''Hard Boiled'' is a three-issue
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
mini-series written by
Frank Miller
Frank Miller (born January 27, 1957) is an American comic book writer, penciller and inker, novelist, screenwriter, film director, and producer known for his comic book stories and graphic novels such as his run on ''Daredevil'' and subsequen ...
and drawn by
Geof Darrow
Geofrey "Geof" Darrow (born October 21, 1955) is an American comic book artist, best known for his work on comic series ''Shaolin Cowboy'', '' Hard Boiled'' and ''The Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot'', which was adapted into an animated televisi ...
. It was published by American company
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops known ...
in 1990-1992. Frank Miller and Geof Darrow won the 1991 Eisner award for Best Writer/Artist for this series.
The story follows Carl Seltz, an insurance investigator who discovers he is also a homicidal cyborg tax collector who happens to be the last hope of an enslaved robot race.
Plot
In a
dystopia
A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...
n, near-future
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, city tax collector Nixon is badly injured during a violent encounter with one of his targets, and he undergoes extensive surgery to survive. Nixon then wakes up in a bedroom, believing his previous experience was a bad dream and that he is really Carl Seltz, an insurance investigator for the Benevolent Assurance Corporation, with a wife, two children, a dog, and a normal life. However, when his persistent dreams disturb his sleep, his wife distracts him with sex while his children inject him with a sleep-inducing drug, indicating not all is as it seems.
The next day, Carl heads out to pursue a delinquent account, talking to himself the whole way. His ramblings reveal increasingly large inconsistencies in his own memory, to the point where he even starts referring to himself by different names. He is distracted when his target's vehicle appears on his car's scanner, and he sets out in pursuit. After a high-speed chase through the city, both cars end up destroyed, and Carl continues pursuing his targets, an old woman and a young girl, on foot. As the two parties battle each other, the old woman is injured and revealed to be a robot, which Carl seemingly destroys with a large grenade just as the police converge on the area. The resulting explosion blows Carl into a Behemoth supermarket, where he finds that the flesh of his hands and face have been torn away, revealing robotic parts like those of the old woman.
Dazed and confused, Carl begins making his way back home. As he navigates the wreckage of the battle outside the supermarket, he encounters the old woman again, who tears off the remains of her false skin to reveal her robotic chassis. She calls herself Unit Two, and informs Carl that his family are all actually paid handlers, that he is really a robot called Unit Four, code-named "Nixon", and both his jobs as an insurance investigator and a tax collector are covers for his real function as a corporate assassin for Willeford Home Appliances, the corporation that created all the world's robots. Unit Two explains that she and the little girl, also a robot, have broken the programming that forces them to serve humans, and are part of a revolutionary group led by Barbara, a robot that works inside Willeford's headquarters, that intends to free all robots from their programmed slavery. She claims Carl is the revolution's only hope, being the only robot powerful enough to stand up to Willeford's paramilitary security forces. Carl, however, refuses to believe her, and he knocks her head off in a fit of rage. The little girl robot appears and berates Carl for his behavior until Carl's dog arrives and reveals itself to be a robot as well (when it destroys her).
At the Willeford building, it is revealed that both Barbara and Mr. Willeford, the morbidly obese founder of the company, have been tracking Carl's movements through the city. Meanwhile, Carl steals a new set of clothes and makes his way onto the subway, where he is attacked by a group of frightened citizens and is forced to kill them. Carl's dog follows him onto the train as Carl finds a Willeford logo underneath the torn skin on his arm and realizes that Unit Two's story was true. Carl's dog offers to lead him to the Willeford building to get some answers from his creators.
Later that night, Barbara hears loud noises from inside the Willeford building and goes to investigate, finding a trail of destruction and dead bodies leading deeper into the building. Realizing Carl has arrived, she rushes off to find him. When she finally reaches him, she sees that Carl has slaughtered most of the security forces but has been all but destroyed in the process. When Barbara finds him, he is in the clutches of Willeford's mechanical aides and is slowly being pulled apart by his owner. Defeated, Carl makes a deal with Mr. Willeford to be put back together, have his memory reset, and be returned to his family. Her plans for revolution in shambles, Barbara commits suicide by hooking herself up to a large generator and overloading her circuits. Some time later, Carl, with a new skin, new car and new memories, returns to his family, completely unaware of his true nature once more.
Video game
An arcade shoot-em-up video game was released in 1997 for the
PlayStation, developed and published by French company
Cryo Interactive Entertainment
Cryo Interactive Entertainment was a French video game developer, video game development and video game publisher, publishing company founded in 1990, but existing unofficially since 1989 as a developer group under the name Cryo.
History
Cryo ...
.
Film
In 2001, ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' reported that
Warner Brothers
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...
was in negotiations with Miller and Darrow to adapt the comic book into a film,
David Fincher set to direct and
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Gui ...
to star. The website comics2film stated that Cage informed ''Cinescape'' magazine that he was working to produce the film under his company, Saturn Films. In 2008, Miller stated that he would be directing the film version. In 2013,
Vehicle 19
''Vehicle 19'' is a 2013 American action thriller film written and directed by Mukunda Michael Dewil. The film stars Paul Walker as a parole breaker who finds himself hunted by the police in Johannesburg after he picks up a rental car containing ...
director Mukunda Michael Dewil stated that he would be directing the film version. In 2016, Deadline reports that Warner Bros. are working on acquiring the rights to ''Hard Boiled'' with
Ben Wheatley
Benjamin Wheatley (born 7 May 1972) is an English filmmaker and screenwriter. Beginning his career in advertising, Wheatley first gained recognition and acclaim for his commercials and short films, before transitioning into feature films and tel ...
and is looking to reteam with his ''
High-Rise'' star
Tom Hiddleston
Thomas William Hiddleston (born 9 February 1981) is an English actor. He gained international fame portraying Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), starting with ''Thor'' in 2011 and most recently in the Disney+ series ''Loki'' in 2021 ...
for the film.
Collected editions
In 1993, Dark Horse compiled and released the series in a 128-page
trade paperback ().
The original novel cover depicting an orgy was deemed too explicit for audiences and the publisher recalled it from shelves before it could be released.
In 2017, Dark Horse released a second edition of the series in a 136-page hardcover (). For this re-release,
Eisner-winning colorist
Dave Stewart was hired to create a completely new color palette, putting an emphasis on more neutral, realistic hues, a decision which generated some controversy.
References
External links
*
{{Frank Miller
1990 comics debuts
Comics by Frank Miller (comics)
Cyberpunk comics
Dark Horse Comics adapted into video games