# Is "Sin City (The Hard Goodbye)" by Frank Miller a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Sin City (The Hard Goodbye) by Frank Miller (Dark Horse Comics, 1992/1993 (collected)) is identified by: Originally serialized by Frank Miller in Dark Horse Presents, beginning with episode one in the Dark Horse Presents Fifth Anniversary Special, April 1991, and continuing in Dark Horse Presents issues fifty-one through sixty-two, June 1991 to June 1992. The Dark Horse Presents Fifth Anniversary Special, April 1991, is the serial true first appearance of the story and of the character Marv, with the continuation running through Dark Horse Presents fifty-one to sixty-two.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Originally serialized by Frank Miller in Dark Horse Presents, beginning with episode one in the Dark Horse Presents Fifth Anniversary Special, April 1991, and continuing in Dark Horse Presents issues fifty-one through sixty-two, June 1991 to June 1992
- First collected edition titled simply Sin City, Dark Horse, softcover, black and white with spot red, around 208 pages; sources date the first collected printing to 1992, with the subtitle The Hard Goodbye added in January 1993
- Stated first printing
- Correct publisher/imprint: Dark Horse Comics

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Frank Miller |
| Publisher | Dark Horse Comics |
| Year | 1992/1993 (collected) |
| True first | world edition |
| Format | Comic / graphic novel |
| Key point | Originally serialized by Frank Miller in Dark Horse Presents, beginning with episode one in the Dark Horse Presents Fifth Anniversary… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Originally serialized by Frank Miller in Dark Horse Presents, beginning with episode one in the Dark Horse Presents Fifth Anniversary Special, April 1991, and continuing in Dark Horse Presents issues fifty-one through sixty-two, June 1991 to June 1992. First collected edition titled simply Sin City, Dark Horse, softcover, black and white with spot red, around 208 pages; sources date the first collected printing to 1992, with the subtitle The Hard Goodbye added in January 1993. Stated first printing.

## Is this the true first?
The Dark Horse Presents Fifth Anniversary Special, April 1991, is the serial true first appearance of the story and of the character Marv, with the continuation running through Dark Horse Presents fifty-one to sixty-two. The first collected book was titled Sin City; later editions retitled it The Hard Goodbye and are first thus under the new title, not the original first collected printing.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition is recorded. The retitled The Hard Goodbye printings and the film tie-in editions are later. Confirm the original Sin City title on the first collected printing; sources disagree on whether that printing is dated 1992 or 1993, so verify the date on the copy in hand rather than assuming.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Sin City (The Hard Goodbye)* by Frank Miller a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/sin-city-the-hard-goodbye
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.