10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nifty, August 16, 2006
This review is from: Hard Boiled (Paperback)
Haven't bought a comic in a while. Hollywood, having finally admited to running out of ideas has turned to the great and ultra-cool comics (Hellboy, Sin City, V for Vendetta, etc) in order to make some dough, has once again sparked my interest in graphic novels. I bought this one based soley on the art and was not dissapointed.
The ultra-violence can get a bit tedious (If you like tons of bloody naked people getting mauled by flaming vehicles....then prepare for your boat to float), but overall its not a bad read.
The story is ok. Not amazing but interesting never-the-less.
The cool thing about this book is the illustration. Which, is a virtual "Where's Waldo" of advertising icons, naked people, drug parephanilia, blood, and robots. Folks who say you can reread this a few times just to look at the amazing detail are telling it to you straight.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Literate, artistic, cinematic... the ultimate graphic novel, April 2, 2009
This review is from: Hard Boiled (Paperback)
I got the original comics when they were first released, being a fan of Frank Miller. I hadn't heard of Geof Darrow at that time.
Since then, I have picked up this book for myself to replace a worn copy of an earlier reprint (this printing has the cover art, which is most welcome), and for everyone I know who doesn't already have one. It's that good. You'll read it, put it down and stare into space for a while, then immediately start reading it again. It's that good.
Now, if it was just for the awe-inspiring, OCD-derived skills of artist Darrow, the book would be visually impressive enough. Nowhere is there the clean, spartan lines of a mainstream superhero comic. Clutter is everywhere, and it is as lovingly detailed as are the bizarre residents of this dark future. Car seats and footwells are littered with junk food wrappers, spare parts, toys, and utensils. Cars parked on the street are dented. Trash heaps are strewn with recognizable artifacts, not only from the modern day but things that should be available any day now. Japanese characters and English exist in a side-by-side melange on buildings and packages. It's a confusing swirl that somehow makes sense. Oh, and yes, it's hypersexual and ultraviolent; human life is cheap. But that's a reflection of the culture. Even if not a single shot was fired, it's clear that the individual means little or nothing to the people running the world. As Barbara says, "I hate flesh."
But you also have the literary talents of Miller, who has in this work exceeded even the high bar he has set for comic-book writing. It's not only entertaining, it's important. I'd rank this as the graphic novel equivalent of George Orwell's 1984-- the book that I think people HAVE to read these days. There's deep meaning in the simplest scenes; the dream sequence (about a third of the way through) is classic Miller.
And people talk like-- well, like people. (Except for one amazingly odd thing: Little or no cussing. A biker, about to strike a little old lady, says "You old so-and-so! We'll show you!" Somehow it makes it more eerie than if the characters had cussed like the South Park kids.) The book stays true to one of the most important developments of the cyberpunk style: No exposition. There is not a single panel that brings readers up-to-date on the social history, no asterisks in the speech balloons advising you to see some other comic book, no dialogue that infodumps in a way that no human being outside of a college lecture hall ever has. No. You're dropped into the thick of this universe and are trusted to be able to figure it out for yourself. You catch the middles of conversations, people speak in incomplete sentences, and the simple "whuff" when someone is punched says more than a multi-color, two-panel "SPLADAM!" Of course, the protagonist, Carl Seltz et. al., does keep up a running monologue. But it goes more to his mental state than to any understanding of this world's history.
The ending: both triumphant and depressing at the same time. How often do you see that happen?
Buy this book. Buy another copy for a friend. You'll want to have someone to talk about it with. It's that good.
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7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One Hell of a Ride, May 18, 2006
This review is from: Hard Boiled (Paperback)
The artwork alone will blow you away.
Loosely based on the same story that inspired "Blade Runner," this book is an irreverant thrill-ride from start to finish. Every page is a masterwork of illustration, and the detail is beyond belief.
It's classic Miller, with over-the-top violence, coupled with a disenfranchized cynicism that writers often imitate but can't duplicate. In this book, he masters the use of understatement, recognizing exactly when to step aside and let the art speak for itself.
You won't be disappointed.
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