Sin City: The Hard Goodbye Review

 

Welcome to another comic book review folks. Only this time I venture out of DC or Marvel and instead do a comic from Dark Horse Comics. Let's do this.

Sin City: The Hard Goodbye is a 1991 crime comic storyline and the first story in the Sin City comic series. The first part of the story was published in Dark Horse Presents: 5th Anniversary Special with the rest of the story published in Dark Horse Presents #51-62. Then being published in collected editions. Frank Miller was both the writer and artist.

The story is, former ex-military and professional killer Marv wakes up and sees that the woman he slept with Goldie has been killed. Now, Marv is on the warpath to find who killed Goldie and punish them for killing the woman he thought of as his personal heaven in the hell that is Sin City.

• Negatives

I've got nothing.

• Mix

It stems from the characters. Marv is a great anti-hero. He's violent but does have a moral code. And through his internal monologues he does show a slight vulnerability. But the villains he's facing are very one-dimensional. They're just plain evil. Which wouldn't be problem considering some great villains are like that, the Joker being the biggest example. But with how nuance Marv it does kinda make you wish the villains were just as complex.

• Positives

Let's start off with the pacing. The story immediately hits the ground running when Marv finds Goldie dead and starts running from the cops, and it never stops. But when we do stop it's perfectly strategic, with panels having Marv monologue trying to put the pieces together or seek help from others. This is a comic that's quick in all the right ways.

The next praise goes to Frank Miller's art. Nowadays it's so easy to rag on Frank's art. True his style isn't as polished as it was in his prime, but a lot of it isn't helped by whoever is inking and/or coloring his work, but I digress. With The Hard Goodbye his art is pretty cool. If you don't know Miller's art style is heavily influenced by noir cinema with a bit of manga thrown in as well. So while a lot of his work does come in color such as The Dark Knight Returns, his black and white art is really good. Visuals are striking because Frank has a great use of negative space and silhouettes. I'll give you just a little taste.

Now let's move onto to world building. Despite this being the city's very first appearance. Basin City or as it's called in the story Sin City feels like a character itself and that character is urban dystopia. The setting is a mess. There's seedy bars, decrepit appointments, and alleys just covered in rain. There's different types of societies. The corrupt elites rule from estates and compounds, the underclass scraping by in the gutters, and Old Town which not only showcases resistance but also hints at subcultures.

My final bit of praising goes to the story. While we get a fun revenge story there's also quite a lot going on. Marv's quest isn't just simply payback but also a warped sense of redemption. He's willing to die just because of one moment of kindness. Showing how even in despair humans still have a deep need of connection. And there's another thing I kinda failed to see the first time around but picked up on later. But there's moments where Frank Miller subtly questions if Marv's code is truly heroic or more self-destructive?

Guys, if you want to read an alternative from the typical DC & Marvel stuff, I suggest reading this. It's a fun read.

My final rating is, Great.

Well that was a good time. Anyways, come back on Saturday, Jun 21st for my review of the highly anticipated, 28 Years Later. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.