Frank Miller’s 300, the comic, is a gorgeous fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae. It is a hyper-epic, in the way that Sin City is a hyper-noir. The battles are visual essays on unrelenting force, the grace and power of a body forged to fight with weapons deriving their energy from human motion, and the waves of absolute oppression crashing against the rocks of self-determination. It is a stylized homage not to the specific ideologies of the Spartans, but to their truly staggering will and strength, obtained through a cultural dynamic of constant, brutal testing of the self. To read 300 is to marvel at the possibilities contained within humanity, to witness the raw harshness of human existence forge societies and soldiers of unparalleled might. 300 is an ode the magnificence of human spectacle, as manifested by the players on the stage of the Battle of Thermopylae. The forces at work on both sides of the battle are both horrifying and magnificent. 300 the film builds upon this base, pushing all of these aspect further and amplifying them beyond reality. Miller never shies from hyperbole to convey his message, and the film gladly obliges.

Spoiler warning: While I don’t give away much of the film, or its ending (which is a matter of history, by the way), I show a lot of content, which may give you an inkling of how things go. All images are from the trailers.

Sin City is one of the two series that brought me back to comics. After several years’ hiatus, in part a result of the Image Comics-driven collectors’ market spike and crash, I dipped my toe back in the water. I’d heard about Sin City, and I knew that Frank Miller was a name to be reckoned with, but I had no idea what was in store. I’d walked out of the comic shop with the collected trades Sin City and A Dame to Kill For, and I read them both in one sitting. I was blown away. From the story to the script to the art, Sin City was succor for my starved eyes and mind. The hyper-noir tales, drawn in a unique stunning style, opened my eyes to a new world of comics that could compete with the sophistication and satisfaction delivered by films and novels. Along with Alan Moore’s Watchmen, Miller’s tales of desperation, violence, honor, sex, and love set the bar higher for every comic I’ve purchased since.

Believe it or not, I love reading comics. If you look at Current Config’s comics section right now, there are four posts, one of which is about a comic-based movie. I write a lot more about movies here than anything else, which is funny, considering I read comics and play games more than I watch movies. I’ve decided this needs to change. Hopefully (I make a lot of plans on Current Config I can’t keep), from now on I’ll be posting about comics that I believe people interested in this art form should read, and some that everyone should read.

If you don’t have a local comic shop to support, I recommend you check out InStockTrades, which has a decent selection and gives steep discounts to individuals, rather than retailers.

So, rather than bore you with a long ramble about “teh gestalt of sequential art, blah, blah, blah...”, I’ll just say this: Comics have grown up, so you should too. Read comics.

As some of you may know, I’m hopelessly addicted to Half-Life 2. Well, now I can feed my twin vices of HL2 and comics by reading Concerned: The Half-Life and Death of Gordon Frohman. It is hilarious and witty, with tons of subtle I-get-it-because-I-played-the-game humor. The prologue alone will give anyone who waited for the much-delayed release feel warm and gooey inside. But there’s usually enough generally-accessible comedy that non-gamers will probably get something from it. If you’ve played HL2 or are familiar with it, go read it now. If not, there’s a premise page to get you mostly up to speed. You may not get 100% of the references, but the comedic timing and construction is very well tuned and it still holds together overall, even if the humor of a few strips is lost on you.*

Thanks to Jon Sung for this one.

*This may be false.

I saw it this weekend, and Batman Begins is better than or equal to Burton’s excellent Batman. This is Batman and Bruce Wayne as they always should’ve been done. The depth of one of the most enduring comic characters comes out brilliantly in this rich, powerful, thematic film.

A few years ago, one of my very thoughtful friends, Aris, asked me a question, which it took me quite some time to respond to. He asked: “What is the greatest work of art you have ever beheld?”

I believe he asked me this, partially, because I'm visually creative (I'm a graphic designer and lapsed artist) and have a fairly decent art education. Of course, I couldn't respond to him immediately. How does one recall all of the art they've seen? I suppose it should have been obvious to me, since the question implies that the work of art would have lodged itself in my mind, firmly implanted in the neurons reserved for the ‘Best ofs’. Well, there was nothing. I just don't keep lists like that mentally on hand. The other trick is that those things I'd seen lately stuck more. So, I pondered. For over half a year, if I remember correctly.

Then, it dawned on me. I do know what that work of art is. It's an exquisite, human, genre-expanding and discipline-crossing work of intensely affecting beauty. It is Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid on Earth; a graphic novel. So, I wrapped it up and sent it to him, since just telling him was foolish, and it's something that must be experienced directly to be understood.

And then, this New Year's, Aris gave me a gift. It was a gesture of thoughtful and poigniant reciprocation.

I was in Borders today and I was perusing their Graphic Novels section when it dawned on me that they've actually taken the time to give them their own discrete location in the store. They are no longer the graphic lackies for Sci Fi or Horror or Fantasy. That's a good sign, in my eyes. Comics (or 'graphic novels' if you're still to in-the-closet about it, or don't read the single issues) certainly deserve the respect of any other type of book, and it's right and good that a larger bookseller like Borders recognizes this... or perhaps that they recognize that many people of many ages read comics and will buy them (they are a corporation, after all).

I tip my hat to you Borders, and to you Comics. May your children be fecund and your harvests overflow their silos.