al Ghul being an important part of Batman's adventures, we learn that the Fixer and David met in Yemen and that's where David had told him he was just waiting for an terrorist attack to come, this is where Natalia learns that the Fixer's entire motivation for being a vigilante was to stay in shape for a night like this, because he knew it was coming and now as he was entering a war his mind was at peace, this is my 2nd favorite scene as Natalia suggests and questions: What if David had just managed to suggest something to make Fixer so damn paranoid? The Fixer is more or less a pawn of some possible Jewish man who controls his own mercenary group and assassins, to me this really feels like the idea that Ras' al Ghul had wanted Batman as his heir and warned about how terrorists will attack Gotham city, and that's why I really wish this was part of the Dark Knight Universe.

Now i think i've already gone way too detailed about all the story details, but Act 3 is obviously the conclusion of the Fixer and Natalie doing their best to stop the terrorists from their final wave of attack, but i will say that the very last page of the book alongside all the propaganda and talks about terrorism is very emotional and you can one way or another really feel Miller's pain. I mean look at the world after 9/11 and you can see how terrorism has become a word used to control and scare people, so yes i did like the way the last page ends the book and the theme on Terror.

Rating: 85/100: I don't think this is anymore "offensive" as Frank Miller's Daredevil, The Dark Knight or his Sin City books. It's very beautifully illustrated and the dialogue is Miller's fun Sin City like extreme Noir, my favorite quote from the Fixer has to be the one he remarks when he starts murdering the terrorists is: "We engage in postmodern diplomacy" So as far as Frank Miller's work goes, it's a pretty fun entertaining action book that just sadly isn't part of the Dark Knight Universe, because i think alot of Batman fans would have loved how the romance and relationship between Batman and Catwoman is written, this takes after "Year One" but before Dark Knight: Boy Wonder, but yeah i don't believe i have anything else to add except this Holy Terror trailer Legendary entertainment did for the Graphic Novel.

 

[chamber-music]

Read it and thought it sucked.

 

[The Overlord]

I wish Marvel would let him do the Captain America story Miller wants to tell.

I hope that doesn't happen, Miller has jumped the shark years ago, most of what he has written in the past decade sucks. He shouldn't be allowed to write a main stream comic book character. Frank Millers was a man of his time, his best work was in the 80s, take out of his time and he starts to flounder.