Line #43 ComicBook/FrankMillersRoboCop


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/91dhk03oc0l.jpg]]
2
3	In 1987, Creator/OrionPictures had a hit in ''Film/RoboCop1987'' and naturally, they wanted a sequel. Unsatisfied with original writers Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner's ideas for a sequel, called "Corporate Wars" (that'd later become the loose basis for the pilot of ''Series/RoboCopTheSeries''), and due to the duo getting involved in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_Writers_Guild_of_America_strike the 1988 WGA strike]], Orion turned to Creator/FrankMiller, fresh of his success on ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'', to write the sequel. However, even then, they considered the script to be "unfilmable" and it was rewritten to what'd actually become ''Film/RoboCop2''.
4
5	However, the script became the stuff of legends and thus was born ''Frank Miller's [=RoboCop=]'', a comic miniseries by Creator/AvatarPress from 2003 to 2006, written by Steven Grant and drawn by Creator/JuanJoseRyp. Reception to the comic has been mixed, with some thinking that the original script was better than what was actually released for ''2'' and others thinking it was a good thing Orion intervened.
6
7	Boom Studios later obtained the license for [=RoboCop=] and chose to adapt Miller's original screenplay for ''Film/RoboCop3''. Steven Grant returned to adapt the screenplay into a 7-part miniseries with art by Kurt Otzkein.
8
9	----
10	!!Tropes present in ''Frank Miller's [=RoboCop=]'':
11	* AdaptationalDiversity: Inverted. Two of the officers to help Lewis, Whittaker and Estevez, are depicted as white men. In ''Film/RoboCop2'', they were respectively played by Creator/RogerAaronBrown (an African-American) and Wanda De Jesus (a Latina).
12	* AnAssKickingChristmas: One of the things that'd get recycled in ''Film/RoboCop3'' was the Christmas time setting, including the reprogrammed Murphy getting yelled at by a store Santa.
13	* AttemptedRape: A man tries to hire a hooker and when she rejects him, he threatens to rape her. He doesn't do more than threaten her, as Murphy drives by and kneecaps the punk.
14	* AuthorAppeal: Frank Miller wrote the original script; of ''course'' prostitutes and other women in various states of undress are in it.
15	* AuthorTract: As noted on the [[Film/RoboCop2 the page]] for ''2'', Miller isn't fond of [[PoliticalCorrectnessIsEvil political correctness]] or pop psychology, hence the villain being a pop psychologist who's obsessed with political correctness.
16	* BigBad: Dr. Love, who'd become the basis for Juliette Faxx.
17	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Murphy's not cleared of Reed's murder or the subway massacre, is officially declared dead, and cuts off ties with Lewis, but he's now free of his directives and fighting OCP.]]
18	* BlackDudeDiesFirst: [[spoiler:Of the named police officers, Sgt. Reed is the first to die]].
19	* BrainUploading: [[spoiler:Love uploads a program based on her mind into [=RoboCop=] 2 while she's dying from burns and injuries Murphy inflicted on her.]]
20	* ColdBloodedTorture: Love has Murphy shocked twice: once after Murphy is just repaired and trying to talk to him, and later after forcing Murphy to talk to his ex-wife and mocking him. Additionally, she later has a system installed to inflict pain on Murphy if he acts "anti-social" and has doctors operate on a still-conscious cop considered for the [=RoboCop=] 2 project under the pretext of "reality therapy".
21	* ComicBookAdaptation: Of Frank Miller's original script for ''2''.
22	* CopKiller: Much like in [[Film/RoboCop3 the third film]], the Rehabs attack the Metro West officers in the climax, killing some of them. [[spoiler:Additionally, their plan to discredit Murphy is kicked off by the assassination of Sgt. Reed.]]
23	* CoversAlwaysLie: Miller did covers for the story--and none of them really reflected what was inside the book. Case in point, the cover to issue 4 involves a bald woman in glasses hugging Murphy's limbless torso. No such scene happens and if the woman is supposed to be Love, Love doesn't wear glasses and has a head full of blonde hair. Then again, Ryp's cover for that issue isn't better, depicted a bloodied Lewis posed on a streetlamp post like a pole dancer when, likewise, no such scene happened.
24	* DepravedHomosexual: Kong kisses Stillson's corpse, a Rehab Murphy kills--and Kong is also a sadistic bastard, killing several people as both a Rehab officer and as [=RoboCop=] 2.
25	* DonutMessWithACop: An early version of the scene from ''Film/RoboCop3'' appears here, [[spoiler:only with a Rehab who was pursuing Lewis being met with guns belonging to cops who were on strike.]]
26	* {{Fanservice}}: As expected for Creator/AvatarPress, there's a lot of scantily-clad women, including (much against what was ultimately decided by Creator/PaulVerhoeven in the original movie -- and this is the same man who directed ''Film/TotalRecall1990'', ''Film/BasicInstinct'', and ''Film/{{Showgirls}}''!) Lewis. One of the covers for issue 4 even features Lewis posed on a streetlamp akin to a pole dancer.
27	* FrameUp: [[spoiler:Love and the Rehab frame Murphy for the murder of Reed and Kong's subway station massacre.]]
28	* AGodAmI: [[spoiler:Love has a god complex that gets worse when she transfers her mind into [=RoboCop=] 2]].
29	* GatlingGood: Unlike the machine gun/rocket launcher/flamethrower combo from ''3'', Murphy can switch out his left hand for a minigun attachment.
30	* {{Gonk}}: Kong, who has a rather nasty scar running down the right side of his face.
31	* GreatOffscreenWar: As befitting being the original script for ''Film/RoboCop2'' and having elements that go on to be in ''Film/RoboCop3'', this mentions the Amazon War that's mentioned in those with the Rehabs, like in ''3'' being former mercs who were involved in the conflict and Reed having served in it (and recognizing the Rehabs as mercs).
32	* HeroicBSOD: Murphy seeing his widow Ellen re-married and pregnant breaks him.
33	* HeroicRROD: Happens to Murphy twice.
34	** The first time is at the start of the story, where he's been active for 76 hours since repairs and was introduced as being dented up even before busting a child slavery ring.
35	** The second time is after [[spoiler:the combination of combating Love's new directives and the first battle with [=RoboCop=] 2 damaged him.]]
36	* HotterAndSexier: Outside of a few seconds of bare breasts in two scenes (once in the police locker room and the other in the scene where Murphy goes to a nightclub to find Leon) in the original movie, there isn't much in the way of fanservice in the original trilogy. This being put out by Avatar, there's a lot more scantily-clad women here.
37	* MsFanservice: Dr. Love, her assistant, and Lewis are given this role, being clad in revealing outfits and the former two posing provocatively.
38	* PoliticalOvercorrectness: As in ''2'', Murphy's programmed with a bunch of directives to make him seem more PC in order to undermine his effectiveness. Biggest difference here is Murphy's more resistant to them.
39	* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: The Rehabs, who mimic stereotypes of Native Americans when they're torturing Whittaker.
40	* PsychoPsychologist: Love, who has a god complex, is in cohorts with the Rehabs in their actions, and frequently engages in torture with the pretext of therapy.
41	* ProductionForeshadowing: During the climax at the police station, the Rehabs compare the trap they putting Lewis in the remaining police officers in to Battle of Thermopylae, what'd become the basis for ''ComicBook/ThreeHundred''.
42	* ShoutOut: One of the kids in Issue #2 watching Dr. Love burn toys she claims promote violence (most notably a [=RoboCop=] figure) is wearing a ''Manga/CrayonShinChan'' shirt.
43	* ShowWithinAShow: In addition to ''[=MediaBreak=]'', there's ''The Luke Spindle Show'', featuring the eponymous SmarmyHost, and ''Lilac'', hosted by a transgender woman whose show is used to introduce Margaret Love.
44	* SmarmyHost: Luke Spindle, who repeatedly insults his guests and audiences, and at one point punches a guy who's rightly pissed off at Spindle kissing his girlfriend, and calls people he disagrees with a homophobic slur. Tellingly, one of the cops he interviews and makes lewd remarks to uppercuts him and later, someone actually tried to kill him, though he survives.
45	* {{Transplant}}: Margaret Love previously appeared as the villain of Frank Miller and Todd [=McFarlane=]'s ''Spawn/Batman.''
46	* UnderestimatingBadassery:
47	** One of the Rehabs gets into a knife fight with Lewis and is killed by her.
48	** [[spoiler:After deleting Murphy's programming at his behest, Love assumes he's dead, only to find out he's still alive.]]
49	* WouldHurtAChild: One of the first thing Murphy deals with is a child slavery ring.
50
51	!!Tropes present in ''[=RoboCop=]: Last Stand'':
52
53	* BroadStrokes: ''Last Stand'' takes place after some form of both Miller's comic adaptation and the original ''Film/RoboCop2''. Dr. Faxx is a major character, when it was implied at the end of ''2'' [[spoiler:OCP planned to use her as a scapegoat for Cain's rampage]] and [[spoiler:Anne is dead while Sgt. Reed is still alive]]. Most notably, [[spoiler:When the reprogrammed [=RoboCop=] 2 shows up in a BigDamnHeroes moment, it's the film design, not the Miller comic design]].
54	* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Of [=RoboCop=], in how miserable, and wearied by his war with OCP.
55	* TheDragon: Faxx becomes this for Otomo.
56	* EvenEvilHasStandards: The Old Man, mostly for PragmaticVillainy is immediately annoyed by the bloodbath created by Otomo.
57	* {{Robosexual}}: Otomo and Faxx.
58	* ShoutOut: Much like the previous series, plenty of references to comic creators.
59	* TheStarscream: Otomo and Faxx take over OCP.

Context ComicBook / FrankMillersRoboCop