Monday, April 26, 2010

Sin City

This week I read Frank Miller's Sin City. I came into reading this, being well versed in the movie (which I now see is remarkably similar). Unusually I found that I liked the graphic novel less than the movie, though I only read episode 1-13.

The story of episode 1-13, is not anything remarkable or incredibly compelling. Basically Marv has a night with a very attractive prostitute, wakes up and she is dead. He had fallen for her so this sets him off causing him to seek vengeance. He proceeds to kill his way up through the leagues of scum of Sin City. This eventually leads him to uncovering a scandal between the most powerful man in Sin City and a deranged adopted maniac who eats hookers, and eventually to him taking the fall for it all and death.

The artwork is what makes Sin City unusual. Its the highest of contrast, black and white. Stark white and black. Sometimes there is line work, but most of the time the comic is rendered in large shapes of black and white. This is interesting because I find all the characters have a lot of gray area about them. There is no truly good it seems. Though I respect this style, and know that its really hard to do, it feels like it falls on its face sometimes. I found some of the frames kind of hard to interpret. On the flip side, when the style happens in the right way its awesome.

Recalling the movie, this style worked really well and it was vastly different then everything else. Just like the movie the whites come out looking like really bright amorphous light. I like that aspect.

The most interesting aspect of the style to me was the switching between what is black and what is white. The fact is it is not really based on natural light, it is completely design based it seems. Some dark things are white, and some bright things are black. I like that aspect of the style as a designer. The first few panels are interesting to me because of the fact that the characters are silhouettes in a white empty space. It was overall an interesting decision, and I'd like to know more about why he made it.

Overall, the comic wasn't really my favorite. I respect the style, however I found it kind of unrewarding. The story just wasn't that appealing to me. The entire thing I feel was mostly eye candy, and violence for the sake of it. Entertaining somewhat but not fulfilling.

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