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"Burn Notice" and "Pushing Daisies" writer, Lisa Joy, wrote this gripping coming-of-age tale of an 18-year-old girl who happens to be Athena. In Athena's life, there's no such thing as hyperbole. Her "evil" stepmother? Hera, who's actually evil and out to kill her. The bad boy she falls in love with? Hades, king of the underworld. The philandering father whose approval she always seeks and fails to attain? Zeus the ultimate deadbeat dad. And now she must take on all of the gods in order to stop them from destroying mankind.
96 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 30, 2017
This was an entertaining small graphic novel about an 18 year old girl named Sarah who is actually the Greek Goddess, Athena. The artwork was very colorful & I liked how the story moved along for most of the book. However, some parts seemed to go a bit too fast, but that is to be expected with this short graphic novel. I would have liked to read more on Hades in this story, possibly more details in a flashback; but overall I am happy with how the story went. I love mythology & this was a nice little read in this world of Greek gods and goddesses!
October 4, 2016
Sarah Pallas is a 19-year-old girl who’s been institutionalized due to recurring nightmares in which her mother is murdered. She’s also Athena, goddess of wisdom and strategy. Her relatives are the Greek gods, and they want her out of the way while Zeus plans the end of human civilization. Sarah must escape from the asylum, recover her memories and thwart her father’s plans–but whose side is her uncle Hades really on?
This graphic novel reimagines the Greek gods as a secret family of immortals who change with the times, blending in with each new era, and currently residing in Manhattan. (Apollo’s a movie star.) They squabble and feud, but most of them are down with the coming world war for one reason or another. Athena objected, so she was given amnesia and locked away–now that she’s back, it’s necessary to kill her. Death isn’t permanent for gods, more like a long quiet vacation, but it would put her out of the way long enough for Zeus’ plan to succeed.
To be honest, this is more of a graphic novelette, and feels very stripped down. Events happen bang bang bang, and characterization is sparse. (Surprisingly to me at least, Aphrodite is the most complex character in the story, resentful of her position as the goddess of love and beauty–indeed, sick unto death of it.) Sarah is more action film heroine than anything else, with her ability to kick butt in hand-to-hand combat prioritized more than her brains. (The author’s prior work is in action TV.) And then there’s her “bad boy” thing for Hades….
Persephone shows up just long enough to explain that her marriage to Hades is in name only, which theoretically makes Sarah and his mutual attraction okay as long as you ignore the part where she’s sleeping with her uncle. Erm. Diana’s characterization is reduced to being sexually attracted to her twin brother Apollo and resentful that he doesn’t reciprocate.
The art is decent, but feels pedestrian; the fantasy sections could use a little more “pop.”
Mildly recommended to fans of modern retellings of Greek mythology, especially if you preferred the “fighty” bits of Buffy to the “talky” bits.
This graphic novel reimagines the Greek gods as a secret family of immortals who change with the times, blending in with each new era, and currently residing in Manhattan. (Apollo’s a movie star.) They squabble and feud, but most of them are down with the coming world war for one reason or another. Athena objected, so she was given amnesia and locked away–now that she’s back, it’s necessary to kill her. Death isn’t permanent for gods, more like a long quiet vacation, but it would put her out of the way long enough for Zeus’ plan to succeed.
To be honest, this is more of a graphic novelette, and feels very stripped down. Events happen bang bang bang, and characterization is sparse. (Surprisingly to me at least, Aphrodite is the most complex character in the story, resentful of her position as the goddess of love and beauty–indeed, sick unto death of it.) Sarah is more action film heroine than anything else, with her ability to kick butt in hand-to-hand combat prioritized more than her brains. (The author’s prior work is in action TV.) And then there’s her “bad boy” thing for Hades….
Persephone shows up just long enough to explain that her marriage to Hades is in name only, which theoretically makes Sarah and his mutual attraction okay as long as you ignore the part where she’s sleeping with her uncle. Erm. Diana’s characterization is reduced to being sexually attracted to her twin brother Apollo and resentful that he doesn’t reciprocate.
The art is decent, but feels pedestrian; the fantasy sections could use a little more “pop.”
Mildly recommended to fans of modern retellings of Greek mythology, especially if you preferred the “fighty” bits of Buffy to the “talky” bits.
January 30, 2012
If handed over to younger readers, I think that this book could be a great hit. The plot is very clear, the art is lovely, and there's a nice twist towards the end of the book. Also, Hades is a hunk. Go figure.
I'm not sure whether or not a deep knowledge of Greek mythos helps or hurts this book. As I went in both very aware of actual Greek mythology and generally critical of anyone who tries to take a modern twist on mythology in general, I was left a bit underwhelmed. It felt like there were a great deal of gods and goddesses simply dropped into the book for the sake of having them there, or to expose some trait or quality that you would have expected, knowing their history. As a reader, I was left with the feeling that were these "cameos" left out, so to speak, that the main plotline could be explored. As it was, the general plot was very predictable, right down to the big twist towards the end, and on the whole it felt like Greek mythology watered down and given a modern look. (Admittedly, I'm still not entirely sure what's up with Hades. He exhibited a lot of popular hunk traits, but there might be more reasons than that behind his personality. I wish we'd had time to see the whole of his history.)
On the whole, it's not a bad comic, and the premise itself is nice, but it's a story that could benefit a great deal from both deviation from Greek mythos and a bit more attention paid to the details.
I'm not sure whether or not a deep knowledge of Greek mythos helps or hurts this book. As I went in both very aware of actual Greek mythology and generally critical of anyone who tries to take a modern twist on mythology in general, I was left a bit underwhelmed. It felt like there were a great deal of gods and goddesses simply dropped into the book for the sake of having them there, or to expose some trait or quality that you would have expected, knowing their history. As a reader, I was left with the feeling that were these "cameos" left out, so to speak, that the main plotline could be explored. As it was, the general plot was very predictable, right down to the big twist towards the end, and on the whole it felt like Greek mythology watered down and given a modern look. (Admittedly, I'm still not entirely sure what's up with Hades. He exhibited a lot of popular hunk traits, but there might be more reasons than that behind his personality. I wish we'd had time to see the whole of his history.)
On the whole, it's not a bad comic, and the premise itself is nice, but it's a story that could benefit a great deal from both deviation from Greek mythos and a bit more attention paid to the details.
January 19, 2012
This work was written by director Chris Nolen's sister-in-law and it's all right read (not the best nor the worst) and very well drawn compared to other Kickstart digest books. The concept is fine: Greek Gods in our current modern world. A heroine must fight the Gods to save the world. The character Apollo is drawn to look like Brad Pitt. The problem I had is the story displays early on that there is very little consequence with the characters and every character, true to their roots, has a motive. Usually its killing one another. If a God dies then why should I care? Because the story clearly demonstrated He/She will certainly come back.
December 14, 2014
I liked this book to a point. I love it is about Mythology and greek one at it. I like hera, some of the takes on the gods, the plot twists a lot, but I am a bit iffed at the need for romance. This is Athena. She barely met Hades (who was a married man at that) and suddenly, he was her true love? Really?
August 9, 2011
I would rather give it a 3.5 out of 5. This is a lot of fun and fast paced. From all the variants of greek mythology , this is one of the better ones.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews