Holy Terror (graphic novel)

Holy Terror is a graphic novel by Frank Miller which follows a superhero named the Fixer as he battles Muslim terrorists after an attack on Empire City. Miller has described the book as "a piece of propaganda", and claimed that it is "bound to offend just about everybody."

The book was originally proposed as Holy Terror, Batman! in 2006 but is no longer a project associated with the Batman character or DC Comics. Miller explained in 2010, "It’s no longer a DC book. I decided partway through it that it was not a Batman story."

Development
As originally announced the plot revolved around Batman defending Gotham City from an attack by the Islamist terrorist group Al-Qaeda. According to Miller, the comic would have been a "piece of propaganda" in which Batman "kicks Al-Qaeda's ass." Miller announced the graphic novel during a panel at the WonderCon comic book convention held in San Francisco in 2006. He summarized the work as, "not to put too fine a point on it, a piece of propaganda... Superman punched out Hitler. So did Captain America. That's one of the things they're there for."

The title of the graphic novel is a reference to the War on Terrorism as well as the catchphrase ("Holy [something], Batman!") used by Burt Ward (Robin) in the 1960s Batman television series.

Later that year, on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, NPR aired a brief memorial commentary by Miller which provided insight into his inspiration for this project: "For the first time in my life I know how it feels to face an existential menace. They want us to die.  All of a sudden I realize what my parents were talking about all those years.  Patriotism, I now believe, isn't some sentimental, old conceit.  It's self-preservation.  I believe patriotism is central to a nation's survival.  Ben Franklin said it: If we don't all hang together, we all hang separately."

In a May 2007 interview Miller relayed that he was still at work on the graphic novel which he said was "bound to offend just about everybody". Miller also said he was about 100 pages into it with 50 remaining. The following year Miller said the series, until then being billed as Holy War, Batman, would no longer feature Batman. "As I worked on it, it became something that was no longer Batman. It's somewhere past that and I decided it's going to be part of a new series that I'm starting.”

In 2010, Miller said he was no longer working on that project, clarifying that Holy Terror was in progress but without Batman. He later said it would feature a new character called The Fixer and not be published by DC: "It's no longer a DC book. I decided partway through it that it was not a Batman story.  The hero is much closer to Dirty Harry than Batman.  It's a new hero that I've made up that fights Al Qaeda."

Criticism
In August 2006, fellow Batman writer Grant Morrison criticized the idea:

Upon release, Holy Terror was criticized as anti-Islamic propaganda. Spencer Ackerman of Wired said,