Frank Miller's Holy Terror

[NickRocks]

The book that took Frank Miller almost a decade to make after DK2 was finished, the book that was originally a Batman story, then moved to a new publisher, is finally out...and without much fanfare. I had no idea it was out. Whether this is due to my disassociation with the current comic scene, or the general vibe associated with Miller nowadays, or whatever, I was pleasantly surprised to see it on a stand at NYCC today so I snatched it up without hesitation.

The book opens with a quote from Mohammed "if you meet the infidel, kill the infidel". "Kill the infidel" is in red. I do not know anything about islam, so I am unaware if this is an actual quote, but the intent is ambiguous. Does Miller want me to be outraged and angry, or am I supposed to feel uncomfortable? Either way, I just thought to myself "oh boy".

The story starts out beautifully, with Catwo-er, some cat burglar jumping across rooftops running from The Fixer-who is basically Batman with a thigh holster and an ammo belt. They fight, then f**k. The art is really rather nice here, it's big bold strokes of black and we are given some pretty splash pages, like when the girl lays on The Fixer right before they do it, it is a nice reminder of how slick Miller's art can be. My only issue with it is that Frank loves the splatter-so much so that after the explosions, the air is supposed to be chalky and dusty. Miller achieves this effect with lots of splatter and white out; however, before the explosions, it looked the exact same since he was using (you guessed it) alot of splatter and white out.

Anyways, so the Al-Qaeda attacks happen, which are illustrated oddly-we don't see planes, or towers. Just a splash page of nails flying, then razorblades. Did Al-Qaeda detonate a nail-bomb? I don't get it. There is also little to no explanation of how they know this is an Al-Qaeda attack.

Miller employs the splash of color here like he did in Sin City, except it's meaningless now. The soles of the main heroine's shoes are red; why, no real reason. A girl shows up with a pink outfit and pink lipstick, but just as you think shes an important character, she dies..along with a bunch of other people, in an actually pretty genius 3-page spread showing different portraits slowly fading out and then 2 pages of just white panels. The Fixer and The cat burglar watch, wide eyed, then it shows some destruction and what looks like a shoe? then back to The Fixer and the burglar and they both go "not on my watch. not in my town".

We are then treated to 3 pages of wordless panels showing terrorists doing things like firing RPGs, riling each other up. A women holds a huge machine gun, a suicide bomber straps themselves in and holds up a peace sign, and someone gets beheaded. Then it's back to the Fixer and the Burglar, jumping over rooftops. Now she's laughing and having fun and he's thinking that he's falling in love with her. The art here is very nice, Miller does so well at just using shapes to make us think stuff is there. A few thick slashes and a building is in the background, it is refreshing in this age of hyper detail.

Unfortunately, the few great splash pages are the best thing about this book, because right after The Fixer and the Burglar go into the sewers, that's where this book goes too. The Fixer jumps into a group of armed terrorists and starts shooting them dual wielding guns. "We engage in postmodern diplomacy. We give them exactly what they want-minus the innocent victims" the captions read. They leave one alive to tortue, and hang him by his arms and legs while Fixer stands on his back, with burglar sitting on his shoulders.

"So Mohammed, pardon me for guessing your name, but you've got to admit the odds are pretty good it's Mohammed-what's the plan?" Fixer asks him. When he doesn't answer, he breaks his back by stomping his spine. Then they blow him up. "Yeesh. That's a lot of chunks of terrorist" Burglar quips. "At least we know they're the same species" Fixer adds.

The terrorists then fly a plane into the statue of liberty, and-yknow what, screw that. This book is really not worth reviewing that detailed. Frank Miller f**ked up here. I don't think he has "lost it", I don't think he "can't make good comics anymore", although I already know some people will come into this thread and say those very same things. I respect the man for having an opinion and not being afraid to show it and tell it and put down on paper how he really feels. The book bleeds raw emotion and feeling. It's just...it's very uncomfortable. I was actually discussing it with Khary and it feels like your drunk uncle started spouting off at a family get together. You still love him, but he just said more than he should have and ruined his image in the family. I know some people think that happened before, but after this, I'm wondering about Xerxes coming out at all now.

In the end, Holy Terror is a book that will just give FM detractors more "evidence" of his "fall", and even his most ardent fans a pause. I wouldnt recommend this book at all, unless you like really offensive stuff.

3/10

[scmarooney]

Thanks for the detailed review, Nick! I remember hearing/reading about Miller's Holy Terror project back when it was still supposed to be a Batman story. Think I remember reading that he was going to have Bats going to Afghanistan to track Bin Laden down in a cave and kill him there or something?

I've always been a pretty big Frank Miller fan going back to his Wolverine Mini Series in the 80s. (I know he had earlier work than that, but it was before I was really reading comics regularly.) I'm a fan of pretty much everything he's done up to the last 10 years. But feel he's been a little more miss than hit over the last decade.

I wonder if the people at DC got a look at where Miller was going with this, using their characters and decided to pull the plug on it? That probably would have necessitated him making some major changes to the artwork and some minor changes to the storyline and dialogue. Then with the RL Navy Seals killing OBL in Pakistan this last summer he probably had to make more changes to his story there. It almost seems like one of those things that seemed like a good idea in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, but some 10 years down the road and with some real-life events overtaking his story it fizzled out?

I haven't actually seen the graphic novel yet, but then the comic store nearest me just shut its doors, and it's a fairly major trek to the next closest shop. After reading your review of Holy Terror, and how incoherent and meaningless the story seems, I don't think I'll be making the trek for this one!

[NickRocks]

yeah, i wouldnt recommend reading it if you love Frank. Honestly, this comic is just plain NOT GOOD. It has nothing to do with the art (i think the art is gorgeous, aside from the splatter use), the racism, or even the idea. It's just sloppily put together and rushed, and not in the way like ASBAR was, where it seemed a jumble of mess at first but came together later on (i still maintain that if ASBAR had been finished we would be calling it the best batman story of the decade). This is like when we are kids and drawing our own comics, and we dont explain how the hero knows where the villain is, he just KNOWS and you as the reader are supposed to just KNOW that the hero just KNOWS and just take it at face value. Also, the pacing is very off, miller spends so much time with his melodramatic shots in the beginning that by the end of the book he rushes the final fight scene and then it just ends. Also the last page doesn't make any sense either, the police commissioner was supposed to have been in on it, but its such a side comment that the last page feels so random.

There's no doubt that DC pulled the plug on this because they didn't want their characters in this story

[DJ Kenobi]

Thanks for the Holy Terror review! I want to read this, but I have a feeling that I will agree with your review wholeheartedly, so I'm waiting for my library to get it.

[NickRocks]

I've read it about 5 more times, and I'm starting to see what Miller was trying to do here. I just don't think he did it in a very coherent way.

upon further readings, this seems like Miller doing a personal therapy session, letting his anger out. Which he is perfectly okay to do. His political commentary is spot on too, but without words they might go unnoticed. He draws the terrorists without masks, to humanize them. He also criticizes american, by showing them in a movie theater watching transformers and going "awesome" and "kewl" while the war on terror is happening outside. These little things show me Miller is still a genius. However, the pacing problems still persist in this book for me.

Theres alot to like, alot to hate, and alot to worry about. I look forward to Xerxes, if it comes out

i like this article, it explains what i like about miller more eloquently than i can

http://comixcube.com/2011/09/30/its-not-writing-its-not-drawing-its-cartooning/

[MRosa]

His black-and-white art is still the best since Alberto Breccia. I'm curious to read the comic book; I'm not easily offended, I enjoy Politically Incorrect stories, and ambiguous satire.

[Popninja]

I'm still reeling, trying to figure out how this one got past me without me knowing it was out. I'm going to have to go look for it now...

[NickRocks]

I wish I had read this more times before reviewing it, because this book gets better and better with each reading. If you read it once, you might (as I did) assume that the fixer is talking from Miller's own POV, but he's really not. I REALLY look forward to Xerxes. Like Mrosa said, this is ambiguous satire. Miller satirizes all sides of the situation, while mourning for those lost in the terrorists attacks and letting his anger out. It's incredible how layered this book is

[scmarooney]

I was pleasantly surprised that my local library was able to get a copy of this so soon after coming out, and that I was able to get my name at #1 on the waiting list to check it out. Being pretty broke across the last couple of years means I can't afford to drop 30 dollars on this or any other book.

That said, I was surprised at the format of Holy Terror, it is the same format as Miller's GN 300. The first 1/3rd of the story seems to be single splash-style pages and are well done. I can definitely see the Batman and Catwoman influences in his characters The Fixer and the Female love-interest character.

After the big attack I was less enamored of the second 2/3rds of the book which seems at times to be a political screed against Muslims or the U.S. Government or Law Enforcement in general. Parts of it are goofy and poorly done, like the attack on the Statue of Liberty (blind justice) by fighter planes crashing kamikaze style into it (where they got fighter planes is never explained). The "undercity" part seems dumb and also not very well thought out.

I'm going to re-read it, since it was a fairly short read as Graphic Novels went. But on a first reading it just seems all over the place as if the author can't really find a place to direct his anger.

[Ed]

I just read it, and I agree more with your initial response. I think there's some interesting aspects to it, but it's on the other side of the slope from the pinnacle of the Sin City stories. I'm honestly tired of his authoritarian-fascist trope, clipped noir dialogue and all; I think I would have liked this better without narration. He's never done it more purely than in DRK and never with more complexity and depth than in That Yellow Bastard. I don't think there's much depth to any political satire here, it's all fairly evident that his underlying statement is "You people don't understand, we're at WAR with these people." One only has to look at his comments about the Occupy protesters to see this: "Maybe, between bouts of self-pity and all the other tasty tidbits of narcissism you’ve been served up in your sheltered, comfy little worlds, you’ve heard terms like al-Qaeda and Islamicism. And this enemy of mine — not of yours, apparently - must be getting a dark chuckle, if not an outright horselaugh - out of your vain, childish, self-destructive spectacle."

It's only obscured by the dreamlike quality of the storytelling, which is Holy Terror's most interesting aspect. There's a fascinating stream of consciousness quality where a run-of-the-mill super hero story descends into a hallucinatory nightmare. The bowels of the city become a stage for all the basal urges that constitute the worlds of Frank Miller: fear, dangerous sexuality, paranoia, and the burden of masculinity. Had it continued, the story might have become Mobieus-esq, a transmorphic epic, but it ends abruptly and without much real resolution; again, very much like dreams. It felt appropriate to have Commissioner Gordo- uh... whatever, Commissioner Gordon waking up from a nightmare at the end.

[NickRocks]

I agree about the ending; had the book continued Miller could have made some poignant statements about how scared America is about terrorist attacks and the lasting impacts of religious and racial intolerance alot of Americans still harbor. Instead we got a cut and dry ending; also, I don't think Miller's statement of "we are at war with an ideal" ever clearly came across in the story. By giving the terrorist attacks a single bad guy, he made it a very punchable, convenient villain to beat up.

Even with all that, goddamn this book is so gorgeous. The panel where the fixer lets go of the rope i have studied a billion times, the way he creates mood with the rain is so good

I wouldnt put this anywhere near sin city or DK2 (which i still feel is his most relevant work since DKR for its era) or even spawn/batman, which i think is millers worst written story, but as far as art, this is easily his most creative and best looking hes ever been. hes on a whole other level from anyone else in comics right now and Im surprised more people arent aping him. his fearlessness of ink is something to admire

[kae_ae]

I browsed this at my local borders. I was like whoa, me being muslim living in a country where islam is the non official religion. I had read FMs earlier anti OWS and just figured it was more of his extreme right wing stance. I mean, if it was just me being offended by anti religion writing i wouldnt still read garth ennis' spiel.

I guess i passed it up because it felt much like old same old (the last thing i bought by him was DK2) but dude still knows how to define cultural touchstones so itd be an error to ignore him as having lost it. Tho with message/anti message hes trying to convey most ppl would miss it just because that hard/direct stuff that used to work in post-moden 80s just feels to simplistic to these days of post neil gaiman.

Only for the hardcore fan. Because to somebody new to FM they will never comprehend how good his stuff used to be, even without irony as a context.

[The P.R. Man]

Im at barnes and noble about to read it.

[Mase]

somebody new to FM they will never comprehend how good his stuff used to be... That's a fantastic quote, and exactly how I feel about his current work.

[Duhburger]

When Frank Miller came out with the Batman book, there was a freshness to the story that the industry hadn't seen before. Since then many many artists have taken that style of storytelling and re-hashed (usually for the worse). I just don't want to read the book and feel like its old school or retreading the same elements many other books have done.