Hard Boiled

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There's loads of blood and gore, shooting and shouting, jumping back and forth from dreams to reality. Even given that “Gotham City in flames” is the “it’s Tuesday” of the 21st century Bat-books, the apocalypse at the climax still had some punch.

Miller doesn’t deviate much from standard science fiction themes – artificial intelligence rebelling against humans. 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.

In 2001, Variety reported that Warner Brothers was in negotiations with Miller and Darrow to adapt the comic book into a film, David Fincher set to direct and Nicolas Cage to star. In Hard Boiled, he simply goes even further than he’s ever gone before or since, and it helps make his point.

The action scenes are absolutely outrageous in ways that would put even the most intense and over-the-top John Woo-directed battle sequence to pants-soiling shame. This story by Miller bears some resemblance to Dick's story, with, let's say, less philosophical reflection and, ala Crossed, more carnage and depravity for depravity's sake.

Carl’s handlers refer to him as Unit four , a deadly robot in frequent need of readjustment to his malfunctioning circuits, but to important for the corporate entity that built it to scrap. Covers Always Lie: The hardback's cover shows the protagonist facing off against hordes of punks, suggesting a Death Wish-style plot; nothing to do with the actual story. These are just random dead people, and it’s surreal and slightly humorous because it’s so out of proportion with what we expect. But it has some amazing (and at the same time horrific, be warned) intricate art work by Geoff Darrow, which Chad correctly identifies with the maddening Where's Waldo?