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Sin City is the title for a series of stories by Frank Miller, told in comic book form in a film noir-like style. The first story originally appeared in Dark Horse Presents from April of 1991 to June of 1992, under the title of Sin City, serialized in thirteen parts. Several other stories of variable lengths have followed. All stories take place in Basin City, with frequent recurring characters and intertwining stories.

A movie adaptation of Sin City, co-directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller with "special guest director" Quentin Tarantino, was released on April 1, 2005. The Sin City graphic novels were reprinted with new covers and in a reduced size to coincide with the motion picture's theatrical release. Rodriguez has expressed a desire to begin filming two sequels back-to-back starting February 2006 for release sometime in 2007.

Sin City yarns

These are the individual stories, usually referred to as "yarns", set in Frank Miller’s Sin City universe. They are listed here in order of publication. The chronology of Sin City is described below.

The Hard Goodbye

First Published as Sin City in Dark Horse Presents issues #51-62 and 5th Anniversary Special (June 1991–June 1992), and reprinted as Sin City (The Hard Goodbye) (January 1993)

The Hard Goodbye is the first comic book story that Frank Miller drew and wrote about the desperate denizens of Basin City (the first story in the Sin City saga). It was originally titled simply Sin City when it was released in the Dark Horse Presents Fifth Anniversary Special and issues Dark Horse Presents #51-62 , but it was given its own title in trade paperback form. The protagonist is Marv, a dangerous, possibly psychopathic man. Marv wakes up after a one-night stand to discover Goldie, the woman he had just met and had sex with, has been killed in the night. The thirteen-part serial follows Marv on his brutal, single-minded quest to understand why Goldie was killed and bring revenge upon her murderers.

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Marv, a huge, heavily scarred hulk of a man, is approached in a seedy saloon by a beautiful woman named Goldie. Later they meet in an equally run-down hotel room for a night together. The two of them have sex, and when Marv wakes up she is lying in the bed next to him, murdered. Heavily armored soldiers from Basin City's corrupt police force storm the apartment, and Marv fights his way through them and escapes into the streets.

As he roams the streets in pursuit of the truth, Marv has to deal with several issues. First, he feels indebted to Goldie for her kindness and wishes to repay her by avenging her death. He suffers from a medical condition in which he experiences vivid hallucinations, and wonders if he actually murdered Goldie (especially because the two of them were alone and he feels sure he would have detected anyone entering the room to kill Goldie). Finally, Marv is attacked several times by stormtroopers and detectives from the Basin City police department, whom he brutally slaughters in self-defense.

At one point in his journey, Marv stops by the strip club Kadie's, where he watches the dancing act of Nancy Callahan (from That Yellow Bastard).

Marv's investigation eventually leads him to The Farm (the same place Detective Hartigan and Yellow Bastard had their final confrontation in That Yellow Bastard), where he defeats a pet wolf and discovers human remains. Marv finally encounters the real killer, a small, shadowy figure with glowing glasses and a Charlie Brown sweater. The killer is supernaturally silent and quick, and manages to sneak up on and beat up Marv (quite a feat, as Marv had earlier shown the ability to slaughter several armed opponents at once, and was pretty much unaffected by being shot in the chest by a submachine gun).

Marv wakes up in a holding cell, where he is greeted by the sight of several stuffed female heads, mounted on the wall like trophies. Also held in the cell is Marv's parole officer, Lucille (Hartigan's lesbian lawyer), who explains that the killer kills women so that he can dine on their flesh. Lucille is understandably quite shaken, as the killer had previously forced her to watch while he sucked the flesh off one of her hands. From the cell, Marv watches the killer being picked up by a limousine, and learns that his name is Kevin.

Marv and Lucille escape, but are intercepted by a SWAT team. Unwilling to die in a shootout, Lucille knocks Marv down and runs towards the cops. Believing she has been rescued, Lucille attempts to convince them not to kill Marv. The cops quickly kill her, to eliminate any witnesses. Marv kills the cops, and learns from torturing the lead detective that the man who wants him dead is Cardinal Roark, brother to Senator Roark and a member of the powerful and corrupt Roark family that founded and runs Basin City.

Marv is soon captured by the Old Town prostitutes, led by Goldie's twin sister Wendy, who believe Marv is responsible for Goldie's death and thus intend to torture and kill him. Marv convinces them that he is innocent (stating that no prostitute would let someone as ugly and fearsome looking as him close enough to kill her), and they provide him with the ordnance he needs to confront Kevin.

Armed with explosives and razor wire, Marv sets up a series of traps around the Farm, then flushes Kevin out by bombarding the Farm with molotov cocktail bombs. Kevin manages to avoid Marv's traps, and the two of them fight it out. Marv takes quite a beating, but keeps on fighting and eventually manages to outsmart Kevin by handcuffing himself to him, allowing him to knock out Kevin with a strong punch to the face. Wendy shows up and wants to kill Kevin, but Marv knocks her out, because he intends to torture Kevin, and doesn't want Wendy to have nightmares from witnessing it.

Marv proceeds to dismember Kevin with a hacksaw, then feeds his still-living torso to Kevin's pet wolf. Even as his entrails are being devoured by his own pet, Kevin simply smiles calmly and doesn't utter a sound.

Robbed of any satisfaction from Kevin's death, Marv decapitates him and goes on to storm Cardinal Roark's heavily guarded fortress. Marv kills Roark's men and confronts the naked Cardinal in his bed. Marv then presents Kevin's still smiling head to Roark, and demands an explanation. Roark, anguished over Kevin's death, confesses that he shielded the killer, because he had a "voice like an angel". Roark babbles on about how Kevin not only ate his victims' bodies, but also their souls, making him pure and clean. Roark confesses to envying Kevin's "gift", ultimately joining Kevin in his meals of murdered women in order to experience it for himself. Goldie found out about Kevin, so Kevin killed her, and Roark sent in the police to kill Marv, frame him, and cover up Kevin's crimes. Roark rationalizes that the killings were justified because the victims were merely hookers and nobodies.

Marv proceeds to tear Cardinal Roark apart, but just as he's really getting it going, SWAT storms the room and fills Marv with machine gun fire.

Marv survives, is hospitalized, and ultimately is charged not only with the murders of the cops he'd killed, but also of the serial killings committed by Kevin as well. A hotshot Assistant District Attorney threatens to have Marv's mother killed if Marv doesn't confess to the crimes, so Marv breaks the ADA's arm in three places, then confesses.

Marv is sentenced to death, much to the glee of Basin City's inhabitants. On his last day, he is visited by Wendy, who says that he can pretend that she's Goldie, in one final moment of love.

Finally, Marv is electrocuted in the electric chair, but survives. With his last words, he defiantly mocks his executioners, asking if "That's the best you can do, you pansies?" They electrocute him again, which finally kills him.

This story is one of three Sin City stories retold in the movie Sin City. In the film version, Mickey Rourke plays Marv, Jaime King plays Goldie/Wendy, Carla Gugino plays Lucille, Elijah Wood plays Kevin, and Rutger Hauer plays Cardinal Roark.

Cardinal Roark is killed by Marv in the same gruesome manner as Tyrell is killed by Roy Batty in the movie Blade Runner. Rutger Hauer also played Roy Batty. Whether this is a coincidence or a deliberate homage is unknown.

A Dame to Kill For

First published (November 1993–May 1994)

A Dame to Kill For is the second compilation of the Sin City series. It chronicles Dwight's and Marv's attempts to rescue Ava Lord, Dwight's former fiance, from her sadistic husband. But Dwight begins to suspect that things aren't what they seem with Ava...

The Babe Wore Red and Other Stories

First published (November 1994) The Babe Wore Red and Other Stories is a publication of short stories. It reprints a serial run in Previews dated November 1994:

• The 3-page story The Customer is Always Right.
• The 4-page story And Behind Door Number Three?
• The 24-page story The Babe Wore Red.

The Customer is Always Right served as the opening sequence for the movie Sin City. It featured Josh Hartnett and Marley Shelton. The sequence served as the original proof of concept footage that director Robert Rodriguez used to convince Frank Miller to allow him to adapt Sin City to the silver screen.

Silent Night

Silent Night is a one-shot short story that Frank Miller released in November 1994. It is a 15-page story about Marv's rescuing a little girl, in which no one speaks. It is unknown when this actually happened in relation to Miller's other Sin City stories. It is best to believe that this is unrelated in any way directly to the other stories. Template:Spoiler Against a backdrop of heavy snow, Marv, a hulking, trenchcoat-clad figure, approaches a door in a dark alley. He intimidates the bouncer with his sheer size and is led inside and down a flight of stairs. He is met by two armed men and a leather-clad woman, who is apparently their boss. Marv hands her a wad of bills and is shown to a steel door in the far wall. Through a small viewing slit, he can see a terrified little girl crouching in darkness in the room beyond. Marv draws two pistols and kills the pair of henchmen, then executes the woman. He retrieves the little girl, saying, "Your momma's been callin' after you, Kimberly." With the girl in his arms, he walks off into the distance, as the snow obscures his receding form.

The Big Fat Kill

The Big Fat Kill was first published in (November 1994–March 1995)

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The Big Fat Kill opens in Shellie's apartment, where a drunken former fling is furiously rapping on her door, demanding to be let in. Shellie is obviously scared, but is comforted by Dwight who has gotten a new face. Dwight tells the barmaid to let the man, and his ensuing entourage, in. Reluctantly Shellie opens the lock while Dwight hides in the back.

The drunken man, named Jack, begins to boast of his conquest over Shellie, culminating in slapping her across the face. He then goes to the bathroom where Dwight is hiding in the shower stall. Getting the jump on Jack, Dwight holds a knife to his neck and tells him to stop bothering Shellie. When Jack scoffs at the threat Dwight dunks his head into the toilet (where Jack had been urinating the minute before) until his body goes limp.

Jack awakens a few seconds later and storms out, demanding that his group not mention these events. Shellie investigates the apartment and finds Dwight on the railing outside the building. After ensuring her safety, Dwight becomes worried that Jack will cause more trouble and must be stopped somehow. He jumps off the building, ignoring Shellie's muffled yells.

As Dwight speeds toward Jack's car, he sees his target speed by him. A police car follows them both, but stops and turns around once the cars enter Old Town, the area of Sin City full of and run by the prostitutes of the area.

As Jack spots a young girl named Becky walking alone in a dark alley, he follows beside her, asking coyly for her services and constantly being rejected. Dwight follows close behind and is then caught off guard by Gail, one of Old Town's most experienced hookers and guardians. She advises Dwight to stay put and let things with Jack work themselves out. As Dwight spots Miho on the roof, he agrees and watches as the alley is closed off.

Meanwhile, Jack continues to pester Becky, escalating to outright anger at the egging on of his friends. He finally pulls out a handgun and aims it at her. Instead of being scared or surprised, Becky is instead filled with pity, proclaiming that he has just done the dumbest thing in his life. Immediately afterward Miho throws a swastika-shaped bladed weapon that takes off Jack's hand, then proceeds to descend on the car, quickly killing every man but Jack.

During the attack, Dwight has an impending sense that something is wrong but can't place his finger on it. Miho and Jack get in a standoff. As Dwight tries to make Jack quit his foolish game, Miho sabotages his gun by throwing a plug into the barrel. When Jack tries to shoot the intervening Dwight his gun backfires, sending the barrel into his forehead. Miho finishes him off by slicing his neck.

As the girls loot all the corpses, Dwight searches Jack's person and finds a police badge revealing his last name as Rafferty. He finally remembers that Shellie was screaming "COP!". This new fact is bad for all of Old Town, as the shaky truce between the police and the girls is all but shattered. Gail starts calling for warriors while Dwight tries to recommend disposing of the bodies before anyone suspects anything. Finally, after revealing a past relationship between Gail and Dwight, the girls agree to hide the bodies in the tar pits.

After acquiring a car, slicing up all the bodies to stuff in the back trunk and leaving Jack in the front seat due to lack of space, Dwight begins to hallucinate, and Jack begins to speak. Although Dwight knows he is hallucinating, unlike Marv, he cannot quiet the gabbering corpse. With his mind not completely focused, his driving suffers, attracting police attention. As he contemplates whether or not to kill the cop, he brakes hard. Jack's body slumps forward, hiding the neck wound and the gun casing lodged in his head. The cop looks through Dwight's window and notices the corpse, believing it to be an unconscious, drunken friend. Dwight tells the cop he's the designated driver. The cop then notifies Dwight that he's driving with a broken taillight, and lets him off with a warning.

At the tar pits Dwight is attacked by foreign mercenaries. He quickly disposes of most of them, but loses Jack's head in the process and is left for dead drifting in the pits. Miho rescues him and Dwight begins to suspect that something might not be right.

Back at Old Town, Gail has been ambushed and kidnapped by gangsters. It seems that Becky had sold out Old Town for money and her mother's protection. Gail bites and rips a chunk off her neck in anger, vowing that she deserves worse.

Dwight and Miho realize they must now recover Jack's head. They ram the mercenaries car off the road. After dodging some grenades, Dwight corners the holder of the head before Miho finishes him off, using her swastika throwing blade to chop off the top of his head. With the head in tow they must now rescue Gail and Old Town.

As the gangsters prepare to torture and kill Gail and Becky, an arrow shoots through one of the henchmen with a note prompting a trade: The head for Gail.

As Dwight stands alone in an alley with the head, outnumbered and outgunned, the trade is made, Gail being freed and the head, now bandaged up, handed over. Soon the gangsters wonder why a bodiless head has bandages in the first place. Dwight triggers the grenades stolen from the mercenary, exploding the head.

The gangsters now realize they are in a trap as the girls of Old Town reveal themselves, heavily armed also, on the roof. Before any defensive measures can be taken, the men and Becky are gunned down.

The story ends with Dwight's musing on Gail, secure in the knowledge that the girls' home is safe.

The story is one of three from Sin City related in the film Sin City. In the film, Clive Owen plays Dwight, Brittany Murphy plays Shellie, Benicio del Toro plays Jack, Rosario Dawson plays Gail, Devon Aoki plays Miho, Alexis Bledel plays Becky, and Michael Clarke Duncan plays Manute, the leading gangster.

A notable difference from the comic version is that Becky survives the final gunfight by hiding in a nook in the alley, leaving her alive for the final "epilogue" scene of the movie.

That Yellow Bastard

First published in (February 1996–July 1996) That Yellow Bastard is a six-issue comic book miniseries, and the sixth in the Sin City series, and follows the usual black and white noir style artistry of previous Sin City novels. That Yellow Bastard is currently under publication by Dark Horse Comics, the first edition was available in July 1997 (ISBN 1569712255).

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The story begins with a good-hearted cop, Hartigan (who incidentally has a bad heart condition) on his final mission before his retirement. It seems that Roark Jr., son of one of the most powerful and corrupt officials in Basin City, has developed a penchant for raping and murdering innocent little girls. It is Hartigan's mission to rescue Junior's latest quarry, skinny little Nancy Callahan.

Hartigan succeeds in rescuing Nancy by disabling Junior's getaway car, and then proceeds to use his pistols to surgically shoot off Junior's ears, hand, and genitals. Before he can finish Junior off, Hartigan's corrupt partner Bob, who fears angering Senator Roark, shoots him in the back. Junior Roark lapses into a coma from his injuries, and Senator Roark takes issue with the abuse of his son. Hartigan finds himself framed for raping Nancy, is branded a pedophile and sentenced to a lengthy prison term amidst a public outcry that brands him one of Sin City's most hated citizens (which is quite an achievement.) Despite his innocence and the pariah status he has achieved as a result of his conviction, he remains silent about his pain, knowing that Senator Roark would revel in his suffering.

Alone in prison, and abandoned by his wife and friends, he finds solace in the carefully disguised weekly letters he receives from Nancy. Hartigan quickly develops a paternal love for little Nancy, and sees her as the daughter he never had. For another eight years, he drags himself through his jail time, his only respite being the letters his young admirer sends him, until finally the letters stop coming. Although he initially believes Nancy has merely outgrown her childhood hero, Hartigan soon becomes increasingly worried that his enemies have finally found Nancy. His fears are confirmed when a deformed, hairless visitor with sickly yellow skin who smells distinctly like a garbage can, and whom Hartigan seemingly doesn't know, arrives at his prison cell. Hartigan is then given a letter that contains the index finger of a nineteen-year-old girl.

Believing Nancy to be in imminent danger, Hartigan's passive view of his current incarceration changes. He decides to find some way out, and contacts his lawyer, a woman named Lucille (Marv's lesbian parole officer from The Hard Goodbye). Much to his own lawyer's surprise and disgust, Hartigan claims he was guilty of the crimes he was accused of, asks for forgiveness, and is released on parole, apparently due to Senator Roark's satisfaction over his confession and submission.

Back on the streets, the 70-year-old ex-con/ex-cop eventually tracks Nancy, now nineteen, back to a strip-club in a dangerous part of town known as Kadies. Hartigan finds that she is no longer the little girl he rescued from a child-murderer 8 years ago, but is now a woman who works in the club as a stripper, and is unharmed. The letter containing the finger was merely a ploy to lure him out. Hartigan smells a set-up, and something far worse, the distinct odor of rotting garbage. "That Yellow Bastard", the man who arrived at the cell with the letter, has followed him, and he has revealed Nancy's position.

Hartigan and Nancy have a quick reunion when he pulls her out of the bar and into her car. With Nancy at the wheel, there is a high-speed pursuit with the "Bastard" close on their tail. Hartigan fires a precise shot that hits their pursuer in the neck, and he and Nancy hide out in a safe house. There, they share a kiss; but Hartigan refuses to move any further because of the paternalistic nature of his relationship to Nancy.

Hartigan is confronted once again by "That Yellow Bastard", who reveals himself to be none other than Junior Roark. Apparently Senator Roark used his vast financial resources to resurrect his son using means outside the boundaries of conventional science, hiring doctors, witch doctors, and gene therapists to bring Junior out of his coma and reconstitute his severed body parts. As a result, Junior lives, but as an unnatural abomination. Roark knocks Hartigan unconscious with a single punch, lynches him with a noose, and escapes with Nancy.

Hartigan awakes in his noose, wills himself back to life, and manages to break free from the rope. Junior's henchmen, who had shown up to dispose of Hartigan's body, are quickly subdued, and forced to tell Hartigan that Junior had fled to the Roark Farm (described as a place where bad things happen) with Nancy, presumably to violate her again.

Racing to the farm, Hartigan suffers several severe angina attacks, but continues in order to save Nancy. At this time, Nancy is being flogged by Junior and, like Hartigan, won't give her torturer the pleasure of her pain by screaming. Hartigan shows up and rescues Nancy, then proceeds to castrate Roark for a second time and then beat him to death. Nancy and Hartigan share another kiss, this time without Hartigan's paternalistic feelings getting in the way. Hartigan then tells Nancy to flee, lying to her that he will call up some old police friends of his to clean up the scene of the crime.

With Nancy gone, Hartigan realizes that by killing Junior Roark he has made a deadly enemy of Senator Roark, who would stop at nothing until Hartigan was dead. Hartigan also realizes that Senator Roark would most likely target Nancy first, in order to make Hartigan suffer for killing the Senator's son. In order to spare Nancy this fate, in an act of pure love, Hartigan commits suicide to protect her, blowing his brains out with his own pistol.

In Rodriguez's adaptation, Bruce Willis stars as Hartigan, Jessica Alba as Nancy, Nick Stahl as the Yellow Bastard/Junior, Powers Boothe as Senator Roark and Michael Madsen as Hartigan's partner, Bob. Some notable differences exist in the film version. For example: Roark Jr. never succeeded in raping Nancy, even as a child, as Hartigan arrived in time to rescue her on both occasions.

Daddy's Little Girl

Daddy's Little Girl was first published in A Decade of Dark Horse #1 (July 1996) and reprinted in Tales to Offend #1 (July 1997), and Booze, Broads, and Bullets.

Lost, Lonely, & Lethal

Lost, Lonely, & Lethal was first published (December 1996).

Sex & Violence

Sex & Violence was first published in (March 1997).

Just Another Saturday Night

Just Another Saturday Night was first published in (August 1997)

Family Values

Family Values was first published in (October 1997). Family Values is the fifth "yarn" in Frank Miller's series of Sin City comic books published by Dark Horse Comics. Unlike the previous four stories, Family Values was released as a 128-page graphic novel rather than in serialized issues that would later be collected in a trade paperback volume.

Ladies' man Dwight and the silent killer Miho, stars of A Dame to Kill For and The Big Fat Kill, return for a gritty story of revenge and corruption.

After one of the Old Town hookers is killed in the cross fire of a botched Mafia drive-by, Dwight starts asking questions at a run-down diner. After getting the inside dirt from an aging starlet, he follows a lead through Basin City's underworld that ultimately brings him into the upper tiers of the mob and city hall. Watching out for him at every turn, the ninja Miho carves a relentless path of severed limbs on her trusty roller blades.

While Family Values is not one of the yarns appearing in the Sin City movie, Dwight and Miho both still appear. Dwight is played by Clive Owen and Miho is played Devon Aoki.

Hell and Back (a Sin City Love Story)

• Hell and Back (a Sin City Love Story) was first published in (July 1999–April 2000)

Booze, Broads, & Bullets

Booze, Broads, & Bullets is a compilation of stories from the Sin City series of comic books by Frank Miller. It reprints the following stories:

• Just Another Saturday Night (from Sin City #1/2 and Just Another Saturday Night)
• Fat Man and Little Boy (from Lost, Lonely, & Lethal).
• The Customer is Always Right (from The Babe Wore Red and Other Stories)
• Silent Night (from Silent Night)
• And Behind Door Number Three? (from The Babe Wore Red and Other Stories)
• Blue Eyes (from Lost, Lonely, & Lethal)
• Rats (from Lost, Lonely, & Lethal)
• Daddy's Little Girl (from A Decade of Dark Horse #1 and reprinted in Tales to Offend #1),
• Wrong Turn (from Sex and Violence)
• Wrong Track (from Sex and Violence)
• The Babe Wore Red (from The Babe Wore Red and Other Stories)

Compilations

Setting

Basin City, almost universally referred to by the nickname Sin City, is a fictional town in the American West, located somewhere in the desert, presumably in Nevada or California. It hardly ever rains, and the rain it does get is sparse. The Basin City Police are either lazy cowards or corrupt.

During the Gold Rush, The Roark Family brought a large number of women to keep the miners happy. These women ended up forming the district of Old Town, the prostitutes' quarter . In addition, the people in charge of the city remained in charge, running it as they saw fit.

As the various yarns progress, the audience gradually becomes familiar with key locations in and around Basin City. Template:Spoiler

• Old Town is the red-light-district and is off limits to police. This is where the city's population of prostitutes reside; it recently came under the control of the twins Goldie and Wendy.
• Sacred Oaks, home to the rich and powerful of Basin City. This suburb lies outside the city proper, a half an hour drive uphill. A university of some sort is also located there.
• Kadie's, a stripper joint/bar where Nancy Callahan and Shellie work, and Dwight McCarthy and Marv hang out.
• Basin City Central Train Station, which has a direct connection to Phoenix.
• The Projects, the run-down and poor side of Sin City, is a tangle of high-rise apartments where crime runs rampant. Marv was born in the Projects.
• Roark Family Farm (a.k.a. "The Farm") is located at North Cross and Lennox, this farm shows up in several stories, including The Hard Goodbye, That Yellow Bastard, and Hell And Back. It was also home to Kevin, a serial killer with ties to the Roark family. Marv burns down one of the buildings, and the Farm is abandoned sometime after the inital Sin City storyline.

Characters

Protagonists

• Marv, a tough, violent, big bruiser of a man, who spends his time on the streets doing odd jobs for various people. He suffers from a mental condition that causes him to hallucinate. His personal code of honor dictates the repayment of debts and a sort of chivalry towards women.
• Dwight McCarthy, a photographer who, recently surgically bestowed with a new face, is deeply in debt to the women of Old Town and will go to great lengths to help them out.
• Det. John Hartigan, good-hearted 70-year-old ex-con/ex-cop. He has a distinguishing scar on his forehead.
• Goldie/Wendy, the twin prostitutes who are currently in control of the Old Town.
• Gail, a prostitute and dominatrix whose specialty is knot-tying. She is six feet tall and is one of the authority figures of Old Town. She has a love/hate relationship with Dwight McCarthy.

Antagonists

• Kevin, a mute sociopath who resides at "The Farm", kills women, and cannibalizes their remains. He is sheltered by Cardinal Roark.
• Cardinal Patrick Henry Roark, a Catholic priest, who is brother to Senator Roark. Roark occasionally uses Kevin as his personal assassin, and even joins him in his cannibalistic rituals.
• Det. Jack "Jackie Boy" Rafferty is Shellie's former (abusive) boyfriend. Miho kills him and his four buddies after they threaten Becky with a gun.
• Roark Jr. aka Junior/That Yellow Bastard is the son of Senator Roark. He is handsome, young, and rich; he is also a sadistic pedophile who rapes and murders pre-pubescent girls, a past-time that is covered up by his father and city police. In That Yellow Bastard, Hartigan horribly disfigures him while rescuing his latest victim; his father pays millions in physical rehabilitation treatments that turn his skin bright yellow and make him smell like rotting meat.
• Senator Roark, a very corrupt politician with huge political and financial power, he has the influence to eliminate whomever he chooses. The Senator's brother is Cardinal Roark.
• Manute, a huge black man who is very gentlemanly and polite in all situations, even while committing homicide.
• The Colonel, blackmails Becky with her mother's safety in exchange for inside information on Old Town.

Others

• Det. Bob, Hartigan’s corrupt partner.
• Lucille, Marv's parole officer and Hartigan's lawyer.
• Becky, an Old Town prostitute who works for the Colonel, mainly due to the fact the Colonel holds her mother hostage.
• Miho, a Japanese assassin who works out of Old Town.
• Shellie, a barmaid at Kadie's. She is Dwight McCarthy's occasional girlfriend.
• Nancy Callahan, a stripper who works at Kadie's and was saved as a child by Det. John Hartigan. According to Hartigan her free time is spent studying, reading, and writing, so she would seem to be highly intelligent as well.
• The Salesman, a shadowy, poetic freelance assassin who performs a lot of jobs for the Ladies, the Cops and the Mafia. He kills Becky at the end of the movie adaptation.

Chronology

While it was the first story written, The Hard Goodbye was the last chronologically, while the first section of That Yellow Bastard is the first. The Dwight-related stories fall in between these. Here is a rough chronology of the "Yarns": Template:Spoilers

• The first section of That Yellow Bastard, wherein Detective John Hartigan rescues Nancy Callahan from Roark Jr., resulting in Hartigan and Junior winding up in the hospital, occurs about 12 years before the events of The Hard Goodbye. Hartigan is framed as a pedophile and charged with raping Nancy Callahan. He is placed into solitary confinement for eight years.
• Ava leaves the devastated Dwight for the rich Damien Lord.
• Soon after, Hartigan finds the 19-year-old Nancy Callahan when he is out on parole. Marv witnesses the reunion, as shown in the story Just Another Saturday Night. Then the remaining events of That Yellow Bastard play out within a day or two. This occurs roughly four years before The Hard Goodbye.
• Three years before A Dame to Kill For, Dwight rescues Miho from two gangsters.
• The twins, Goldie and Wendy, take over old town, Ava Lord calls Dwight, and the following events form A Dame to Kill For, with Marv taking an injured Dwight to Old Town. Not long after, Shelly is informed that Dwight is still alive, setting events into place for the beginning of The Big Fat Kill. Also around this time, Delia becomes an assassin for the Colonel (as recounted in the story Blue Eyes).
• The Hard Goodbye begins with Marv waking up and finding Goldie’s lifeless body.
• A few days into Marv’s rampage, Bob (Hartigan's former partner in That Yellow Bastard) is shot dead by his partner Mort, who takes his own life (A Dame to Kill For).
• Less than three months later, Ava and Wallenquist unite their criminal empires. Dwight McCarthy, Miho, and Gail raid Ava Lord’s estate, with Manute being gravely injured and Ava dying at Dwight’s hands.
• The Babe Wore Red occurs, and in the story Dwight states that Marv is on death row. The Big Fat Kill and then Family Values take place soon after, within a few months.
• Eighteen months after the beginning of The Hard Goodbye, Wendy visits Marv on death row. A day later, he is executed, after two attempts.

Other events take place at unknown times, like Wrong Turn and Hell and Back, as their characters do not intersect in any way with the major Hartigan-Dwight-Marv chronology. It is only known that Wrong Turn must precede Hell and Back, due to events in the later story.

Awards

Family Values won the prestigious 1997 Harvey Award and Eisner Award.

Trivia

• In the film verson of Sin City,Cardinal Roark, Senator Kevin Roark and Kevin Roark, Jr. all have the homonymic last name as the actor playing their killer (Marv): Mickey Rourke.

External links

• Sin City page at Dark Horse Comics
• Sin City Introduction - Fan site containing detailed information about characters and locations
• Sin City Timeline, from the personal website of a Hero System game player
• Sin City, from an ad-supported website "devoted to the sophisticated study of comic books"
• Frank Miller: The Complete Works, The most comprehensive listing of all of Frank Miller's works. Includes very detailed information on each book as well as a discussion forum.
• A IFILM Explore This Short:Rats: A Sin City Yarn, The Short Story out of Lost, Lonely, & Lethal.
• Sin City Posters, trailer and soundtrack

• Sin City
• Dark Horse titles
• Fictional towns and cities