Frank Miller: Ranking His Comics From Worst To Best

10. 300 (1998)

Along with the big-screen version of Sin City in 2005, Zack Snyder's stylised adaptation of 300 helped introduce Frank Miller to a younger generation of filmgoers unfamiliar with his comic work. Say what you will about the machismo flexing of Gerard Butler and the 300 spartans - if you see any frame of that movie out of context, you'll immediately know where it came from. Likewise the visual element is the best part of the graphic novel - Miller relishes in the desperate gore and funnelled lighting of The Battle of Thermopylae, and his pencils are brought to life by Lynn Varley's watercolours. Critics of 300 (including Alan Moore) cite historical inaccuracy as a major hindrance. While the argument that 300 is "just a comic book" and therefore shouldn't be subject to such scrutiny is pure evasion, there is a case to be made for taking the book as is - a celebration of a unique people with a unique task, accomplished in Miller's decidedly unique style. The broad stroke of history is present, if not the finer points, and Miller runs with a fresh take on a classical epic.