Si la suite de la série Phonogram du scénariste Kieron Gillen et du dessinateur Jamie McKelvie a été repoussée à cause de la nouvelle série Young Avengers que les deux acolytes lancent ensemble chez l’éditeur Marvel, le scénariste anglais ne compte pas pour autant délaisser ses productions personnelles puisqu’il a annoncé la sortie d’une mini-série en creator-owned pour 2013 chez Image Comics.
Three suivra le parcours de trois esclaves spartiates tentant d’échapper à leur funeste destin. Dessinée par Ryan Kelly (Local, The New York Five, Saucer Country), l’originalité de cette histoire devrait venir du développement d’un fort contexte politique, comme l’explique Kieron Gillen:
[quote]I enjoy Miller/Varley’s « 300. » It comes with its slant, but historical fiction is always about choosing what part of the story you’re actually going to tell, and what you’re trying to say. I know how fiction works. Thermopylae as shield of the west isn’t exactly new.
However, one day, I came home from the pub drunk, crashed down on the sofa and grabbed a book off the shelf. As fate would have it, it was « 300. » I was flicking through it and after hitting another of the lengthy monologues about these free men dying for the right of men to be freely free, I just went incandescent and pretty much snarled at the book, « Oh, fuck off. You people hunted slaves. »[/quote]
[quote]Three #1
Story by Kieron Gillen
Art by Ryan Kelly
Colors by Jordie Bellaire
Letters by VC - Clayton Cowles
Cover by Ryan Kelly
Publisher Image Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date Wed, October 9th, 2013
When a member of the Spartan ruling class visits an isolated homestead of Helot workers, a brutal massacre is only the beginning. KIERON GILLEN (PHONOGRAM, Über, Iron Man), RYAN KELLY (Saucer County, Local) and JORDIE BELLAIRE (THE MANHATTAN PROJECTS, NOWHERE MEN) unite to tell the heroic story of three slaves and their desperate attempt to escape 300 of the finest warriors who’ve ever lived.[/quote]
[quote]Three #2
Story by Kieron Gillen
Art by Ryan Kelly
Colors by Jordie Belliaire
Cover by Ryan Kelly
Publisher Image Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date Wed, November 13th, 2013
Three slaughter survivors race towards the free city of Messene. Pursuing them are 300 Spartans. Why? What makes Sparta think that unleashing this isn’t massive overkill? What makes a Spartan king agree to lead them? And what secrets do the Helot workers hold that changes everything…[/quote]
[quote]Three #3
Story by Kieron Gillen
Art by Ryan Kelly
Colors by Jordie Bellaire
Letters by VC - Clayton Cowles
Cover by Ryan Kelly
Publisher Image Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date Wed, December 11th, 2013
Curse the Spartan who is a Trembler. Shave his beard. Rip his cloak. Beat or spit on him if you will. If you found yourself condemned in such a fashion, a few short years after all of Sparta’s men ran, the hypocrisy could bite. Discover why it’s not just the helots who suffer under Spartan Law, and discover what a Trembler plans for the three slaves responsible for his shame…[/quote]
[quote]THREE #5 Written by: Kieron Gillen
Art by: Ryan Kelly
Cover by: Ryan Kelly
Pages: 32
Price: $3.99
In stores: Feb. 26
It comes down to this: three versus three hundred at the border of Sparta. The men who’d keep them slaves versus the three who would be free. The historical epic reaches its bloody denouement. The end of a story, the start of a legend.[/quote]
