Wrapping up the Blog-Challenge for my buddy, Richard Howe:
Oh sure, he could have stopped with “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns” and he still would have been among the immortals of the comics field. His run on “Daredevil, the Man Without Fear” remains the standard by which such titles are measured. His original creations “Ronin”, “Sin City” and “300″all thrum with the power of a craftsman focusing all his passion and skill to their utmost.
Add to this his yeoman’s service to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and commitment to fighting censorship in all its forms and it would seem such a man’s rough nobility would urge him to further expand the boundaries of what could be done in this extraordinary medium of American Comic Books.
But…
What happened?
“DK2?”
“All-Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder?”
“The Spirit” movie?
There are theories: Drugs. Brain tumor. Replaced by evil android. Possibly all three…
But I have a different notion.
I think Frank Miller is (and has been) in the process of his greatest and most altruistic project yet.
Frank Miller is deliberately crashing and burning his own reputation just to make every other creator in the world feel better about themselves.
Think about it. You’re Rob Liefeld and the ride’s been over for years. Everyone knows you’re a hack, living off the past and selling those office supplies you stole from Image after dark. A few years ago that’s all you were and all you could ever imagine yourself to be.
But now?
Now you can look at your horrible 15th relaunch of “Youngblood” coming out of the printer at Kinkos and say “Wow! This is just as good as what Frank Miller’s doing!”
And that is how much Frank Miller loves us all.
Done!
