Sin City: The big fat kill

However, all is not perfect with the story. Compared to books like "A Dame To Kill For" or "That Yellow Bastard", this one is very predictable, and apart from few moments where Dwight's personality is shown in a rather interesting light, it lacks the human moments that'd raise this to the same league with Frank Miller's best work. And maybe Dwight is a bit too straightforward as a character to make the story really gripping. While most other Sin City characters have been so tragic that the reader can never know what's coming to them, Dwight McCarthy is more like a everyman hero (who just happens to be an amazing gunslinger and a born leader). You always know he's going to win in the end (however, Dwight's character became alot more interesting with "Family Values", so there's a good chance the character still has some tricks up his sleeve).

So while I'd definately recommend this one, I'd suggest reading "A Dame To Kill For", "That Yellow Bastard" and "Sin City" first.


Not the best so far, but certainly enough for a good time   July 2, 2001
 9 out of 10 found this review helpful

The first thing you should realize before you order "The Big Fat Kill" is that it's really a big pro if you read the original Sin City story, and a MUST to read "A Dame to Kill For" prior to this one. See, the main character in this book is Dwight, a man who tries to stay as anonymous as possible because elseways his criminal past may catch up with him. This past that he's hiding from is the story from "A Dame to Kill For", so you should really get that first. It makes it a lot easier to understand a lot of why Dwight's acting the way he is. There's also some conversation about Marv, the main character from the original story. But Marv is not a major factor in this book so reading the original story is really only a pro, not a must.

About the story: Oneday a girl named Shelley is being harassed in her own home by a guy named Jack, her drunk ex-boyfriend, and his friends. Dwight, who is living with Shelley 'convinces' them to leave and decides to follow them to make sure he doesn't do any more damage. Only Jack turns out to be so dumb to drive into Old Town, a place where the hookers are the law because of the pact they made with the police ('they stay off the police's back, the police stays off their backs'). Jack and his friends wind up dead, upon which they find out Jack is really a cop while examing the body. This will clearly lead to war between the cops and Old Town, leaving it a free warzone for the mob, IF the cops ever find out about Jack. Dwight thinks to have the solution to get rid of the bodies and goes on his way. But things turn out to be not that easy. What follows is an interesting story with several different parties of power and interests, violence, a lot of backstabbing, loyalty and finally an interesting plot-twist.

In all honesty I think the original "Sin City", "A Dame to Kill For" and especially "That Yellow Bastard" are better books than this one, so if you haven't read all of those yet I think you'd rather read those first. With that I'm NOT saying this is a bad book because it isn't. In my opinion it's actually a very good tale which keeps interesting to the very end because of the different directions the story takes all the time. It's also carried by Frank Millers trademark (by now) art. This is really suitable for the story, it being a dark grimmy 'mad-cop' story, and of no less quality than you're used to if you've been a Sin City reader longer. I just don't think it's THE best Sin City story out there. Get the other ones I named first, than get this one and have yourself a good time with it.