Sin City: The Frank Miller Library, Set I (Volumes 1-4) (v. 1) [Deluxe Edition] [Hardcover]

Frank Miller (Author, Artist)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 27, 2005

A collector's dream! Sin City fans the world over are clamoring for oversized archival editions of the legendary noir series from Frank Miller and Dark Horse is rising to the occasion! In the tradition of the EC Library, these deluxe hardcovers measure 9" x 12", are printed on high-quality paper stock, and collect each original series along with the color series-covers. The four hardcover volumes of set I are packaged in a handsomely designed slipcase - a long-awaited addition to the bookshelves of discriminating comics fans. This slipcase holds volumes one through four of Sin City, the hard-boiled stories that started it all! Never before seen at this size, the now-infamous Marv, Dwight, Gail, Miho, Hartigan, Nancy, and the Yellow Bastard will transport you to Sin City and show you the bloody lives they lead ... bloody by choice or by circumstance. Frank Miller's Sin City is a triumph for its fiercely independent creator, and has been honored with Eisner awards, Harvey awards, and the prestigious National Cartoonists' Award.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The first Sin City volume of the Frank Miller library is an exceedingly handsome compilation of the first four books in Miller's gritty pulp-comic series: The Hard Goodbye, A Dame to Kill For, The Big Fat Kill, and That Yellow Bastard. These four stories--Marv's attempt to track down the killer of a perfect woman, Dwight's encounter with his ex-lover, Dwight's ill-fated attempt to teach a lesson to a brutal thug, and Hartigan's attempt to protect a young girl years after he saved her the first time--have the hallmarks that convinced Robert Rodriguez to turn three of them into the Sin City feature film: brutal violence, dangerous femmes fatale, mob leaders and dirty cops, and stark black-and-white art punctuated by the occasional splash of color. They all look great in these four oversized and heavyweight volumes of glossy paper. Also included are many of the color covers from the original Dark Horse comic books, though there's no supplemental art or creator commentary. Regardless, the presentation alone makes this a collection to savor. --David Horiuchi

Product Details

• Hardcover: 840 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse (December 27, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593074212
• ISBN-13: 978-1593074210
• Product Dimensions: 12.5 x 8 x 3.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,159,258 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Frank Miller is one of the seminal creative talents who sparked the current gigantic sub-industry of motion pictures featuring comic book- initiated product. A sub-industry which had become a super-industry. This most profitable aspect of this millennium's film production, now producing an annual flow of box office profits in the Billions of dollars, was launched when Frank Miller's graphic novel re-take on the classic comic book hero, Batman, resulted in an entertainment industry-wide reconsideration of the genre in the deeper and darker vision Miller brought to it.

Miller re-defined the presentation of comic book characters and heroic fiction with his grand-daddy of graphic novels, "The Dark Knight." This revolutionary work
not only kicked off the series of Batman films based on his redefinition, but a craze for such material that has thrown dozens of such heroes into multiple film franchise heaven. Certainly chief among these has been Miller's uniquely classical take on superheroic narrative, "300," and his "Sin City" books, each of which entered motion pictures with historic successes, and each now in Miller's creative phase of achieving its highly-anticipated sequel. Miller's co-direction of "Sin City" has made him one of the hottest
directors... as well as a guiding creative force...for the new genre. Or one might say "super genre."

Miller's latest graphic novel, Holy Terror, is his first original graphic novel in ten years. Join The Fixer, a brand new, hard-edged hero as he battles terror in the inaugural release from Legendary Comics.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the Ultimate Sin City Experience, December 27, 2005

By 

Justin Gaines (Northern Virginia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sin City: The Frank Miller Library, Set I (Volumes 1-4) (v. 1) (Hardcover)

The fact that you're checking out this big-ticket item means you are no doubt familiar with Frank Miller's crime noir masterpiece, so I won't bother explaining what the basic stories are all about. You're probably here trying to decide whether this bookshelf item is worth the hefty price tag, or whether it is time to upgrade your Sin City collection. The answer is an overwhelming YES.

In this massive collection you get the first four Sin City graphic novels housed in a black slipcase with the Sin City logo in red foil. The volumes presented here are in hardcover format in a larger than normal size. Think of the DC Absolute hardcover series; these books are just slightly smaller than that format. As if the extra large presentation weren't enough, the page stock has been significantly upgraded. The pages are as thick as the typical Sin City cover stock, and ultra-glossy, which is ideally suited for Miller's dynamic black and white artwork. Each page becomes fine art. I was extremely pleased with my original Sin City hardcovers and paperbacks, but they just pale in comparison to the quality of this package. This really is the ultimate Sin City reading experience.

My only complaint, and it is minor, is that there isn't anything in the way of "bonus material." At the very least, I was hoping for some kind of introduction to each volume by Miller. But like I said, it's a minor gripe.

With its high price tag, the Sin City Library is not for everyone. It is however, a must-have for true Sin City aficionados, and makes an impressive addition to the comic fan's bookshelf.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sin City at its B.E.S.T.!, February 12, 2006

By 

Andre Heeger (Germany) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sin City: The Frank Miller Library, Set I (Volumes 1-4) (v. 1) (Hardcover)

Forget all the other imprints of this masterpiece. Finally Dark Horse does justice to this great series with this marvellous set. Marv, Goldie and all the others have never looked better. Just the quality of the paper and the blackness of the ink takes your breath away (matches the E.C. slipcased sets in quality printing). Just look at the other pictures above: aren't these covers awesome? Also included are beautiful color reproductions of most of the series' original covers. I would even go as far as to say that this set isn't just for fans. The panels are "ready to be framed" ... But then you'd need to buy at least two sets.... joking...
When you're interested in comic book inking, page set-ups, art in general or how to bring a plot to paper, buy this. You won't be disappointed. You'll want to read this over and over again. Each single dialogue, sharper than a razor blade, the movements frozen in mid-air. This will truely leave you breathless and in awe. When you liked the movie, buy this. It lets you appreciate the detail and leaves you the time to discover what maybe got lost through the pace of cinematic story-telling. I didn't like the movie as much as these books. Why? Here I have the time to appreciate every single frame, to let the characters grow inside my head. The movie didn't leave me that room. To me it almost became a series of scenes filled with too much senseless violence. Not that the books are any less violent or that because they leave you your own pace in reading them, they'd prepare you for anything that you have coming your way. No way. I just think they leave you more time and space to appreciate what great art it is that you are looking at - and for what a great price.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Sin"-ful, January 11, 2006

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sin City: The Frank Miller Library, Set I (Volumes 1-4) (v. 1) (Hardcover)

Call it "noir meets Kill Bill." Frank Miller stripped comic art to the bone in his "Sin City" series, which takes place in the fictional "Basin City," where corruption is the rule and life is cheap.

It's a gritty, dark, edgy series with several interwoven stories, and artwork that give no distraction from the rocky stories. And this collector's edition contains the first four volumes of the series, but with the bloody, gritty storytelling amped up with the greater quality of the publication.

It opens with "The Hard Goodbye," a bloody revenge tale about a scarred hulk named Marv. He meets a beautiful young blonde who sleeps with him, but she is dead the next morning. Revenge spurs Marv to hunt down and destroy the people who killed Goldie, including a silent cannibal and a corrupt cardinal, no matter what the price.

"A Dame To Kill For" is pure noir, set before the first book of the series. Dwight is a photographer with a shady past; his ex-girlfriend Ava reenters his life, announcing that she's scared of her ultrawealthy husband, Damien Lord, and seeking Dwight as a knight in tarnished armor. But Dwight doesn't know if he can trust her -- is Ava really in danger, or is she manipulating him as a pawn to get back at her husband? The truth just might destroy him...

Elsewhere in Sin City, the streets of Old Town are ruled by the ladies who walk them. And in "The Big Fat Kill," Dwight comes to their aid. A bunch of drunks invaded Old Town and get killed by the prostites... but then they find that one has a badge. Now Dwight must help the prostitutes -- to whom he owes a debt -- defend themselves against the rest of Sin City.

"That Yellow Bastard" introduces us to Hartigan, an ailing cop who receives a distress call from an 11-year-old, Nancy Callahan. He does rescue her, but at a price -- the rapist-murderer who attacked her is the son of a senator. Hartigan ends up in jail. And after eight years, he finds that teen stripper Nancy is now being stalked by the senator's son again...

Anyone who has seen the excellent "Sin City" movie will know what to expect -- a bloody, stark, lawless retro-noir story, with a lot of killing, sex and revenge. Wallace puts it well at the end of "Hell and Back": "That rotten town. Those it can't corrupt, it soils. Those it can't soil, it kills."

So what kind of boxed set is this? A collector's set, not the type you take off the shelf and flip through, but the kind you dust, admire, and occasionally brush your fingers over. But if you were to flip through it, you would find fine-quality paper, tight hardcover bindings, and Miller's artwork sitting in the middle of it, looking better than ever.

Normally I would think that a black-and-white comic, with only the odd splashes of colour, would be wasted on the paper here. But it actually adds definition to Miller's stark artwork, and makes it leap off the page. Whether black-and-white or with the odd bit of colour, it's very striking just to look at.

The first boxed set of Frank Miller's "Sin City" takes the noir comic and upgrades it to a collectible status. Dark, edgy and beautifully bound.