Prime Time Replay:
Frank Miller
Creator of Batman: The Dark Knight, Sin City, and Other Comics
MsgId: *emedia(1)
Date: Mon Jun 30 17:38:42 EDT 1997
From: Moderator At: 38.254.181.87
This week, E-Media presents Frank Miller, writer and artist of the SIN CITY series (Dark Horse Comics) who has helped transform comics into a medium for the future. The dark and intense stories of SIN CITY feature a depth of characterization and psychological drama that is as groundbreaking in the comics industry as the stark blacks and whites of his art. In addition to his constant efforts to open up the comics field to new genres and new methods of expression, Miller has been an outspoken defender of the rights of creators to express their visions without censorship and other interference.Miller has completed a number of projects recently, including a trade paperback of the SIN CITY miniseries THAT YELLOW BASTARD, available Wednesday, and TALES TO OFFEND, a one-shot comic to be released July 23 by Dark Horse. His next SIN CITY project will be the graphic novel FAMILY VALUES, available September 17.
MsgId: *emedia(3)
Date: Mon Jun 30 20:57:56 EDT 1997
From: Frank_Miller At: 207.172.74.152
Ready when you are. :)
MsgId: *emedia(4)
Date: Mon Jun 30 20:59:45 EDT 1997
From: DaveThomer At: 199.35.216.247
Great. Let's talk a little bit about TALES TO OFFEND. You've called it a "politically incorrect satire" of the current times; what precisely is your target?
MsgId: *emedia(5)
Date: Mon Jun 30 21:00:38 EDT 1997
From: Frank_Miller At: 207.172.74.152
Almost anything I can hit. These days, people are so tender, so nervous, so wonderfully offendable that I can't resist doing stories that might rattle people a bit.
MsgId: *emedia(7)
Date: Mon Jun 30 21:02:01 EDT 1997
From: DaveThomer At: 199.35.216.247
Why do you think society has become so timid? Is it a case of overcompensating for past mistakes, or are we just less able to handle having our feelings hurt?
MsgId: *emedia(8)
Date: Mon Jun 30 21:06:19 EDT 1997
From: Frank_Miller At: 207.172.74.152
I think that we Boomers have had it too easy and have come up with a million reasons to feel like victims. Our parent's generation had global problems that were very serious -- global depression, Adolf Hitler. Lacking problems such as that, we've mostly been staring at ourselves, coming up with nonsense with "inner children" and looking for reasons to feel sorry for ourselves like any spoiled brat would. So we're easily offended because we haven't got much else to do. With TALES TO OFFEND, I'm telling a series of fantasy stories that deliberately have the sort of morals to each story that no one wants to see. The story where a racy SF hero tells kids it's okay to smoke and eat red meat -- stories that basically break every common sensibility. Comics have the history of being on the outside of things, particularly since the 1950's and I'm trying to recapture some of the rascally side of that.
MsgId: *emedia(10)
Date: Mon Jun 30 21:08:11 EDT 1997
From: DaveThomer At: 199.35.216.247
The cover is meant to be a homage to the old EC comics, right? During that era, comics were a lot more likely to take chances; at least some publishers were. Then there was a popular outcry, politicians jumped on the bandwagon to "protect the kids," and the next thing we know there's decades of self-censorship. Looking at the TV ratings controversy and laws like the Communications Decency Act, do you think there are any lessons that newer media can take from comic creators' battles against censorship?
MsgId: *emedia(11)
Date: Mon Jun 30 21:11:12 EDT 1997
From: Frank_Miller At: 207.172.74.152
There is one simple lesson which is to treat the censors like the bullies they are and to fight them head-on. When the best publisher in comics, back in the early '50's was brought before the US Senate, Bill Gaines argued with them tooth and nail, jaw to jaw, he never gave an inch, and he won. EC comics was only shut down because the other comics took advantage of that, to shut the best comic down. It's like using red meat for a shark repellant -- we see this with the TV ratings system -- the more numbers, the more letters they add, the more people want to see. Appeasement does not work with censors -- these people can never confess victory. Trying to appease the censors isn't just cowardly, it's stupid.
MsgId: *emedia(13)
Date: Mon Jun 30 21:14:44 EDT 1997
From: DaveThomer At: 199.35.216.247
Now, as a creator, do you see any difference between those censors that don't want to see anything that challenges the cultural status quo, and someone like a parent who is genuinely concerned about his or her ability to keep up with what his or her child is doing? Is there a happy medium that's not appeasement?
MsgId: *emedia(14)
Date: Mon Jun 30 21:19:21 EDT 1997
From: Frank_Miller At: 207.172.74.152
I grew up watching television -- watching Jonny Quest on Saturday morning. I grew up reading comics books where people were punching things through walls. My parents somehow managed to monitor all this, keep an eye on things. What they did was they went into my room while I was at school, they picked up my comics books and they read them. They read the comics books and they decided they weren't harmful and monitored what I saw to the extent that they could. I think that they did a very good job. I've never been in jail. Parenting, I acknowledge, is hard work. Watching out for a child is hard work, but if you're not ready for hard work, don't have children.And under no circumstances should the rights of adults be curtailed under this endless fear of little Johnny or Janie seeing something that might upset them. Right now, every villian out there is waving babies in our faces -- whether it's people who want guns, or people who don't want us to have guns, people who don't want women to have abortions, or want women to have choices, there is no cause that isn't presented as in defense of children. It's hard to argue with people who say if you disagree with them, you're threatening the little darlings, but it just shows how low these people stoop. Parenting is hard.
MsgId: *emedia(16)
Date: Mon Jun 30 21:22:21 EDT 1997
From: DaveThomer At: 199.35.216.247
Let's get back to the issue of appeasement for a second. A lot of times, it seems it's not even lawmakers who are pulling things off the shelves - it's the companies themselves, bowing to boycotts or some other form of pressure. How do you think a company can balance responding to the public and standing up for creative freedom?
MsgId: *emedia(17)
Date: Mon Jun 30 21:27:08 EDT 1997
From: Frank_Miller At: 207.172.74.152
First off, I'd say, they could *try*. So often, they don't. Again, I get back to the Communications Decency Act, and how with tremendous pressure -- you can't get more pressure than the President and Congress passing a law -- shutting down expression. But the ACLU and the other people defending the internet were able to save the day. I only know my world of comic books. In that world, there is yet to be an effective boycott. There is yet to be a single law passed by Congress that would inhibit us. What I see is cowardice upon cowardice. I don't know the inner workings of the TV networks or what brought about the horror of the TV ratings, but there was the stink of cowardice on it. I don't remember reading that NBC was being boycotted by anyone. They failed to channel the nonsense that was being thrown at them -- the nonsense that if a child sees something on TV, he'll do it. The nonsense that a fictional character is a stronger role model than a parent or teacher. And besides, all this gets back to the question, are we all simply in the business of entertaining children? Entertaining children can be fun, but it's only a tiny part of the world we live in and I can't see any appeasement to the forces that say we should work only for children. They're cute, they're sweet, but they're ignorant.
MsgId: *emedia(19)
Date: Mon Jun 30 21:32:05 EDT 1997
From: DaveThomer At: 199.35.216.247
And the CDA presents a really interesting case, because it governs a medium where so many more people have the tools they need to be creative -- and to do so cheaply -- that there is the real potential for people to express something without it having to be profitable for some company that has its ear to the bottom line. From where you sit as someone who's spent so much time on creating, do you see new opportunities for creativity?
MsgId: *emedia(20)
Date: Mon Jun 30 21:35:13 EDT 1997
From: Frank_Miller At: 207.172.74.152
I believe in the marketplace. I believe that the marketplace is a good Darwinian effect. We lose a lot of good ideas, but we also lose a lot of garbage. I don't know, perhaps something magnificent will come from the internet, but I think it will all come down to people's individual tastes and talents.
MsgId: *emedia(21)
Date: Mon Jun 30 21:39:42 EDT 1997
From: DaveThomer At: 199.35.216.247
To get back to the actual comic TALES TO OFFEND -- you said that you want to upset people. (Even if you hadn't, the title is a give away.) At first glance, it might seem self-defeating to try to alienate your audience, yet you're obviously successful. What do you think you accomplish, as a storyteller and as someone creating for an audience, by pushing people's buttons?
MsgId: *emedia(22)
Date: Mon Jun 30 21:41:58 EDT 1997
From: Frank_Miller At: 207.172.74.152
A good point. I should change the word, not of my title, but of my statement from offend, to provoke. I think that stories should stimulate and that we feel a bit more alive and awake when something gets our attention. And maybe jars us out of our world a little bit and makes us take a different look at it. Take a look at the wonderful MAD comics of the early '60's and how much they shook things up, how much they excited us because they showed us how silly we were being. TALES TO OFFEND is a very small attempt to point out how silly we've all gotten.
MsgId: *emedia(23)
Date: Mon Jun 30 21:45:51 EDT 1997
From: DaveThomer At: 199.35.216.247
We can certainly use the reminder some times . . . Now, biting social satire isn't something people normally expect from comics. And crime stories like SIN CITY, even if they've become more prevalent since the series began, are also out of the norm. What attracts you to these kinds of stories -- particularly crime stories? And why have comics publishers been so resistant to them?
MsgId: *emedia(24)
Date: Mon Jun 30 21:48:38 EDT 1997
From: Frank_Miller At: 207.172.74.152
I write my SIN CITY stories because they're the kind of stories I always loved the most. That's the direction that comics are moving -- where people are doing the kind of stories they want to do. The only reason there weren't crime comics for many years is because the industry said it couldn't be. The only reason EC comics was shut down was because they were threatening the publishers who weren't selling so well. That's why everybody got used to the idea of comic books, meaning musclebound guys in tights. That's only been the case for the past 40 years. Before that it was a much richer, wider field. In a way, comics are returning to the way they used to be and the way they should be. SIN CITY is a part of that.
MsgId: *emedia(25)
Date: Mon Jun 30 21:51:57 EDT 1997
From: DaveThomer At: 199.35.216.247
I still have trouble understanding what interest anyone had in keeping the field so limited. Was it just a case of people repeating "Nothing but superheroes will sell" until they believed it?
MsgId: *emedia(26)
Date: Mon Jun 30 21:56:22 EDT 1997
From: Frank_Miller At: 207.172.74.152
Yes. My field is mired in stupid tradition. The main reason it's so mired has to do with how the comic books were made. Rather than a field where authors created stories they wanted to create, it became a factory system -- grinding out a product as homogenous and as bland as pablum. It's only been since artists and writers have regained our dignity to the copyrights, through the legal rights of our work, that the factory system has finally broken down and the inmates have finally taken over the asylum. So the possibilities now are endless and the future of comics is very bright. I'm very hopeful about where we're going, but as long as no one person really was an author of anything, they were going to stay as tedious as they were for so long. I'm one of the lucky ones -- I'm young enough to have seen things change and it's my job to make use of this opportunity. Comics have always had superior talent, but we've never had so much freedom.
MsgId: *emedia(28)
Date: Mon Jun 30 22:00:08 EDT 1997
From: DaveThomer At: 199.35.216.247
SIN CITY makes a lot of use of that freedom -- the environment, the types of conflicts between characters and within them -- I think it brings a lot to the medium. One very noticeable element of the SIN CITY stories is its protagonists. They're not cardboard, square-jawed heroes, they're characters that at first glance have no or few redeeming qualities find something that they're willing to sacrifice everything for. Do you consider these characters heroes?
MsgId: *emedia(29)
Date: Mon Jun 30 22:02:22 EDT 1997
From: Frank_Miller At: 207.172.74.152
Yes, absolutely. I am obsessed with heroism as a theme, but I don't believe that good can exist without evil. That wouldn't make any sense. And so, with SIN CITY, I visit my characters at times when their souls are tested and find their greatest moments of heroism. Yes, they are heros, they aren't simply protagonists. We've gotten too used to the idea of heros being the best-looking character around, or the character that happens to be the lead protagonist of the story. Without sin, there can't be any virtue.
MsgId: *emedia(30)
Date: Mon Jun 30 22:03:06 EDT 1997
From: DaveThomer At: 199.35.216.247
That's about all our time for this evening, unfortunately. I'd like to thank my guest tonight, Frank Miller. Frank will be appearing at the Chicago ComiCon from July 4-6 at the Rosemont Convention Center. In addition to the projects mentioned earlier, be on the lookout for assorted SIN CITY merchandise being released throughout the summer. For more information on Frank Miller and other Dark Horse Comics releases, check out www.dhorse.com. Thanks a lot for being with us tonight, Frank. Any last words?
MsgId: *emedia(31)
Date: Mon Jun 30 22:04:17 EDT 1997
From: Frank_Miller At: 207.172.74.152
Well thanks for having me and please give your local comic books shop a try -- who knows, maybe you'll be surprised and even offended by what you find there.
Home || Prime Time || Live Science || Machine Dreams || Project Open Book || SF-Fantasy-Horror
Continuum || Antimatter || Mind-Brain Lab || Interactive IQ || Gallery || OMNI ToonsQuestions, comments and suggestions can be mailed to the webmaster.
Copyright (C) 1997 by Omni Publications International, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.