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.]] Frank Miller (born January 27 , 1957 in Olney , Maryland ) is an American Writer and Artist best known for his Film Noir -style Comic Book stories. He is acclaimed as one of the most influential and popular creators in comics today. BIOGRAPHY Early career Raised in '' #18. It was at Marvel that Miller would settle in as a regular fill in and cover artist, working on a variety of titles. One of these jobs was drawing '' Spectacular Spider-Man '' #27 and 28. These issues featured Daredevil as a supporting character. At this time Daredevil was a minor character with his own poor selling title; however, Miller saw something in the character he liked and asked then Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter if he could work on Daredevil's regular title. Shooter agreed and made the decision to make Miller the new penciller on the title. The early 1980s and ''Daredevil'' '' #168, Elektra's first appearance.]] Miller's first issue of '' Daredevil '' was #158, which was the last part of an ongoing story written by Roger McKenzie . Although still conforming to traditional comic book styles, Miller infused this first issue with his own Film Noir style which proved to be a success. After this issue Miller became one of Marvel's fastest rising stars and also started plotting stories with McKenzie. Miller's art was highly detailed but still noirish as his run progressed. Learning from Neal Adams , Miller would sit for hours sketching the roofs and streets of New York in an attempt to give his Dardevil art an authentic feel not commonly seen in superhero comics at the time. Miller was so successful on the title that it became a monthly title after being bi-monthly for many years. From issue 168 in 1981 , Miller took over full duties as writer and penciller, with Klaus Janson providing inks. This issue saw the first appearance of Elektra , a character who would become incredibly popular in her own right. Miller began to infuse the comic with darker themes and stories heavily influenced by Japan ese Manga strips. This peaked when in issue 181 he had the Assassin Bullseye kill Elektra. Although deaths of supporting characters were commonplace in comics at the time, a death of a major character like Elektra was not. Miller made it clear with the next few issues that he intended Elektra to remain dead but nonetheless she was revived during his time as writer. Miller finished his Daredevil run with issue 191; in his time he had transformed a secondary Marvel character to one of the most popular and best-selling characters. Miller himself had become the industry's hottest creator and was in demand. During this time Miller and writer Chris Claremont had produced a four part '' Wolverine '' mini series in 1982 , spinning off from the popular X-Men title. Miller used this title to expand on Wolverine's character while featuring more of his manga-influnced art. The series was a critical success and further cemented Miller's place as a major talent. Miller also found time to draw a short '' Batman '' Christmas story for a DC Comics Christmas special. This was his first encounter with a character who, like Daredevil, he would become closely associated with. Miller rounded out this time by writing and drawing '' The Elektra Saga '', a mini series explaining the origins of the character, and '' Ronin '' for DC Comics , his first Creator-owned title. ''Ronin'' was a six-issue mini series first published by DC from 1983 to 1984 . With Ronin, Miller not only refined his own art and storytelling techniques, but also helped change how creator rights were viewed, and proved that comics in new formats could be commercially viable. ''Ronin'' was also his most clearly Manga -influenced title, drawing mainly from the black and white '' Lone Wolf And Cub '' series. After ''Ronin'', Miller was relatively quiet in 1985 ; his only published work was a single issue of ''Daredevil'' (issue 219), inspired by the film '' High Plains Drifter ''. Things would be much different in 1986 as Miller reached a peak of creativity and would redefine one of the industry's oldest characters. The late 1980s and ''Batman: The Dark Knight Returns'' '' In 1986 '' (commonly shortened to ''DKR''), a four-issue mini-series printed in the new Prestige Format , and written and drawn by Miller, with colours by Lynn Varley and inks by Klaus Janson . The story told how Batman, retired after the death of Robin , returns to fight crime in a future where crime and violence have taken over. Meant as a possible finale for Batman, Miller created a tough, gritty portrayal of The Dark Knight. Reaction to the series was like nothing seen before. Released the same year as '' Watchmen '', it showed a new form of more 'adult-oriented' storytelling to a mainstream audience, as well as diehard comics fans. Receiving massive amounts of media publicity, Miller found that he had not only redefined Batman in comics, but had managed to remove the campy image many had of the character from the 1960s Television Series . ''Batman: The Dark Knight Returns'' had a huge influence; it heralded a new wave of darker, more 'realistic' characters in comics, and along with '''', it was also a major influence on Tim Burton 's '' Batman '' in 1989 . The trade paperback proved to be a huge seller for DC and remains in print 20 years after first being published. In addition, this comic finally helped to sever the formerly benign relationship between the two most recognizable DC Comics superheroes, Batman and Superman . 1986 also saw Miller return to Daredevil with artist '', we learn about the hero's Catholic background, and witness the destruction (and "rebirth") of alter ego Matt Murdock at the hands of archnemisis The Kingpin . (The Daredevil run actually precedes ''Batman: The Dark Knight Returns'' by several months, and, in fact, began in late-1985) ''Born Again'' was also influential. Miller and artist . Set outside regular Marvel continuity, it featured a wild tale of Cyborg s and Ninja s, while expanding further on Elektra 's backgroud. Both of these projects were well received critically, ''Elektra: Assassin'' was praised for its bold storytelling, but neither had the influence or reached as many readers as ''Dark Knight Returns'' and ''Born Again''. Miller's final major story in this period was in ''Batman'' issues 404-407 in 1987. Titled '''', this was Miller's version of the origin of Batman in which he Retconned many details and adapted the story to fit his ''Dark Knight'' Continuity . Proving to be hugely popular, this was as influential as Miller's previous work and a trade paperback released in 1988 remains in print and is one of DC's best selling books. Miller had also drawn the covers for the first twelve issues of First Comics English language reprints of Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima 's '' Lone Wolf And Cub ''. This helped bring Japanese Manga to a wider western audience. During this time Miller (along with Alan Moore and Howard Chaykin ) had been in dispute with DC Comics over a proposed ratings system for comics. Disagreeing with what he saw as Censorship , Miller refused to do any further work for DC and he would take his future projects to the independent publisher Dark Horse . From now on Miller would be a major supporter of creator rights and be a major voice against censorship in comics. The 1990s and ''Sin City'' After leaving DC, Miller intended to only release his work via Dark Horse , however he had one final project for Epic Comics . ''Elektra Lives Again'' was a fully painted Graphic Novel written and drawn by Miller and coloured by Lynn Varley . Telling the story of the Resurrection of Elektra from the dead and Daredevil's quest to find her, it was the first example of a new style in Miller's art, as well as showing Miller's willingness to experiment with new storytelling techniques. 1990 saw Miller and artist Geoff Darrow start work on '' Hard Boiled '', a three issue mini series which suffered from long delays between issues. That aside, the title was a mix of violence and Satire which was praised for Darrow's highly detailed art and Miller's writing. At the same time Miller and artist Dave Gibbons produced '' Give Me Liberty '', a four issue mini series for Dark Horse . This was another mixture of action, violence and political satire, the title sold well and firmly cemented Miller's reputation as a writer of more 'adult' comic books. ''Give Me Liberty'' was followed by several follow up series and specials, all were written by Miller and drawn by Gibbons. Miller also wrote the script for '' RoboCop 2 '' and '' RoboCop 3 ''. Both were not received well critically. After ''RoboCop 3'', Miller stated that he would never allow Hollywood to make movie adaptations of his comics, being disgusted with the constant studio interference with his scriptwriting. In 2003, Miller's screenplay for ''RoboCop 2'' was adapted by Steven Grant for Avatar Press 's Pulsaar imprint, which now owns the rights to create comics based on RoboCop. Illustrated by Juan Jose Ryp , the series is called '' Frank Miller's RoboCop '' and contains plot elements that were divided between ''RoboCop 2'' and ''RoboCop 3''. ''Daredevil: Man Without Fear'' was a mini series published by ''. Miller also returned to superheroes by writing an issue of Todd McFarlane 's '' Spawn '', as well as the ''Spawn/Batman'' crossover for Image Comics . In 1991 Miller started work on his first '' Sin City '' story. Serialised in '' Dark Horse Presents '' issues 51 to 62, this was Miller's first completely solo work as he wrote and drew the story in black and white to emphasize its Film Noir origins. Proving to be another success, the story was released in a Trade Paperback . This first Sin City "yarn" was re-released in 2005 under the name ''The Hard Goodbye''. ''Sin City'' proved to be Miller's main project for much of the remainder of the decade as Miller told More Sin City Stories within this noir world of his creation. ''Sin City'' proved artistically lucrative for Miller and again brought his work to a wider audience outside of comics. In 1995, Miller and Darrow collaborated again on '' Big Guy And Rusty The Boy Robot '', an homage to '' Godzilla '' movies, '' Astro Boy '', and patriotic American films from '' World War II ''. The series was published as a two-part miniseries from Dark Horse Comics . In 1999 it became an Animated Series on '' Fox Kids ''. Miller complemented his ''Sin City'' work in 1998 with '' 300 '', coloured again by Lynn Varley, a tale of Spartan warriors and their battle to protect their land from Persian invaders. Released initially as a five issue mini series, it was later complied into a hardcover collection with wider pages to better fit Miller and Varley's art. It is currently being adapted for a movie, directed by Zack Snyder and Warner Bros. Interactive is creating a PlayStation game set to be released in 2007, to coincide with the movie. {Link without Title} 2000 onwards '' #1.]] Miller started the new after Miller had put aside past differences with DC.'' The Dark Knight Strikes Again '' was initially released as a three issue series. Although sales were excellent, critical reaction was decidedly mixed. Miller was criticised for what seemed like a rejection of the straightforwardly "dark and gritty" style of comics he helped create. Readers expecting a straight continuation of the first story encountered a more satirical, surrealistic and generally experimental story. Miller's stance against movie adaptations (brought on by his Robocop experiences) was to change after Robert Rodriguez made a Short Film from one of Miller's '' Sin City '' Short Stories . Rodriguez showed this short film to Miller who was so pleased with the result that he approved a full-length film, '' Sin City ''. The movie was released in the US on April 1, 2005 , using Miller's original comics panels as Storyboard s. Miller and Rodriguez are credited as co- Directors , which Rodriguez insisted upon. The Director's Guild Of America would not permit Miller's being credited in this fashion and as a result Rodriguez decided to resign from the Guild. The film's success has brought renewed attention to Miller and to ''Sin City.'' A sequel and proposed TV series would not only adapt existing stories, but new stories written by Miller. Miller will also be writing a new story exclusively for the film sequel of Sin City. According to www.comicbookmovie.com this original story will revolve around the character of Nancy Callahan and her revenge against the Roark family for the sake of her savior, John Hartigan. Miller has also returned to writing Batman in 2005, taking on the writing duties of '' All Star Batman And Robin '', a series set outside of the normal DC continuity with art provided by Jim Lee . So far, it has been met with a very mixed reaction from both critics and fans alike. In 2006 , Miller announced that his next Batman book would be called '' "Holy Terror, Batman!" ''. In the story, Batman defends Gotham City against attacks by real-life Terrorist group Al Qaeda . {Link without Title} CAMEO APPEARANCES '']] Frank Miller has appeared in four films in small roles, dying in every one.
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