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Title: Ronin by Frank Miller ISBN: 0-930289-21-8 Publisher: General Pub. Date: 01 March, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.28 (25 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Miller's diversity is astounding
Comment: Frank Miller is nothing if not diverse. I wrote a few weeks ago about his works, the various superhero works like Daredevil and Batman that made him famous and the groundbreaking works he's done outside of the genre since then, especially in regards to 300, a work of historical fiction. Aside from 300, he has also gone into a futuristic sci-fi setting in his Martha Washington stories, and with his Sin City tales he explored gritty crime drama.
And then there's Ronin, a book that defies easy categorization.
Imagine it is the beginning of summer in 1983 and you are first discovering this book. (Unfortunately I too must imagine here, since I didn't find the book myself until a few years ago.) Unlike every other book you come across, Ronin #1 is a whopping 48 pages, completely free of ads. The colors are richer, deeper than the average book, and somehow more muted as well, giving the book a darker look than most of the garishly bright superhero tales it sits beside.
The style is different too than what you are used to; like he did with Daredevil, Miller is experimenting here with how to construct a comic book page. Many pages feature long panels that stretch across the page, sometimes top to bottom, sometimes from one side to the next. Of course, Miller often uses the staple he has become known for today, a device he used throughout 300, the full two-page spread, to splendidly establish the world Ronin is set in.
The drawings themselves featured in these pages can also easily be separated from the rest of the fare you find in the racks. The motions are fluid, the fight scenes dynamic, avoiding all the normal clichés. In fact in the sixth and final issue of the miniseries (which reached stores in late summer of 1984-Ronin was published bimonthly but suffered delays between issues four and five), at the end of the story the action explodes off the page with such force that it literally cannot be contained. So Frank Miller does the only thing he can do, something unseen in comics up to that time; he lets the scene unfold on a beautiful four-page fold-out spread.
Ronin featured widescreen action years before the term became popular in comics, employed to serve a story unlike any other being published at the time. On the one hand, it is the story of post-apocalyptic New York City; on the other, it is a tale of samurais in feudal Japan. Miller balances these two influences in his tale deftly, mixes them together in one tale that is about demons and magic swords and biotechnology and artificial intelligence. It is a story in which reality and fantasy blend until the only thing the characters can trust is their sense of honor, duty, and loyalty, especially to those they love most.
Luckily it is not 1983, and you don't have to wait for over a year for the entire story to be complete. Ronin is available now in trade paperback so that you can explore its world for yourself today, as I did, without any of the wait yet still with all of the assets I listed above.
Rating: 5
Summary: HAVE A NICE APOCALYPSE!
Comment: Frank Miller used to be one of the comic creators I admired most but then the satisfactory, but somewhat less than impressive Sin City happened and I was turned off him a little bit. Don't get me wrong, Sin City was good, but it was standard fare, nothing to write home about. I just got the impression that Miller, like John Byrne, Chris Claremont, Chuck Dixon and others, was just past his prime. It was with this in mind that I sat down to read Ronin for the first time recently and I didn't have high hopes. I had forgotten that this was the Miller of old I was reading and as the story progressed I got the same enjoyment I got when I read some of Miller's masterpieces like Dark Knight, Year One, Daredevil and so on. Its such a fast paced story that you can barely put it down even to get a drink of water. So many twists and you can never guess what is going to happen in the end. Great dialogue, characters you really want to see again and an excellent apacalyptic theme. I really love the way that Miller mixed Samurai legend with futuristic technology. These two themes shouldn't work because they are too different, but somehow they do here.
I haven't read any of his recent stuff, including DK2 but
eading this has made me interested in checking Miller out again.
Rating: 4
Summary: Excellent story, so-so artwork
Comment: PLOT SYNOPSIS:
Ronin begins in feudal Japan, when a samurai's master is killed by Agat, the demon who has been his archenemy for years. Forced to become a disgraced ronin to avenge his master's death, the samurai finally confronts and slays the demon, but at a terrible price. Leap to the 21st century, where the Aquarius Project and its biotechnological wonders are the last saving grace for a New York that has become a festering corpse. A telepath named Billy Callas becomes the focal point for the renewed battle between the ronin and the demon, a battle which will take on horrific proportions as the violence and corruption brought on by the enemies' resurrection spreads. Who will survive?
Ronin is everything I expect from Frank Miller-a solid, hard-hitting story that deftly mixes action, intriguing characters, intelligent dialogue, and some biting social commentary. My only complaint is the artwork, which I've always felt was very crude and amateurish-looking. The cover artwork and character designs are very good but overall everything just looks like storyboard-quality drawings that were colored instead of finished artwork, especially anything that features Aquarius and its products. This is a purely subjective gripe, however, and should not disuade you from dropping what you're doing and immediately buying this book.
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Title: 300 by Frank Miller, Lynn Varley ISBN: 1569714029 Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Pub. Date: 15 December, 1999 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: Sin City by Frank Miller ISBN: 1878574590 Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Pub. Date: 01 March, 1993 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: Watchmen by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons ISBN: 0930289234 Publisher: General Pub. Date: 01 April, 1995 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (Batman) by Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, Lynn Varley, Bob Kahan, John Costanza, Bob Kane ISBN: 1563893428 Publisher: General Pub. Date: 01 May, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: V for Vendetta by Alan Moore, David Lloyd ISBN: 0930289528 Publisher: General Pub. Date: 01 April, 1995 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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