Sin City



Sin City is a neo-noir comic book series written and drawn by Frank Miller, taking place in the crime-ridden Basin City (most often referred to Sin City).

Why it Rocks

 * 1) Gorgeous artwork almost entirely made up of stark black and white, with great usage of shading and whatnot. Some issues have a little color, but they're few and far between, and still look great. One of the few issues in the series that has color is The Babe Wore Red, where a woman's red dress is colored. That Yellow Bastard also has the titular Yellow Bastard and even his blood is yellow.
 * 2) Interesting storylines, like That Yellow Bastard, about Officer Hartigan going to great lengths to save a young girl from a diplomatically immune child rapist and murderer, suffering legal consequences himself; A Dame to Kill For, about Dwight McCarthy trying to live a normal life and avoid letting "the monster" out, until his ex-girlfriend Ava Lord comes back into his life begging for help; and The Hard Goodbye, which follows Marv setting out on a bloody path of revenge to find the cannibalistic murderer of his lover and several Old Town prostitutes. The style is also very much like a noire movie while being in a more modern time, which is very unique.
 * 3) Likeable and interesting characters, notably Marv of the latter two, who's a mentally ill antihero; Mike Hartigan of That Yellow Bastard, who's more of a folk hero; and Dwight McCarthy of A Dame to Kill For and The Big Fat Kill, who feels very much like a real person as he just wants to live a normal life, which often proves to be impossible in a place like Sin City. It also has plenty of strong female characters like Gail, Wendy, Miho, and Nancy.
 * 4) Excellent depiction of Sin City, a hot, decrepit, crime-ridden hellhole run by corrupt politicians, yet there's still people who can find a way to live peacefully there. It also has torrential rain at least once a year, which Marv likes as it helps him think. It's also got plenty of seedy bars that only dregs of society go to, which fits in with the story.
 * 5) Awesome level of violence that avoids feeling mean-spirited and looks great despite almost always being in black and white, or perhaps even because of that.
 * 6) You don't need to read any of the stories in any particular order to understand them fully. The chronology is all over the place, but that's a part that makes it particularly interesting due to how it all makes sense when you think about it.
 * 7) The first movie, directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller himself, does a fantastic job adapting the source material and has some beautiful cinematography with it's black-and-white with some color style.
 * 8) Plenty of characters appear in plenty of the stories, whether or not they're actually active in the plot, like how near the end of A Dame to Kill For, Detectives Mort and Bob pass by Marv and Wendy going towards the infamous farm in The Hard Goodbye. Marv also plays a pretty major role in A Dame to Kill For, being a personal friend of Dwight's and immediately offering to help him.
 * 9) The series manages to pretty deftly balance dark comedy and intensity, using both when appropriate and not going too far in either direction to make it thoroughly engaging.
 * 10) Lots of interesting and disturbing themes, like asking the question of how far is too far when pursuing justice, and whether or not it's worth suffering any punishment from the corrupt forces in power as a result.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Some unnecessary racist and homophobic comments from Marv at times, even if it's intended to be realistic.
 * 2) The art style can be a little uncanny and confusing at times, being that it's by Frank Miller.
 * 3) Some unlikeable characters like Ava Lord, Jackie Boy, Becky, and Detective Mort, even if it's entirely of intentional for most of them.
 * 4) Some of the stories can be a little too bleak or violent for some, especially That Yellow Bastard, which has two scenes of crude castration (even if they're not super graphic and the victim definitely deserved it)
 * 1) Some of the stories can be a little too bleak or violent for some, especially That Yellow Bastard, which has two scenes of crude castration (even if they're not super graphic and the victim definitely deserved it)

Trivia

 * 1) In the film adaptation, Frank Miller himself plays a corrupt priest who Marv shoots to death for insulting Goldie.

Reception
Sin City is often considered the greatest Neo-Noire comic book series of all time, with many of the stories like A Dame to Kill For winning the Eisner Award for comic books.