Three years ago Frank Miller's 300 became an unexpected hit, becoming the highest grossing R rated film of 2007. The Zack Snyder directed, visually stunning film brought Frank Miller's graphic novel to life in a larger than life way.
Yesterday Miller released the first artwork from Xerxes, his upcoming prequel to 300. 300 Producer Thomas Tull and Zack Snyder have both seen some of the completed pages and if the rest of the story follows form, the two plan to pursue the project as a feature film.
Snyder had this to say on the possibility: "If the book is awesome and compelling, then, yes we're interested."
Here is a synopsis of Xerxes from Miller...
"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."
Below is the first artwork released from Xerxes.
