300
‘300′ is the greatest story Frank Miller has ever been involved with. In fact I’ll go one step forward and say that ‘300′ is the best work Frank Miller has ever produced and will likely ever produce (I’m a natural born optimist and I’d relish reading something that tops ‘300′, however I’m also a realist and this is basically Frank’s Magnum Opus). That’s a bold statement considering who I’m talking about here. The man that reinvented Daredevil and made the character one of the best around, the man who reinvented Batman and made him relevant as a character; the man who gave us all of Sin City to delve into; but I don’t choose any of those as his best work (even though they are golden), I choose this little story about ‘300′ Spartan soldiers. First published as an oversized hardcover 7 years ago, and began serialization 2 years prior to that.
‘300′ is set in 480 BC, ancient Greece and chronicles what is considered by many historians as the single most important battle in the history of humanity. These ideas of democracy and philosophy were looking dangerous for the mighty Persian Empire. These ideas had to be crushed and Xeres the self proclaimed God-King went to demand of Athens and Sparta to yield. Neither did.
In the time of King Leonidas, even the King was not above the law. He still had to take permission to go to battle. He was not granted this. So he decides to go for a ‘walk’, with his personal bodyguards of ‘300′ Spartans and sets off to stop the mighty Persian Empire from conquering all of Greece.
From the very beginning of this graphic novel you know it’s different to just about anything else you’ve ever read. The first 10 pages are just epic scenes of soldiers marching. It’s a massive canvas and Miller is going for atmosphere and the iconic. It’s clear that Miller has done his homework (I know he’s really done his homework as he’s actually been to Greece and visited the Hot Gates). The culture and the ideals of the Spartans is shown sometimes in several spreads and other times in a few lines of dialogue or tiny little panels. However it’s all incredibly memorable, powerful and quotable.
The dialogue in this graphic novel crackles off the page. Each sentence is weighed and just sounds fucking hard. Even though I original read this years ago I can remember panels as clearly as if I’d read them yesterday. It’s like Miller stripped all the unnecessary noise from his dialogue and just gave you enough.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the artwork. This is Frank Miller at his best, but also this is where his wife Lynn really outshines her husband. This story would not have worked as well, wouldn’t have looked anywhere near as good if anyone but Lynn had taken over the reigns for the colours. She uses a watercolour palette for this story that is a perfect compliment to the mood that Miller is trying to achieve. The image below is the cover to the second chapter and is easily one of my all time favourite images, mainly because the colours are so vibrant and so perfectly chosen.
One of the best graphic novels in any language has been made into (IMHO) probably the movie of 2007. I’ve watched that trailer time and time again, picking up panels and dialogue which are stripped directly from the book. It’s an incredible adaptation in the making, I’m glad that the creators have actually been so faithful to the material. Then again there’s a reason for that, the material is one of the best the graphic novel medium has to offer.
October 23rd, 2006 at 10:31 pm
[...] I’ve reviewed Frank Miller’s 300 over at Splash Panel. It’s most definitely one of the few graphic novels that every red blooded male should have on their shelves. « Standards Reboot Posted on the 23rd October, 2006 Categories: Graphic Perseptions, Comic Book News, Graphic Novel Reviews, Reviews, In Stock, asides Tagged: 300, comics, frank miller, graphic novel, review, spartans, splash panel [...]
October 25th, 2006 at 12:08 pm
this is not madness… THIS IS SPARTA!!!!!!
November 1st, 2006 at 9:17 pm
I agree with you wholeheartedly - 300 is one of the best that Frank Miller has to offer.
As you said, I’ve nearly memorized all of the comic’s strong panels, and hell, I’m way far from a hot blooded man, I’m a boring female.
I guess being Greek helps in the mood, somewhat…
(fav panel: - Spartan! - Yes, my lady? - Come back with your shield - or on it! - Yes, my lady.)
November 2nd, 2006 at 5:37 pm
Hahaha, that’s soo funny. Unfortunately I’ve fallen into the same steriotype that I hate (graphic novels are for everyone) when I wrote that. What a major faux pas on my part :). I’ll be sure to not fall into that trap again, sorry about that :).
Spartan women were ROCK hard.
November 3rd, 2006 at 11:24 am
True, true.
November 6th, 2006 at 8:04 am
[...] Khaled reviewed 300. [...]
November 22nd, 2006 at 3:20 pm
Just bought this from Amazon; after just flicking through the first chapter I can tell I’m going to love it. The modern dialogue works incredibly well.
February 21st, 2007 at 1:50 pm
The one thing that bothers me with this is that Miller DID do his homework, and INTENTIONALLY left important parts out:
from the fact that Spartans weren’t really fans of freedom at all, to the fact that they were mostly homosexual and treated their women horribly, to the fact that for no reason he decides to make the persian king a scary-looking black dude covered in piercings when in reality he was neither.
February 27th, 2007 at 6:44 pm
It’s easy to judge about history when you just know about one side’s point of view.
I recommend you to read the first “charter of Human Rights” known to mandkind by the Persian emperor Cyrus the great, 537BC, to have a least idea about ancient Persia.
Yeah, maybe it ’s easier to think of east as the land of savage people… it has always been…..
March 5th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
Well the couple of things you mention there, like Spartans being homosexual or treating their women horribly do not really stand, especially the second. Think of a siege like that of Troy… What do you expect 50000 to do with no women around for say 10 years? anyway im off topic here, the fact that Spartans treated their women horribly is entirely wrong( read a few books and do your homework and you’ll see) they actually had them quite high on their scale of respect, as high women went those days.
March 10th, 2007 at 12:08 am
Spartans homosexuals? There are a few thinks that i have to tell you. 1st Spartans where no homosexuals and 2nd Women in ancient Sparta had the same millitary training like males. Sparta had a militaristic way of life. People were trainned hard on military skills and techniques.
March 10th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
Matti… Matti…
Adding to the comments above, i would like to add a quote from 300: “SPARTANS TONIGHT WE DINE IN HELL”… and it looks like you are are what we will be chewing up and spitting out…
If you want to bring to the table the topic of Spartans and all the history that is associated with them and all you have to comment on is about “homosexuality”, then you are missing the point!
I am from Messinia, a ’state’ in Greece about 100 km from Sparta. I am proud of my history and what happened in my part of the woods. The battle of Thermopylae is one of the most important battles ever… ever… and the Spartans that fought had balls bigger than your brain… so you go ahead man… talk homosexuality!
March 14th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
I really enjoyed 300. Lots of action and good cinematography.
March 24th, 2007 at 6:39 pm
[...] movie itself In case you missed my review over at Splash Panel, go and have a read about the actual graphic novel itself first of which this movie is based upon. [...]
August 25th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
[...] I’ve reviewed Frank Miller’s 300 over at Splash Panel. It’s most definitely one of the few graphic novels that every red blooded male should have on their shelves. Tagged: Asides, Comic Book News and Reviews Feed for this Entry [...]
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:22 pm
I enjoyed both the Graphic Novel and the film, but was struck by the film considerably more. Most notably the elitist King Leonidas downplaying the value of 6 THOUSAND farmers and menfolk that came to assist them, the bullying and persecution of Ephialtes, a disabled man that merely wished to serve his King and country.
Since Miller himself was involved with the film’s artistic look and feel, it goes without saying that several of the original Comics iconic scenes are kept beautifully intact. Zack Snyder (’fresh’ from his brilliant re-imagining of George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead), does another excellent job at the directorial helm of purveying the story with great clarity and conviction.
The downside is that the original tale (yes, it’s a tale) is largely bunkum.
Herodotus -sometimes generously referred to as the Father of Time, and sometimes more cynically as the Father of Tabloid Journalism- takes many elements from Greek Tragedy to the Nth degree, bestowing upon characters the golden virtues that sensationally set them apart from the common fold: love, loss, honour, glory, sacrifice and ultimately, martyrdom.
There have been some bold statements casting aspersions on the lifestyles of Ancient Hellenes, but the truth is a lot more complicated. The Ancient Greeks celebrated beauty regardless of the sexes, their history of casual bisexuality is well-documented and irrefutable. The Greeks were a lot more comfortable with their sexuality than several repressive sections of modern day societies. Even so far as the widespread publication of books regarding the safe practice of being ‘tender’ with younger males (thankfully, we have better standards on some morale issues these days but the facts remain uncontested).
I found the film, like the review here of it, skewered and potentially dangerous to anyone considering those comments as verbatim of the whole story. To consider a single conflict of the Greco-Perisan wars -as in the tale of 300, on par, or even greater than two WORLD wars; wars that affected the entire globe, is preposterous balderdash and spiele unfounded by any so-called ‘historian’.
Both Countries have contributed greatly to our modern culture and long may they continue to do so. Had the Persians conquered Greece, it remains pure speculation as to whether or not they would have destroyed its wonderful contributions to the world stage.