SIN CITY 581
worn-down projects, and city landmarks help anchor the fast-paced plot lines in areas
like the surreal Tar Pits of the closed down amusement park and the fenced evil of Th e
Farm. Old Town is a city within the city populated by prostitutes; as long as a fragile
truce is kept, the mob and police leave the women of Old Town to carry out their own
justice. Basin City has a very high frequency of violence and crime and is controlled by
corrupt politicians, the mob, and various crime lords using hitmen as go-betweens. Th e
police force is part SWAT team members and part regular cops, most of whom are in
the pocket of one or the other powerful criminals. Miller uses an immediately recogniz-
able style where great emphasis is put on the eff ects of light and shadow, using black and
white to outline bodies, light up faces and keep things hidden in the dark. Contrasts
between black and white shape the characters as black patches of ink are criss-crossed
by falling white rain, and silhouettes in white or black take up big parts of the page
design—their bodies striped by the light coming through numerous Venetian blinds.
Grey tones are not an option in the visual execution of Sin City, but on rare occasion
Miller uses a primary color for eff ect: a red dress, blue eyes or the yellow body of a vile
villain known as the Yellow Bastard. Th e only exception to this black/white scenario
is a passage in the volume Hell and Back where the drug- overdosed mind of the pro-
tagonist is refl ected in a water-colored section featuring a wide variety of monsters and
intertextual references to other comics. With the exception of Family Values, all the Sin
City volumes were fi rst published as single issues.
Th e Hard Goodbye (original title: Sin City) fi rst collected in 1992, features Marv—a
chivalrous but primitive muscle-man. After having spent a night with the beautiful
Goldie just to wake and fi nd her murdered in a way clearly intended to frame him for
the crime, Marv swears revenge and starts killing his way through the people involved
in her death.
Original comic panel of Nancy and Hartigan from Frank Miller’s graphic novel Sin City.
Dimension Films/Photofest
