Gourt Home::Gourt :: Hard Boiled (comic)
Hard Boiled is a comic book written by Frank Miller and drawn by Geof Darrow first published in three issues by Dark Horse Comics on 1990. In 1993 Dark Horse compiled and released the series in a 128-page trade paperback (Booksources/1878574582). At the time of its publication it was generally regarded as the most violent comic book series ever written.
About the book
The book is Miller's very loose interpretation of Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, but tinged with Miller's brand of satire and violence. What there is of the plot revolves round a tax collector who discovers he is a robot and sets out to find answers. The plot is there to provide a showcase for Geof Darrow's impossibly intricate artwork. Miller's usual trademark of dark, emotionally complex characters in pathos is still ever-so-slightly present but takes a back seat to the gory splash pages. One of the series' oddest aspects is that nearly all blood is inked in black, perhaps to reduce the shock of the violence.
Initially meant to come out bi-monthly, it took nearly three years for the series to be completed due to Darrow's slow and detailed pace. This is something which Darrow made a joke of on the cover of Hard Boiled #3. After the series was completed, it was collected into a single edition.
It has been proposed by some that Hard Boiled's outrageous violence and lack of any real character development are actually a thinly veiled commentary on, and mockery of, the type of stories written after The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen, among others, that capitalized on the grittiness and violence of those stories while generally ignoring the deeper themes, characterizations or experimental storytelling styles of their predecessors.
Plans for a film adaptation starring Nicolas Cage were rumoured to be in the works but this has yet to be confirmed.
Geof Darrow has recently done the concept artwork for all three Matrix films.
External links
"Hard Boiled (comic)"