Can anything be darker than noir? Try Frank Miller's Sin City series. The tasty Hell and Back features Wallace, a brooding artist with a decided talent for hurting people, and Esther, a stunningly beautiful actress accidentally mixed up in a slavery ring that extends far and deep enough to transcend the word conspiracy. The tale twists, turns, and backtracks, teasing the reader with hints of terror to come--until the explosive climax. Miller's art is exactly right for his words; he uses more black than white, and color only when appropriate. The chapter dealing with Wallace's drug hallucinations is beautiful, heartbreaking, and terrifying in turn. Readers interested in the human dark side should find out what fans of Sin City already know: Frank Miller has seen it and wants to share. --Rob Lightner
From Publishers Weekly
Wallace is a complicated guy. He's a shaggy, unshaven artist with a cool car and artistic integrity that makes it difficult for him to make a living as a commercial artist. He's also an ex-marine with a Congressional Medal of Honor for service in Vietnam. When he saves the mysterious, beautiful Esther from committing suicide, it looks like the stage is set for a great romance. But there are mysterious forces with warped plans for Esther. This is a typical Frank Miller story, crammed with operatic drama, passion and stark violence and clearly influenced by classic crime fiction masters like Raymond Chandler. And while the cars and architecture are straight out of the '50s, Wallace's slacker wardrobe (Converse high-tops, long hair, trench coat) and high-powered weaponry all have a distinctly contemporary flavor. Those looking for sensitive investigations of love and character won't find them here: Miller's stories are over-the-top, high-tension pulp fiction, racheted up to farcical levels of frenzied violence and action. His drawings are spectacularly graphic and Varley's strategically placed color, amid Miller's rich black-and-white drawings, accents the book's stylish atmosphere of dread. All told, this is an important addition to the ultra-hard-boiled crime fiction genre. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
In the Town Without Pity, good men are hard to find. Enter Wallace, a man of mystery. He's a nice guy who's very good at killing people. Out for an evening drive along the beach, he meets the woman of his dreams -- and she's trying to kill herself. Why? And who are the shadowy cabal of power brokers who wrench her from his arms? When will all hell break loose? Comics legend Frank Miller, creator of the groundbreaking Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, pounds out his longest Sin City graphic novel to date, a bare-knuckle barrage of brutal action, dark secrets, and heroic sacrifice. What the hell -- it's a love story! Includes color sections and pinups by a who's who of comics luminaries, including Lynn Varley's first actual comics illustration.
About the Author
Frank Miller is among the world's most popular comics creators. His work on the original series Sin City has garnered numerous awards, including two Harvey awards for Best Graphic Album of Original Work (1998) and Best Continuing Series (1996), and the series has earned Miller six Eisner Awards, including those for Best Writer/Artist, Best Graphic Novel Reprint, Best Cartoonist, Best Cover Artist, Best Limited Series, and Best Short Story. Similarly, books in his Martha Washington series have won Eisners for Best Finite Series, Best Coloring, and Best Penciller/Inker. This year, Sin City: Hell and Back won the British Eagle Award for Best Black-and-white comic book
Sin City: Hell and Back FROM THE PUBLISHER
In the Town Without Pity, good men are hard to find. Enter Wallace, a man of mystery. He's a nice guy who's very good at killing people. Out for an evening drive along the beach, he meets the woman of his dreams — and she's trying to kill herself. Why? And who are the shadowy cabal of power brokers who wrench her from his arms? When will all hell break loose? Comics legend Frank Miller, creator of the groundbreaking Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, pounds out his longest Sin City graphic novel to date, a bare-knuckle barrage of brutal action, dark secrets, and heroic sacrifice. What the hell — it's a love story! Includes color sections and pinups by a who's who of comics luminaries, including Lynn Varley's first actual comics illustration.
FROM THE CRITICS
Internet Book Watch
Set in Frank Miller's dark world of "Sin City", his latest epic, Hell And Back, is to graphic novels what film noire is to the cinema. The dialogue is terse, the artwork is as powerful as it is gritty, the story is of an ex-soldier who aspires to be an artist becoming tangled up in the nightmare of a beautiful woman he saves from suicide only to discover that she is the target of an immense, powerful, and corruptive conspiracy populated by a pantheon of memorable (and sometimes surprising) villains. Forcefully illustrated in black and white, Hell And Back, is enhanced by a vividly colored segment totally appropriate to the story line involving a drug induced hallucination. Of special interest at the end of this outstanding, highly recommended graphic novel dedicated is a gallery of Frank Miller's work inspired by this particular story, and a second gallery showcasing the art of a number of artists inspired by, and in tribute to, Miller's "Sin City" world of death and desire, the horrific and the heroic. REVIEW%> THE WORLD HISTORY SHELF
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Book Info
