Sin City: That Yellow Bastard

This may have been the most disappointing story yet. I remember liking it well enough in the movie, but it may just be that I liked Jessica Alba. Because here, Nancy is nothing more than a male fantasy. Specifically, Hartigan's fantasy. And is there anything grosser than a 60+ year old man obsessing over an 11 year old girl? I can't decide whether it makes this story better or worse if you pretend the back half is just a coma dream of Hartigan's. Skinny little Nancy Callahan, waiting for him for all those years.

Nancy occupies an interesting place of being both virgin and whore. She begins the story as an eleven year old kidnapping victim. A girl Hartigan saves from being raped. Then she grows up to be a stripper, the reason most of these lowlifes come to Kadie's in the first place. But as soon as Hartigan's back she flips back to innocent naivete while also seducing him. It's such an obvious, awful fantasy.

The story itself also failed to come together for me. I couldn't figure out why Hartigan felt he had to stay silent. How was that protecting Nancy? And why did Roark need him to track her down when he literally did so by looking her up in the phone book? Was he the only one who bothered to learn her name? What does that say about everyone else in this story?

Ugh.

I have no memory of any of the stories that come after this one, and I'm beginning to doubt that I ever read them at all. It's weird to say, but I kind of want Marv back. He's managed to be the most upstanding citizen of Sin City, even with that killing rampage he went on.

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