Ghost of a flea: 300

? Rammstein: Feuer Frei! | Main | Singlish ?

June 20, 2005

300

Originally a five-issue series, "300" has been published as a hard-cover collection that looks more like a coffee-table book than a comic book.

When best-selling comics creator Frank Miller announced his plans to re-create the legendary battle at Thermopylae in comic-book form, very few people knew what to think of the project. After all, the direct-sales comic book market is fairly driven by superhero comics, and not every creator would think of tackling an ancient historic event on the pages of a comic -- much less one that almost nobody has ever heard of. Then again, not every creator is Frank Miller.

Frank Miller and Lynn Varley have struck at something elemental with their representation of Spartan valour and managed to evoke something of the heroism at a critical turning point not only for the Greeks but for contemporary civilization. I am too much of an anthropologist not to find the oddly Nubian looking fashion of the Persian emperor a bit off-putting but the style pointedly evokes a difference between the opulence of empire versus the spartan aesthetics of the, uhh, Spartans.

News of a feature film is most exciting. Not that any of this explains the Dark Horse comics 300 Zippo lighter.

Posted by Ghost of a flea at June 20, 2005 11:37 AM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.ghostofaflea.com/cgi-bin/mt/trackback-engine.cgi/3944