Three #4

[arbre_rieur]

"It's a purer story [than a superhero comic]. There's less need for deconstruction or playing with genre conception. There have been so many superhero stories, you have to move away from the pure archplot to make it work. Hell, in a shared universe, that also changes everything. There's a lot of other pressures, in terms of what's been done before and everything else, and what feels fresh.

"There's been very few stories about Helot slaves on the run. I can move closer to the rhythms of legend, myth and historical fiction." -- Kieron Gillen

The Spartans hunt three escaped Helot slaves.











What they find at the end of the path:















To be continued...

Comments

[quatoria]

Okay. This part? This part is fantastic. I can feel the rage of his initial impulse dripping, here.

[drexer]

This. I've seen a lot of skepticism over Gillen's writing lately (not helped by the quotes that are now becoming an habit with the usual posts), but one thing he excels at is at making the end come together. Small bits and pieces that a person might have more doubts end up pointing to the end with a poignant accuracy.

And here all the small seeds he worked on bit by bit in the previous issues have really gotten it into a uniquely narratively focused portion which could hardly be more sharp with its intent.

It's even making me want to read 300 just to flip to those pages as an answer as the climax of that book approaches.

[superfangirl1]

I agree you really can feel the rage.

[arilou_skiff]

One minor nitpick: The Spartans didn't wear corinthian helmets. (they preferred the Pilos-type helmet, which looks more like what the skirites is wearing)

[silverhammerman]

Gillen actually talks about that decision in the first issue, and I think the way he wound up doing it is good.
Basically, the corinthian helmet was only being worn by that one dude who was deliberately trying to evoke Thermopylae, same goes for the ceremonial guards who wear them in the first issue. The actual hunting party though, it's hard to make out in that distance shot, is wearing the accurate helmet. Basically Gillen just has the corinthian helmets for when a character is supposed to look showy.