{"id":707,"date":"2018-04-25T10:36:49","date_gmt":"2018-04-25T08:36:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/britishdailynews.co.uk\/?p=707"},"modified":"2018-04-27T10:45:48","modified_gmt":"2018-04-27T08:45:48","slug":"frank-miller-i-wasnt-thinking-clearly-when-i-said-those-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/britishdailynews.co.uk\/?p=707","title":{"rendered":"Frank Miller: ‘I wasn’t thinking clearly when I said those things’"},"content":{"rendered":"

A<\/span><\/span>s far back as he can remember,\u00a0Frank Miller<\/a>\u00a0always wanted to draw a gangster. \u201cI decided that I wanted to make comic books when I was five years old,\u201d the cartoonist says. \u201cI declared to my parents that I was going to do that for the rest of my life.\u201d He\u2019s wearing a black T-shirt with a drawing of Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and the words \u201chigh-functioning sociopath\u201d, a white beard that makes him look older than his 61 years, and a near-constant smile.<\/p>\n

In photos, Miller scowls heavily into the camera, the very image of the kind of grizzled tough he might have drawn in\u00a0Sin City<\/a>. But in conversation he is very clearly not a sociopath: in fact, he is a little anxious and very friendly and eager to talk about all his titanically influential works: Sin City, Batman, Daredevil. After a long absence from the public eye, he is suddenly everywhere again. In March he signed a five-project deal with DC Comics that includes\u00a0penning a new Superman graphic novel<\/a>. He bagged another deal, with Netflix and Simon & Schuster, for\u00a0an Arthurian-themed project called Cursed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And his latest graphic novel isalready underway:\u00a0Xerxes<\/a>, a prequel to 300, his tale of the ancient battle of Thermopylae,\u00a0adapted for film by Zack Snyder in 2006<\/a>. The new series is set to span the rise and fall of the Persian empire: from before the birth of the ambitious and bloodthirsty titular king, to the life of his son and the rise of Alexander. Miller is fascinated by the period. \u201cThe Spartans were strange catalysts of democracy,\u201d he says. \u201cThey were utter fascists. They had the best land in Greece, and it was tilled by slaves and the citizens were all soldiers to defend the territory. The Athenians were the ones who gave birth to democracy, but the Spartans made it all possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

These are the first substantial projects Miller has had in several years, barring a halting return to comics in 2015, when he worked on a Batman graphic novel. His writing is sometimes criticised as unsubtle \u2013 his villains tend to be terribly bad and his heroes tremendously good \u2013 but his visual style is unmistakable, even as it has changed radically over his 40-year career. During a long run on Marvel\u2019s\u00a0Daredevil<\/a>, his subjects\u2019 anatomy evolved from conventional superhero fodder. His almost caricature figures in\u00a0The Dark Knight Returns<\/a>, posed against intricate backgrounds, made his take on Batman an instant classic. When he drew Sin City, he changed again: drowning his pages in black ink and rendering cityscapes with onlyflecks of light. And 300 was almost hallucinatory, a black-and-white series that explodes into full colour after the hero is pumped full of a toxin by his enemies.To this day, his work still doesn\u2019t look like anyone else\u2019s, not even his imitators.<\/p>\n

<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Miller\u2019s politics seemed to become more eccentric as his drawing did the same. In 2011, he published what he called \u201ca propaganda comic\u201d:\u00a0Holy Terror<\/a>, a gory tale of a caped superhero taking on al-Qaida. In one scene, the hero tortures a suicide bomber as his Catwomanish girlfriend observes that she\u2019s \u201cOK with that.\u201d It\u2019s just one of the book\u2019s many other acts of gory revenge on Miller\u2019s Muslims, who stone and behead people and scream, \u201cPraise Allah!\u201d Readers and critics responded with bafflement and anger;\u00a0one critic called it<\/a>\u00a0\u201cone of the most appalling, offensive and vindictive comics of all time\u201d.<\/p>\n

That same year, Miller\u00a0went on a tirade against the Occupy Wall Street movement<\/a>, describing it in a blog as \u201ca pack of louts, thieves, and rapists \u2026 Wake up, pond scum. America is at war against a ruthless enemy. Maybe, between bouts of self-pity and all the other tasty tidbits of narcissism you\u2019ve been served up in your sheltered, comfy little worlds, you\u2019ve heard terms like al-Qaida and Islamicism.\u201d Miller was again branded a reactionary.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy stuff always represents what I\u2019m going through,\u201d Miller says today. \u201cWhenever I look at any of my work I can feel what my mindset was and I remember who I was with at the time. When I look at Holy Terror, which I really don\u2019t do all that often, I can really feel the anger ripple out of the pages. There are places where it is bloodthirsty beyond belief.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does he have any regrets? \u201cI don\u2019t want to go back and start erasing books I did,\u201d he replies. \u201cI don\u2019t want to wipe out chapters of my own biography. But I\u2019m not capable of that book again.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth noting that whatever his detractors may think of his politics, Miller still happily inveighs against \u201cwhite, heterosexual family values\u201d and has no interest in defending his views on Occupy Wall Street. \u201cI wasn\u2019t thinking clearly,\u201d he confesses. Does he support Donald Trump? \u201cReal men stay bald,\u201d he says with a grin, lifting his hat to run a hand over his bare scalp.<\/p>\n

Miller got his start in comics in the late 1970s, when he was in his early 20s, after his dad helped him move to New York City to chase his dream of making it as a comic-book illustrator. Eager to get started, he made three calls: one each to DC and Marvel, and a third to his hero:\u00a0Neal Adams<\/a>, whose Batman and Green Lantern comics had made him a superstar. Adams\u2019s daughter answered the phone; Miller convinced his idol to take a look at his portfolio.<\/p>\n

Adams credits his daughter with his decision to give Miller a chance. \u201cObviously she felt sorry for him because he was a skinny kid who looked like\u00a0Ichabod Crane<\/a>,\u201d he says. Miller\u2019s portfolio was \u201cawful,\u201d he says, laughing. \u201cIt was so bad. My heart sunk, and I was like, \u2018Oh my God, one of these guys.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Many artists were so humiliated by the harsh feedback Adams gave that they never came back \u2013 not Miller. (\u201cAnything but!\u201d Miller exclaims. \u201cIt was exhilarating that my idol was that generous with his time!\u201d)<\/p>\n

But Miller\u2019s subsequent success, Adams says, is not his doing. \u201cWhatever you do, don\u2019t say that I\u2019m responsible for\u00a0Frank Miller<\/a>,\u201d he warns. \u201cI\u2019ve done the same thing for a hundred guys and nobody responded the way Frank did. Nobody advanced that quickly. And I made it hard for him! If you\u2019d gone through it, you\u2019d have gone home crying. I never would have thought that he\u2019d turn out to be what he is. He\u2019s become like a son to me. I didn\u2019t teach him any other of life\u2019s lessons, unfortunately, and I should have. That was the bad part.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why did Miller take a years-long sabbatical from the medium he\u2019d pursued his whole life? Adams blames the traditional trappings of fame \u2013 bad influences and alcohol. When asked about his absence, the limit to Miller\u2019s candour is revealed. \u201cI just got very distracted by real life,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019d rather not go into it.\u201d Through a publicist, he declined to respond to his mentor\u2019s assessment.<\/p>\n