“I am fully prepared to be objectively wrong about this: I kinda liked it.
I mean, it’s no Dark Knight Returns, which I consider one of the best comics. I wouldn’t put this one above that by any stretch, and I’m not totally sure this one would stand on its own without DKR.
That said, I mostly enjoyed it.
The art style is very frenetic, which is a nice way of saying it’s…weird.
But, I don’t know, there’s something about what Frank Miller is doing that works for me.
I have, in my life, had exactly one super-vivid dream based on a comic book, and it was based on Frank Miller’s Ronin.
There’s just something about his art style that seeps into my brain.
Maybe there’s some element of this being overstuffed, and after reading so many comics that are streeeeeeetched out to the max, it’s at least different.
And maybe that’s part of it, too: it’s different. Something is going on here. I don’t think this book is a big nothing burger the way some comics end up being a nothing burger.
I hesitate to go down the road of “a piece of art that causes such strong reactions in readers is obviously doing something…” so I won’t do that.
All I can really say, in 2023, is that I didn’t have high expectations for this one, I didn’t really know what I was going into, and it was totally fine. There’s some good art, stuff happens. That’s all I’m looking for sometimes.
Oh, and I’m only vaguely aware of Frank Miller’s politics, and I don’t care. You can’t make me care about some old man’s libertarianism.”