Raised Catholic as a youth, Frank Miller had actually treated religion with a great deal of nuance and respect, especially in his early work: he made Daredevil a Catholic ("I figured Daredevil must be Catholic because only a Catholic could be both an attorney and a vigilante") composed a memorable story about a nun in Sin City and included a few other characters who seemed to draw strength from prayer. However, it was in 2000 that he was working on a story about the historical Jesus. And by then, most of his best-loved work was behind him, and nuance was far, far behind him: he was beginning work on The Dark Knight Strikes Again and was a few years out from All-Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder. Even in the 1990s, Miller had become known for one kind of story: big, loud, violent, vengeance-driven epics. If anyone needed to see Jesus' life reimagined as that kind of story, all they had to do was wait a few more years for Mel Gibson to make The Passion of the Christ. How Regrettable Is Its Loss? Thank Christ this never happened. Note there are even more fascinating unpublished stories in another WC list, 6 Wildest Batman Stories Never Published. Know of an awesome (or awful) unpublished gem we missed? Let us know in the comments.
T Campbell has written quite a few online comics series and selected work for Marvel, Archie and Tokyopop. His longest-running works are Fans, Penny and Aggie-- and his current project with co-writer Phil Kahn, Guilded Age.
