300

by Frank Miller, Various (Illustrator)

Overview

The armies of Persia—a vast horde greater than any the world has ever known—are poised to crush Greece, an island of reason and freedom in a sea of madness and tyranny. Standing between Greece and this tidal wave of destruction are a tiny detachment of but three hundred warriors. Frank Miller's epic retelling of history's supreme moment of battlefield valor is finally collected in its intended format—each two-page spread from the original comics is presented as a single undivided page.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781569714027
Publisher:	Dark Horse Comics
Publication date:	12/28/1999
Edition description:	Not Appropriate For Children
Pages:	88
Sales rank:	447,162
Product dimensions:	13.00(w) x 10.07(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Frank Miller is one of the seminal creative talents who sparked today's onslaught of motion pictures featuring comic book characters and concepts. He single-handedly re-defined the presentation of comic book characters and heroic fiction with his grand-daddy of graphic novels, The Dark Knight Returns. Then his graphic novels turned box-office hits, including 300 and Sin City, proved that success does not always come wrapped in spandex.

Editorial Reviews

The Battle of Thermopylae ranks as one of the ancient world's most important events, where Spartan King Leonidas and his 300-man bodyguard met the massive army of Emperor Xerxes of Persia, who intended to add Greece to his empire. To no one's surprise, the Spartans were destroyed. While the battle bought the Greeks enough time to defeat the mighty Persians, it was more important for the metaphor it created: occasionally one has to lose to win. This is clearly the inspiration behind Miller's attempt to place this epic tale in the context of a graphic novel. A renowned comics artist and writer known for hard-boiled stories of almost operatic intensity and stylishly overwrought violence, Miller (Sin City) injects his own brand of graphic sensationalism into this ancient tale of national survival. Miller clearly isn't as interested in being a historian as he is in telling a story, but his portrayal of the ancient world is compelling. His drawings of the bearded Leonidas are pensive and starkly imperial. The Persian King Xerxes is represented as majestically African, his body covered in a gaudy and bejeweled network of meticulously rendered chains and bracelets. Form and content are ideally wedded: Miller's writing is stark, his drawings moody and dramatic, and intensified by Varley's grimly appropriate palette of earth and blood. The reader can see and feel the harshness of both the Grecian landscape and Sparta's battle-worshipping culture, as Miller presents the complex historical moment facing the 300. (May) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

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