Kevin (Sin City)
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Kevin is a fictional character in
Frank Miller Frank Miller (born January 27, 1957) is an American comic book artist, comic book writer, and screenwriter known for his comic book stories and graphic novels such as his run on ''Daredevil'', for which he created the character Elektra, and ...
's
graphic novel A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and Anthology, anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics sc ...
series ''
Sin City ''Sin City'' is a series of neo-noir Comic book, comics by American comic book writer-artist Frank Miller. The first story originally appeared in ''Dark Horse Presents Fifth Anniversary Special'' (April 1991), and continued in ''Dark Horse Prese ...
'', featured prominently in ''
The Hard Goodbye "The Hard Goodbye" is the first story in the American ''Sin City'' comics series. It was serialized, as "Sin City", in the comics anthology ''Dark Horse Presents'' by Dark Horse Comics and named "The Hard Goodbye" in the trade paperback (comics) ...
''. He is a mute, cannibalistic
serial killer A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...
who preys on the titular city's prostitutes, The Girls of Old Town. He is protected by the powerful Cardinal Patrick Henry Roark, who also acts as his accomplice. Kevin lives at the Roark family farm, and uses the basement as an execution chamber for his victims; after he kills and eats them, he stuffs and mounts their heads on the walls like hunting trophies. While he appears harmless and unassuming, Kevin is a fierce, inhumanly fast fighter adept in
martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...
; accordingly, the Roark family uses him as an
assassin Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...
from time to time. He is usually accompanied by his pet wolf, which he feeds whatever parts of his victims he does not eat himself. In the film adaptation, Kevin is portrayed by
Elijah Wood Elijah Jordan Wood (born January 28, 1981) is an American actor and producer. Wood made his film debut with a minor part in ''Back to the Future Part II'' (1989) at the age of eight and achieved recognition in the early 1990s as a child acto ...
.


Appearances

Kevin "has a blank expression and cropped hair and wears glasses".


''The Hard Goodbye''

''The Hard Goodbye'' establishes Kevin's back story, as related by Cardinal Roark. He first meets Roark when going to him for
confession A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of people – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information that ...
, wracked with guilt over the murders he is committing. Roark eventually comes to believe that Kevin is doing God's work by consuming his victims' souls as well as their bodies, and eventually joins him in cannibalistic rituals. Roark also claims that Kevin is mute by choice, and when he speaks it is with "the voice of an angel". In the main plot, Kevin kills Marv's one true love, Goldie, at Cardinal Roark's behest when she learns the truth about their murder spree; he then frames Marv for the crime. Marv swears revenge, and cuts a bloody swath through the city's underworld until he learns the identity of the killer he seeks. He then follows Kevin to the Farm, where Kevin surprises him and knocks him unconscious. He also kidnaps and imprisons Marv's parole officer, Lucille, and forces her to watch while he eats her hand. Marv eventually escapes and confronts Kevin again. This time, Marv overpowers him and subjects him to brutal, systematic torture, eventually sawing his limbs off and feeding him to his pet wolf. Much to Marv's frustration, Kevin does not make a sound the entire time, and dies with a blissful smile on his face.


''That Yellow Bastard''

Kevin makes a cameo appearance in '' That Yellow Bastard'', set a few years before ''The Hard Goodbye''. He appears at the Farm, sitting in a rocking chair and reading the
Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
while Roark Junior tortures Nancy Callahan.


Film adaptation

Kevin is portrayed by
Elijah Wood Elijah Jordan Wood (born January 28, 1981) is an American actor and producer. Wood made his film debut with a minor part in ''Back to the Future Part II'' (1989) at the age of eight and achieved recognition in the early 1990s as a child acto ...
in
Robert Rodriguez Robert Anthony Rodriguez ( ; born June 20, 1968) is an American filmmaker, composer, and visual effects supervisor. He shoots, edits, produces, and scores many of his films in Mexico and in his home state of Texas. Rodriguez directed the 1992 ...
's 2005 film adaptation of ''Sin City''.


Reception

To audition Wood for the role, Rodriguez told the actor: "I’m just going to read passages from the comic, from the graphic novel, and you just stare at the camera" recalls the actor, who concludes : "That was my audition". The character had a considerable effect on the public image of the actor, noted ''Tribute.'' Frank Miller has stated in the ''Sin City: Recut and Extended'' DVD commentary that Kevin and another supporting character, Miho, are the supernatural beings in Sin City; Miller characterizes them as "
demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in Media (communication), media including f ...
s": Miho is a good "demon" and Kevin is an evil one. Movie Web noted :"Despite the two characters interacting for a significant period within the movie, Mickey Rourke and Elijah Wood never actually met one another until after the project had been filmed. They first became acquainted during the film's premiere, nearly a year after principal photography began." The same website commented: "what makes Kevin truly frightening is his silence" while
Cinemablend Future plc is a British publishing company. It was started in 1985 by Chris Anderson. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History 1985–2012 The company was founded by Chris Anderson as ...
judged it was "one of ''Sin City''’s creepiest performances (without saying a word)". In 2011,
UGO Networks UGO Entertainment, Inc. was a website that provided coverage of online media in entertainment, targeting males aged 18–34. The company was based in New York, New York, United States. History The company started in 1997 as Unified Gamers Online ...
ranked Kevin together with Miho as #1 in their list "Quiet as the Grave: The Silent Killers of Film and TV". Miller "has described the characters of Kevin and Miho as the two "supernatural demons" of Sin City, one representing good and one symbolizing evil.", reported
Screen Rant ''Screen Rant'' is an entertainment website that offers news in the fields of television, films, video games, and comic books. It is owned by Valnet, parent of publications including Comic Book Resources, Collider, MovieWeb and XDA Developers. ...
. "Few characters have been as mindlessly evil in comic books as Kevin.", wrote Darby Harn in CBR. The "climactic battle" between Marv and Kevin has been noted by various commentators as one of the key moments in the books and films of the series as well as the final torture scene, David Edelstein writing: "The final encounter between this blockish pugilistic slab of beef and Elijah Wood’s Kevin—a mute cannibal psycho geek with little glasses that white out his eyes and who fights like a weightless dervish—is a thrilling gravitational mismatch." ''
Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to Nort ...
'' wrote: "Anyone who's read ''Sin City'' can tell you who the creepiest character of them all is: the nimble, silent, perpetually smiling cannibal known only as Kevin. He was played with expert menace by Elijah Wood in the first ''Sin City'' movie, but it's hard to top the way Miller depicted him on the page. In three-part panel, he has more command of his body than any other character (except, perhaps, Miho), and never looks like he's breaking a sweat while he genially demolishes even the mountainlike Marv. That smile ... that smile!" Freddy Quezada wrote of the character: "he will always maintain the smile that eating his victims put on his face and that he uses in front of Marv, surpassing the vigilante, when he cuts him into pieces. Indifferent to pleasure and pain, serene in his crimes as in his punishment, unalterable in the excess of desire as in the lack of it, impressing me and being a jewel that no philosopher of the likes of
Umberto Eco Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian Medieval studies, medievalist, philosopher, Semiotics, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular ...
or
Fernando Savater Fernando Fernández-Savater Martín (born 21 June 1947 at Basque city of San Sebastián) is a Spanish philosopher, essayist and author. Early years and career Born in San Sebastián, he was an Ethics professor at the University of the Basqu ...
, both comic book fans, had ever seen, and I will finish by saying that between
Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...
and Sade, then, there will always be Kevin."https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/35254673.pdf


References

{{Frank Miller Sin City characters Characters created by Frank Miller (comics) Comic martial artists Comics characters introduced in 1991 Crime film characters Demon characters in comics Fictional amputees Fictional assassins in comics Fictional cannibals Fictional Catholics Fictional criminals in films Fictional elective mutes Fictional kidnappers Fictional murdered people Fictional serial killers