Miller is one of the great auteurs of the modern era of comics, and this handsome collection of in-depth interviews spanning his career is an essential guide to tracking his development. With its hardboiled style and fatalistic world view, Miller's work—from his early Daredevil to the groundbreaking Dark Knight Returns to his b&w crime saga Sin City to the controversial The Dark Knight Strikes Again—has influenced countless cartoonists. Furthermore, he's become one of the most articulate pundits in the comics world. Originally presented in the pages of The Comics Journal, these conversations show Miller's creative process as it develops. Emerging as one of the most important creators in comics at the young age of 24, he reinvented the superhero before turning 30, and later became a tireless crusader for the First Amendment, first by speaking out against a proposed comics ratings system and then by working with the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Many themes appear and reappear—even from his earliest days, Miller was not a fan of the entrenched superhero establishment, and his predictions of their ultimate shortcomings have mostly come true. The book, the second in The Comics Journal's series of creator spotlights, is packaged in a large square format that recalls record albums and that gives the designers room to present Miller's stark, iconic art with maximum impact. (Aug.)
