THE LEGENDARY COMIC BOOK ARTIST’S HARD-BOILED BRILLIANCE IS ON FULL DISPLAY IN ORIGINAL ART FROM DAREDEVIL, WOLVERINE AND THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS
By Robert Wilonsky
On June 10, the documentary Frank Miller: American Genius screened in theaters for one night only. Only a few days later, during its June 20-23 Comics & Comic Art Signature® Auction, Heritage will offer several significant pieces of original comic book art showcasing Miller’s genius, among them his earliest cover to reach the auction block: 1980’s Daredevil No. 165. It’s fitting, as Miller and Daredevil are Men Without Fear.
Frank Miller and Klaus Janson ‘Daredevil’ No. 165 Cover Original Art (Marvel, 1980)
The Daredevil cover in this auction hails from that (brief) period when Miller was transitioning from comicdom’s fill-in to its main attraction – and, simultaneously, helping resurrect a title gasping on its deathbed. As Miller once told The Comics Journal, “What I’m doing on Daredevil is a lot different from what was done before on Daredevil, and I think it’s rejuvenated him a bit … he’s a fresher character.” Miller’s Daredevil work has become particularly coveted among collectors in recent years, with each auction generating new record highs for his original Hornhead artwork, culminating with the record $252,000 realized by his cover of Daredevil No. 190 in April.
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Daredevil No. 165 came toward the end of Miller’s collaboration with Roger McKenzie, the former Creepy and Eerie writer who got to DD shortly before Miller and started slathering the title in darker shades than his predecessors. Miller was still a couple of issues away from taking complete control of the title, of elevating “the poor man’s Spider-Man” into “something much cooler” by “punishing him for my mistakes and sins,” Miller once said. Yet the cover, featuring a Daredevil (times four!) eluding the arms of Spider-Man’s nemesis Doctor Octopus, is recognizably Miller: a kinetic, grim good time.
Frank Miller and Klaus Janson ‘Daredevil’ No. 166 Story Page 15 Original Art (Marvel, 1980)
From Daredevil No. 166 comes this page from the story in which Daredevil must take down the Gladiator so he can make Foggy Nelson’s wedding on time – a relatively light moment before Miller dropped Daredevil into a Hell’s Kitchen of his own making. Yet no matter the context, even this page showcases Miller’s ability to turn the static into the cinematic, the two-dimensional tussle into a full-bodied – and fully bloodied – tussle.
Frank Miller and Klaus Janson ‘Daredevil’ No. 188 Story Page 21 Original Art (Marvel, 1982)
By Daredevil No. 188, in which a poisoned Black Widow spends the entire issue looking for a Man Without Fear too scared to emerge from an isolation tank, Miller had total control over the title (with collaborator, inker-penciler-and-colorist Klaus Janson). This action-packed page from that period is major Miller: a brutal, beautiful swordfight involving a member of The Hand – Miller’s mystical ninjas ordered to kill Daredevil – wrought in shadow and sound you can almost hear.
Frank Miller and Joe Rubinstein ‘Wolverine’ Limited Series No. 4 Story Page 13 Original Art (Marvel, 1982)
From that same year comes another coveted Miller page from his four-issue, limited-run team-up with Chris Claremont, 1982’s Wolverine, in which the Hand also has a hand in the violence spread across its bloodied pages.
Four years later, of course, followed Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, the work that made Miller a rock star to kids who hung out in comic shops. Pages from that miniseries will rank amongst collectors’ most sought-after so long as comic books continue to crib from the story about the retired Batman who, in middle age, again dons cape and cowl to fight mutant and Superman alike.
Frank Miller and Klaus Janson ‘Batman: The Dark Knight Returns’ No. 2 ‘Dark Knight Triumphant’ Story Page 37 Original Art (DC, 1986)
From that miniseries’ second book, “Dark Knight Triumphant,” comes a page that kicks the tale into overdrive: Batman’s just been thrashed by the Mutant Leader, only to be rescued by the 13-year-old girl who wants to be his next Robin, Carrie Kelley, against Alfred’s demands. The president has summoned Superman to get Batman under control – “to settle him down” by any means necessary. The mayor has been murdered. The Joker’s about to be freed. Bruce Wayne believes he’s dying. All is seemingly lost – until this page set in the Batcave, where Batman dons the cowl to proclaim, “But the war goes on.”
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns “slapped the genre awake,” as Miller once told Heritage, and this piece of art, like the other Miller originals in the auction, is a rousing example of the American Genius at work.
ROBERT WILONSKY is a staff writer at Intelligent Collector.