The Odyssey

by Seymour Chwast

Seymour Chwast, an icon of the graphic design world, has delighted audiences with his adaptations of The Divine Comedy and The Canterbury Tales. Now he turns to Homer's Odyssey, one of the best-known stories in history. The tale is one that begs for visual interpretation, filled with mythic characters we all know well: the Cyclops, the Lotus-Eaters, the cannibal Laestrygonians, the Sirens, the monster Scylla (beside the whirlpool Charybdis), Poseidon, Athena, and Zeus.... Featuring a bold black, white, and blue interior design throughout, imbued with his own sly humor, The Odyssey brings us a dazzling new vision of one of the epic journeys.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Fiction, Classics, Graphic Novels Comics, Young Adult, Mythology

128 pages, Hardcover

First published September 4, 2012

Reviews

[Autumn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a silly way to tell this classic tale, but I enjoyed it as a quick read.

[JoLene · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to read Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad and when I was picking up the book at the library, I saw this graphic novel. The Penelopiad is Penolope's side of the story, based on The Odyssey. Since it had been a long time since I read The Odyssey, I thought a graphic novel would be a fun way to refresh my memory.

Unfortunately, I can't say that I really enjoyed this version of the story. It did provide a bit of refresher with some of the key players, but I really didn't understand why they "updated" the story so that they were travelling in planes, cars and rocket ships --- there didn't seem to be a context for this change as they were still going to the same old places covered in The Odyssey. I realize that Chwast has a body of work that introduces the classics in graphic novel form -- perhaps to appeal to young readers --- but The Illiad and the The Odyssey don't really need to be dumbed down.

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seymour Chwast's graphic adaptation of Homer's The Odyssey is, of course, about Odysseus and his journey home after the Trojan War. Chwast makes the story into a space opera, but it retains most of the key elements.

I have never read Homer's The Odyssey, and I found Chwast's version to be pretty confusing. It felt like he left a lot out for the graphic novel, and several times, I think he left out so much that only someone who already knew the story would be able to follow this version. I did enjoy the story, and I intend to read the original (someday!).

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun version with flash gordon rayguns and spaceships.

[Shaun · Rating 2 out of 5]

This graphic novel just didn't work for me. The movement of the Odyssey into a Space Opera setting for me worked, but it doesn't play that much of a role, other than being a decorative cover for the original story. The layout is often confusing as well, with some panels being unclear as to where they should be progressed from or to. It's an odd book, and it takes a lot of the powerful moments of the original and waters them down to a playful jaunt through the classic tale.

I am also not a huge fan of the art style, but it doesn't detract from the storytelling in my opinion. I should also add that I don't think it adds anything either, just another mode of presentation.

Not a bad book, just a poor reskin.

[Jifu · Rating 2 out of 5]

I appreciated what Chwast was going for here - but for me, it didn't really end up working out. I feel like it would have been better if the Flash Gordon-style motif had been more fully embraced, instead of the way it was unevenly seasoned throughout the illustrations mostly via spaceships, laser guns and many of the outfits. That, and the layout honestly got confusing quite frequently, and I found myself lost at several points even though this was a pretty condensed telling of the ancient classic.

Again, I have appreciation for what was intended here - but I ultimately wasn't a fan. I feel like nothing was really significantly added to theThe Odyssey as I know it and understand it.

[Austin Jimison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This my first foray into Chwast's very stylish world. I loved the illustrations and stylized representations of everything from the ship that Odysseus sailed through the sea (of stars) with, to what he seems to be wearing and fighting with, throughout his epic tale.

I'm a fan of the original story, and I know that if I didn't have the background I would have been very lost reading this re-telling. That being said I would absolutely recommend to anyone with an affinity for Greek Mythology that wants to simply revist these fond stories in a quick apertif sort of way.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Circe sent us on our way to Hades with a fresh wind. Elpenor, one of my men, heard us marching to the ship to leave. He woke and left to join us. Drunk, he forgot he was on a roof. He fell. He made his own way to Hades.

Book 11: Down the Black Hole

The ship traveled to the river of ocean where the Cimmerians abide.

There's a lot of creativity in Seymour Chwast's graphic adaptation of Homer's The Odyssey, but it's not that great. The problem is his childish, cartoony illustrations--think Odysseus as Buck Rogers and the setting a 50's themed space serial--doesn't do much for the story. As for the story, Chwast paraphrases events to the point where even a hint of the old epic is buried and forgotten. A real disappointment. How can you mess up a graphic adaptation of The Odyssey?

[Min · Rating 3 out of 5]

True to Chwast's style, there is a slight change in scenery, and the story is condensed almost to the point of being a cheerless outline. This is a slight nudge better than the Divine Comedy.
At this point, the condensation of such lengthy stories boiled down to nearly nothing makes it great for a study guide, or a starting point to adding one's own details when telling it to a child.

[Brenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art style was very fun but I feel like this book didn't do a very good job conveying the story. If I hadn't already known the story of the Odyssey, I feel like I would have been very confused and lost in what was happening and why. Which is a shame. I feel like a graphic novel of the Odyssey would help make the story more digestible for a larger audience, but this wasn't it chief.

[Jenni K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfection ! Graphic novel meets the classics !
Illustrations and content are outstanding
A new appreciation for a graphic novel approach and delivery of a very classic must-read

Where were this to be added to reading lists in middle to high school students - oh wow, a page turner that all can understand and appreciate

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting, anachronistic graphic novel about The Odyssey. I'm planning on using this text to help front load the Odyssey to my students, so hopefully this helps. Although the original text is written in medias res, I don't think this graphic novel follows that completely.

[Dee Robb · Rating 4 out of 5]

The concept of this book was amazing, but the execution was a bit weak. You must know the original story to follow the plot at all. If graphic retellings of classics you know and love are your thing, then this is a great book for you!

[kathe · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nope.
This one just did not work for me. I am not opposed to changing classics. However, this one made no sense to me. However, for a younger audience who haven't read the original or are not familiar with it at all, it might work.
The graphics weren't my favorite either.

[Hannah Prince · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am familiar with Homer and the epic poems, and I found the construction of the story confusing enough to put down and not want to pick back up. There were also some inconsistent visual elements that distracted me.

[Heather Culley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read it in school, and I have no memory of the last two chapters AS HOMER INTENDED.

[Darren U · Rating 4 out of 5]

It kinda bizarre to have space ship and gun in the troy war

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the artwork and will look for more by this adapter/illustrator.

[Grace Walter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Visually interesting, but almost always pulls back from the emotionally impactful moments in favor of the easy joke.

[April Dickinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a weird and violent story. Definitely preferred reading this condensed and illustrated version cuz now I know I’d never read the “real thing.”

[Mark Opalski · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Getting into to trouble and out again is really everyone’s story isn’t it?”

[Carolyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a miss for me. Too brief. It was more like a point form summary.

[Felipe Muller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Violencia, violencia, violencia.
Y los dioses.
Violencia, violencia, violencia.
Y el olvido.

[Ilary · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dnf. I disegni sono osceni. La trama è solo un “riassunto” del testo originale, senza nessun guizzo creativo

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is Homer, played for laughs, but not in any obnoxious way. Chwast's interpretation uses many of the comic book tropes to good effect: thought bubbles, side bars, explanatory arrows and thunderbolts. The story chugs along enlivened by the conceit that Odysseus has a space ship and he and Telemachus battle the suitors with Ray guns. There is some contextual female nudity, but it's hard to imagine anyone in a swivet over Chwast's simplistic rendering of a half circle with a dot.

What I can't forgive: and what knocked this from a high four to a three, is some missed opportunities that should have been total soft-balls for a graphic novel.

In a climactic scene Odysseus wins Penelope's hand by shooting an arrow through a dozen axes. The text is confusing, the contest is hard to imagine, so it is a perfect opportunity for a graphic novel to shine, but sadly a missed one. Chwast pictures a dozen axes balanced on their handles, each with a hole through the head of the axe, with the handle protruding directly above and below the hole. ( How could that work?) It makes no visual or physical sense. Less than two minutes on google revealed scholars believe the hole the arrows shot through were the holes in the head of the axe that the handle fits in; these were axe-heads without handles. Now I get it.

One of the most famous pieces of trivia from the Odyssey is the secret-fact only Odysseus knew about his and Penelope's marital bed. It is his knowledge that the bed can not be moved because one of it's posts was a living olive tree that he built the bed, and then the house, around, which convinces Penelope the beggar is really the returned Odysseus. So why would Chwast picture the bed on the second floor and show it with ordinary posts just a few frames before Odysseus describes it as a rooted olive tree? Very perplexing and irritating.

And a final minor quibble is- why not name Odysseus' dog? Argos has been famous for centuries for being faithful. Why deprive readers of his name?

[Kerfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

The graphic novel is the perfect format for escapades involving the whims of the Greek Gods and Goddesses.

Chwast makes Odysseus a space superhero complete with cape and airships. Penelope's suitors are depicted as an array of wonderfully sleazy salesmen in the middle of the flow chart of Odysseus' journey from Troy to "The End". Along the way, I enjoyed Chwast's interpretations of everything from the Trojan Horse to King Alcinous and Queen Arete's palace, the Cyclops, Circe, the ghosts of Hades, the Sirens, Scylla, and the final battle in Ithaca.

A visual feast of smiles.

Oh, and the story's pretty good too.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This sis a great little summary of the Odyssey. It's strangely pretty darn precise. It is kind of a graphic novel retro futuristic spark notes version of the Oddessy. It's got s few clever dry humor moments and would be a great addition to any high school or college class that uses The Odyssey as a text.

I found that the simplistic drawing style was a nice art form. Some pages worked better than others- but it definitely is an impressive simplification of the imagery as well as plot and virtue.

Worth a look!

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chwast gives us a marvelous retelling of the Odyssey, keeping characters and scenes intact and distilling the great work down to its essence in a fast moving graphic novel format. I think college students and adults who read this in high school and want a quick recap would thoroughly enjoy this.

Note to concerned parents: some scenes/characters look much more startling in graphic novel format than when merely read about in antiquated poetic form. Racy elements are more racy and so forth.

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this in about an hour. I haven't read anything other than this version yet, but plan on it. I got the point of it. Some of the pictures were a little corny I guess. Caution though, if you have kids, there is some nudity in the pictures. The biggest thing I hate about books like this is I spend more time looking at the pictures as opposed to reading. Usually why I have to read books like this twice. So I can remember what the book is about.

[Marta Veenhof · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the part in the epilogue during the dialogue between the Prince and Homer:

Prince: It's a great story but I need you to explain one thing to me: why does Odysseus always do things that get him in trouble to begin with? (...)

Homer: Bu that's why we care about him. Who would care about someone who's always right? (...)

Prince: Getting into trouble and out of it again is really everyone's story, isn't it?