300 Graphic Novel

300

Frank Miller

Frank Miller wanted to tell this story for a long time before actually starting to draw it, and it shows. He seems to be in awe of the spartan way of life. He certainly glorifies it with big words and big images.

The format of this book is unusual. When it was published as a mini all pages were double pages, so effectively they were widescreen. When the collection was published it was as a beautiful horizontal widescreen hardcover.

This format allowed for spectacular action scenes. You might think that most of the pages are about the 300 fighting against the Persians, but in reality the action is so quick that it only takes 1 or 2 pages to tell for each scene.

The rest of the story is about Spartan's culture (told through the king's history) and the march to their final battle.

The dialog used is like bad Shakespearean but it works. These are men bred to become soldiers, so all their life they've been taught to speak in a certain way.

This is obviously a very fast read, action packed and visceral. I love the art, it works especially well for the deformed guy in issue 4.

This is not the deepest story ever told, but it is a good action story that tells an honorable tale from the past.