[1] The story follows Carl Seltz, an insurance investigator who discovers he is also a homicidal cyborg tax collector who happens to be the last hope of an enslaved robot race.

[2] In a dystopian, near-future Los Angeles, city tax collector Nixon is badly injured during a violent encounter with one of his targets, and he undergoes extensive surgery to survive.

Nixon then wakes up in a bedroom, believing his previous experience was a bad dream and that he is really Carl Seltz, an insurance investigator for the Benevolent Assurance Corporation, with a wife, two children, a dog, and a normal life.

After a high-speed chase through the city, both cars end up destroyed, and Carl continues pursuing his targets, an old woman and a young girl, on foot.

The resulting explosion blows Carl into a Behemoth supermarket, where he finds that the flesh of his hands and face have been torn away, revealing robotic parts like those of the old woman.

[3] In 2001, Variety reported that Warner Brothers was in negotiations with Miller and Darrow to adapt the comic book into a film, David Fincher set to direct and Nicolas Cage to star.

[5] In 2016, Deadline reports that Warner Bros. are working on acquiring the rights to Hard Boiled with Ben Wheatley and is looking to reteam with his High-Rise star Tom Hiddleston for the film.

For this re-release, Eisner-winning colorist Dave Stewart was hired to create a completely new color palette, putting an emphasis on more neutral, realistic hues, a decision which generated some controversy.