ATG Comic Review: Xerxes #1

What’s the best way to spend a Sunday in April? How bout snuggling your 5 year old son while you watch Wrestlemania, while you 3D print the side of a Hellraiser Box, while you write a comic review blog? Yup that’s right, I multitask like a madman! This is a new comic review blog for this past week and we got a comic from Frank Miller, that’s right the guy that brought ya the comic that became the hit movie the 300 is back and he’s back in that time period with this one too. This comic was brought to you by our awesome friends at Vibranium Comics who are also our Business Sponsors for this year’s Relay for Life that happens in just 5 days from the writing of this article (4 from posting most likely). Vibranium is an awesome store with great customer service and a great respect for things going on in the community! Make sure to check out their facebook page by clicking the linked banner at the top of this page or do some online shopping by hitting the linked banner down at the bottom!

So as I said, this time we come back to the Ancient Greek world of Frank Miller that brought us the movie and comic the 300. This time in the comic Xerxes we see them focusing however not on the Spartans but on the Athenians as they are attacked by the Persian forces that were the invaders in the 300. If you expect this to be any less action packed or any less bloody than 300 was, then you would be wrong. This sees the army of Xerxes attacking an Athenian beach and a legion of soldiers defending. They then after winning have to move on further up the coast as the boats of Xerxes main force moves further up as well. They also make mention of not being able to rouse the Spartans because of some sort of religious holiday. Story wise, this comic is not “deep” in anyway and there is not much in the ways of exposition whether spoken or thought. What there is a lot of is bloody carnage. Lots of heads, legs, and arms being severed and even people cut in half from head to crotch! If you love the action of 300 and really don’t need much of a story then this comic is certainly for you. Honestly though, normally I would say lack of Story would be a bad thing but in a comic like this, you really don’t need much more than the background. You don’t go into a comic like this expecting Shakespearean prose and you won’t see it here. This comic lets the pictures do a lot of the speaking for it and it is beautifully drawn and inked. Visually, this comic is stunning in look as well as in how bloody it is.

I would sum up by saying if you liked how bloody and action packed 300 was then by all means get this….if you didn’t,well  then my advice is to stay clear of this as it ranks right up there with 300! If you do pick up this comic let us know your thoughts in the comments below.