Three #3

written by Kieron Gillen
art by Ryan Kelly
colors by Jordie Bellaire

Perhaps the greatest virtue of Gillen's Three is that it contextualizes the Spartan warrior ethos within the social mosaic of ancient Greece.  The citizen body, diminished by the mid-4th century B.C.E. to fewer than a thousand (as Gillen and his historical consultant Stephen Hodkinson discuss in the issue's closing interview), comprised such a small portion of the total social and economic population of Lakonia despite their overwhelming cultural and political sovereignty in the histories of the period.  Three is the story of Sparta in decay, and to isolate any of the series' characters as a protagonist somewhat limits this perspective and the series' strengths.

And so the chase begins.  It is a merciless one for everyone.  Kleomenes and his forces are as ruthless to the imperious Arimnestos for his escape as they are to helot tracker Alopex in their threats against his family.  But under these threats, Alopex proves to be a skilled and insightful tracker.

Klaros is Three's best, though perhaps only, mystery.  Pretending for years to be hobbled and weak, he emerges in the fight against Eurytos as a skilled swordsman and again on the bridge across the Eurotas as particularly adept as single combat.  Self-named for the Stenyklaros Plain in northern Messenia on which Spartan Aeimnestos and his three hundred soldiers were rumored to have been slaughtered to a man, his history with and desire for subversion makes him valuable if entirely foreign to his fellow fugitives.  Despite Damar's insistence and Terpander's prodding, Klaros remains evasive about his past and his identity.

Three #3's other stand-out is Arimnestos' chilling mother Gyrtias, prouder of her champion chariot horses than her "trembler" son.  Arimnestos may be easily the most despicable character Three offers among a full cast of killers made hard and ferocious by the principles of their polis, but he's not wrong about his fellow Spartans.  They, those who fled Thebes and failed at Leuktra, are not different from him; they are hypocrites, but they were not alone.  Infuriated both by the death of his father at the hand of helots and his social ostracism as a "trembler" by his own state, Arimnestos too begins a hunt for revenge with a Skirites scout named Aristodemos to guide him.