Comic series → Film · Composite

Frank Miller's Sin City → Sin City (2005)

Three linked yarns and a bookend short story, shot from Miller's own pages by a co-director who used them as storyboards.

Source

Frank Miller's Sin City · Comic series · 1991-2000 · seven yarns (The Hard Goodbye, A Dame to Kill For, The Big Fat Kill, That Yellow Bastard, Family Values, Booze, Broads & Bullets, Hell and Back) plus assorted short stories

Frank Miller (writer and artist)

Dark Horse Comics

Adaptation

Sin City · Film · 2005

Robert Rodriguez (director), Frank Miller (director), Quentin Tarantino (special guest director)

Dimension Films / Troublemaker Studios

TrueToPage 83 · Sin City (2005 Theatrical) · v0.2frozen inventorycatalog score

CutThe version reviewed on release, April 1, 2005. Intercuts the four adapted stories rather than presenting them one after another.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) later adapts the yarn this film skips, with a different actor (Josh Brolin) standing in for the pre-surgery Dwight; that film and its own fidelity are outside the scope of this edge.

The Recut, Extended & Unrated edition's runtime is reported inconsistently across sources: 147 minutes on most retail listings and reference pages, versus roughly 142 minutes in a published shot-by-shot comparison. We report both rather than resolve the discrepancy.

Exact issue counts and cover dates for some of the shorter Booze, Broads & Bullets stories vary slightly between reference sources; we used the most consistently corroborated figures.

Fidelity

Higher = more of the source is still true. Fidelity is not quality.

Plot structure84The film keeps the causal order inside each of its three main stories: Marv's revenge still runs from Goldie's murder to Kevin to Cardinal Roark to the chair; Dwight and Miho's defense of Old Town still runs from the bar fight to the body dump to the siege to the truce holding; Hartigan's rescue of Nancy still runs from the farmhouse to the frame-up to the reunion to his suicide. What changes is the container: the three stories are interleaved by shared minor characters and timeframe rather than told arc-by-arc as in the collected editions, and the whole film is bookended by a short story, 'The Customer Is Always Right,' that the comics never used as connective tissue. Eight years of Hartigan's imprisonment are compressed into narration and a wall of letters rather than shown.strong evidence

Character89The three leads (Marv, Hartigan, Dwight) and Nancy, Miho, and Kevin carry over close to trait-for-trait, down to specific comic-attested details like Marv's medicated condition, Hartigan's angina, and Kevin's silence and cannibalism. The composite format's real cost lands on the Roark family's fuller reach and on Gail's one-sided devotion to Dwight, both spelled out explicitly in yarns and shorts this film never adapts (a third Roark brother, an Attorney General, and Senator Roark's own concealed murder of his wife go unmentioned; Gail's comic narration states outright that Dwight is the only man she has ever loved, which the film only implies). Dwight's facial-reconstruction backstory from A Dame to Kill For is referenced by a single line ('a killer with a new face') rather than shown.partial evidenceN = 20 people

Dialogue & voice83The film keeps Miller's hardboiled first-person narration for Marv, Dwight, and Hartigan close to its device and rhythm, including Marv's self-loathing asides and Hartigan's blunt self-assessment, and the pulpy register survives down to calling women 'dames.' Some captions are reassigned from narration to spoken dialogue or compressed, and a few exchanges (the bar confrontation with Jackie Boy, for instance) are extended with new lines written to match the voice rather than lifted from a specific caption.partial evidence

Theme & tone86The central argument survives: a corrupt political-clerical power structure (the Roark family, spanning a senator, a cardinal, and a killer they shelter) preys on Basin City's most vulnerable, and the only people who can answer it are killers themselves, at the cost of their own lives (Marv's execution, Hartigan's suicide). The moral world stays as fatalistic and amoral as the comics'. What thins out is scope: three stories in place of seven give a narrower slice of a citywide rot the collected yarns spend far more page count establishing.partial evidence

Coverage57Of the seven yarns collected as Frank Miller's Sin City, four appear on screen in some form: The Hard Goodbye, The Big Fat Kill, and That Yellow Bastard in full, and Booze, Broads & Bullets only through its three-page short 'The Customer Is Always Right,' used as the film's opening and closing frame. A Dame to Kill For, Family Values, and Hell and Back do not appear at all. Four of seven yarns present in any form is 4/7, which rounds to 57%.strong evidence

Additions restraint98Virtually nothing is invented. Every named character and plot beat traces back to a specific yarn or short. The film's only real liberties are structural: cross-cutting three otherwise self-contained stories together by shared minor characters and timeframe, and repurposing 'The Customer Is Always Right' (a standalone rooftop vignette in the comics) as a connective bookend for the whole anthology rather than an isolated short. No new characters, subplots, or endings are added.strong evidence

Ending

Side by side, in our words.

On the page · Frank Miller's Sin City

Each adapted yarn ends the way its comic does: Marv is executed still certain he settled his debt to Goldie; Hartigan shoots himself immediately after killing Roark Junior a second time, so the Roarks will believe Nancy is safe to leave alone; the short 'The Customer Is Always Right' closes on the same salesman-and-cigarette motif it opened on, this time meeting the survivor, Becky, in an elevator.

On the screen · Sin City

The film keeps all three endings beat for beat in the same sequence the comics use inside each yarn: Marv's electric-chair execution, Hartigan's suicide immediately after rescuing Nancy, and the Salesman/Becky elevator scene closing the frame the opening scene set up.

Same. All three yarn endings and the bookend short close exactly as they do on the page. The only difference is container: the theatrical cut interleaves the stories, and the home-video recut plays them one after another.

Mapping

21 rows. Every source unit, including the ones that never appear.

Source unit	What happens there	On screen	Notes	Tag	Evidence
Booze, Broads & Bullets: "The Customer Is Always Right" (short story, 1994)	A hired killer meets a masked woman on a rooftop for one paid, oddly tender night, then shoots her at dawn without ever learning why she wanted to die.	Film 0:00-0:07 and the closing Becky/elevator scene	kept; repurposed as the film's opening and closing frame around the other three stories	primary	strong
The Hard Goodbye, opening chapters (Dark Horse Presents #51-62, 1991-92; collected 1993): Marv and Goldie	Marv spends one good night with a prostitute named Goldie, wakes to find her murdered beside him, and is framed for her death.	Film, Marv segment opening	kept	primary	strong
The Hard Goodbye, middle chapters: Marv's investigation and Lucille	Marv works his way up Basin City's food chain looking for Goldie's killer, aided and covered for by his parole officer Lucille.	Film, Marv's investigation scenes	kept	primary	strong
The Hard Goodbye: Kevin and the farmhouse	Marv traces the killings to Kevin, a silent cannibal sheltered by Cardinal Roark at the family farm.	Film, farmhouse sequence	kept	primary	strong
The Hard Goodbye: Marv kills Kevin and confronts Cardinal Roark	Marv tortures and kills Kevin, then kills Cardinal Roark, the man ultimately responsible for Goldie's murder.	Film, farmhouse climax	kept	primary	strong
The Hard Goodbye: trial and execution	Marv confesses to invented crimes to keep the Roarks from threatening his mother and is executed in the electric chair, surviving the first jolt.	Film, closing Marv scene	kept	primary	strong
The Big Fat Kill (1994-95 limited series), opening: Shellie, Jackie Boy, and Dwight	Dwight intervenes when Jackie Boy and his friends harass his ex, Shellie, in a bar.	Film, Big Fat Kill segment opening	kept	primary	strong
The Big Fat Kill: the convoy into Old Town	Jackie Boy's crew follows the girls of Old Town onto their turf, and Miho kills them, not realizing Jackie Boy is a cop.	Film, Old Town confrontation	kept	primary	strong
The Big Fat Kill: disposing of the body	Dwight drives Jackie Boy's corpse out to the tar pits to make him disappear, narrating the whole way.	Film, drive-to-the-pits sequence (guest-directed by Quentin Tarantino)	kept; cut-specific staging by a guest director, not a change to the source content	primary	strong
The Big Fat Kill: the mob and police move on Old Town	With a dead cop found in Old Town's territory, the mob and corrupt police threaten to end the truce and take the district over.	Film, Old Town siege	kept	primary	strong
The Big Fat Kill: the truce holds	Dwight, Miho, and the girls of Old Town fight off the mob's enforcers and keep their self-governing truce intact.	Film, Old Town battle resolution	kept	primary	strong
That Yellow Bastard (1996 limited series), opening: Hartigan rescues Nancy	On his last night before retirement, detective Hartigan rescues 11-year-old Nancy Callahan from Roark Junior, maiming him in the process.	Film, Yellow Bastard segment opening	kept	primary	strong
That Yellow Bastard: the frame-up and eight years in prison	Senator Roark frames Hartigan for Junior's crimes; Hartigan accepts eight years in prison rather than expose Nancy to danger, sustained by her letters.	Film, prison scenes	condensed; the eight years are compressed into narration and a wall of letters	primary	strong
That Yellow Bastard: release and reunion	Released and manipulated into finding Nancy, Hartigan reunites with the now-adult woman, who has grown into an exotic dancer at Kadie's.	Film, reunion scenes	kept	primary	strong
That Yellow Bastard: the Yellow Bastard reveal	Roark Junior, transformed by botched reconstructive surgeries into a jaundiced, foul-smelling wreck, kidnaps Nancy again to finish what he started.	Film, kidnapping and transformation reveal	kept	primary	strong
That Yellow Bastard: ending	Hartigan kills Roark Junior a second time, then shoots himself so the Roarks will believe Nancy is no longer a threat to expose them.	Film, closing Hartigan scene	kept	primary	strong
A Dame to Kill For (1993-94 limited series)	Pre-surgery Dwight is drawn back into the orbit of Ava Lord, an old flame who manipulates him into murder and nearly gets him killed.	omitted	cut; not filmed for the 2005 composite (later adapted as its own 2014 film)	secondary	strong
Family Values (1997 original graphic novel)	Dwight and Miho track down a hitman responsible for killing an Old Town prostitute and dismantle the crew behind it.	omitted	cut; not filmed	secondary	strong
Hell and Back: A Sin City Love Story (1999-2000 limited series)	Wallace, an artist and war veteran, is pulled into a conspiracy to save a woman named Esther from a shadowy cabal.	omitted	cut; not filmed	secondary	strong
Booze, Broads & Bullets: remaining shorts (e.g. "Silent Night," "Just Another Saturday Night," "The Babe Wore Red")	Additional standalone Sin City short stories beyond "The Customer Is Always Right," following Marv and Dwight in separate vignettes.	omitted	cut; only "The Customer Is Always Right" from this collection was filmed	secondary	partial
No single comic page corresponds to this row	The decision to cross-cut three otherwise separate yarns by shared minor characters and timeframe, and to use a short story as connective bookends, has no equivalent in how the comics were published or collected.	Film's overall interstitial structure and title-card chronology	invented; a structural device rather than new plot content	original	strong

Change log

The argument. The mapping above is the evidence.

Omitted
A Dame to Kill For, Family Values, and Hell and Back are left out entirely.
The three unadapted yarns → Not filmed
Dwight's pre-surgery identity, the Ava Lord plot, Miho's team-up with Dwight against a hitman, and Wallace's entire war-conspiracy story never reach the screen in this film; the first of these is picked up later by Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014).
Attribution: Robert Rodriguez, who chose the three yarns with the most overlapping characters for a first, contained film.
Condensed
Hartigan's eight years in prison are compressed to narration and a wall of letters.
That Yellow Bastard, prison chapters → Film, brief prison montage
The comic spends real page count on the slow accumulation of Nancy's letters and Hartigan's isolation; the film gets the fact across quickly to keep pace with the other two stories.
Attribution: unknown / production decision
Condensed
"The Customer Is Always Right" is reduced from its own three-page short to a two-scene frame around the other stories.
"The Customer Is Always Right," Booze, Broads & Bullets → Film opening and closing (Becky/elevator) scenes
The story stops being a self-contained vignette about a killer and a stranger and becomes connective tissue for the whole anthology.
Attribution: Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller, who used it to bookend the composite.
Kept, unflinching
Marv's electric-chair execution is shown in full, including his surviving the first jolt.
The Hard Goodbye, ending → Film, closing Marv scene
A gentler adaptation could have cut away; the film keeps the second jolt.
Attribution: unknown / production decision
Kept, unflinching
Hartigan's on-screen suicide, immediately after saving Nancy, is kept rather than softened into an offscreen or ambiguous death.
That Yellow Bastard, ending → Film, closing Hartigan scene
The film could have let him die heroically in a fight instead; it keeps the specific, grimmer logic that only his own death protects Nancy.
Attribution: unknown / production decision
Kept, unflinching
Kevin's cannibalism and his freezer of victims' heads are shown, not just implied.
The Hard Goodbye, Kevin's farmhouse → Film, farmhouse sequence
This is exactly the kind of image a more cautious adaptation would have cut to a reaction shot; it survives intact.
Attribution: unknown / production decision
Kept, unflinching
Roark Junior's identity as a child predator, and the specific nature of what he did and intends to do to Nancy, is kept as the story's inciting crime rather than softened into a generic kidnapping.
That Yellow Bastard, opening → Film, opening rescue
A studio note could easily have asked for a vaguer villain; the film keeps the comic's specific horror.
Attribution: unknown / production decision
Tonal shift
Sexual content and nudity are reduced relative to the comics' explicitness, while violence and gore are kept at Miller's level or exceeded through motion.
The comics generally → Film staging throughout
An MPAA rating strategy trades skin for blood rather than the reverse, since gratuitous violence is less likely than nudity to push an R rating to NC-17.
Attribution: unknown / production decision
Invented
The three yarns are cross-cut and structured around the framing device of "The Customer Is Always Right," a linking structure none of the comics use.
No single comic equivalent → Film's opening/interstitial structure
It is the film's one real structural invention, turning three separately published stories into a single anthology experience.
Attribution: Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller, credited co-directors.
Identity / design change
Dwight appears throughout with a single continuous face and identity; the comics' post-surgery status from A Dame to Kill For is referenced by one line rather than shown.
A Dame to Kill For (unadapted) → Film's single-actor, single-face Dwight (Clive Owen)
Viewers who only see this film get a Dwight without the surgical backstory the comics use to explain his standing among the Old Town regulars.
Attribution: unknown / production decision
Merged
The four adapted stories share Old Town, Kadie's, and several recurring faces, letting the film treat separately published comics as one connected world more explicitly than a cover-to-cover reading of the originals does.
The Hard Goodbye, The Big Fat Kill, That Yellow Bastard, and the Customer short → Film's shared settings and background cameos
It's the mechanism that makes the composite read as one film rather than three shorts stapled together.
Attribution: Robert Rodriguez, who selected these specific yarns for their overlapping characters.

People

Trait score = attested traits kept ÷ attested traits shown. Unstated traits are not rows.

MarvleadAltered13/14 attested traits kept93

Appearance	Hulking, heavily scarred man with flattop and falcon-like nose, overcoat, undershirt, leather pants, combat bootsRourke in heavy prosthetics; Miller DVD: Rourke is Marv · Wikipedia Marv	preserved
Appearance	About 7 feet tallRourke is made bulky, not 7 ft · Wikipedia Marv	altered
Identity	Called Marv / Marvin; last name not givenWikipedia Marv	preserved
Body / ability	Extreme strength, speed for his size, pain tolerance; Kevin is the only person who ever successfully sneaks up on himWikipedia Marv / The Hard Goodbye	preserved
Body / ability	Unnamed condition that makes him get confused; Lucille supplies pillsFilm Lucille cites his condition · Wikipedia Marv	preserved
Personality	Soft-spoken, dry, laconic; does not panic when outnumberedWikipedia Marv	preserved
Moral code	Chivalry toward women; will only kill when he is sure he ought to; knocks Wendy out so she will not watch Kevin dieWikipedia Marv	preserved
Relationships	Protects his blind mother; signs a false confession when cops threaten herVisit-home is Recut only; threat/confession is both cuts · The Hard Goodbye	preserved
Relationships	After one night, Goldie is the woman he loves and will kill forThe Hard Goodbye	preserved
Relationships	Platonic guardian figure to Nancy at Kadie'sWikipedia Marv / Nancy Callahan	preserved
Vocation / role	Ex-con who does odd jobsWikipedia Marv	preserved
Voice	First-person hardboiled interior captionsFilm VO · The Hard Goodbye	preserved
Arc	Avenges Goldie, is forced to confess, dies in the electric chair (survives the first jolt)Wikipedia Marv; SciFiMovieZone film notes	preserved
Plot function	Fall guy whose rampage exposes Kevin and Cardinal RoarkThe Hard Goodbye	preserved

Dwight McCarthyleadSame10/10 attested traits kept100

Reconstructed face origin is A Dame to Kill For, omitted 2005. not_depicted excluded from denominator.

Appearance	After A Dame to Kill For, Old Town surgically reconstructed his face2005 never shows pre-surgery face; Clive Owen is simply Dwight · Wikipedia List of Sin City characters	not depicted
Identity	Named Dwight McCarthyThe Big Fat Kill	preserved
Vocation / role	Private investigator turned vigilante, allied with Old TownWikipedia List of Sin City characters	preserved
Relationships	On-and-off lover of GailThe Big Fat Kill	preserved
Relationships	Casual relationship with Shellie, harassed by Jackie BoyThe Big Fat Kill	preserved
Moral code	Deeply in debt to Old Town; will start a war to keep their truceThe Big Fat Kill	preserved
Body / ability	Skilled marksman and close fighterWikipedia List of Sin City characters	preserved
Personality	Hardboiled, tactical; talks to a dead man on a rainy driveThe Big Fat Kill	preserved
Voice	First-person hardboiled captionsThe Big Fat Kill	preserved
Arc	Warns off Jackie, dumps the bodies, recovers the head, detonates the trade, wins the alleyThe Big Fat Kill	preserved
Plot function	The man who has to make Jackie Boy disappearThe Big Fat Kill	preserved

John HartiganleadAltered11/13 attested traits kept85

Appearance	Pushing 60 at the start of the yarnWillis was 49 in 2004; wore prosthetics (Flickering Myth 2025) · Wikipedia John Hartigan	altered
Appearance	Cross-shaped forehead scar; oxford, tie, slacks, trenchcoatprosthetics to match comic; scar confidence medium · Wikipedia John Hartigan	preserved
Identity	Detective John HartiganThat Yellow Bastard	preserved
Body / ability	Severe angina; Senator Roark later pays to fix the heart so Hartigan will live to sufferThat Yellow Bastard	preserved
Vocation / role	One of the few honest detectives, last night before forced retirementThat Yellow Bastard	preserved
Personality	Gruff, stoic; interior narration calls himself a stupid old manWikipedia John Hartigan	preserved
Moral code	Will wreck his own life to keep a child alive; later kills himself so Roark cannot use NancyThat Yellow Bastard	preserved
Relationships	Partner Bob is on the Roark payroll and shoots himThat Yellow Bastard	preserved
Relationships	Wife Eileen abandons him after the frameTheatrical drops hospital visit; Recut restores · That Yellow Bastard	omitted
Relationships	Paternal protector of Nancy; refuses her adult romantic advance because of the age gapThat Yellow Bastard	preserved
Voice	First-person interior captionsThat Yellow Bastard	preserved
Arc	Saves child Nancy, eight years in prison, saves adult Nancy, suicideThat Yellow Bastard	preserved
Plot function	The honest cop who maims and later kills the Roark heirThat Yellow Bastard	preserved

Nancy CallahanleadAltered7/10 attested traits kept70

Rodriguez CBR 2014: rare one-to-one break. 2014 Nancy's Last Dance is outside this node.

Identity	Nancy Callahan; writes to Hartigan under the alias CordeliaCallahan used; Cordelia alias not in film synopses (medium) · Wikipedia Nancy Callahan	altered
Appearance	Eleven at the docks; about nineteen after eight years of lettersMakenzie Vega then Jessica Alba · That Yellow Bastard	preserved
Appearance	Drawn frequently unclothed / topless even when not on stageAlba refused nude work; cowboy chaps/lasso instead · CBR 2014 Rodriguez; Pulp and Dagger	altered
Vocation / role	Exotic dancer at Kadie'sWikipedia Nancy Callahan	preserved
Vocation / role	Attending law school while dancingWikipedia Nancy Callahan	omitted
Personality	Strong-willed; refuses to scream when Junior whips herThat Yellow Bastard	preserved
Relationships	Writes Hartigan weekly for eight years; loves him as an adult; he refusesThat Yellow Bastard	preserved
Relationships	Friend of MarvWikipedia Nancy Callahan	preserved
Arc	Child victim to Kadie's dancer to farm hostage; Hartigan dies after sending her awayThat Yellow Bastard	preserved
Plot function	The girl Hartigan saves twice, and the reason he diesThat Yellow Bastard	preserved

GoldiesupportingSame5/5 attested traits kept100

Appearance	Beautiful blonde; identical twin of WendyJaime King dual role; gold hair highlight · The Hard Goodbye	preserved
Identity	Old Town prostitute; one of the twins who run Old TownWikipedia List of Sin City characters	preserved
Relationships	Offers Marv one night; he treats her as his personal heavenThe Hard Goodbye	preserved
Arc	Killed by Kevin because she learned too much about the farmWikipedia Marv	preserved
Plot function	The corpse that starts Marv's warThe Hard Goodbye	preserved

WendysupportingSame5/5 attested traits kept100

Appearance	Goldie's identical twinThe Hard Goodbye	preserved
Vocation / role	Tough Old Town leaderWikipedia List of Sin City characters	preserved
Personality	Hot-tempered; beats Marv before believing himThe Hard Goodbye	preserved
Relationships	Last visitor on death rowThe Hard Goodbye	preserved
Arc	From avenger to ally to graveside thanksThe Hard Goodbye	preserved

GailsupportingSame5/5 attested traits kept100

Appearance	Tall; leather, fishnet, studs; UziRosario Dawson · Wikipedia List of Sin City characters	preserved
Vocation / role	Old Town guardian/leaderThe Big Fat Kill	preserved
Relationships	Loves DwightThe Big Fat Kill	preserved
Moral code	Will not facilitate surrender of Old Town under tortureThe Big Fat Kill	preserved
Arc	Kidnapped, traded for Jackie's head, survives the alley warThe Big Fat Kill	preserved

Roark Junior / That Yellow BastardsupportingSame5/5 attested traits kept100

Identity	Son of Senator Roark; serial rapist-killer of prepubescent girlsThat Yellow Bastard	preserved
Appearance	Young and handsome until regeneration leaves him hairless, bright yellow, smelling like garbageThat Yellow Bastard (first collected yarn to use yellow as story color)	preserved
Body / ability	Ear, hand, genitals shot off; later regrown; impotent unless victims screamThat Yellow Bastard	preserved
Arc	Maimed at the docks, coma, yellow return, killed at the farmThat Yellow Bastard	preserved
Plot function	The yellow bastard Hartigan has to finishThat Yellow Bastard	preserved

Jackie BoysupportingSame5/5 attested traits kept100

Identity	Det. Lt. Jack Rafferty, newspaper hero Iron JackThe Big Fat Kill	preserved
Personality	Drunk, abusive, entitledThe Big Fat Kill	preserved
Relationships	Shellie's abusive exThe Big Fat Kill	preserved
Arc	Killed by Miho; his head becomes the MacGuffinThe Big Fat Kill	preserved
Voice	As a corpse, keeps talking to Dwight on the driveThe Big Fat Kill #3	preserved

KevinsupportingSame5/5 attested traits kept100

Appearance	Slight, shadowy; glasses that catch light; claw-like nailsElijah Wood · Wikipedia Kevin	preserved
Body / ability	Mute in practice; inhumanly fast and quietWikipedia Kevin	preserved
Vocation / role	Cannibal killer of Old Town women; Cardinal Roark's wardWikipedia Kevin	preserved
Relationships	Keeps a wolf; mounts victims' heads; eats Lucille's handThe Hard Goodbye	preserved
Arc	Kills Goldie, overpowers Marv once, dies without a sound as the wolf eats himWikipedia Kevin / Wikipedia Marv	preserved

BeckysupportingAltered4/6 attested traits kept67

Identity	Young Old Town prostituteThe Big Fat Kill	preserved
Relationships	Protects her mother; that leverage flips herThe Big Fat Kill	preserved
Arc	Instrumental in Jackie being killed, then sells Old Town outWikipedia List of Sin City characters	preserved
Arc	Shot in the alley during the final gunfight and dies thereFilm wounds her for the Salesman elevator · The Big Fat Kill #5	altered
Plot function	The informant inside Old TownThe Big Fat Kill	preserved
Appearance	Comics do not assign the film's green-eye color cueFilm adds green eyes as a kill-mark · MPCAACA color essay	alteredpartial

LucillesupportingAltered5/6 attested traits kept83

Vocation / role	Marv's parole officerThe Hard Goodbye	preserved
Identity	LesbianFilm keeps this; Claire not on screen · Wikipedia Marv	preserved
Body / ability	Kevin eats her left hand; she still helps Marv outThe Hard Goodbye	preserved
Arc	Gunned down by corrupt cops at the farmThe Hard Goodbye	preserved
Vocation / role	Also Hartigan's lawyer, disgusted when he wants to confessTheatrical omitted; Recut ~134s · That Yellow Bastard #4	omitted
Plot function	The one clean official who believes Marv and pays for itThe Hard Goodbye	preserved

MihosupportingSame4/4 attested traits kept100

Appearance	Small, silent Old Town enforcerDevon Aoki · Wikipedia List of Sin City characters	preserved
Body / ability	Does not speak; katanas, manji shuriken; kills Jackie's crew in secondsThe Big Fat Kill	preserved
Relationships	Protects Old Town; works with Dwight to recover the headThe Big Fat Kill	preserved
Arc	Kills Jackie, saves Dwight from the tar, fights in the alleyThe Big Fat Kill	preserved

ManutesupportingAltered4/5 attested traits kept80

Davis omitted and merged into Manute. Recut bisection is film-only.

Appearance	Huge, valet-dressed, extremely durable; already down an eye after A Dame to Kill ForMichael Clarke Duncan · Wikipedia List of Sin City characters	preserved
Vocation / role	Mob/Wallenquist muscle in this yarnThe Big Fat Kill	preserved
Vocation / role	Not the specialist torturer; that is Davis, who inflicts pain with his handsFilm gives Gail's torture to Manute · Wikipedia List of Sin City characters (Davis)	altered
Arc	Kidnaps Gail; goes down in the alley massacreTheatrical matches hail-of-fire death; Recut invents Miho kill · The Big Fat Kill	preserved
Plot function	Face of the mob's attempt to take Old TownThe Big Fat Kill	preserved

The SalesmansupportingAltered3/4 attested traits kept75

Vocation / role	Poetic freelance assassin who makes the kill feel like mercyThe Customer is Always Right	preserved
Voice	Gentle, intimate sales-patter before the shotThe Customer is Always Right	preserved
Arc	Kills the balcony Customer after a kiss and will cash the check in the morningThe Customer is Always Right	preserved
Plot function	Self-contained three-page hit; not tied to BeckyFilm reuses him as bookend who then targets surviving Becky · The Customer is Always Right / The Big Fat Kill	altered

The CustomercameoAltered2/3 attested traits kept67

Appearance	Woman on a balcony at night; the short is black-and-white, not the red-dressed Mary of The Babe Wore RedFilm: red dress, red lipstick, green eyes · The Customer is Always Right; MPCAACA color essay	altered
Arc	Pays the Salesman; dies in his armsThe Customer is Always Right	preserved
Plot function	Proof that Sin City kindness is a setupThe Customer is Always Right	preserved

Senator RoarksupportingSame4/4 attested traits kept100

Identity	Corrupt senator; Junior's father; brother of the CardinalPowers Boothe · That Yellow Bastard	preserved
Moral code	Will frame, torture, and kill to protect the family nameThat Yellow Bastard	preserved
Arc	Frames Hartigan; still alive and hunting at the end of this yarnThat Yellow Bastard	preserved
Plot function	The untouchable power Hartigan cannot prosecuteThat Yellow Bastard	preserved

Cardinal RoarksupportingSame3/3 attested traits kept100

Identity	Cardinal Patrick Henry Roark; Kevin's protector; senator's brotherRutger Hauer · The Hard Goodbye	preserved
Moral code	Eats victims with Kevin, calling it consumption of soulsWikipedia Kevin	preserved
Arc	Confesses to Marv and is killedThe Hard Goodbye	preserved

BobsupportingAltered3/5 attested traits kept60

Identity	Hartigan's partner, secretly on the Roark payrollThat Yellow Bastard	preserved
Arc	Shoots Hartigan in the back at the docks rather than let him finish JuniorThat Yellow Bastard	preserved
Arc	Does not pick Hartigan up from prison; that is MortFilm expands Bob into the prison-pickup · That Yellow Bastard; Wikipedia TYB film notes	altered
Moral code	Corrupt and afraid of the RoarksFilm adds a remorse beat at the pickup · That Yellow Bastard	altered
Plot function	The partner who sells Hartigan out at the docksThat Yellow Bastard	preserved

ShelliesupportingSame4/4 attested traits kept100

Vocation / role	Barmaid at Kadie'sThe Big Fat Kill	preserved
Relationships	Jackie Boy's ex; Dwight's girl that nightThe Big Fat Kill	preserved
Personality	Frightened but willing to stand up to JackieThe Big Fat Kill	preserved
Plot function	The apartment scene that puts Jackie on the road to Old TownThe Big Fat Kill	preserved

Creator stance

Time-stamped. Co-creators are never collapsed.

Frank Miller

writer and artist of the source comics

pre-2004

Silent

Miller says he had turned down earlier Hollywood interest in Sin City, wary from his own past experience of how many hands a studio film passes through.

About:ownershipsource ↗

Frank Miller

co-director of the 2005 film

2004-2005

Participating adapter

After Rodriguez flew him to Texas to shoot a test scene from his pages, Miller describes seeing his book come to life and agreeing on the spot to co-direct.

About:fidelityownershipsource ↗

Robert Rodriguez

co-director of the 2005 film

2005

Participating adapter

Rodriguez says he chose The Hard Goodbye, The Big Fat Kill, and That Yellow Bastard for the first film because their overlapping characters let the stories read as one film, and that his aim was Frank Miller's Sin City rather than his own version of it, treating the pages as the storyboards.

About:fidelitysource ↗

Robert Rodriguez

co-director of the 2005 film

2004

Participating adapter

Rodriguez resigned from the Directors Guild of America before shooting began so that Miller could be formally credited as co-director, a step the guild's one-director-per-film policy would not otherwise allow.

About:ownershipsource ↗

Quentin Tarantino

special guest director of one sequence

2005

Participating adapter

Tarantino directed the drive-to-the-pits sequence as a favor to Rodriguez (reciprocating Rodriguez's earlier one-dollar scoring work on Kill Bill Vol. 2) and accepted one dollar for it, mainly out of curiosity about shooting on digital cameras rather than film.

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Sources

Every score note points here. Wikipedia is a lead, not an authority.

productionSuperHeroHype: Rodriguez Resigns from DGA to Direct Sin City
Robert Rodriguez's 2004 resignation from the DGA to secure Frank Miller a co-director credit, and the Tarantino guest-director arrangement.
secondarySlashFilm: Sin City at 15
The test shoot of "The Customer Is Always Right" used to prove the adaptation's fidelity to Miller, and which three graphic novels the film draws from.
secondaryScreenRant: Sin City Behind-the-Scenes Facts
Tarantino directing one scene for one dollar; comic panels used as storyboards; Rodriguez's DGA resignation.
secondary100Films: Sin City Recut & Extended (2005)
The runtime and content differences between the theatrical cut and the Recut, Extended & Unrated edition, and its segment-by-segment restructuring.
secondaryFlickering Myth: Sin City at 20
Tarantino directing the drive-to-the-pits sequence with Owen and del Toro for one dollar, Rodriguez's translation-not-adaptation approach, and the DGA resignation.
secondaryCBR: Tarantino's $1 Sin City Scene
Which scene Tarantino directed, why, and the one-dollar payment arrangement with Rodriguez.
primarySiriusXM Blog: Frank Miller on Turning Down Sin City
Frank Miller's own account of turning down earlier Hollywood offers and changing his mind after Rodriguez's Texas test shoot.
productionDark Horse Comics: Sin City Vol. 6, Booze, Broads & Bullets
That Booze, Broads & Bullets collects "The Customer Is Always Right," the short adapted as the film's opening/closing frame, alongside its other, unadapted shorts.
secondaryReelviews: Sin City Review (Berardinelli)
The film's hardboiled voiceover narration and its visual fidelity to Miller's pages.
primaryAin't It Cool News: Robert Rodriguez Sin City Interview
Robert Rodriguez's own account of why he combined The Hard Goodbye, The Big Fat Kill, and That Yellow Bastard, and his working relationship with Miller.
referenceWikipedia: Sin City (film)
Release date, theatrical runtime, studio credits, and the film's story-segment breakdown, used alongside production and trade sources.
secondaryMutant Reviewers: Sin City (2005) Review
Critical consensus that this is among the most faithful comic-to-film adaptations, and the film's relative restraint around nudity versus the comics.
secondaryComic Book Treasury: Sin City Reading Order
The seven Sin City yarns and their place in Dark Horse's publication history.
referenceWikipedia: List of Sin City Characters
Comic-attested traits for Gail, Miho, Senator Roark, and Ethan Roark Jr., including the Attorney General Roark brother and Gail's stated devotion to Dwight.
referenceWikipedia: Marv (Sin City)
Marv's comic-attested appearance, condition, moral code, and execution ending.
referenceWikipedia: John Hartigan (Sin City)
Hartigan's heart condition, rescue of Nancy, imprisonment, and suicide.
referenceWikipedia: Nancy Callahan
Nancy's age as a child and adult, her job at Kadie's, and her relationship with Hartigan.
referenceWikipedia: Kevin (Sin City)
Kevin's silence, cannibalism, physical resilience, and relationship with Cardinal Roark.
referenceWikipedia: Dwight McCarthy
Dwight's profession, his facial reconstruction in A Dame to Kill For, and his relationship with Gail.

Record sin-city-comics-to-2005 · schema 0.2 · scoring 0.2-inventory · frozen seed inventory. Fidelity is not quality; the score is not a review.

Fidelity

Ending

Mapping

Change log

People

Creator stance

Other adaptations of the same source

Sources