JKR

“Never underestimate the potency of cheap music” quipped Noel Coward. He might as easily have been talking about the design vitality to be found in comic books, for so long patronised as “low art.”

These days Frank Miller keeps good company. He has been given star billing in his campaign for Gucci Guilty, which sees Millers now trademark noir styling co-opted to sell high end fragrance. It’s part of a mini trend which sees the promotion for Channel’s new scent set up as a “new film by Martin Scorsese”, to be premiered on TV next week.

It wasn’t always so glitzy. Frank Miller began his career at Marvel drawing and writing Daredevil. As a kid I bought his first and many subsequent issues – 12p a copy then, about £15 on eBay now – better than most stocks perform I guess. The real Daredevil was Miller, who relentlessly innovated storytelling techniques from panel to panel. Alongside Will Eisner he’s been massively influential in the way we have collectively learned to read images and words as integrated design. Design that is unencumbered by the good manners required at the top table has a better chance of re-writing the rules.

From “penny dreadfuls” (as pulp and comics were once branded) to “graphic novels” such as Miller’s Sin City, from men in tights to a luxury apparel brand. We all grow up – these days I find Miller’s style (or at least the content) a bit adolescent. The Gucci tie-in feels like a clash rather than a marriage of brand styles. But perhaps that’s my problem for being past it, and getting all snooty.

Nevertheless I would observe that if one is looking for the next influential design style, it’s more likely to be found printed on cheap paper (and dismissed as kids stuff) than it is being browsed by “thought leaders” in a glossy style magazine.