Amazon.com

Sin City launched the long-running, critically acclaimed series of comics novels by Frank Miller. Having worked on some of the most important comic books in the 1980s, including Marvel Comics's Daredevil and the influential Batman graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns, Miller was already a heavy-weight cartoonist, but he hit his stride with Sin City. It gave him the freedom that doesn't come when working on someone else's characters. While the art isn't as polished as in later books, it is in many ways the quintessential Sin City story: tough-guy Marv finds the girl of his dreams, an incredible beauty named Goldie. But when Goldie is murdered on their first night together, Marv scours the bars and back alleys of Sin City to find her killer in hopes of avenging her death. ... Read more

Reviews (65)

Really good novel
This is a great graphic novel. The art is very good and unique however, it can look a little sloppy at times it's sill great. The story is very goodand the words are in the movie. Also the diologue and monologues are very natural and discriptive at the same time. If you don't like sex and violece avoid this at all cost. If you're into that sort of thing pick it but, it's a little short for 17 bucks but it's very good.

Great beggining to Sin City
I have to say that as soon as I saw the trailer for Sin City on TV i became obssesed. After that it was sin city this sin city that. Although I haven't seen the movie yet, i cant till its on video. Anyways this is one of the best comic books/graphic novels I have ever read. Frank Miller's way of drawing in all black or white is amazing. The storyline definately keeps you wanting to know who Marv is killing next. The basic plot of the story is about a brute of a man by the name of Marv who falls in love with a hooker named Goldie after one night. He wakes up and finds her dead next to him, and spends the rest of the story fighting and killing his way to the culprit. Kevin is by far the most disturbing character ever made (a mute cannibal who cuts the heads of women and eats the rest of them). The comic book does have nudity and some violence in it and isn't appropriate for young kids who are used to stuff like spider man or x-men. this is definately a must read.

Marv introduces you to the comic noir of Miller's "Sin City"
In a note in the back of "The Hard Goodbye," Frank Miller explains that this one got away from him.What was supposed to be a 48-page crime thriller turned into a 200-page graphic novel, all because Marv, the story's brutal misanthropic protagonist, started bossing Miller around.If you have seen "Sin City" the movie where Mickey Rourke steals the film as Marv, then you can understand Miller's explanation.You will understand it even more when you read the graphic novel, the first volume in the Miller's comic noir saga.

For me Frank Miller began the road that ends in "Sin City" with "Daredevil" #164, which retold the hero's origin.There is a series of panels in which Daredevil is chasing down the Fixer, the man who arranged the fight that Battling Murdock refused to throw.In each frame Daredevil gets closer to his quarry and cutting across the panels is a line representing the Fixer's heart beat, which goes from blind panic to full cardiac arrest before flatlining.It was at that point that I knew Miller was starting to think of what he could do with art in a comic book.After his work on "Daredevil" there was "Ronin" and "The Dark Knight Returns," and eventually Miller gets to Marv.

There is no doubt that Marv is the walking path of destruction that dominates this narrative.He is extremely violent, deeply disturbed, and whatever medication he is taking is just not doing the job.Still, he is a sympathetic figure because pretty much everybody he is maiming and killing are the real scum of the earth and he is on a mission to avenge the death of Goldie, the beautiful blonde who gave him a toss in the hay.He falls asleep in bed with her, having one of those moments of true happiness that never bodes well, and wakes up with her dead and the cops on their way.Marv is being set up, but that is incidental in his mind to the fact somebody killed Goldie, so somebody has to pay along with everybody else who stands in his way.The grand irony here is Marv and his interior monologues are the voice of sanity by the time he finds the killer.

The characters and the dialogue are easy to characterize as Mickey Spillane types on steroids.Then there is Miller's artwork as he explores what can done with just black and white on a page.The result is wildly experimental and sometimes you can a sense of how rough Miller's ideas are by the time he finishes a page.The first page of the story is more black than white, with Goldie's lips, the outline of her hair, the white skin exposed by the strapless gown and gloves etched out in seductive folds sets the tone for the artwork.The second page is the opposite with more white than black and offers a more conventional view of Marv and Goldie, and already you like the first page better.The third page offers a synthesis of the first two and it is like Miller is laying out the new ground rules.There are figures reduced to silhouettes except for hair or teeth (or bandages), and others reduced to white images against a field of black.Then we get to Marv standing in the rain in Chapter 8 and looking at the statue of Cardinal Roarke, at which point Miller is trying something completely different from the rest of the book.

I have no doubt that if Miller was to do "The Hard Goodbye" today that there would be significant changes in the artwork that would provide a refinement of the raw energy displayed here.There are times when the justification for the artwork seems to clearly be that it is different from the pages Miller has just drawn as opposed to be the best way of illustrating that part of the narrative.But this is the first story in an ongoing series, so allowances can be made if Miller really did decide to do a page a certainly way for no other reason than he had not done one that way yet.After all, it is not like he was coming up with 200 different pages of artwork and by the time you get to Chapter 8, which I think is artistically far and away the best of the entire graphic novel, it is equally clear Miller knows exactly what he is doing and all of the pieces are falling into place.The joy of watching the art evolve in this story makes up for the rough patches.

These stories were originally published in issues #51-62 of the Dark Horse comic book series "Dark Horses Presents" and in the "Dark Horse Presents Fifth Anniversary Special."This second edition has come out with the rest of the extant "Sin City" collection in term to be gobbled up by fans of the movie version and those who come from the theater to the graphic novel will probably be surprised how faithful Robert Rodriguez was to Frank Miller's story and vision.Then again, that was the whole point of doing the film the way it was done.

High impact artwork
"See the life through the eyes of an artist, and the art through the eyes of life."

It's not easy being green...
...or black and white for that matter. The good guys in this book are bad and the bad guys are just plain disgusting! A pill popping murderer(with a soft heart) battles a flesh eating priest and his misunderstood cannibal friend. It just doesn't get any darker than this.

Besides the unnaturally sexy women (most of whom are prostitutes), there is nothing attractive about this world that Frank Miller has created. Yet still you will find yourself sucked in by that part of yourself that wants to slow down as you drive by an accident. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Because of a shocking ending to the first Sin City book, many people wondered how successful Frank Miller could be with future tales of his no-holds-barred city noir. Enter Dwight McCarthy, a clean-living photographer who tries to avoid trouble because he knows what he's capable of. His tactics don't do him much good when a girl from his past (who he can't say no to) shows up and professes her love for him. When he finds out she's in way over her head, it looks as though trouble has found him. What's going to happen? You guessed it: people get hurt. ... Read more

Reviews (24)

Sin city is so cool
I really liked Marv in Book 1 and in the movie.Marv was my favorite movie story.I was really sad to see him die in the first book.

But, this book is really cool, because it takes place about the same time as Book 1, chronologically, and Marv is in this story a lot.This story is the first story with Dwight in it, back before he got his facelift.

I was also relieved that they didn't cherry pick the best story lines for Sin City 1, the movie.This story is every bit as well written as the other stories.

There's a lot more nudity in this book than the first one, and the book is printed entirely in black and white.

Better have tough innards
After the horrific ending in Sin City 1, I wasn't sure I could handle another in the series. Enter Sin City 2, "A Dame to Kill For," and photographer Dwight McCarthy. Not the coolest guy in the world, but, then I guess it fits the genre. His life is ugly and boring. He'd like to make some changes, but then Ava returns from his past. Sleazy Dwight falls hard, again, and the result is violent, sadistic and infatuating.

Don't know how many of these I can take, but I am hooked on the visual, comic book imagery Miller creates. I'd definitely not recommend this book for teenagers (my 13-year-old is my sample) or for the faint-of-heart.

The story of how Dwight ended up with a new mug in Sin City
"A Dame to Kill For," which is Book 2 in Frank Miller's "Sin City" series, is now going to be known as the only one of the first four books that was not part of the "Sin City" movie.Given the options it was a smart move because this one tells the story of what happened that made Dwight get a new mug and "The Big Fat Kill" is the better tale of the two if you are going to do one Dwight story and if you want to do a story in two parts "That Yellow Bastard" is a better choice as well.

Dwight is reduced by circumstances, most notably an attempt to stay sober, to spying on men cheating on their wives with prostitutes so that he can take their photographs.What he desperately wants is one clear chance to wipe the slate clean and get his life together.Four years earlier Ava left Dwight for another man and he knows that seeing her again is nothing but bad news above the fold even without the banner headline.He should just kill her or at least walk away, but when she begs him for help none of the cold harsh realities of what she has done and what sort of woman she really is matters to Dwight.He is going to need all the help he can get to deal with Ava, because being sober is not making Dwight smart enough to avoid making one big mistake.

In terms of the "Sin City" chronology, "A Dame to Kill For" comes before "The Hard Goodbye."We know because Marv is not only in the bar where Nancy is dancing as Dwight comes by for a visit, he helps his pal out when the hero of this story finds the man mountain named Manute to be insurmountable.This ends up working against this story in a couple of ways.You had to agree that it is hard to think of Marv as just a sidekick given how strong of a character that he is, and the fact that Dwight cannot handle Manute makes him a lesser hero.After all, it is Marv who labels Ava with the titular appellation.I knew that he was going to get his act together in the end, given what happens in the next book, but for most of this one Dwight is getting beat up, thrown through a window, and shot a whole bunch of times.Clearly Miller is making a point about the healing power of a burning desire for revenge

Overall, the black & white artwork (or, I should say, white on black artwork) is less experimental in Book 2 and if anything looks like it was drawn with white ink on black paper rather than the other way around.For me the sequence that stands out is in Chapter 2 when Dwight heads to a bar to meet with Ava and all of the panels have smoke drifting through them, although some of Miller's panels where the blinds on the windows make for alternative parallel lines of light and darkness are interesting (there are others that are just overkill).For the most part Miller is laying out the story so that it looks more like a conventional comic book than Book 1, so there is not the sense of boldness from before.But then the story is less ambitious as Dwight comes across as just another guy who made the mistake of thinking with some other part of his anatomy besides what is between his ears.

In 1995 "A Dame to Kill For" won Will Eisner's Best Limited Series Award so it is not like it is a book to skip.If you make it to Book 2 in the "Sin City" series you should be in for the long haul and more of those hot nights, dry and windless, that are the kind that make people do sweaty, secret things.

May not be the best in the series but is still very good
I definately thought the hard goodbye was great, but a dame to kill for wasn't the best. The story is about a guy named Dwight who is trying to forget his past. Until he meets Ava again, she is an old girlfriend who left him for a richer man. This is where the story got a little too mushy. Dwight starts loving her again and starts trying to save her when she tells him her husbands abusive gaurd named Manute beats her and tortures her. You'll find Marv is also in this story because this story takes place before and during the hard goodbye. Although this book does have a very good twist to it i just wasn't interested in Dwight's love life. it is still a good book though.

Love and death and grey all over...
Sin City may be black ink on white paper, but it's nothing without the grey. The characters in this book are grey--all over.

A Dame to Kill For is the story of Dwight. Dwight is a good guy with 2 bad habits--booze & broads. But he's sober now. He's taking great pictures of husbands doing nasty things to women who aren't their wives in order to make a living as a private-eye. Dwight is damaged, but on the mend--until Ava shows up. Then it all gets messy. Really messy.

This is the 2nd tale of Sin City and about mid-way through the story Marv, the star of the first book, makes a guest appearance. This book stands completely on its own from book 1 (The Hard Goodbye). However, Marv's story in The Hard Goodbye begins to intertwine with Dwight's and Miller throws in a few cameos for those who read The Hard Goodbye.

This is probably my favorite Sin City yarn. I love them all, but in my opinion creator Frank Miller found his stride in book 1 then ran with it in spades with this book.

And for those folks delving into the world of Sin City because of the 2005 film, this book will be a special treat cuz it's the prequel to Dwight's story in The Big Fat Kill, in which Clive Owen, Michael Clarke Duncan & Rosario Dawson starred in the 2005 film.Do yourself a favor and throw down the cash for this book now. Trust me, $12 is peanuts for the all entertainment packed in these pages. ... Read more

Amazon.com

In a Sin City short story, "The Babe Wore Red," Frank Miller deviated from his stark black-and-white artwork by adding tiny bits of color throughout the story. The girl's dress was red, her lips were red--you get the picture. In That Yellow Bastard, the fourth Sin City graphic novel, Miller's experiment with yellow ink is also a tremendous success.The setup is simple. On the last day before he retires, Hartigan, an old cop, gets a call about an 11-year-old girl who has been kidnapped by a lunatic.Hartigan has got just one more thing to do before he retires: save the girl. Saving her is the easy part, because Hartigan has uncovered something really bad that is not going to stop until it catches up with him.That Yellow Bastard is nerve-racking to the very end. ... Read more

Reviews (19)

THAT YELLOW BASTARD!
The story starts with Hartigan, who is a 60 year old cop with a heart condition during his last day before his retirement. Not more than an hour before he's ready to leave he gets a call about an eleven year old girl whos been kidnapped. The girl is Nancy Callahan, the kidnapper is senator Roark's son. Hartigan risks his life to save her before she's raped and killed. When he shoots Junior and saves the girl all hell breaks lose. He is held captive by Junior's father and is beaten for eight years. And framed by senator roark for raping Nancy. Junior Roark undergoes a surgory because of Harigan shooting him. The surgeory ends up turning him all yellow. Hartigan gets out of captivity and uknowingly leads yellow bastard right to Nancy. This story will definately keep you reading all the way to the tragic ending. yellow bastard is by far the most disgusting character creating by Miller. He's a pervert child rapist who gets turned on by listening to women screaming in pain. This is definatetly innapropriate for younger kids, but if your older you'll love it.

A classic in its own right
To be frank (ha ha), I haven't seen another Greek tragedy realized in the noir genre as well since "Taxi Driver". "That Yellow Bastard" just nails it, thanks to Frank Miller, who I consider not only a legend in the comics industry, but in the literary mainstream as well. He is a Grade-A knock-you-on-your-ass storyteller and artist, plain and simple. This is not an introspective tale, and it will not make you feel warm and good inside, but then again neither do all the other Sin City yarns. This is probably more tragic than "The Hard Goodbye" in an emotional aspect, because even though Marv was a tough-as-nails, morally-confused man, whom everybody wanted dead in the first place, Sin City beat Hartigan down harder in every which way. His life is torn to shreds when he fights a war against corruption that he couldn't win in the first place. In my eyes, the downward spiral for Hartigan is as enduring as "Hamlet" or say "Romeo and Juliet", since Hartigan has this unshakable bond with a girl he saved 8 years prior, but in the end, any chance of happiness he could share with Nancy Callahan ultimately falls apart and trust me, if the last three or so pages doesn't kick you in the gut, nothing else will. I sincerely hope that this will be remembered in the far future as a great piece of storytelling. Raymond Chandler and Sam Spade would be proud.

The Best Sin City Book
"That Yellow Bastard" is Miller's best work on the Sin City series."A Dame to Kill For" is a close second.The movie has helped to make these books more widely available.A year ago, this was a tough book to find.

There are a bunch of Sin City books out there that are collections of short stories. I prefer the longer stories, so they feel more like a book than a comic. If you feel the same way, order the titles I mentioned above, and also pick up "The Big Fat Kill."

"That Yellow Bastard" is represented in the movie with the Bruce Willis/Jessica Alba parts, mostly in the final third of the movie.

I was riveted for the whole book, couldn't put it down.Buy it!

BOOM!
This is the fourth graphic novel in Frank Miller's Sin City series.John Hartigan is one of the few honest cops in Sin City, and it's his last day on the job before he retires.He saves a little girl from a rapist/child killer, but the murderer has a big shot politician father.Hartigan's life goes to Hell afterwards, and that's all I will say about the plot.This is another awesome black and white "noir" comic by Miller (with yellow used to color "That Yellow Bastard").Just a great example of graphic storytelling.This is one of the stories being adapted in the upcoming Sin City motion picture.Here is a list of who plays the characters from this book:

John Hartigan - Bruce Willis
Nancy Callahan - Jessica Alba
Junior - Nick Stahl
Bob - Michael Madsen
Lucille - Carla Gugino

"I take his weapons away from him...both of them"
What makes Frank Miller tick?What drives one of the most renowned writers in comic history to write the kind of character driven, gritty and hard edged stories he is famous for?Who knows, but from his early work on Daredevil to his groundbreaking Dark Knight Returns story, the man has proven he is a master writer.His Sin City stories for Dark Horse are no exception, and That Yellow Bastard is without a doubt the best Sin City yarn Miller has ever penned.John Hartigan is an old cop on the verge of retirement, and on his last day on the job, he responds to a kidnapping call.What results is a showdown with a deranged psychopath in order to save a young girl named Nancy, but regular Sin City readers know that in this city, things don't always work out for the best.By the time That Yellow Bastard reaches it's climax, you'll be left in awe at one of the absolute greatest comics ever created.Miller's art is about what you might expect: unpleasent, gritty, and well suited to the story.Not to mention, you'll never look at the color yellow the same way again.That Yellow Bastard is devestatingly surreal and brutal at the same time, and if you've never read any of Miller's Sin City works, now has never been a better time to dive in, and with the upcoming movie coming out, you might want to check this out first. ... Read more

Amazon.com

With The Big Fat Kill Frank Miller is at it again with another comics packed with guns, lovers, losers, and surprises. In Sin City's Old Town, the prostitutes run the show. "The cops stay out.That leaves the girls free to keep the pimps and the mob out." Sounds like an OK place, right? It is until a pushy, loud-mouthed guy who has had one too many drinks comes into Old Town and gets himself killed by the ladies. When they find out who he is, they realize that "it'll be war. The streets will run red with blood. Women's blood." ... Read more

Reviews (15)

The Dwight story from the movie
Frank Miller has done such an excellent job with each of his books.I'm reading all of the Sin City books, and I just finished this one.

I'm totally amazed at how closely the movie follows the book, and yet there were subtle differences that make the movie better, and the book more interesting to read.For example, this book references a few things from earlier books, and those references didn't make it into the movie.

The artwork in this is incredible.The story is incredible.

This book, and the other two books have been entirely black and white, except for the pictures of the comic covers in the first few pages, which really doens't count.

I recommend this book to everyone, except those who are turned off by blatant violence, nudity, and language.

ANOTHER GREAT, BLOODY, BRUTAL, GORY TALE FROM SIN CITY
So far this is one of my favorite sin city books. The story starts off at Dwights girlfriend Shellie's house. Jackie Boy (who is Shellie's previous lover) is outside her door and wont leave her alone and insists he comes in. So he comes in drunk with some friends. Dwight is at her house and is waiting for Jack in the bathroom. Jack hits Shellie and Dwight roughs him up a little bit and scares them off. Jack and his friends drive off to old town with Dwight following them. The girls of old town then gruesomely kill jack and his friends. They then find out something about jack that makes them wish they never killed him. From then on it turns into a bloodbath of revenge and murder as Dwight and the girls do there best to keep all of sin city from crashing down on them. This is a very well written and illustrated story. But keep the young kids away.

Dwight has to help out the ladies of Old Town with a problem
"The Big Fat Kill," Book 3 of Frank Miller's "Sin City" graphic novels once again focuses on the character of Dwight, who got himself a new face and a new attitude in the previous story, "A Dame to Kill For."The latter was the more important part, because Dwight did not come across as being anyway as interesting as Marv, the hero of the first "Sin City" story who is back to lend Dwight a helping hand in the second.Dwight is not exactly alone this time either, but he is certainly more capable of holding his own than previously.

Dwight is spending some time with Shellie the waitress when Jackie Boy shows up with a mean drunk and four of his friends.The old Dwight would have had some problems with that situation, but our hero has definitely grown up.Getting Jackie Boy to leave Shellie alone should be the end of it, but Dwight is convinced that the night will not end until Jackie Boy hurts somebody and Dwight takes the responsibility for making sure that does not happen.But when Jackie Boy ends up to Old Town where the ladies ply their trade of prostitution and are the law, "beautiful and merciless," it looks like Dwight's help is not need at all.This, however, turns out to be the biggest mistake of the night and suddenly Dwight's services are most decidedly needed.

It will seem strange to pick out this particular "Sin City" story and say it is a bit over the top, since obviously all of them are.The ending is certainly brutally efficient but at the cost of any notion of elegance, which is usually preferred in a comic noir story such as this.Miller is certainly not experimenting as much in terms of his artwork as he was in the first novel in the series, but the rough way in which Dwight and Jackie Boy's faces are drawn is not to my liking.The full-page panels in this one have Miller's best artwork.This includes Dwight introducing Jackie Boy to the toilet, Dwight jumping into his car, and some of the ladies of Old Town.Still, all things considered, this ends up being a second tier Miller story and Dwight is still a second tier hero, still well worth the reading but not as good as it gets in "Sin City."

This trade paperback collects together the five issues of the original Dark Horse comic series, along with their covers (which actually introduce some color to Miller's artwork).In the back of the book you will find a Gallery of "Sin City" art contributed by the likes of Arthur Adams, Sergio Aragones, Joe Kumbert, Mike Mignola, John Romita, Walter Simonson, and some other artists who present their interpretations of Nancy Callahan, the ladies of Old Town, and other "Sin City" characters.

The Big Fat Cool
After getting this yesterday (...), I began to read with extremely high hopes. Those hopes were met. The action from the Sin City film was delivered.

(...)

Five out of five.

Nice art, good story, great dialogue, and a nice noir feeling to it. Recommended to fans of the flick, even though they're getting basically the same thing.

Frank Miller hits his stride with this one
"The Big Fat Kill" is a fantastic tale, told in a classic "noir" style with the modern touch of Frank Miller.

My favorite character is a supporting one, Miho, a Crouching-Tiger-style martial arts expert.The main story is about Dwight and... well, I won't ruin the book by giving away the whole story.Just buy it, you won't be sorry.

"Dame to Kill For," and "That Yellow Bastard" are also excellent."The Hard Goodbye" was a little gory for my taste, so if ultra-violence isn't your bag, you could skip that one (it's a "stand-alone" story anyway).

"The Big Fat Kill" is represented in the movie with the Clive Owen/Rosario Dawson parts, about the middle third of the film.

This is one great book! ... Read more

Amazon.com

Can anything be darker than noir? Try Frank Miller's Sin Cityseries. The tasty Hell and Back features Wallace, a brooding artist with a decided talent for hurting people, and Esther, a stunningly beautiful actress accidentally mixed up in a slavery ring that extends far and deep enough to transcend the word conspiracy. The tale twists, turns, and backtracks, teasing the reader with hints of terror to come--until the explosive climax. Miller's art is exactly right for his words; he uses more black than white, and color only when appropriate. The chapter dealing with Wallace's drug hallucinations is beautiful, heartbreaking, and terrifying in turn. Readers interested in the human dark side should find out what fans of Sin City already know: Frank Miller has seen it and wants to share. --Rob Lightner ... Read more

Reviews (13)

It's no kind of night to stay in the city.
This is the seventh and final (so far) book in Frank Miller's Sin City series.This time around, the story stars the new character of "Wallace".Wallace is an artist/war hero who saves a beautiful woman from commiting suicide.The woman ends up getting kidnapped, and Wallace goes to "Hell and back" to rescue her.That's all I will say about the plot.Some supporting characters from previous Sin City books show up here, but I won't spoil the surprise.This isn't the best Sin City story, but it's certainly the longest.If you read the other Sin City books, you may experience a "been there, done that" sensation while reading this book.Once again, a heroic guy rescues a damsel in distress.But while the plot may be a tad familiar, I still enjoyed the book.The artwork is as gorgeous as ever, and there are a few new touches, here and there.This is not the first Sin City book you should read, but fans of the series will probably enjoy it.I would recommend reading the books in order, so this would be the last one to read.

A swing and a miss...or three.
Hell & Back is Frank Miller's latest addition to his Sin City series of black & white comics, and unfortunately his most disappointing. Frank shakes things up and takes a few chances with this particular Sin City yarn and for that I applaud him. However, not every gamble pays off and such is the case with Hell & Back.

Miller's Sin City is renowned for packing so much onto a plain white page with just black ink. He changed things up by adding splashes of color in a few short stories (Book 6), then again with his infamous Yellow Bastard character from the great story That Yellow Bastard (Book 5). Miller adds a lot of colors here with the forgettable female German assassin in leopard print and neon hair. Also Miller altered the way he drew the characters in this book-they became more angular, "blocky" and disproportionate. His style in this book is much closer to his style in DK2 than his other Sin City stuff. So basically Miller altered the way he drew Sin City and rather than being fresh it was off-putting. The look just ain't Sin City enough to be Sin City.

Another mistake is length. Hell & Back is Miller's longest yarn yet-over 100 pages longer than the usual Sin City tale. Miller tries to make this story epic, prolific even. But instead he comes up with 100 pages too much. Part of what makes a Sin City story so great is Miller's sense of editing. Director Robert Rodriguez said one of the main reasons he wanted to make Sin City into a movie with Miller is because it would be so simple because Miller already did the hard work of editing the stories so well on the page.

And the last big mistake I think Miller made is plot. All Sin City tales have good guys doing bad things for nasty reasons-usually for revenge-with the protagonists facing real consequences for their actions. Without giving the ending away, Hell & Back doesn't really live up to the Sin City standard Miller set with the other books. He subtitled this "A Sin City Love Story," but the thing is EVERY Sin City story is a love story! Marv & Goldie, Hartigan & Nancy, Dwight & Ava & Gail-all great love stories.

Basically I think Miller tried (and failed) to reinvent the wheel with this tale. Sin City wasn't broke and it didn't need fixing. That being said, a mediocre Sin City yarn is better than none at all and the die-hards should scoop this one up, but the new or casual reader could easily give this one a pass.

Not for me
I am not really familiar w/ Frank Miller's Sin City works, I had mostly read his Batman: DKR, Year One, Wolverine and Daredevil books, So, I decided to give the Sin City books a try. I really didn't enjoy the story and seems like your run-of-the-mill hot damsel in distress with the "hero" to the rescue. But the rescue soon turns to a Stevel Segal movie with a lot of violence, topped off with nudity and sex. It's not a bad story but it's not a great story, not for me anyways. Maybe, it's because I've been reading superhero comic books for nearly 15 years, so it wasn't to my liking.

Lovely ladies...who may be deeper than we think...
In Miller's most recent installment, Hell and Back: A Sin City Love Story, the plot centers around a mystery beauty by the name of Esther. Our hero, a former black op agent-turned-artist named Wallace, meets Esther while saving her from drowning. His first thoughts are telling: "She's a little heavier than she looks. Strong body...Strong body. She's in good shape." Once revived, she falls in love with his art, and he with her. It's a bond so deep enough that, when Esther is abducted, Wallace vows to find her and make her captors pay. It's not an uncommon plot for a Sin City tale. The original 1991 12-issue arc focused on a redemptive, disfigured thug named Marv looking to avenge the one woman to ever show him physical love: "The perfect woman. The goddess," named Goldie. Marv is aided by his tough-as-nails probation officer, Lucille, and his gun named Gladys. Similar to all the women in Sin City, Gladys is portrayed as powerful and sensual. It's a trend that continues into Hell and Back. Esther never begs for release, never cries. But she is also seldom clothed and often exposed. Likewise, her "roommate" Delia is a lethal nymphomaniac, only challenged as the embodiment of power and sexuality by the equally potent assassin, Mariah. Frank Miller goes to great lengths to always draw his women dripping with seduction. They pose either with skintight clothing, drenched in moisture, bare-nipples, or entirely nude. However, the happily married Miller is no misogynist nor a capitalist of the female form; I believe he's a progressive. As I said, the women of Sin City are strong and, paradoxically, gain even more strength from each seductive pose Miller draws. They are not victims of the male gaze; they ensorcel their viewers. Like the black widow or Basic Instinct's Catherine Tramell, they only allow men to look at them; they enhance their power by enthralling viewers. Miller's "good guys" certainly respect both women's beauty and power.

Far from the best of Miller
It is a good work, but it doesn't keep the level of the others Sin City tales. This time, the main character - Wallace - is an ex-soldier, extremely well trained (almost a Ninja) trying to save a girl from a secret organization. But Wallace is a good Samaritan, the kind of person we'd never expect to find in Sin City. Personally I prefer the anti-heroes normally found in Frank Miller's stories.
Action and violence are present as well as in other Sin City tales, what makes this story worthy to be read, but don't expect to find the best of Miller. ... Read more

Book Description

The most diverse volume of Sin City material available, Booze, Broads, & Bullets, showcases Frank Miller's vignettes and color experiments from throughout the years of his groundbreaking crime series, and includes art created especially for the original collection. A good entry point for new readers wondering what Sin City is all about - or longtime readers who can't get enough - Miller has painted a gritty, decadent, and gloriously dirty portrait. Have a taste of the city ... just one little taste. Just one. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

You being good yet?
This book collects various shorter Sin City stories that were published in various comic books.There are eleven separate stories here, so I will offer brief reviews of all of them.

"Just Another Saturday Night" is a typical Marv story. (4 stars)
"Fat Man and Little Boy" is a short comedy starring small time hoods Klump and Shlubb. (4 stars)
"The Customer is Always Right" was the prologue in the recent Sin City movie. (4 stars)
"Silent Night" is a Marv story with virtually no dialogue. (3 stars)
"And Behind Door Number Three..." is a brief story featuring the girls of Old Town. (3 stars)
"Blue Eyes" introduces the character of Delia. (4 stars)
"Rats" stars a Nazi war criminal. (3 stars)
"Daddy's Little Girl" stars the one-shot character of Johnny. (3 stars)
"Wrong Turn" is a longer Delia story. (4 stars)
"Wrong Track" is a shorter Delia story. (3 stars)
"The Babe Wore Red" stars Dwight and is the best story in here. (5 stars)

So there you have it."The Babe Wore Red" is so great, that the book is worth getting just for that one story.But all the other stories also have something to recommend them.That is to say, they all have gorgeous art by Frank Miller, even if a few of them are a bit lacking in the plot department.If you are a fan of the other Sin City books, you will probably enjoy this one, too.

your stupid
To whoever wrote the review reguarding the awfulness of this book has no imagination. Even if the story isn't for you, the art is still exelent.It's also low touse Millers drinking as an excuse for not seeing the books quality.If you don't like it then state your reasons for not liking it and leave your personal vendetta against Miller out of it. Theres plenty more Batman and Dare-devil out there for you,so get over it.By the way this is an awsome collection.

Great Read
This is such an excellent comic book.I cannot wait for Robert Rodriguez's film to come out.It is going to be excellent and amazing and I don't know what else to say.Frank Miller is such a creative genius, and Rodriguez is as well, and with that cast?The movie will be great, but only because the comic was great first.

Great fun for kids of all a-- well... for big kids anyway.
This is by no means Millers best work, but it is definately worth picking up if you enjoy sin city. It's basically a collection of short stories, each different and not necesarrily related. The art work as always is very very good, and as always the stories are entertaining. Keep 'em coming Frank! .... no? .... oh... (drops head in sorrow). Oh well.

Very good.
This is a very good colection of the shorter sin city pieces. What I like most about it is that you can see Frank Miller's art style progress to the form it's in now. Many great stories with the sadistic sin city twist. Notfor the week-hearted! ... Read more

Book Description

Nick Fury's got a job that needs doing - in Russia. The kind of suicide mission any sane man wouldn't ponder for a second. And that's exactly why he needs the Punisher. Searching for a deadly retrovirus whose sale on the black market could bring the world to its knees, Frank Castle penetrates a Russian nuclear silo...and comes face-to-face with the Mongolian! Collects Punisher #13-18. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

From Russia with blood
This third storyarc in Preacher creator Garth Ennis' relaunch of the MAX (mature audiences) themed Punisher series finds our favorite criminal killing vigilante on a suicide mission in Russia.Taking a request from Nick Fury, Frank must infiltrate a Russian nuclear silo in an attempt to obtain a deadly virus.Soon enough, Frank's up to his neck in Russian killers, and he finds himself playing the role of surrogate protective father to a young girl who's life hangs in the balance.Mother Russia isn't the typical Punisher story you'd expect from Ennis as Frank is fighting with more at stake than just his personal vendettas, and by the end of it all things are far from ending happily.Ennis' storytelling is top notch as usual, particularly his characterization of Nick Fury, which was evident on his Fury mini-series a few years back (which is more than worth your time as well), while Hulk artist Dougie Brathwaite provides solid pencil work.All in all, Mother Russia is yet another excellent chapter in the Punisher MAX series and definitely worth picking up, but just wait until the next Punisher arc, entitled Up is Down and Black is White, which may be indeed the finest Punisher story ever written. ... Read more

Book Description

The inspiration behind the blockbuster movie, THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN once again uses the classic characters from familiar literature to tell a tale of epic proportions in Victorian England.In volume two, when alien invaders from Mars mercilessly attack London, the throne quickly calls upon Allan Quatermain, Mina Harker, Captain Nemo, the Invisible Man, and Dr. Jekyll to protect the empire.Using their various skills and intellect, the League goes about preparing a defense against the invasion but when the Invisible Man joins the Martian's cause, all appears to be lost.Now, as one of the members dies a horrific death, the League turns to the legendary Dr. Moreau as their last desperate hope. ... Read more

Reviews (18)

Wonderfully entertaining take on the Wells story
This book, a sequel to Alan Moore's initial series recounting the rise of the League, is a feast for both the eyes and the mind. In it, Moore pits his group of famous fictional figures (some heroic, others anything but) against H. G. Wells' Martian invaders. While the second volume lacks some of the freshness and character development of the original, it is nonetheless a great read, balancing an extraordinary faithfulness to his source material (especially Wells' book) with Moore's imaginative concepts and intriguing characterizations - and with an ending that offers a brilliant twist on the original story.

In offering this tale Moore is ably complimented by Kevin O'Neill, whose artwork offers a lush visualization of Moore's alternate Victorian Britain. Like the first volume, the panels are loaded with visual references to the fantastic literature of the previous centuries, suggesting that the extraordinariness of this world is not limited to the central characters. Deciphering the references - which has sparked much discussion on the Web - is part of the enjoyment of reading this book, and it left me amazed at the breadth of both Moore's and O'Neill's range of reading. It is only one of the many ways in which the reader is rewarded when delving into this fantastic work.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlmen vs. Invaders from Mars
Actually, my copy of "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume 2" collects the six issues put out by Mr. Alan Moore & Mr. Kevin O'Neill courtesy of America's Best Comics over the past year or so. Consequently it has nothing to do with the movie, which seems fair since the movie, just released on DVD, had relatively little to do with what now has to be referred to as Volume 1 of "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen." But then the movie merely copied the idea of the comics without capturing the magic.

The great conceit that Moore and O'Neill came up with was to create a late 19th-century version of a group of superheroes based on literary creations from that time period (in many ways the opposite of the legendary "Watchmen" series). Back again are the core group: Allan Quatermain from H. Rider Haggard's "She," Captain Nemo from Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," Mina Murray from Bram Stoker's "Dracula," Edward Hyde from Robert Louis Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Hawley Griffin from H.G. Wells's "The Invisible Man." The works of Wells become a major factor in Volume 2 as two more of his science fiction novels are worked into the tale. The first is "The War of the Worlds," as the League is called upon to save England from the Martian tripods. The second plays a decisive role in saving the day, but I think that deserves to be a surprise for the reader.

Things do not work as well the second time around, partly because the novelty of the idea has worn off and also because the members of the League are not particularly well suited to dealing with invaders from Mars. That might explain why the soap opera elements are a bit more prominent this time around as Miss Mina becomes romantically entangled with one of the gentlemen and Hyde kicks Jekyll out of the picture. Actually Hyde becomes the most interesting character in this story, although you will need a strong stomach to read about how he deals with the group's traitor. For that matter, you should be forewarned that this trade paperback might look like a collection of comic books, but these are not for little kids. This is not as intense as "From Hell," but Moore's readers have long known that he only provides stories that have mature content. Even when Moore is not blazing new territory or reinventing the wheel in some interesting way, he is still worth reading.

The stories are still presented as if they were being published late in the Victorian era, with ads and articles that add to the general sense of fun. I liked the final words of the penultimate issue which disparages any one who fails "to purchase our concluding number" as being "a sissy, coward, or girl." Yet Moore and O'Neil lampoon the Victorian sensibilities of their characters as much as anything, and despite some major setbacks at the end of the saga, we are told that there is now an intermission before the stories continues again. As always, it will be interesting to see what literary works serve as additional inspiration for the next endeavor, although after the less than inspiring movie I suspect Oscar Wilde might be out of the equation (or should we expect Lady Bracknell?).

Not great literature, but a good story
In this fascinating book, author Alan Moore returns once more to his League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - a group of strange, yet capable men and women (well, woman, really) in Her Majesty, Queen Victoria's Secret Service. But now, the League faces its greatest threat - the War of the Worlds! Driven from Mars by John Carter and Lt. Gullivar, these foul creatures begin their conquest of Earth (as originally documented by H.G. Wells). The British government has a few tricks up its sleeves, but before this is all over mankind will face its gravest peril and treachery will split the League itself!

This is another fun and interesting book. I enjoyed seeing so many of my Victorian and Edwardian favorites exhumed and thrust into new adventures - John Carter of Mars, Major (later Colonel) Blimp, and Dr. Moreau. As for the story itself, I thought that it was OK. This is definitely not a story of heroes, but instead deconstructs the old heroes as raw materials for a postmodern story instead.

Let me clarify - the War of the Worlds itself was handled excellently, with lots of desperate action and adventure. However, the characters themselves don't seem to come together as nicely as in the first book. Unlike the first book, there are two sex scenes (well, three I suppose), but they are all rather disappointing. It's a dark story of war and death and treachery and surviving. Overall, I enjoyed it. Was it great literature? Heck no. But, it was a fun read and I do recommend it.

Not as solid as the First
Unless you are a die-hard Moore fan, pick up volume 1 and leave #2 on the shelf.

The two stars is for the consistent quality of the artwork and thats about it. I like Moore, but this story falls way short of the first LXG and tends to cover it's lack of plot with a pointless romance and ridiculous traitor sub-plot.

The fact that it was released as a harccover with an over inflated pricetag doesn't help matters either. After reading the first LXG I was entertained and delighted with my purchase. After finishing this installment I shook my head in anger at the money and time wasted.

The End of the Fellowship.
When I read THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN VOL 1, I was completely intranced and couldn't wait until the second volume came out so that I could find out what happened to the heroic group as they faced invaders from Mars. After finally getting my hands on a copy of the book and having a chance to read it, I was a bit disappointed. The second volume of the League finds the group facing an army of invaders from Mars. I thought that one of the more interesting parts of this particular volume is how Moore ties together Edward Arnold's LIEUTENANT GULLIVAR JONES, Egar Rice Burrough's John Carter, and H.G. Wells WAR OF THE WORLDS into one coherent prologue to the main story.

Anyway, hostile Martians start invading the Earth and the League is sent in to "inspect" the problem. But, the problem gets out of hand and starts vaporizing people and things go nuts. Someone in the League thinks more fondly of the invaders than any Earthlings and decides to turn traitor. Quatermain and Murray are dispatched to find a mysterious doctor who has the one weapon capable of defeating the Martians and along the way the two seal their romance. Griffin plays a major role, but doesn't get much development and the great Captain Nemo doesn't fair any better. The only major character who really sees any development is Mr. Hyde. By now, Hyde has pretty much taken complete control and Dr. Jecyll is gone for good, though something of his essence makes Hyde a better character than he was before. In fact, Hyde is the only hero. In the first Volume, heroics were shared by everyone in the group and though they had there differences, the league was a united front. This time around, things start to fall apart and the appearance of the extraterrestrials seems too much to bear. This second volume is more violent and bawdy than the first so the reader should be warned.

Besides the story, the book also includes many of the faux ads that were prominent in the 1st edition, some "games", and "The New Traveler's Alamanac". The alamanac is especially interesting because it gives clues of what happens to the League after the events of the invasion and possible ideas of what might occur in Volume Three (if it ever comes about).

Overall, though Volume Two wasn't as exciting as the first, I still found it entertaining and highly educational. It's more popular than classical this time around, but it's still pretty good literature. ... Read more

Book Description

Hellboy is one of the most celebrated comics series in recent years. The ultimate artists' artist and a great storyteller whose work is in turns haunting, hilarious, and spellbinding, Mike Mignola has won numerous awards in the comics industry and beyond. When strangeness threatens to engulf the world, a strange man will come to save it. Sent to investigate a mystery with supernatural overtones, Hellboy discovers the secrets of his own origins, and his link to the Nazi occultists who promised Hitler a final solution in the form of a demonic avatar. ... Read more

Reviews (16)

GREAT concept and AMAZING art, not so great dialogue
I am not very familiar with Byrne so I don't know if this is typical for him but he writes a little too mundain and run-of-the-mill for such a fantastic story with great art like Hellboy. His dialogue and monologue for the villain in this book are horrible. It is completely boring and skippable. In fact that's the worst part, it is ENTIRELY skippable. This is even worse because at points there's PAGES of it. This villain just drones ON AND ON about a bunch of ..., and you can literally skip those whole sections and not lose ANYTHING. The stuff is just barely relevant and Byrne does nothing to it to make it interesting or write it with any originality. One could argue that Hellboy is a very "pulp" comic and that as such, the sort of writing and dialogue can be expected to be of a certain (read DULL AND TRITE) nature. But it's too much to be asked of the reader to settle on the writing when the story and art are so compelling.

Recap: Hellboy = original, Byrne's dialogue for it = horribly plain and done.

Well done
Okay, I just read picked this up because the movie was coming out, and I'm one of those people who does that (as probably are many of you reading these reviews). But I found myself thoroughly enjoying Mike Mignola's HELLBOY.

This first HELLBOY book is a little on the short side, and at times, Mignola probably gives too much attention to the mythology rather than the characters, but all in all it's a fun read.

It's not my favorite comic I've read (definitely not in the Alan Moore category) but it's fun and well worth your time.

The artwork is definitely top notch. Even if the story were no good (but it is good) it would be worth getting to look at.

Now that the movie's out (which was also very entertaining and worthy of your time) I'm sure I'll keep reading the rest of the series.

Happy reading!

Hell on earth with a snappy attitude
In 1944, a team of specialized German Nazis gathered together with a powerful sorcerer on a strange mission to raise seven demons, while at the same time a group of rangers led by Sgt. George Whitman gather in an old church in East Bromwich, England with a team of paranormals, determined to discover what it is the Nazis are up to.

The Sorcerer, wearing some odd apparatus on his arms, powered by an electrical generator, casts a spell from a rocky hilltop resembling Stonehenge. A bolt of lightening-type power issues from the rod he holds in his hand, and strikes the church where the rangers are gathered along with their special forces. When the smoke and debris clear, a small being is hunched down on the floors, looking as though he were part demon and part little boy. It is Trevor Bruttenholm who names him: Hellboy.

Skipping many years into the future, Hellboy comes to visit Trevor, now an old man. Trevor, who had been like a father to Hellboy all these years, tells Hellboy of the failed "Cavendish Expedition" he has just recently returned from, way up in the Artic Mountains. He and the Cavendish "Boys" had found some ruins high up in the frozen cliffs, older than old, and inside beneath a mammoth carved pillar is a statue of a sitting man so perfect it seemed to be alive.

But Trevor has no further memory of what happened, though the Cavendish brothers did not return with him. During Trevor's narration of the expedition, Hellboy notices that Trevor's house is infested with frogs. When Hellboy mentions the frogs, Trevor freaks out and backs away from the frogs, out onto his balcony, from where he is suddenly and unceremoniously tossed back into the room at Hellboy's feet; quite dead. His body seems to be covered in odd marks that were not there mere seconds ago.

Hellboy brings in his friends to help him investigate the death of Trevor; Elizabeth Sherman and Dr. Abraham Sapien. Liz has highly advanced pyrotechnic abilities, and Abe...well, Abe is a really cool fish-man. Beginning their investigation at the old Cavendish mansion, which is slowing sinking back into the lake it was built over, the three friends are quickly separated and all hell breaks loose; pun intended. The nameless Sorcerer who originally summoned Hellboy is back to claim what he believes is his, but by now we know that Hellboy can't be forced to do anything he doesn't want to do.

This first Hellboy book reveals Hellboy's origin, and shows us the loyalty between him and his friends, and the lengths they will go to for each other. This was actually a very difficult review for me to write because I liked it so much, it is hard to describe in a non-gushing way just how much I enjoyed this book. The storyline is very intense and fast-paced, even for a graphic novel; the illustrations are superb, the cells formed and drawn just right, so that the eye follows the flow of Mignola's inspired tale of this devilishly good guy without staggering or stopping to search for the correct sequence.

I have only recently become immersed in the world of graphic novels, and Hellboy is the absolute crème de la crème of the lot. A brand new type of hero; ultra powerful, intelligent, witty humor and saucy quips, demonic appearance, and as icing on the cake, from Hell itself.

As a bonus, there are some added chapters at the back of the book that illustrate the evolution of Hellboy as he was created and drawn to life, plus some enjoyable Hellboy artwork to examine and appreciate.

Hellboy is a perfect graphic novel, and I am greedily looking forward to pouring over the rest of the series. Not to mention I'm dying to go see the movie now. Enjoy!!

Not Your Average Comic.
Hellboy is one of the most original and interesting characters created in the visual magic of comic books. Mike Mignola is simply a genius to create such a complex and unique protagonist that so easily returns for new episodes again and again (without becoming formulaic or falling for any of the usual clichés that many comic characters do). Here, in SEED OF DESTRUCTION, Hellboy's first adventure, the audience not only has some light shed upon his origins - this is also a great starting place for any Hellboy newbie (it was for me!).

Hellboy, as a character, is simply delightful. He's a big red devil (literally), with his horns sawed down to two lumps on his forehead. He has a giant stone hand (yes, it's stone, yet it moves like it's flesh) on his right arm, and more than often uses it to give the final blow to end a fight. He also carries a really big, really cool-looking revolver (with a rosary hanging on it), but surprisingly, he doesn't use it all that often. Hellboy struts around in a simply bada** way that is easily appealing to many "tough-guy" fans, and yet is often as goofy and sarcastic as a teenager. He has his own fears, and is definitely not unstoppable (he gets hurt - a lot). Oh, and his favorite curse phrase: "Ah, crap." Here he is, the spawn of evil forces (Satan?), absolutely tough and bada**, but he gets just as distressed and apprehensive as any person can. That's part of why he's so cool; he isn't 100% perfect, but he's likeable and tough enough to be considered a hero.

Now, for a little bit about his origins...

Hellboy's Origin:
On the night of December 23, 1944, the Nazi regime hired the work of a sort of mystic/sorcerer, named Rasputin, in order to summon up the forces of hell (in the abandoned ruins of an ancient castle in England). They titled this operation "Ragna-Rok" (after the Norse myth of the end of the world).

Meanwhile, that same night, a group of American scientists (protected by a U.S. army and led by a certain Professor Trevor Bruttenholm - pronounced "Broom") were conducting paranormal research amidst another set of ancient ruins, over in Scotland. A medium there started feeling strange and powerful forces at work, and realized something was going on.

Back in England, the Ragna-Rok experiment built up. Rasputin spoke ancient, archaic words, summoning ancient and cosmic forces onto earth. Suddenly, in the Scottish ruins, there was a terrific explosion, and amidst the fire and debris crouched a form...a small, red being with little horns and a tail, and a giant stone hand. The soldiers protecting the scientists were almost quick to kill the thing...but Bruttenholm stopped them, for this little creature almost looked like a boy...one guess as to what they called him.

And now for a little bit about this particular episode.

SEED OF DESTRUCTION:
Fast forward to 1994. Hellboy is fifty years old, and has been a member of the government organization, the B.P.R.D. (the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense), for quite some time. Professor Bruttenholm is troubled about something, and Hellboy is curious to find out what. Bruttenholm reminisces about a recent arctic expedition that he had been a part of earlier that year, and how they had run into some giant temple or shrine. Inside that shrine, they discovered a giant, immaculately carved statue of something straight out of H.P. Lovecraft...and crouching before it was a statue of a man that looked "almost...alive." Then Hellboy noticed that there were frogs hopping around inside the room, and Bruttenholm panicked and ran out the door, yelling for a very confused Hellboy to run for his dear life - and a heartbeat later, the Professor's dead, scarred body gets thrown back in through the doorway, and the adventure begins.

I've been reading the Hellboy/B.P.R.D series for almost a year now, after hearing about Guillermo del Toro's plans on directing a movie based on them. I finished reading the last official trade paperback collection of straight-out, Mike Mignola-penned Hellboy/B.P.R.D. comics about a week prior to the movie's release, and was more than excited to see it. However, I was a bit disappointed by the movie's straying from the original plots and characterizations in the comics (not to mention very anticlimactic battle/fight scenes), and so I will say it right now, plain and simple, THE COMICS ARE BETTER. You want to know how much better? Read this comic and find out.

Cool book.
I'm not very big on comics, but this was a good book. In 1940 something, Raputin( evil wizard guy), tried to open the gates to hell. But only this little baby demon came out. The demon was adopeted by some guy and was tought to be a follower of Jesus and an F.B.I agent. But the evil wizard is now back and is trying to get Hellboy to aid him on having Satan take over the world during the apocoleps. He kills his step father with this evil demon that can turn into a frog. Hellboy fights the demon and the wizard in the book alot. This is a cool book. Fans of sci-fi sould buy this book. It's more sci-fi demonic that geeky super hero comic bookish. ... Read more

Book Description

A murder in a New York wax museum and a missing corpse lead Hellboy into ancient Romanian castles on the trail of a sleeping legend: the original nobleman vampire. Nazi scientists prepare for the return of their occult master and the end of the world, and Hellboy confronts his purpose on earth. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Nazis and vampires and ghosts, oh my!
This is the second Hellboy graphic novel. It is an improvement over the first one, as we get to know the old characters better, and interesting new characters are introduced. Creator Mike Mignola's Kirbyesque artwork is terrific, and this time he handles the writing himself (the first graphic novel was scripted by John Byrne). I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but I will explain that Hellboy is a paranormal investigator who appears to be a demon. This book is dedicated to Dracula, which should give you a clue as to what he encounters this time. This book should be especially appealing to people who like The X-Files or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but I would encourage anyone who is a fan of sophisticated comic books to check it out.

Hellboy's hurly burly
With "Hellboy: Wake the Devil" Mignola again shows his strength in weaving together unconnected folklore and his own inventions, creating a seamless fantastic reality that grows with every story. Darker, more confident than "Seeds of Destruction," the mythology comes together.

Nazis, Imperial Prussians and Greek and Russian goddesses make for strange bedfellows, but here we have a Napoleonic vampire Commander, Vladimir Giurescu, the delightful Nazi scientists Ilsa Haupstein and the Ragna Rok Project, Rasputin the Mad Monk, the Baba Yaga, the Greek Goddess Hecate and of course a living Head in a Jar, all conspiring against our heroes. Fighting for the good guys are the usual cast of Abe Sapien, Hellboy and the BRPD. If that isn't enough to get your appetite wet, then you are reading the wrong customer review.

More than most series, "Hellboy: Wake the Devil" advances the overall plot of Hellboy's story, uncovering key points of his origin and destiny. The epilog, only available in this trade paperback, adds an interesting element to the story of the Baba Yaga and Rasputin.

Homunculus + Horror, Adding To the Cast
Wake the Devil is a superb second take on the Hellboy saga and is just as good, if not better, than Seeds of Destruction (its hard to compare the two because both are so good). Its a bit more bleak/darker than its prior, introducing even odder concepts and distortions of myth to weave a story all its own. Yes, it seems there are Nazi plots galore for everyone's favorite paranormal investigator to deal with, not to mention the addition of Roger, B.P.R.D.'s first "contact" with a human-sized homunculus. Also included is a five-page epilogue dealing with Baba Yaga and The World Tree, a concept introduced in the comics but only added to the in this graphic novel forum. The graphic novels also clean up the coloration, giving you more crisp images than the comics could ever dream of.
A word of caution to those thinking that the numbered books can be taken out of sequential order without hurting the storyline. It can indeed be done, but Wake the Devil should be a second step taken in the reading "evolution" of the Hellboy saga because of some of the characters/events/plot lines started have either been groomed or are birthed here.

The fabulous Hellboy series continues.
I found this book to be every bit as enjoyable as the first book (Seed of Destruction). I also found that this book had a couple of weak points to the plot, and in the pacing of the storyline, just like the first book.

However, those where the only weak points. The rest of the story was very enjoyable and well crafted. The art is simply stunning. I will continue to read more of "Hellboy" in the future.

praise mignola
yet another wonderful hellboy tale. great stuff if you're into sci-fi and old legends and things. a good mix of characters and the best darn visual storytelling in the industry today, care of mike mignola. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Underdone Fairy Noir
Wizard magazine has been hailing this comic as fresh and exciting for well over a year and I waited for the graphic novel to arrive with no small measure of anticipation. Sadly, hype is not the same as quality.

The story is basically your average whodunnit with the twist coming from the fact that it takes place in a community of exiled characters from assorted fairy tales and works of fiction. Snow White's wild child sister has gone missing, her apartment awash with blood and painted with the ominous warning of 'no more happily ever after', and it's up to Detective Wolf to solve the crime before the annual Remembrance day. Why the deadline? I have no idea. And that it is only one of the many perplexing holes in the story.

The overlying problem is the length; this would have made a taut four-issue miniseries but it's been inexplicably stretched into five. Because of this, there are pages of lackluster filler featuring cameos of other literary characters for no point other then to try and be clever and edgy but succeeding only in its abilty to be crude and childish. Instead of getting a good chuckle out of seeing a modern Cinderella or Pinocchio you're struck more by the fact that Willingham writes them with exactly the same voice. Yes, it's funny seeing people who've been Disneyfied cursing, but only the first time around.

Snow White has a chip on her shoulder the size of an ogre and when she isn't tearing into someone she's crying about what might have happened to her sibling. That's it. That's her character for the whole affair. Everybody else is written with about the same voice, always more than slightly bitter and always ready with a witty remark. Willingham has all of the literary world to play with but doesn't take advantage of any of it aside from character names and a few story details that makes the comic feel like a cheap gimmick.

As things progress the story only further unravels. Dialogue de-evolves into random word ballons laced with profanity and almost the whole final issue is nothing but Bigby giving an explanation of the crime that had already been solved in the previous issue. The last few panels try to shoehorn in a romance angle but because interactions between Snow and Bigby haven't evolved at all over the course of the story- in the few places where they haven't been completely abandoned in favor of showcasing another 'hip' fairy tale re-creation- it just doesn't work.

The art is near flawless. The painted covers are beautiful sendups to the old poster-painted dimestore detective novels and the interiors are lovingly rendered with storybook flourishes and the occasional background object that's a little wink at the audience- three chairs in Old King Cole's apartment with three fiddles waiting on them is the one that immediately springs to mind. There's a bonus prose story by Willingham included as an extra accompanied by his own illustrations which suggest where his real talent lies.

For a much better look at fantasy and reality existing side by side in the city, pick up one of the Aria or Sandman graphic novels instead; their authors can weave webs out of even the most obscurely gossamer strands of myth and magic. This prefers to strive valiantly in the direction of a hardboiled detective tale but is little more than slightly poached. Two and a half stars for the art and the novelty but you'll come away with little else.

Entertaining **AND** Original
The Fable series is one of the better "mature" lines to come out of D.C. This is basically the first "self-contained" story in the series and a great place to kick off. Get this one, I don't think anyone will be disappointed.

Great Concept, Better Execution
I was a bit hesitant to pick this up -- it seemed like too much an adult version of Roger Rabbit or Shrek. However, the murder mystery in an expatriate community of fairy-tale characters quickly drew me in.

Each character blends our preconceptions from stories we've heard (almost invariably a watered-down version of their original tale) with an edge they must've evolved after being forced from their homes. And none of them are one-sided, even those who appear such at first -- the one-dimensional ones grow and change as the series continues. Pick this up and be prepared to pick up the subsequent volumes!

Love at first sight!
I've always loved Fairy Tales, but sometimes the ending of those tales just isnt enough. We all want to know what happens after "Happily Ever After", don't we? This series, in pursuit of that question, has seriously revitalized my love for comics! I love the characters - this work plays upon the well-known and not-so-well-know aspects of faery tales throughout the ages, and then expands, charting favorite characters in a New World, where they've been forced into exile from their Fable homelands. Characters once so different from eachother now must set old grudges aside to join forces and forge a community for themselves amongst ordinary New Yorkers. Some have changed for the better - others...well, as you'll see, they arent exactly the heroes and heroines they used to be. From a Marxist Goldilocks to wild child Rose Red (I was beginning to believe I was the ONLY one who remembered Red Rose!!) - this is NOT your Disney remake!

One thing I do like about Fables - its a series for almost everyone. Many comics I've felt to be strongly orientated for either just males or just females, but this has strong characters that capture the interest of both sexes. There's something for everyone here.

One of last year's revelations
Subverting expectations and inverting cliches is one thing, but Fables is also a book with heart underneath its undeniable style.

The art by Lan Medina is deceptively good: at first glance it looks fairly standard but covers all the basics of storytelling, creates some interesting visuals and is attractive to look at. More importantly it serves the story and is one of the major reasons it works so well.

But the book is all about the story. Willingham takes a good premise and runs with it. The characters are engaging and seem human, despite their origin. The climax of the story is a little staged and generic, but everything else about the story (including the actual explanation) sparkles. Overall, one of the best Vertigo books of recent years. ... Read more

Amazon.com

The mad, shaggy genius of the comics world dips deeply into the well ofhistory and pulls up a cup filled with blood in From Hell. Alan Moore dida couple of Ph.D.'s worth of research into the Whitechapel murders for thiscopiously annotated collection of the independently published series. The web offacts, opinion, hearsay, and imaginative invention draws the reader in from thefirst page. Eddie Campbell's scratchy ink drawings evoke a dark and dirtyVictorian London and help to humanize characters that have been caricatured intoobscurity for decades. Moore, having decided that the evidence best fits thetheory of a Masonic conspiracy to cover up a scandal involving Victoria'sgrandson, goes to work telling the story with relish from the point of view ofthe victims, the chief inspector, and the killer--the Queen's physician. Hischaracterization is just as vibrant as Campbell's; even the minor charactersfeel fully real. Looking more deeply than most, the author finds in the "greatwork" of the Ripper a ritual magic working intended to give birth to the 20thcentury in all its horrid glory. Maps, characters, and settings are all asaccurate as possible, and while the reader might not ultimately agree with Mooreand Campbell's thesis, From Hell is still a great work of literature.--Rob Lightner ... Read more

Reviews (79)

Jack the Ripper: Serial killer, Serailized Thriller
From Hell is not a book just anyone can pick up and get into. There i've said it. Not that it is an overly cerebral story, however it is such an oppresively dark comic that it really isn't just about Jack the Ripper, but it's also about the dark side of Britain as a whole (of course a dark side of over a hundred years ago, but...). The true meat of FROM HELL has very little to do with the murders...other than chapter ten, of course...By that I mean the act of the murders. The murders are, of course, at the center of the comic; however the comic seems to be telling the story of how an overly uncaring, and oft-times hellish, society seemed to simply LET the killer go.
If you've seen the movie, and expect to read the story of Inspector Abberline and Marie Kelley as they discover their romance for each other as they are led into the seedy and darkly crafted(heh... inside joke, Mason's and buildings play a role in this too...it's a pun...never mind...) society of 1880's england by Abberline's psychic visions... then be careful pickling this book up. That's a different FROM HELL.The book is the most starkly and frightening depiction of reality filtered through a researched fiction that I can think of.
And if you have a problem with Eddie Campbell's uniquely simplistic dark and sparse artwork, than you have to open your eyes. Look at how the art relates to the depiction of the times as a whole, Victoria's London wasn't exactly the gloriously beautiful empire that history books would have you believe, now was it?
Last note, after reading the book through once, go back, and read it while reading the appendices together. Still a highly entertaining read.
Fun and disturbingly and brutally upfront.(in an educational way. Hey, I convinced my !2th grade lit. teacher to let me use it for a book report AFTER she flipped through it. Read it you'll see why that's an accomplishment.)

A masterpiece
From Hell is Alan Moore's brilliant fictional interpretation of the Ripper crimes of 1888, told mainly from the perspective of the murderer himself. Moore's meticulously researched work - almost every major event can be attributed to one or more historical sources, some more trustworthy than others, and all listed in the fascinating endnotes - operates within the framework of the theory known as the "Royal Conspiracy", which suggests that Jack the Ripper was actually a deranged physician, Sir William Gull, operating to silence a group of East End prostitutes trying to blackmail the royal family. That's a sensational suggestion, and Moore makes things even more extravagant with his literary interpretation of the crimes as a symbol of the era's sexism and oppression; in the world of From Hell, Gull uses the murders as an opportunity to create an enormous work of ritual magic, with the purpose of keeping womanki