Frank Miller's Sin City Now, I don't know how many of you have ever read the comic book SIN CITY, or have heard of Frank Miller, its creator.

And frankly, I don't care.

What I do care about, however, is the fact that the film based on the series of Sin City comics is releasing wide on April 1. That's next week to those of you still using the Mayan calendar. And I really think you ought to go see it.

First of all, you hve to like the source material. I happen to have a copy of the graphic novel --

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CROTCHETY OLD MARKETING BIG WIG AT DC/MARVEL COMICS:
Jesus Christ! Only 10-year olds are buying our comic books! We're going under! We're going under! It's over!

NEWBIE MARKETING DEPARTMENT GUY:
What should we do? Create adult-themed stories and pair them with quality art to attract more mature readers?

CROTCHETY OLD MARKETING BIG WIG AT DC/MARVEL COMICS:
Are you crazy? That'll never work.

NEWBIE MARKETING DEPARTMENT GUY:
I guess we could just call them "graphic novels" to trick them into thinking we're giving adult-themed stories and quality art.

CROTCHETY OLD MARKETING BIG WIG AT DC/MARVEL COMICS:
Graphic novels? Well, son. That's just crazy enough to work.

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I say, I happen to have a copy of the graphic novel that comprises one-third of the intertwined storyline of Sin City. It's called "That Yellow Bastard." Allow me to quote a passage, without explanation, without any set-up other than, in Sin City, the good guys aren't always good and neither are the bad guys. Everybody gets what they deserve. Usually near the end.

"Weeks slide into months until time has no meaning, none at all. The dull gray haze of post-surgery anesthesia gives way to the even more deadening process of legal this and legal that, of procedure after tired procedure, a dumb drama with an ending everybody knows before it even starts. I'm interrogated and accused and spat on and slapped around and indicted for a crime I didn't commit. I'm way past outrage, way past sweating and fretting, way past giving a damn. All this is nothing but a price I promised myself I'd pay and I'm paying it. You don't save a little girl's life, the turn around and throw her to the dogs. Not in my book, you don't. God knows why I didn't die like I should've. Back there on that rotten, blood-soaked dock where I rescued skinny little Nancy Callahan from that pervo son of a senator -- where my partner filled me with six Magnum slugs and nailed together the first few pieces of the frame they've stuck me in. Yeah, I should've died back there on that dock. I should've died and I wish I had, to the extent that I wish for anything. Past worrying. Past giving a damn. It's like it's all happening to somebody else. The wed sounds of impact stop. My head rolls around on my shoulders. My mouth coughs out a wad of blood. All on their own, without me askinng them to, my lungs expand, sucking in dusty, hot air, rusty old factory air. Detective Liebowitz gives with triombone-deep beer belch and chuckles. He's getting angry."

In Sin City, Frank Miller has created no heroes with capes, only people who, in their zeal to do what they believe is the right thing, often end up on the wrong side of a gun. Or a samurai sword. Or Nazi-shaped throwing star. Or teeth. Miller writes incredible words, draws amazing images and the whole thing resonates in a way few other comics ever have.

Then there's Robert Rodriguez. Yes, the Robert Rodriguez of Spy Kids. Remember though, before Spy Kids made him a millionaire, he was El Mariachi, and Desperado and Once Upon a Time In Mexico. ANd now, he's Robert Rodriguez of Sin City.
What he has done, mainly on a green screen (sorry Russell) is create the world of Sin City, exactly as it is rendered in the pages of the comics, right down to the steam escaping the manhole covers. It looks incredible. View the trailer here.

Not only has RR vowed to faithfully "translate" Sin City to the big screen, he even dropped out of the DGA so that he could bring Frank Miller in as co-director. Hmmm.

I'm telling you now, if you like Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs, or even the Dirty Harry pictures, or even if you only remember Frank Miller from "The Dark Knight Returns," his seminal 1986 graphic novel series that brought Batman back to life, give Sin City a chance. The source material is incredibly good and the look of the film -- at least for me -- seems perfect.

See you there on April 1.  ¶ 9:48 AM