Strange Saturday: When Frank Miller almost drew a Dr Strange series

In 1980, fans got very excited seeing this Marvel ad for a new creative team on the way...

Roger Stern and Frank Miller on Doctor Strange! At that time Stern was one of my favorite writers, he was doing great entertaining work on various titles. He seemed to understand Marvel characters. And Miller had been doing Daredevil, really good work there although he may not have taken over as writer yet - certainly this was before he introduced Elektra.

Here is the original artwork to this Marvel ad. Alas it was not to be! Miller got too busy with other commitments to take on this series. Marshall Rogers joined Roger Stern on Doctor Strange, and they did one of the greatest 6 issue arcs in the history of that title.

Frank Miller had whetted our appetite for his approach to Doctor Strange with his work on Amazing Spider-Man Annual 14. This annual featured Spidey teaming up with Doc to fight the "Bend Sinister" (which sounded at first like a strange sexual position) a bad guy infused with mystical powers from Dormammu with a little help from Doctor Doom.

This annual was one of the best Spidey /Doc stories from the 1980s - I highly recommend it.

Some time later, Miller also did a commission for a fan with Doc and Clea.  Pretty sweet! By the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth, what might have been! Nuff said.

Elektra Assassin by Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz

This "graphic novel" was originally an eight issue mini-series published by Epic (Marvel's mature reader imprint) back in 1986. At the time I thought it was merely "good" but on later re-readings I think it is revolutionary in terms of the artwork of Bill Sienkiewicz. Sienkiewicz started his career as one of many artists imitating Neal Adams art style and evolved into a truly unique artist doing comics in an impressionistic style. This series was his breakout for that style.

Elecktra was introduced in Frank Miller's Daredevil run. When this series was announced, we were all excited to see what would happen to her after Miller left the series - she was in particularly strange state. As the series got closer to release, we discovered this story would take place in the past, before Elektra re-entered Daredevil's life. How strange! But it was actually much more interesting without being tied down to Matt Murdock. 

The first issue is very hallucinogenic, where Elektra is trapped inside a mental hospital. I found this very confusing the first time, on subsequent re-reads it was more clear how she came to be there. It is unique in that the entire narration in this issue is from Elektra herself. In issue 2, this continues until the best supporting character ever comes, along, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent John Garrett, who is the Six Million Dollar Man times 100 with an addiction to alcohol. Then after issue 2, the point of view is entirely Garrett. As if to say that Elektra is such a superhuman force of nature, she's best seen through the eyes of someone else.

You get a lot more insight into Elektra in this series. I do think it pays off better if you re-read Miller's Daredevil run beforehand. We figure out more of the timeline in her early training, how that happened before college, and how she got to the Hand after her father's death. She has many more ninja powers than she ever displayed in Daredevil: killing with her voice, catching bullets, and mind control. You have to wonder how Bullseye ever got the better of her in Daredevil #181, or how Daredevil himself lasted more than a minute. Despite those powers, Elektra isn't invincible, the Beast is able to exploit her weaknesses several times in this story.

The first half of the story takes place in a fictional South American country where Elektra has been dispatched to kill a politician. In doing so she runs across the Beast, yep, a biblical reference there, but someone from the Hand as well. The Beast can jump between bodies so he's hard to kill, and he wants nothing less than to trigger a nuclear apocalypse. Garrett becomes Elektra's pawn in helping to stop him. One of my favorite action sequences involves an underwater fight between Elektra/Garrett and a squad of ninjas and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. The second half of the story shifts to the United States where we get some cameo appearances from Nick Fury.

Having re-read this again I know why no one has been able to write a good Elektra series since 1986. Nobody can write like Frank Miller, period, but also no one can do a Tour de Force art job like Sienkiewicz. Nuff Said!

Frank Miller Daredevil cover for Amazing Heroes #4

Here's a cover scan that I've searched for years and finally found it!  Frank Miller's 1981 cover to Amazing Heroes #4, featuring Daredevil.

I always admired this one for the composition.  There's something about DD rotating on that clothesline, suspended in mid-air between two buildings in the city that seemed thrilling.  The composition is simple but seems to capture the character perfectly.

You know how some songs get stuck in your head because you heard that when you read a comic.  The one I associate with this cover is Under Pressure by David Bowie and Queen.  Nuff Said!

Frank Miller cover to Daredevil Marvel Comics Index

In 1982, George Olshevsky snagged Frank Miller for the cover to the Marvel Comics Index featuring Daredevil.

This dynamic cover features Daredevil and Elektra on a NYC rooftop, ready to fight the Hand.  Black Widow, in her new Miller-designed costume, hangs off the building on the side.

What’s really incredible is that this index also covered Black Goliath, Black Panther, Dazzler, and the Human Fly!  I could not believe fans were dying to know who wrote/drew each issue of the Human Fly!  Miller does his best with these side characters—his rendition of Black Goliath makes that character cool.

Not only did Miller draw this cover, Joe Rubenstein inked it, and Steve Oliff did a superb color job.  Nuff said.

Memo to Fox: Read Marvel Comics for the next Wolverine movie!

X-Men Origins: Wolverine was precisely the movie I expected to see.  It was executed by Fox in the same manner as Ghost Rider or Fantastic Four—with little regard to the original source material.

The positives:  Hugh Jackman’s performance, he still brings a lot to this character.  Lynn Collins as Silverfox was beautiful—she reminded me of Evangeline Lilly on Lost.  It was fun seeing Gambit and the cameo at the end by Xavier was cool.  The action scenes, though highly implausible, were well executed.

The negatives: Barry Smith’s Weapon X origin was discarded in favor of having General Stryker being the one responsible for Wolvy’s adamantium skeleton.  Deadpool appears in character at the beginning of the movie—but it seems like we only get 10 minutes of Ryan Reynolds.  Then Deadpool is transformed into a mega mutant…who can’t speak?  That was really stupid.  I kind of expected these mistakes from the previews.  The really big missed opportunity was the scenes of Wolverine and Sabretooth in all the various wars throughout history.  Those seemed more promising than the rest of the film.  The ending was terrible and a real downer—too many depressing superhero movies lately.  I thought of a better one right away: what if Lynn Collins’ character is alive but thinks Wolverine is dead?  Lovers are tragically separated, but with a chance to get reunited one day.

Basically, I went in knowing it was a very flawed movie, but just enjoyed it for mindless escapism.

But here’s one thing that’s always bothered me.  Why spend a lot of time and effort coming up with a failed movie script, done by committee, when you have the perfect source material for a film?

I’ve always thought the original Wolverine mini-series by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller was practically begging for a cinematic adaption.  It’s self contained, it’s got a classic three act story structure, and it has that man vs animal conflict that’s always tortured Logan.

This mini-series blew the entire legion of fans away when it was published in 1982.  Claremont and Miller were at the top of their abilities when they collaborated on the story—supposedly during a car trip after a comics convention.  The first issue features an opening scene made for one of those panoramic helicopter shots where Wolverine is tracking down a wild bear in the Canadian Rockies.  Ok, if you want to punch that up, make it a Wendigo for the movie—we haven’t seen one of those before.  Logan flies off to Japan in search of his lady friend, Mariko, who it turns out is the daughter of a Japanese Yakuza crime-lord, Shingen.  Shingen gives Logan a bushwacking with a samurai sword, and cast out into Tokyo like a bum.

If that’s not enough action, here’s how issue two starts off…

An arms of ninjas chasing Logan across the rooftops of Tokyo.  Tons of arrows embedded all over Wolverine’s body, but he keeps fighting and slashing.  Zack Snyder, are you interested in filming this?

There’s one problem with making this as a movie: you’ve got to try and make the action scenes more realistic.  The sword fight between Shingen and Wolverine has to be painful for Logan.  Yes, Logan has a healing factor, but he should feel a frackin’ load of pain when a sword pierces his belly or shoulder.  And he doesn’t heal in nanoseconds.  When Liev Schreiber dumps a truckload full of giant logs on top of Logan in the movie, it should have taken Logan at least a few minutes to recover.  Wolverine’s so freakin’ invulnerable in X-Men Origins, he’s almost like Superman.

I predict that if Fox were to adapt this story, more or less as a faithful adaption, they would make twice the profit of X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  Hire a well known Asian actor for Shingen.  Get Asian (or Asian-American) actresses to play Yukio (Maggie Q would be a good choice, although not of Japanese ancestry) and Mariko, actually shoot part of the production in an Asian country, and you’ve got a big international mega-hit on your hands.

Second choice for a Wolverine adaption?  I’m tempted to say Mark Millar and John Romita Jr’s Enemy of the State.  But that’s too frackin’ big.  And Fox wouldn’t have the rights to all the other superhero characters in the story.

I think a good second choice would be Jason Aaron and Ron Garney’s Get Mystique story.  Wolverine takes a helluva lot of punishment in this story.  Imagine if you got Rebecca Romijn back as Mystique.  Do the flashback scenes in the old west and put her in one of the western-madam costumes.  Have Hugh Jackman chase Romijn throughout the middle east in the present day, sniffing out her various disguises.  That’s highly cinematic and after seeing Romijn outwit all kinds of men in Brian DePalma’s Femme Fatale, this is a slam dunk.   

Fox executives, you’ve got plenty of options for good Wolverine stories.  Pick one of them and run with it.  Don’t feel the need to throw in random mutants—have confidence, you own the rights to one of the most popular characters in the history of comics!  Nuff said.