The Hard Goodbye

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"The Hard Goodbye"
Sin City Hard Goodbye.jpg
Cover of the first edition of the trade paperback collected edition of "The Hard Goodbye"
Publisher Dark Horse
Publication dateApril  1991  May  1992
Genre
Title(s) Dark Horse Presents: Fifth Anniversary Special
Dark Horse Presents #51–62
Main character(s) Marv
Goldie and Wendy
Kevin
Cardinal Roark
Creative team
Writer(s) Frank Miller
Artist(s)Frank Miller
Letterer(s)Frank Miller
Editor(s) Randy Stradley
The Hard Goodbye ISBN   1-59307-293-7

"The Hard Goodbye" is the first story in the American Sin City Comics series. It was serialized, as "Sin City", in the comics anthology Dark Horse Presents by Dark Horse Comics and named "The Hard Goodbye" in the trade paperbacks. It was created by Frank Miller, and led to a metaseries that has been adapted into a movie.

Contents

Publication history

The first episode of the comic was published as "Sin City" in the anthology Dark Horse Presents: 5th Anniversary Special (April 1991) and starting with episode two, was published as a continuing series in Dark Horse Presents issues #51–62 (June 1991–June 1992). The series was written, drawn and lettered by Frank Miller.

The original issues were edited by Randy Stradley, and Diana Schutz is editor of the 2005 collected edition.

Summary

"The Hard Goodbye" begins with the protagonist, Marv, being accused of the murder of the beautiful prostitute, Goldie. Marv is an ex-military man and a trained professional killer so naturally framing him would be easy. However, he felt connected to Goldie and spent one night with her before her tragic death. The night of her murder she and Marv got drunk, made love, and fell asleep together. Three hours later, Marv wakes up and finds Goldie dead. He wonders why she would agree to sleep with him and he refers to her as his own personal heaven in the hell that he calls Sin City. Suddenly the cop sirens grow closer and louder, which makes Marv slip out on to the streets of Sin City. Marv has become a prime suspect when he is framed for Goldie's murder. During this time, a serial killer is on the loose in Sin City who preys on prostitutes and eats them.

Marv becomes determined to find Goldie's killer and immediately goes to his mother's house to retrieve his gun. His mother informs him that some men came by the house looking for him. Marv goes to the bar to hide out, but two assassins come and attack him. Before he kills the two men, he forces them to tell him who sent them. Continuing his investigation, he is led to a priest who then tells him to question the leading family in Sin City and the cardinal of the church, Roark. Marv follows the trail of clues to an abandoned farm where the serial killer, Kevin, is keeping his victims' heads as trophies. He also discovers that Kevin kidnapped his parole officer, Lucille, and has eaten her hand. Marv and Lucille manage to escape. Although, when the cops show up to the scene, Lucille is murdered by a corrupt cop. Marv is able to escape the cops but not before he forces their leader to reveal Roark's name.

During Marv's journey he comes across Goldie's twin sister, Wendy. Wendy is also a prostitute and together they decide to go after the cardinal. They approach Roark's home and confront him about the murders and his cannibalistic actions. Marv beats, dismembers and feeds Kevin to his pet wolf after hearing him confess to the murders, especially Goldie's murder and his obsession with eating women. Unfortunately, Marv is arrested, tried, and executed for all of his crimes. The authorities force him to confess to Goldie's murder and the murder of the other prostitutes when they threaten his mother. Before his death, Marv only finds comfort while incarcerated in his visits from Wendy, in which he shares tales of his time spent with Goldie. The story ends with Marv being executed by electric chair.

Collected edition

It was collected as a trade paper-back named Sin City in 1992, and then subtitled The Hard Goodbye in January 1993 featuring several different cover designs over its multiple printings/titles. The series was reprinted in smaller sized digest-trades to tie-into the film, with covers designed by Chip Kidd.

Awards

The story has received a number of awards:

Cinematic adaptation

In 2005, this was one of the stories adapted into the film Sin City . "The Babe Wore Red and Other Stories", "The Hard Goodbye", The Big Fat Kill, That Yellow Bastard plot lines were all used in the film. Actor Mickey Rourke played the role of Marv. The segment also starred Jaime King as Goldie/Wendy, Rutger Hauer as Cardinal Roark, Elijah Wood as Kevin and Carla Gugino as Lucille.

Directors of the film Sin City include the original author, Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez, and Quentin Tarantino. The additional directors contributed to the violence depicted in the novel, as they both hold cinematic backgrounds of similar styles.

Notes

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Marv (<i>Sin City</i>) Fictional character from Sin City

Marvin "Marv" is a fictional character in the graphic novel series Sin City, created by Frank Miller. In the 2005 film adaptation and its 2014 sequel, he is played by Mickey Rourke. He first appears in The Hard Goodbye and follows with appearances in A Dame to Kill For, Just Another Saturday Night, and Silent Night. He makes a brief cameo in Blue Eyes.

Miho (<i>Sin City</i>) Fictional character

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The Roark family is a fictional dynasty from Frank Miller's graphic novel series Sin City.

The Girls of Old Town are fictional characters in Frank Miller's Sin City. Within the universe of Sin City, they are a group of self-governing prostitutes.

Kevin (<i>Sin City</i>) Fictional character

Kevin is a fictional character in Frank Miller's graphic novel series Sin City, featured prominently in The Hard Goodbye. He is a mute, cannibalistic serial killer who preys on the titular city's prostitutes, The Girls of Old Town. He is protected by the powerful Cardinal Patrick Henry Roark, who also acts as his accomplice. Kevin lives at the Roark family farm, and uses the basement as an execution chamber for his victims; after he kills and eats them, he stuffs and mounts their heads on the walls like hunting trophies.

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Mike Richardson is an American publisher, writer, and producer. In 1986, he founded Dark Horse Comics, an international publishing house located in Milwaukie, Oregon. Richardson is also the founder and President of the Things From Another World retail chain and president of Dark Horse Entertainment, which has developed and produced numerous projects for film and television based on Dark Horse properties or licensed properties.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goldie and Wendy</span> Fictional character

Goldie and Wendy are fictional identical twins in the graphic novel series Sin City, created by Frank Miller. In the 2005 film adaptation, they are played by Jaime King. They are blond, dark-eyed femmes fatale.

References