300

Frank Miller has been around for a long time. His first published work was in 1978 (as an artist for Gold Key Comics). He then progressed through DC Comics to Marvel where he drew a couple of Spiderman episodes, with Daredevil as a supporting character.

Miller developed Daredevil, making him a darker and more complex character, and began plotting the stories as well as doing the drawing. Elektra was his next creation, another damaged and conflicted creation, infused with Manga-inspired themes.

And he's been going darker ever since, including Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (a brilliant re-invention Batman as an older man) and Sin City (about as dark as you can get!).

In 1998 he produced a five-issue comic called '300' (written and drawn by him, and coloured by Lynn Varley). This was released as a 'coffee-table' book in 1999, and is probably my favourite graphic novel.

It is a less-than-historical portrayal of the Battle of Thermopylae in which King Leonidas and 300 Spartans fought to the death against Xerxes and his massive Persian army.

And now it's being made into a film! And if the trailer is anything to go by, it's going to be great, using similar techniques to those used in the Sin City movie to keep the graphic novel atmosphere alive. Hurrah!
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