300 is a
comicbook, written and drawn by
Frank Miller, with colors by
Lynn Varley. Published by
Dark Horse Comics in 1998 in 5 loose
issues, and in 1999 in a
hardcover collected edition.
What's it about?
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.
Although it is a fictional story, the events are told in a very realistic manner. (Editor's Note: Actually, the plot of 300 is based on historical events: the battle at Thermopylae, to be exact. Xerxes and Leonidas were real, although of course Miller's interpretation of them is fictional. -fuzzy and blue, 25 March 2004)
Issue 1: A force of men is assembled, so massive it shakes the earth with its march: an army, vast beyond imagining, poised to devour tiny Greece, to snuff out the world's one hope for reason and justice. Only three hundred brave souls block its dash. But they are more than men . . . they are Spartans.
Issue 2: The word is out: Sparta is on the march. From farms and hamlets rally brave Greeks, to face hellish war in the narrow mountain pass called The Hot Gates. The odds are long, and the stakes are high: all hope for human freedom hangs in the balance!
Issue 3: Dread Xerxes marshals all the armies of Asia against a tiny, plucky force of 300 Spartans, and makes one last offer for peace. But peace means surrender. With stabbing spear and slashing sword, the Spartans respond. Their message is a simple one: These free men will not be slaves. There is no middle ground, no compromise to be had, between good and evil.
Issue 4: Combat. Grueling, hateful, joyous slaughter. The Spartans do what they were born and bred to do: they fight, brother beside brother, shoulder to shoulder, shield against shield, their bristling spears driving back the slaves of the tyrant Xerxes till the dead are piled high as a mountain and the sacred, rocky soil of Greece is drenched deep in Persian blood.
Issue 5: Betrayed, surrounded, outnumbered a hundred thousand to one, the Spartans make their last stand against the hordes of Xerxes. All hope is surely lost: only bloody death awaits them. Why, then, that wild, joyous light in the eyes of King Leonidas? What secret has he that makes him smile and speak so confidently of victory?