 |
| sections |
|
|
|
| journal navigation |
|
|
|
| RSS feed |
 |
|
|
|
|
300 - A Review
 One of the perks of being home these past few days is being able to read some graphic novels I've been wanting to get to, and getting to read them relatively straight through - not broken up over a week. This afternoon I finished 300 by Frank Miller, with coloring by Lynn Varley.
300 tells the true story of the battle of Thermopylae when King Xerxes of Prussia began his invasion of Greece. It was in the tight mountain pass of Thermopylae that King Leonidas and 300 Spartan warriors were able to hold off the vastly larger forces of the Prussia army long enough for the Greek forces to organize. King Leonidas loses the battle of Thermopylae, but not before proving that power of the Spartan army, the resolve of the Greeks, and that sometimes in order to win you have to lose first.
Easily the most remarkable aspect of Miller's book his is artwork and storytelling ability. The battle scenes are breathtaking. The staging of the action of every page reflects the skill and expertise of an award winning comic book storyteller. Miller's artwork, gloriously assisted with Lynn Varley's colors, is original in every way describable. It can be soft and poetic or rough and violent - whatever is called for by the story.
What I've always found to be Miller's weak point in his books has been the dialogue. By working mostly in his crime noir Sin City books for the last decade he's been able to mask this. The short staccato speech. The rough language. It's easy to work around clunky dialogue when you're dealing with mooks beating the shit out of each other over a stripper. Most of the time he's able to put together fairly believable speech in 300, but there are times where King Leonidas or King Xerxes talk like a street thug from Hoboken - not a warrior from 400 B.C.
Despite this, 300 is a wonderful tale, beautifully told. If you are looking for a unique comic book experience, you can't go wrong with Miller's historical tour de force.
posted by Brendan | 10:15 PM | permanent link
|
|
| about me |
|
|
I'm a Child of the 80s wandering through my days with his lovely wife and three kids.
Comics, movies, and pop-culture are the usual topics covered here, with a generous sprinkling of sports and family life. |
|
|
|
| search |
|
|
|
| it's a.a.t.b. |
|
|
|
|
|
