Three (2014)

By Kieron Gillen, Ryan Kelly, Jordie Bellaire

146pp, Fiction

Notes

2014-08-14

Brutalised Hellot slaves rebel against and kill their Spartan tormentors before going on the run. An enjoyable boys own adventure (with more blood and guts than that might imply, also a bit of sex) this feels like a minor work in Gillen’s increasingly impressive oeuvre, a simple adventure story well told ( a couple of problems with the art notwithstanding ).

Also this is a response to 300 I’m not sure it’s totally effective as such. Gillen allows Frank Miller’s comic to set the battlefield i.e. it’s a full bore action comic where the best fighter wins. Throughout the book excitement is maintained by violence, these are Millers terms 100% and 1. Ryan’s super hero venacular can’t match Miller’s brutal, super-economic linework or his bold yet legible layouts; in terms of portraying action 300 is simply better. 2. I think sticking broadly to 300’s genre template weakens Three’s position, the argument becomes primarily about historicity – and I don’t think anyone could argue that Gillen’s presentation is not more in tune with our current understanding of Spartan society – but Frank Miller has been pretty open in describing his work as propaganda so that’s kind of beside the point maybe? 300 which is in my view a genuinely fascist work needs a moral response – one that shows alternatives to violence (state and personal) not just that the underdogs can sometimes win at that game.

PS my copy of this is in storage at the moment and I read 300 in an afternoon in a library about 5 years ago so you know, my memory may not be great and this should all be taken with that in mind.