Frank Miller's Xerxes: First Image From Comic & Plot

Not too many people in comics have such an interesting legacy of work as Frank Miller. While his directorial skills are suspect his writing abilities and artwork is usually thought provoking. His new comic Xerxes is getting closer to completion and release. The prequel/sequel to his largely successful 300 which ended up turned into a film that became a monster hit. Ever since the announcement of the development of the new comic it would become the basis of the sequel. There has been talk of Zack Snyder returning to direct Xerxes if it the source material ended up as cool as the original. ComicBookResources has posted the first teaser image from the upcoming graphic novel. HeroComplex was able to get some story/plot points from Miller himself.


"The story will be the same heft as '300' but it cover a much, much greater span of time -- it's 10 years, not three days," Miller said. "This is a more complex story. The story is so much larger. The Spartans in '300' were being enclosed by the page as the world got smaller. This story has truly vast subjects. The Athenian naval fleet, for instance, is a massive artistic undertaking and it dwarfed by the Persian fleet, which is also shown in this story. The story has elements of espionage, too, and it's a sweeping tale with gods and warriors."

"The time frame begins 10 years before '300' and the story starts with the Battle of Marathon, which was killer to draw, by the way, even if it was a lot of work," Miller said. "The lead character is Themistocles, who became warlord of Greece and built their navy. The story is very different than '300' in that it involves Xerxes search for godhood. The existence of gods are presupposed in this story and the idea is that he well on his way to godhood by the end of the story."

"With Themistocles I have a character who is almost the dead opposite of Leonidas in that Themistocles was a lying, conniving, brilliant, heroic figure. He was nicknamed 'The Subtle Serpent' and he always manages to do the exact right things that will result in him benefiting greatly."