Frank Miller: Ranking His Comics From Worst To Best

13. Hard Boiled (1990-92)

One of the most overlooked graphic novels of Miller's career is his early-'90s sci-fi actioner Hard Boiled. Despite Miller and artist Geof Darrow winning the 1991 Eisner Award for Best Writer/Artist, Hard Boiled is relatively difficult to find in comic book stores today. Set in a dystopian Los Angeles, Carl Seitz is our protagonist; he's a tax collector and an insurance investigator, but also he just so happens to be the brainwashed cyborg remnant of a race of robots enslaved by humans as a programmable corporate assassin. Soon, he's wrapped up in a revolution by the robots against their creators at the Willeford Corporation. As it progresses, Hard Boiled becomes increasingly - and necessarily - bizarre, as more people (and dogs) discover themselves to be robots. Miller's first collaboration with Darrow is an overall success, and it manages to capture a taste of his earlier dystopian works - memorable characters, a heaping spoonful of violence and a 1984-esque conclusion make Hard Boiled well worth hunting down.