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Summary
Summary
With bold imagery and an ear tuned to the music of Homer's epic poem, Gareth Hinds reinterprets the ancient classic as it's never been told before.
"Gareth Hinds brings The Odyssey to life in a masterful blend of art and storytelling. Vivid and exciting, this graphic novel is a worthy new interpretation of Homer's epic."--Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series
Fresh from his triumphs in the Trojan War, Odysseus, King of Ithaca, wants nothing more than to return home to his family. Instead, he offends the sea god, Poseidon, who dooms him to years of shipwreck and wandering. Battling man-eating monsters, violent storms, and the supernatural seductions of sirens and sorceresses, Odysseus will need all his strength and cunning--and a little help from Mount Olympus--to make his way home and seize his kingdom from the schemers who seek to wed his queen and usurp his throne. Award-winning graphic artist Gareth Hinds masterfully reinterprets a story of heroism, adventure, and high action that has been told and retold for more than 2,500 years--though never quite like this.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 7 Up-Heroism, hubris, and heady emotion boil to the surface in this masterful retelling of Homer's epic poem. Deftly detailed and regally paced, Hinds's lyrical language and lavish watercolor artwork present the heart-pounding high points of Odysseus's trial-and-tribulation-filled journey while allowing readers to soak up the tale's subtleties and universal themes. Gritty, grand, and just right for teens. (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
One of the oldest and most often retold literary classics is faithfully recreated in watercolors and pastels. Hinds, who has previously adapted Beowulf and several Shakespeare plays in comics format, uses different translations as a basis for his adaptation, trimming the text but keeping all the events of Odysseus' journey home from the Trojan War. The adaptation is most impressive in its ability to convey the despair, anguish, and joy of the characters in a sudden, striking way that text alone can't, pulling these familiar figures out from a thousands-year-old story and presenting the reader with human faces. Hinds's watercolor landscapes of the Greek coast, islands, and mountains are another strong point. But seeing the characters as they exchange archaic dialogue emphasizes its stilted and unnatural quality. And in some sections, particularly in early exposition, the text is so plentiful it crowds out the art. Still, Hinds has created a work that both honors the epic's long tradition and helps readers see these characters in a new light. Ages 12-up. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
A graphic-novel adapter of The Merchant of Venice (rev. 7/08) turns his hand to an adventure that still towers over its descendants -- rather as Hinds's powerful jacket image of a vengeful Poseidon looms over the home-seeking voyager who was hounded around the Mediterranean by the sea god. Citing classic translations of The Odyssey as sources (from Chapman to Fagles, with a special nod to Fitzgerald) but using only a dozen or so actual quotes from their work, Hinds retells Homer's epic in pictures plus a judicious minimum of words, sticking to the original intricate, twenty-four-chapter order with its flashbacks, multiple narrators, bloody climax (the massacre of Penelope's suitors), and peaceful, god-decreed conclusion. Brief as the text of this graphic version is (many spreads are nearly wordless), it makes an accessible and effective complement to the dramatic pencil and watercolor art that explicates and interprets the story. A timeless long-ago past comes alive in these images of gods and heroes, monsters and enchantresses; of mayhem, lovemaking, and touching reunions -- all arrayed in frames whose shape, number, and palette expertly pace and propel the story. As introduction, outline, illustration, and visual translation, a worthy companion to its great predecessors. joanna rudge long (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
King Lear, 2009, etc.) with this stunning graphic retelling of Homer's epic. Following Odysseus's journey to return home to his beloved wife,Penelope, readers are transported into a world that easily combines the realistic and the fantastic. Gods mingle with the mortals, and not heeding their warnings could lead to quick danger; being mere men, Odysseus and his crew often make hasty errors in judgment and must face challenging consequences. Lush watercolors move with fluid lines throughout this reimagining. The artist's use of color is especially striking: His battle scenes are ample, bloodily scarlet affairs, and Polyphemus's cave is a stifling orange; he depicts the underworld as a colorless, mirthless void, domestic spaces in warm tans, the all-encircling sea in a light Mediterranean blue and some of the far-away islands in almost tangibly growing greens. Don't confuse this hefty, respectful adaptation with some of the other recent ones; this one holds nothing back and is proudly, grittily realistic rather than cheerfully cartoonish. Big, bold, beautiful. (notes) (Graphic classic. YA)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* As the proliferation of recent Odyssey graphic novelizations approaches the record held by Shakespeare adaptations, it is perhaps appropriate that Hinds, the Bard's premiere sequential adapter, should produce the most lavish retelling of Homer yet. Showing great artistic evolution since his rough-and-tumble Beowulf (2007), Hinds lets the epic story take its time, with a slow build and pages that aren't afraid to alternate packed dialogue with titanic action. The sumptuous art, produced with grain, texture, and hue, evokes a time long past while detailing every line and drop of sweat on Odysseus' face and conveying the sheer grandeur of seeing a god rise out of the ocean. Teens may be baffled by the hero's commitment to the same pantheon of gods who heap trouble in his path, but they will not lose touch with the universal qualities of steadfastness that Odysseus still embodies. The mythic trials have seldom felt more grueling or genuine, and this makes a perfect pairing with Tim Mucci and Ben Caldwell's adaptation for a slightly younger audience from the All-Action Classics series, affording a chance to see how an archetypal story can function so powerfully at both the realistic and the stylized ends of the artistic spectrum. A grand example of Hinds' ability to combine historical adventure with human understanding.--Karp, Jesse Copyright 2010 Booklist