Frank Miller is a legendary longtime comic book artist, known for his great works like The Dark Knight Returns and his epic run on Daredevil (which largely inspired the creation of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). He was also the inspiration behind Hollywood hits like 300, Sin City and Robocop….. 2. It’s not Robocop 1 but eh, close enough. His work is often dark, bloody and mature. We’re talking high body counts. He always had a very recognizable art style; the bold angular shapes and chunky line art were pure Miller. But his art has changed, and some would say not for the better.

Frank has once again set off a hornet’s nest in the comics fan community by illustrating a variant cover for a popular franchise, and this time the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the very characters he unwittingly helped bring into the world, are his subject – or some would say ‘target’. Because not everyone is happy with the outcome. Here is a look at the offending artwork:

For the record, I don’t think it’s that bad. Michaelangelo looks great. The look isn’t even that far off from the original TMNT drawings from the early 80s. The anatomy is fine (for mutant turtles) and the colors pop. It’s not a bad piece, but that’s just my opinion. There are others, like these:

That is pure ass, hard to believe he was ever a respected artist.

Well he was and here we are in the future where he still is. Why is it hard to believe someone’s arguably less impressive modern work is any indictment of their work from decades ago? Dickface.

How does this man keep getting hired? All of his stuff looks awful.

He “keeps getting hired” because his name was once enough to sell millions of comics. Shithead.

Dude lost it years ago and people still giving him money

Said a sentient toenail who is not currently, nor was ever being offered that kind of money. Dickhead shitface.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Centipede.

All right, that one was kind of clever.

I’m not defending Frank Miller as a person. I don’t even know much about him. I’ve heard he’s standoffish and abrasive, but most of his work is well-known for a reason. I’m not even defending all of his art. I think people have simply jumped on a bandwagon that started a few years back when he drew a similar bold style cover for Wolverine, Take a look at the difference between his 1980s original (right) and his new vision (left):

If someone wanted to say Frank Miller is a bad artist, they would be wrong because art is subjective, but if you told me to give my opinion on this particular art, I would say it hurts me physically. To me it’s ugly. The eyes that look like they had ink spilled straight from the bottle onto them and the eraser nipples and the squarish window ice-scraper claws that defy perspective are not attractive to my artist brain. Wolverine looks like he just escaped from a vat of caustic chemicals and he’s screaming in agony. So what happened? Nothing, some artists just change over time and Frank really leaned into his new skin. Even my personal favorites like Jim Lee and Erik Larsen have lost some of the magic that used to go into the books I read as a kid, but that was a long time ago and they’re still good artists, they just choose different lines when they’re sketching.

Wolverine is a great character, but he’s also known for being edgy, brooding and generally not pretty, so why anyone was disappointed I don’t know. One thing I do know is that Frank Miller’s Uncle Scrooge cover is going to give me nightmares one day if I don’t stop looking at it:

I think 98% of this piece is charming from the weird human legs to the unconvincing coins littering the picture, but those eyes. Scrooge McDuck was never meant to peer into my soul like that. But the use of simple lines to create a dynamic picture are a testament to his ability. Just next time, I hope Scrooge puts on some sunglasses or lays off the mydriatics because he looks wired AF.

It is my hope that Frank Miller continues to release controversial covers and rile up the nerds, and make some people appreciate how art and artists can change over the many long years they’ve been out there. I didn’t post any of the positive things people were saying about the TMNT cover, but there were plenty of them. A lot of people absolutely loved the tribute to the original Eastman and Laird characters and fans thought it was super cool to see Miller finally draw the characters he helped inspire.

And that’s what comics are supposed to be about, being cool.

Exo