Sin City

Sin City is the title for a series of stories by Frank Miller, told in comic book form in a film noir-like style. The first story originally appeared in Dark Horse Presents from April of 1991 to June of 1992, under the title of Sin City, serialized in thirteen parts. more...

Several other stories of variable lengths have followed. All stories take place in Basin City, with frequent recurring characters and intertwining stories.

A movie adaptation of Sin City, co-directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller with "special guest director" Quentin Tarantino, was released on April 1, 2005. The Sin City graphic novels were reprinted with new covers and in a reduced size to coincide with the motion picture's theatrical release. Rodriguez has expressed a desire to begin filming two sequels back-to-back starting February 2006 for release sometime in 2007. A TV Series based on the comics is reported to follow the second sequel.

Sin City yarns

These are the individual stories, usually referred to as "yarns", set in Frank Miller’s Sin City universe. They are listed here in order of publication. The chronology of Sin City is described below.

The Hard Goodbye

First published as Sin City in Dark Horse Presents issues #51-62 and 5th Anniversary Special (June 1991–June 1992), and reprinted as Sin City (The Hard Goodbye) (January 1993), The Hard Goodbye is the first comic book story that Frank Miller drew and wrote about the desperate denizens of Basin City/"Sin City". It was originally titled simply Sin City when it was released in the Dark Horse Presents Fifth Anniversary Special and issues Dark Horse Presents #51-62 , but it was given its own title in trade paperback form. The protagonist is Marv, a dangerous, possibly psychopathic man. Marv wakes up after a one-night stand to discover Goldie, the woman he had just met and had sex with, has been killed in the night. The thirteen-part serial follows Marv on his brutal, single-minded quest to understand why Goldie was killed and bring revenge upon her murderers.

This story is one of three Sin City stories retold in the movie Sin City. In the film version, Mickey Rourke plays Marv, Jaime King plays Goldie/Wendy, Carla Gugino plays Lucille, Elijah Wood plays Kevin, and Rutger Hauer plays Cardinal Roark.

Marv, a huge, heavily scarred hulk of a man, is approached in a seedy saloon by a beautiful woman named Goldie. Later they meet in an equally run-down hotel room for a night together. The two of them have sex, and when Marv wakes up she is lying in the bed next to him, murdered. Heavily armored police officers (on duty officers wear SWAT gear possibly due to the high crime rate) from Basin City's corrupt police force storm the building, and Marv fights his way through them and escapes into the streets.

As he roams the streets in pursuit of the truth, Marv has to deal with several issues. First, he feels indebted to Goldie for her kindness and wishes to repay her by avenging her death. He suffers from a medical condition in which he experiences vivid hallucinations, and wonders if he actually murdered Goldie (especially because the two of them were alone and he feels sure he would have detected anyone entering the room to kill Goldie). Finally, Marv is attacked several times by storm troopers and detectives from the Basin City police department, whom he brutally slaughters in self-defense.

At one point in his journey, Marv stops by the strip club Kadie's, where he watches the dancing act of Nancy Callahan (from That Yellow Bastard).

Marv's investigation eventually leads him to The Farm (the same place Detective Hartigan and Yellow Bastard had their final confrontation in That Yellow Bastard), where he defeats a pet wolf and discovers human remains. Marv finally encounters the real killer, a small, shadowy figure with glowing glasses and a Charlie Brown-looking sweater. The killer is supernaturally silent and quick, and manages to sneak up on and beat up Marv (quite a feat, as Marv is over 7', 300lbs, and had earlier shown the ability to slaughter several armed opponents at once, and survived being shot in the chest by a submachine gun).

Marv wakes up in a holding cell, where he is greeted by the sight of several stuffed female heads, mounted on the wall like trophies. Also held in the cell is Lucille (his lesbian parole officer), who explains that the killer kills women so that he can dine on their flesh. Lucille is understandably quite shaken, as the killer had previously forced her to watch while he sucked the flesh off her hand. From the cell, Marv watches the killer being picked up by a limousine, and learns that his name is Kevin.

Marv and Lucille escape, but are intercepted by a SWAT team. Unwilling to die in a shootout, Lucille knocks Marv down and runs towards the cops. Believing she has been rescued, Lucille attempts to convince them not to kill Marv. The cops quickly kill her, to eliminate any witnesses. Marv kills the cops, and learns from torturing the lead detective that the man who wants him dead is Cardinal Roark, brother to Senator Roark and a member of the powerful and corrupt Roark family that founded and runs Basin City.

Marv is soon captured by the Old Town prostitutes, led by Goldie's twin sister Wendy, who believe Marv is responsible for Goldie's death and thus intend to torture and kill him. Marv convinces them that he is innocent (stating that no prostitute would let someone as ugly and fearsome-looking as him close enough to kill her), and they provide him with the ordnance he needs to confront Kevin.

Armed with explosives, razor wire and his "mitts", Marv sets up a series of traps around the Farm, then flushes Kevin out by bombarding the Farm with a Molotov cocktail bomb. Kevin manages to avoid Marv's traps, and the two of them fight it out. Marv takes quite a beating, but keeps on fighting and eventually manages to outsmart Kevin by handcuffing him to himself, allowing him to knock out Kevin with a strong punch to the face. Wendy shows up with a gun, intending to kill Kevin; but Marv knocks her out, because he intends to torture Kevin first, and doesn't want Wendy to have nightmares from witnessing it.

Read more at Wikipedia.org