Frank Miller apparently hasn't completed his sequel to the comic series 300Xerxes, over the course of nearly three years. This pace means the movie version of the story, titled 300: Rise of an Empire, will almost certainly be out well ahead of the book when it arrives in theaters on March 7.

ICv2 reports that Miller has finished two issues of the five-issue series. That's how far along he was when Dark Horse Comics CEO Mike Richardson talked to ICv2 in early 2011. Miller "has every intention of returning to the remaining Xerxes issues when his Hollywood commitments are complete," the site reports.

Miller has been working on co-directing Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, which is set for release August 22, 2014. Fans of his previous work, such as All-Star Batman and Robin and Holy Terror, know the writer/artist hasn't been known for setting strict self-imposed deadlines for himself in recent years.

Miller has called Xerxes, which follows the eponymous Persian emporer both before and after 300's Battle of Thermopylae, "a more complex story" than its predecessor, with a story that extends outward in contrast to 300's more inward progression.

ICv2 offers one piece of good news for Miller fans. A "Dark Horse insider" called the pages that Miller has submitted so far "outstandingly beautiful."

 

 

[Via ICv2]

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