By Jason Strykowski

SAN DIEGO — Legendary comics creator Frank Miller says he hopes Holy Terror, his long-simmering response to 9/11, will “really piss people off” with its potent political content.

The Fixer is a former Navy Seal who takes up crime-fighting to prepare for an uncertain future. Then David, a man with a tattoo of the Star of David across his face, talks The Fixer into battling terror and the hero finally finds a cause when disaster strikes Empire City. The Fixer finds a partner in Natalie Stack, a former cat burglar with a long history of encounters with him.

The star of the graphic novel bears more than a passing resemblance to a red-caped Batman, replete with a full mask and ammo belt. Miller, however, reiterated that Holy Terror is far too violent a tale for the Dark Knight: As Miller explained, the Fixer is “much more well-adjusted at committing acts of terrible violence” than Batman.

For Miller, Holy Terror is a profoundly political effort that has brewed in his mind since the terror attacks on New York and the Pentagon in 2001. The graphic novel “is a reminder that we’re in the midst of a long war” and “the enemy that we’re up against is pernicious, deceptive and merciless and wants nothing less than total destruction.”

‘We’re in the midst of a long war.’

The writer, famous for his hard-boiled prose in the Sin City series and for his fantastic miniseries Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, said he sees Holy Terror as a “bare-knuckled” comic book response to 9/11. (You can take in the first five pages of Holy Terror on Legendary’s website.)

Holy Terror will be the first publication for Legendary Comics. Miller, chief editor Bob Schreck, creator Paul Pope and writer Matt Wagner talked about the company’s plans during the Comic-Con panel. The publisher has 11 other projects in the pipeline to follow Holy Terror, which would be the publisher’s center pole when it hits shelves in September.

Legendary said it will reissue Pope’s PulpHope with improved art and additional pages; the company’s first running title will be The Tower Chronicles, penned by Matt Wagner and illustrated by Simon Bisley. The series follows a supernatural bounty hunter through what Wagner calls “badass adventures.”

Legendary Comics is the printing wing of Legendary Entertainment, which helped bankroll 300, The Hangover and The Dark Knight, among others. The publishing experiment is the brainchild of Thomas Tull, the investor-cum-media mogul who founded Legendary.

Holy Terror will hit stands Sept. 14 while Pulp Hope and The Tower Chronicles should follow in the winter.