SIN CITY: THAT YELLOW BASTARD REVIEW

[James Groves]

<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/dh/SCThatYellowBastard.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/dh/SCThatYellowBastardt.jpg" hspace=10 align=left alt="Sin City: That Yellow Bastard"></a>Reviewer: James Groves, JamesandtheDragon@hotmail.com

"Clever girl. And so pretty. A little old, for my taste--

--but I can forgive that, this once."

Written and Illustrated by: Frank Miller

"I've seen his victims and their twisted little faces, all wide mouthed and bug-eyed, frozen in their last horrible moment of living, not a trace of tape, not a fiber from a gag on their lips. Junior likes to hear them scream"

<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/dh/SCTYBHartigan.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/dh/SCTYBHartigant.jpg" hspace=10 align=right alt="Sin City: That Yellow Bastard"></a> Frank Miller returns to the familiar surroundings of Basin City in this fourth instalment of the Sin City franchise, That Yellow Bastard. Miller utilises familiar thematic elements, familiar storyline structures and familiar (If you've read The Babe Wore Red) uses of color, to produce--arguably--the last of the truly great books within the Sin City line-up. Whilst A Big Fat Kill, A Dame to Kill For, and The Hard Goodbye are the three books which really stand out within the form, Miller's That Yellow Bastard provides enough moments of classic pulp noir, enough scenes involving violence, erotica, and dark humour, and enough effective uses of color within the black-and-white format, to make this graphic novel stick out as an excellent and unique piece of pulp fiction in its own right. And if that's not enough to get your juices flowing, then there's also the strange pseudo-relationship between an old cop called John Hartigan and a beautiful girl called Nancy Callahan--the girl he tries to save from the clutches of a paedophile.

<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/dh/SCTYBNancy.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/dh/SCTYBNancyt.jpg" hspace=10 align=left alt="Sin City: That Yellow Bastard"></a> That Yellow Bastard is an over-the-top adventure where the pace is hectic and the setups come thick and fast. Miller revolves the storyline around Hartigan: a stereotypical cop with old school sensibilities--and pretty handy with a wrench when it comes to the bad-guys too. On the last day of his job, Hartigan's thinking of retirement. But just as he's about to call it a day, he gets one last call about an 11 year-old girl who has been kidnapped by a psychotic madman. Hartigan then starts a journey to find the girl, save her, and finally stop the man responsible for this crime and the countless others he has been involved in previously. However, his pursuit leads him deeper into the bowels of corruption, as he discovers the dark and dirty secrets of Sin City and the evil families who reside within her streets. Along the way, Hartigan finds himself framed for a crime he didn’t commit and punished severely for doing the right thing by Nancy. Hartigan is the hero of Sin City, or at least, as heroic as a character can be in a broken world of grey, hazy standards.

<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/dh/SCTYBYellowBastard.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/dh/SCTYBYellowBastardt.jpg" hspace=10 align=right alt="Sin City: That Yellow Bastard"></a> That Yellow Bastard connects to the previous books within the Sin City saga too, as we see appearances from other characters from A Dame to Kill For. This gives us a nice sense of continuity and broadens the scope with which Miller is treating the Sin City franchise. This isn't just one story on its own; this is just another part of a much bigger story, where each piece interlocks to give us a bigger perspective of Basin City. The story is also connected to previous books in terms of narrative structure too. Repetition of keywords--which then alter slightly as we get deeper within the book--act as a constant reminder of the character's mental state and what drives them forward within the storyline.

That Yellow Bastard is a story that is driven by love, by passion, by longing and the strength one can gain from such raw emotions. This core element within the script, grounds the storyline into something less surreal and more relatable to the reader. The Yellow Bastard himself though, is a little weak as a central villain. The main reason being, that although we get a strong impression that he's nuts, perverted, dangerous and completely deranged; he's not really that frightening a character. We don't get into his psyche enough to really see him as an intimidating villain.

<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dh/0205/SinCityThatYellowBastard_TPB.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dh/0205/SinCityThatYellowBastard_TPBt.jpg" hspace=10 align=left alt="Sin City: That Yellow Bastard"></a> Miller's artwork is, again, stunning. The stark, black-and-white artwork is beautiful to look at, and Miller uses perspective skilfully again within this book, as we see a first person perspective viewpoint from Hartigan as he looks on silently at the people who visit him as he is recovering in hospital. The use of one color--yellow--works extremely well with the central villain. His grotesque, potbellied appearance and bulbous headed features are emphasised with a sickly yellow color and it works a treat in portraying the character as the twisted, vile creature that he is.

That Yellow Bastard is probably not the best of the four great books within the Sin City series, but on its own, it's still an excellent and thoroughly enjoyable read.

"I take his weapons away from him--

--Both of them."

ART:
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STORY:
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OVERALL:
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Read more Sin City reviews! (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=32936)

[Blessed]

Another great review for a great book. I bow :worthy:
It is one of the greatest graphic novels i read.
I hope i like the film version. Bruce Willis looks cool.

[Sandoz]

Good review!

That Yellow Bastard is my favorite of the Sin City books, and I'd go so far as to say it's the best of the lot. Junior's coloring was an inspired touch, and the panel layouts and two-page spreads have excellent pacing and tension.

The love story (if you want to call it that) between Hartigan and Nancy was moving in its own doomed, sad way. I have to applaud Miller for the ending. Reading the book for the first time, I was sure it would end one of two ways: Hartigan and Nancy would escape together and Senator Roark would get what he deserved (forgive my innocence, I was new to Sin City :P ) or Hartigan's heart would give out right after finishing Junior and he and Nancy would have a tearful farewell. WRONG-O. Thank God Miller had a different idea. It's a shocking little twist, but it works so well. The entire book is about how far this man will go to protect this girl--he sacrifices everything he has to keep her safe, and in the end he chooses to sacrifice his life for her. Powerful stuff.

[Jordan T. Maxwell]

absolutely my least favorite of the books, period. Hartigan's a great character, and his relationship with Nancy is in keeping with the kind of forbidden tragic romances that Sin City traffics so well in. but the plotting gets a bit awkward at places, and Junior/Bastard just doesn't make for a very compelling villain. in fact, he downright irritates me. and not in a good way. in a way that makes reading through his scenes and believing he's any kind of threat a bit of a chore. it has its good elements, to be sure, but it falls short of anything more than "pretty okay" for me.

[Anand Khatri]

but the plotting gets a bit awkward at places, and Junior/Bastard just doesn't make for a very compelling villain.

Iit did get a bit awkward, even in the movie. There didn't seem to be any chemistry between Alba and Willis, and the dialog seemed awkward and laughable at times. But I must admit, for a character who was never shown to have great depth, Nick Stahl played Junior extremely well.

btw...Great Review! :D