FRANK MILLER RUINED COMICS FOR KIDS - DIDN'T LISTEN TO HIS OWN ADVICE

Unlike most readers, I enjoyed "The Dark Knight Strikes Again". While flipping through an old Comics Journal(actually, issue No. 101, promoting the first Dark Knight series), I came across an interesting quote from Miller, which lends a certain amount of explanation for the evolution of comics and Miller's career in general. Remember folks, this is from August, 1985.

"I'm uncomfortable with the idea of children seeing stories where women are dressed in b&d costumes, and where rather annoying coy little sex references are made pretty continuously. Not that sex should be hidden from children, but I am uncomfortable with the way it's presented to them. I think there is a problem with comic-book artists and writers wanting it both ways. They don't want to risk doing material that's going to lose the kids but, on the other hand, they want to be able to go beyond what children generally are allowed to see. I guess it boils down to the fact that I don't think Spider-Man is an adult character- he was created for kids, works legitimately as such. As soon as you put him in a more real world, or try to make him a more complex character, you're really just pointing out how ridiculous he is to begin with. A perfect example is in the SUPERMAN movie. Probably the most embarassing, ludicrous thing I've ever seen was the fuck scene with Clark and Lois. I mean, I was embarassed. Everybody else in the theatre was embarassed. It didn't work. It was stupid. It was stupid because Clark and Lois had already made love in the first one, flying over the city; that's how super-heroes do it."



From "The Art of Sin City" by Frank Miller