COVERING FRANK MILLER 

It’s become a regular event over these last few years, seemingly without fail actually, whenever a new Frank Miller cover is released, a swarm of internet critics rush to inform all of us how repulsed they are by his latest effort. His cover to Deadpool & Wolverine #1 for January 2025 is the latest fodder. 

Ugly. 

Hideous. 

Amateur. 

Frankly, it’s hard to watch. It’s even harder to accept many of the snap judgments by the junior set who wasn’t around for his seminal achievements, turning Daredevil from near cancellation to Marvel’s #1 best-selling comic book. These juniors proclaim that he was actually “never that good anyway.” Preposterous.

Now there’s, as they say, some real shit. 

Frank Miller has given this industry oxygen when it needed it the most. He has given this art form buzz and acclaim when it was struggling to stay relevant. He’s been a force to reckon with. I mentioned Daredevil, don’t get me started on the fact that his Batman work is influencing every single Batman project being produced at this very moment. Don’t believe me. Believe Stephen King, who publicly proclaimed the same statements about Frank and his profound influence in an essay from 1987.

As to his latest covers, yeah, they’re sort of rough. It’s a rough style. A specifically rough approach. It’s the exact style he’s been utilizing for the past 25 years since his final days on Sin City, prior to his Dark Knight Strikes Again, the sequel to Dark Knight released in 2001.

It was during his press cycle for DK2 that Frank invoked the independent influences that were informing his own stylings circa 2001. He cited Tony Millionaire and Paul Pope as talents that were turning him on at that period. Frank is fluid, as Bruce Lee encouraged, be like water. Frank is. 

During a lengthy phone conversation with Frank in 1996, Frank told me he utilizes an “ugly style”. He said, “Y’know Rob, I don’t draw pretty, never have, never did.” Why on earth would he? He changed the world with his unique, ugly approach. 

Batman. Daredevil. Elektra. Stick. Marv. King Leonidas. He either created them or transformed them forevermore with his “ugly” strokes. Frank shows up every decade with yet another hit. Another milestone achievement. Another best seller.

Nowadays, he’s more punk rock with his rough approach to his lines than he’s ever been before. And not only do I LOVE it. I appreciate it deeply. 

Frank Miller, two months shy of Sixty-Eight years old, is still putting pen to paper and stirring the masses. He has illustrated my own creation, Deadpool, twice in the past year, two striking cover images, both thrilled me. They gave me goosebumps. It’s electric seeing one of my favorite creators and one of my biggest influences produce modern, relevant work. It’s modern because it’s happening right now, it’s relevant because you can’t stop talking about it at this very minute.

This past weekend the sequel to Ronin that I ordered arrived, he collaborated with Philip Tan to complete this, it’s a combination of Frank’s layouts and Phil’s finished pencils as well as complete issues of finished art provide by Frank. The Ronin hardcover contains dozens of pages featuring his tight layouts. I poured over this body of work for 3 hours, the entirety of the game that my family was watching. It’s been forever since I’ve sat with a body of work in this manner, studying it close as I did, admiring every line and creative storytelling choice. Frank is still a master providing masterworks.

I won’t delve into the psychology of needing to beat his work down in order to feel superior about one’s own irrelevancy, I’ll leave that for brighter minds than mine to dissect. But this man is a pillar of sequential art, he is a legend without peer. One day, he won’t be around and we will wish he had left us even more of his raw creativity. I’ll appreciate every line he graces us while he is still capable of producing. 

He’s not moving backward; he’s deliberately crafting this new style as he has been evolving over the past 3 decades. His younger self incorporated vast servings of Gil Kane figure work and Will Eisner storytelling, but those works stand on their own merits and his new work is defining its place in the artistic pantheon. It’s far more underground than mainstream by design. Enjoy the work as it arrives. Appreciate it while it flows. And thank him for all the oxygen he gave us. Comics wouldn’t be breathing without the air he provided.