Comics Interview — Issue #113

Main Topics: Sin City, The Dark Knight Returns, RoboCop vs. Terminator, superhero philosophy and Objectivism

Contents
  1. Frank Miller
  2. Nathaniel Branden
  3. Editorial: Up Front (Julia R. Mather)
interview Frank Miller
Interviewed by Dan Hagen
Frank Miller Writer/Artist, Freelance (Dark Horse/DC) Working on: *Sin City* (collected edition); *RoboCop vs. Terminator*; *RoboCop 3* screenplay; *The Big Guy* (w/ Geoff Darrow); next *Sin City* book
Wide-ranging conversation covering Miller's just-completed Sin City — a solo 200-page graphic novel he describes as a lifelong dream project — as well as RoboCop vs. Terminator (scripted for Walt Simonson to illustrate) and his RoboCop 3 screenplay. Miller discusses the "fascist" accusations leveled at The Dark Knight Returns, his philosophy of heroic fiction informed by Ayn Rand's The Romantic Manifesto, the writer-versus-artist debate in comics, and how Hollywood and comics have inversely traded their respective senses of heroism.
interview Nathaniel Branden
Interviewed by Dan Hagen
Nathaniel Branden Psychologist/Author, Beverly Hills practice / Bantam Books Working on: *The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem* (forthcoming); *The Power of Self-Esteem*
Prominent Objectivist psychologist and former associate of Ayn Rand reflects on how childhood superheroes (the Lone Ranger, Superman, Batman) led him toward Rand's philosophy. Branden analyzes the psychological meaning of superhero archetypes — the orphan hero, the secret identity, the symbolism of flight — and offers a pointed critique of contemporary comics as "sick, morbid, and totally unromantic" compared to the heroic idealism of his youth.
article Editorial: Up Front (Julia R. Mather)
Brief editorial on the theme of creative collaboration in comics, citing Alberto Breccia and Frank Miller as exemplars, and anticipating future international co-productions between U.S. and European/Japanese artists.