Frank Miller was born in 1957 in Olmie, Maryland. But, it was in Montpelier, Vermont he grew up, with the comics. But there, in the northeast USA, he felt maladjusted, and just like many others pencilers, he had a bigger need for fantasy, than other "common" people. He once said that in his early teenage, he stopped reading comics, and adjusted himself more to the real world. In his youth, he read books, mostly thrillers, and watched movies. Movies have influenced him a lot in his comic creating.

Miller wasn't an artist at first, that came, after hours and hours of practice. His speciality've always been the writing part. And so have Hollywood noticed; Miller has written the script to both RoboCop 2 and 3 (and maybe to other movies, but that's out of my knowledge).

The Dark Knight Returns, by Frank Miller

The beginning of his carrier was bumpy, he had nowhere to live, and there could go days, without he had any meal. But now and then he drew some episodes for different comic publishing houses. Among them, two episodes of Peter Parker (27 and 28), which had Daredevil as a guestcharacter. When Miller heard that the penciler (Gene Colan) of Daredevil had quitted, he applyed for the job, and he got it, directly from the Marvel Comics chief, at the time, Jim Shooter. Frank Miller had learnt from Neal Adams to do carefully background reschearch, and so, Miller started to draw sketches of New York.
And now, Miller makes the B-comic a success. Bringing a new more brutal era for the comic, with Japanese- and movieinfluences.

- Continued...

Photo: Mark Lealoha