Frank Miller Launches Independent Publishing Company, New ‘Sin City,’ ‘Ronin’ Comics in the Works (Exclusive)

After decades of working for DC, Marvel and even indie publishers such as Dark Horse, creator Frank Miller is striking out on his own and launching a publishing banner.

Named Frank Miller Presents, the company will have the writer-artist behind The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City and 300 acting as president and editor-in-chief, with the goal of creating and curating a line of comics that hopes to capture Miller’s distinct visual style while also working with a range of talent, from comics veterans to rising artists.

The company has been quietly in the works for months, if not years, and is coming to the launchpad with several titles, including a new Sin City comic and a return to Ronin, the sci-fi samurai creation Miller wrote and drew prior to finding mainstream crossover success with Dark Knight.

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Joining Miller in the new venture is Dan DiDio, who acted as co-publisher of DC from 2010 to 2020 and will now serve as publisher at FMP. Silenn Thomas, the CEO of Frank Miller Ink, will serve as COO of FMP.

“Investing in artists and the future of comics has always been my one true passion and creative calling,” Miller said in a statement. “Dan, Silenn and I couldn’t be more proud to be launching Frank Miller Presents, which will serve as fertile ground for storytellers and new creations. Our focus for this publishing company is to cultivate a fellowship of artists and writers to mentor, collaborate and push forward not only each other but the art form as well.”

FMP will aim to produce two to four titles a year, which will be a mix of Miller’s creations and new works. Miller is returning to the world of his acclaimed noir series Sin City with a Western tale set in the city’s past, titled Sin City 1858. Ronin Book Two is a follow-up to the six-issue miniseries originally published by DC in 1983 and 1984 and focused on a ronin reincarnated in a bleak future.

The titles for the new, original works are Pandora and Ancient Enemies.

Details were not given as to which titles Miller would be writing or drawing, nor on the creative teams of the new books. In recent years, when Miller has revisited his works such as Dark Knight, he has worked with other artists. The Dark Knight: The Golden Child, released in 2019, had art by Rafael Grampa — although Miller wrote the story and script.

The goal is for the comics to begin hitting the market later this year and be available physically as well as digitally. The back catalog of his previous creations will remain with their respective original publishers.

“Frank has an incredible vision for this publishing company, which further expands on his commitment to storytelling and characters that connect people around the world,” stated Thomas.

In recent years Miller has focused on screen work and had the YA reimagining of the King Arthur myth he created with Thomas Wheeler, titled Cursed, adapted as a Netflix series in 2020. He and Thomas acted as exec producers.

And last year, his toe-dipping into the world of NFTs saw one piece sell for a record-setting $840,000.