303 (comics)
303 is a six-issue comic-book mini-series created by Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows, and published by Avatar Press. The story targets a mature audience.
303 | |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | Avatar Press |
Schedule | Monthly |
Format | Limited series |
Genre | |
Publication date | September 2004 - October 2005 |
No. of issues | 6 |
Creative team | |
Written by | Garth Ennis |
Artist(s) | Jacen Burrows |
Colorist(s) | Greg Waller |
Editor(s) | William A. Christensen |
Collected editions | |
303 | ISBN 1-59291-037-8 |
Plot summary
The story spans two parts titled "Afghanistan's Plains" and "Black Arrow" (after a monologue in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit) each consisting of three issues and centers around a Russian Spetsnaz colonel.
In the first part the colonel leads a Russian team investigating a plane crash in Afghanistan. Violence soon erupts after first British and then American military forces become involved in the investigation. In the aftermath, the colonel helps a wounded British Special Air Service trooper who translates a document found on the plane. The document suggests that there is a high-level conspiracy in the United States; that the global war on terror was started in order to facilitate the west taking over the oil-rich Middle East.
In the second part the colonel travels alone to the United States in order to carry out a self-assigned mission, where he first faces a sheriff troubled by the loss of his wife because of the deficiency of their insurance. The story also focuses on the problems of illegal Mexican immigrants apparently exploited at a slaughterhouse called "McHell". The Colonel eventually assassinates the President of the United States with the intention of stopping the Global War on Terror, using a Lee–Enfield rifle using only iron sights, firing from behind a closed window.
Name
The title of the series refers to a .303 British calibre Lee–Enfield rifle.
Collected editions
The issues have been collected as a trade paperback:
- 303 (by Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows, Avatar Press, 6-issue mini-series, 2004, tpb, 144 pages, March 2007, ISBN 1-59291-037-8)
References
- 303 at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)