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| TP edition of Frank Miller's RoboCop. |
If you're like me, then you don't really give a shit about the semi-recent RoboCop reboot/remake/rehash. I'm not mad about it, like a lot of die-hard fans seem to be. I just really don't care. There is simply not enough energy left in my body to be upset over the endless string of lazy remakes that Hollywood keeps throwing at us. And besides, reviewers generally agree that it's an "OK" movie in its own right (even though I think it's a sad state of affairs when we are praising a film or filmmaker merely for being competent, but that's a different story altogether). Instead, I'm here to offer up a relatively unknown alternative to the remake AND all of the terrible sequels.
The story goes like this:
In the late 80's, comic book writer and artist Frank Miller was at the top of his game. He'd already blown away mainstream readers with his take on the Daredevil saga, which lead him to write and illustrate his own epic adventure, 1983-84's Ronin about a cyborg samurai transported from feudal Japan to a distant dystopian future. THEN, Miller turned his eye for dark humor and gritty, realistic characterizations to the Batman legend with The Dark Knight Returns in 1986. TKDR was an instant slam-dunk with readers, and has since become one of, if not THE, most important pieces of writing in the Batman cycle.
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| Cover for issue #6, drawn by Miller. |
Needless to say, Miller was doing big things in a big way, and by 1990 he was ready to transplant his talent to the silver screen. Enter producer Jon Davison who was gearing up with Orion Pictures to film a sequel to 1987's RoboCop. Having seen the success of The Dark Knight Returns, Davison contacted Miller and asked if he'd pen the screenplay. Miller accepted. And rest is something of a sad history.
It goes without saying that Miller did not find the film making world to be what he expected. While he was used to having almost complete creative control over his comic book projects, movie-making was quite the opposite. His original script was called "unfilmable" by the studio executives. It was too violent, too vulgar, and, perhaps above all else, too bleak. It just wasn't the kind of summer action blockbuster they were trying to churn out. And so Miller's script was treated by a handful of less creative individuals, and eventually became the watered down heap of shit we know as RoboCop 2. He took his name off the project (except for a brief acting credit as a lab technician), and fans of RoboCop and Miller alike were left to wonder about what could've been.
Then, in 2009, Avatar press announced they would be releasing a 9 issue comic adaptation of Miller's original screenplay. The result is a brutal and violent graphic novel which feels way more in line with the RoboCop saga than any of the actual film sequels. It maintains all of the black humor and social satire we loved in the original movie without any of the bullshit Hollywood plot thinner the higher-ups poured all over the second and third films. It has teeth, man. And, more importantly, it's completely true to what we'd expect from a follow up to Verhoven's masterpiece.
Miller's RoboCop was raw and uncompromising. Some have said that the series is perhaps too violent for its own good, that this plays down the effect in some way. I, on the other hand, argue that this level of insanity is rightly earned through a realistic investigation of the degradation of Old Detroit. Do things seems completely fucked-to-the-limit in Miller's novel? Of course they do. But this is as it should be. We curiously never got to see much of the rotting corpse that is Old Detroit in the original film, as much of it was concerned with conspiracy at the corporate level. But the beauty of Miller's RoboCop is that we finally get to see just how bad it is out there. I mean, the police force had to be co-opted, and a fucking actual robot police officer had to literally be invented just to control the rising rate of crime. Why on earth wouldn't it be grungy and violent on page? Juan Jose Ryp's gruesome art is at the top of it's game in this one. Human faces are deliriously distorted and pock-marked. Blood flies in ribbons across panels. Fires and explosions are rich in texture. And, most importantly, RoboCop himself appears as a battle damaged piece of living machinery, the logical conclusion to days spent battling violent criminals with no rest or repair.
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| Variant cover for issue #3 by Juan Jose Ryp. |
I won't spoil any of the highlights of this excellent comic series here, but if you're a true RoboCop fan, I advise you to get out and get a hold of the recently released trade paperback from BOOM! Studios as quickly as you can. I'd by that for a dollar (though it'll actually cost you closer to 20).
AND, if all of this excitement isn't enough for you, BOOM! Studios just wrapped up an 8 issue run adapted from Miller's original idea for the third RoboCop film, RoboCop: The Last Stand. That's right. You can finally stop having nightmares about a non-Peter Weller RoboCop flying around on a jetpack. BOOM! calls it the final chapter in (Miller's) RoboCop saga, and, having just finished it, let me tell you: it's freaking epic. I expect they'll release this one as a trade paperback as well.
So what are you still doing here reading? Go out and buy the book! YOU HAVE 15 SECONDS TO COMPLY.
