What do you think?
Rate this book
Athena Voltaire
Athena Voltaire Compendium
In the knuckle-dusting style of classic pulp adventure comes Athena Voltaire, the beautiful globetrotting aviatrix who takes on Nazis, secret societies, zombies, and unspeakable occult creatures! From sunken galleons to haunted mountain-top lairs to hidden jungle temples, our heroine faces peril at every turn as she races to save the world. This whopping tome rescripts and remasters Athena's adventures from the long-running, Eisner-nominated comic by Steve Bryant, including over fifty pages of brand new material, as well as pin-us, concept art, and process sketches.
240 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 23, 2014
4 people are currently reading
43 people want to read
About the author
Steve Bryant
69 books9 followersSteve Bryant is the Eisner and Manning Award-nominated writer/artist of Athena Voltaire from Dark Horse Comics. Bryant has also completed projects for IDW, Boom! Studios, Ape Entertainment, and others, as well as extensive work in the roleplaying game industry. He lives in the suburban wilds of Central Illinois with his son, girlfriend, dog, and cat.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
December 26, 2017
Athena Voltaire is a terrific noir-inspired pulp adventure graphic novel featuring a busty raven-haired aviator/adventurer, part Doc Savage part Lara Croft with curves Wonder Woman would be proud of and a fighting spirit to match anyone. It's a collection of stories set in the WW2era that has Athena fighting Nazis, vampires, werewolves, spies, magical spirits summoned in ancient temples with settings from Southeast Asia to the Great Plains. Lots of fast-paced action and great artwork.
January 21, 2015
To be perfectly honest, I don’t believe I’ve ever even heard of the character of Athena Voltaire. Oh, I’ve no doubt that – as a long-time comic book reader – I probably happened across an errant issue of hers here or there, but for reasons I couldn’t say nothing ever quite either stuck in my mind nor tweaked my interest. That’s surprising to me because I have an honest and open love affair with most things pulp, and having now digested this collection of adventures I’ll admit they’re right up my alley.
Want to know more?
(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters. If you’re the type of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last three paragraphs for my final assessment. If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
From Dark Horse Comics’ publicity materials: “In the knuckle-dusting style of classic pulp adventure comes Athena Voltaire, the beautiful globetrotting aviatrix who takes on Nazis, secret societies, zombies, and unspeakable occult creatures! From sunken galleons to haunted mountain-top lairs to hidden jungle temples, our heroine faces peril at every turn as she races to save the world.”
Sometimes the best way to go about crafting one’s general impressions for a review is to start with a basic question (or set of questions): Do you like Indiana Jones? Do you like Lara Croft? Were ‘The Mummy’ series of movies starring Brendan Fraser to your liking? Do you hunger for the works of Robert E. Howard or maybe Edgar Rice Burroughs? Is ‘The Shadow’ a character you’re familiar with? Simply, do you like pulp?
Athena Voltaire is an adventurer drawn from the same cloth of so many other pulp heroes of old. She’s the daughter to a master magician, meaning she knows more than a thing or two about sleight of hand. She spent some of her youth traveling with a Wild West show, so she’s good with pistols. In her day job, she’s a world-renowned aviator, meaning she’ll go anywhere, anytime, for practically any mission.
And she’s stone cold beautiful to boot!
I’m a bit astonished that no motion picture studio has come calling to creator Steve Bryant asking for the rights to commit a big-budget Voltaire tale to the silver screen (maybe they have?) because this looks to me like the kind of property audiences flock to. When so many other comic book franchises have been pilfered for the cineplexes, I guess in some ways it’s charming to know that this one hasn’t. That’s why I’d strongly encourage readers to pick up a copy of this today and explore these humble little yarns for all they’re worth.
These Voltaire stories back a lot of punch in only a few pages. Bryant puts his heroine through her paces, incorporating such things a secret societies, hidden temples, mythological monsters, zombies, Nazis, vampires, werewolves, and ancient mysticism into tales that move at the speed of adventure. While Bryant’s storytelling sensibilities may not be to everyone’s liking – action unspools so quickly that I occasionally found it a bit difficult to understand immediately what happened, and some panels require an awful lot of exposition (speech bubbles) in order to set the particulars in motion – I think it works just fine given the subject matter and the spirit of old-style escapades captured here.
For those needing it spelled out perfectly, this compendium collects “The Brotherhood of Shambalha,” “The Feathered Serpent,” “The Isle of the Dead,” “The Vampire Queen,” and “The Immortal Power” all between the covers. The afterward by Bryant explains that he put in three years of work getting these all together and up-to-date with some new artwork and characters; and it concludes with a hearty promise of ‘more to come’ from the lovely Ms. Voltaire!
Bravo!
The ATHENA VOLTAIRE COMPENDIUM is published by Dark Horse Comics (with some cooperation or permission from Sequential Pulp Comics). While there are a variety of supporting personnel involved with the various individual stories included in this assortment, the stories are all penned by Steve Bryant; colorists Chad Fidler and John Hunt recur fairly consistently throughout. This volume includes an introduction from Tim Seeley, and there’s an afterward from Bryant himself, along with a gallery of covers, pencil sketches, and pinups of the lovely Ms. Voltaire in all her glory.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. So many of these ATHENA VOLTAIRE stories are just pure, good, old-fashioned pulp done for a modern day audience. They offer some good storytelling set against some exotic locales, but the one thing they feature universally is our lovely, daring heroine Athena in all her colorful splendor. She’s swell to look at, and she never makes a bad decision. If you have any interest in the pulps, then you’d do well to pick up a copy of this collection today.
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Dark Horse Comics provided me with a digital reading copy of ATHENA VOLTAIRE COMPENDIUM by request for the expressed purposes of completing this review; and their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.
Want to know more?
(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters. If you’re the type of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last three paragraphs for my final assessment. If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
From Dark Horse Comics’ publicity materials: “In the knuckle-dusting style of classic pulp adventure comes Athena Voltaire, the beautiful globetrotting aviatrix who takes on Nazis, secret societies, zombies, and unspeakable occult creatures! From sunken galleons to haunted mountain-top lairs to hidden jungle temples, our heroine faces peril at every turn as she races to save the world.”
Sometimes the best way to go about crafting one’s general impressions for a review is to start with a basic question (or set of questions): Do you like Indiana Jones? Do you like Lara Croft? Were ‘The Mummy’ series of movies starring Brendan Fraser to your liking? Do you hunger for the works of Robert E. Howard or maybe Edgar Rice Burroughs? Is ‘The Shadow’ a character you’re familiar with? Simply, do you like pulp?
Athena Voltaire is an adventurer drawn from the same cloth of so many other pulp heroes of old. She’s the daughter to a master magician, meaning she knows more than a thing or two about sleight of hand. She spent some of her youth traveling with a Wild West show, so she’s good with pistols. In her day job, she’s a world-renowned aviator, meaning she’ll go anywhere, anytime, for practically any mission.
And she’s stone cold beautiful to boot!
I’m a bit astonished that no motion picture studio has come calling to creator Steve Bryant asking for the rights to commit a big-budget Voltaire tale to the silver screen (maybe they have?) because this looks to me like the kind of property audiences flock to. When so many other comic book franchises have been pilfered for the cineplexes, I guess in some ways it’s charming to know that this one hasn’t. That’s why I’d strongly encourage readers to pick up a copy of this today and explore these humble little yarns for all they’re worth.
These Voltaire stories back a lot of punch in only a few pages. Bryant puts his heroine through her paces, incorporating such things a secret societies, hidden temples, mythological monsters, zombies, Nazis, vampires, werewolves, and ancient mysticism into tales that move at the speed of adventure. While Bryant’s storytelling sensibilities may not be to everyone’s liking – action unspools so quickly that I occasionally found it a bit difficult to understand immediately what happened, and some panels require an awful lot of exposition (speech bubbles) in order to set the particulars in motion – I think it works just fine given the subject matter and the spirit of old-style escapades captured here.
For those needing it spelled out perfectly, this compendium collects “The Brotherhood of Shambalha,” “The Feathered Serpent,” “The Isle of the Dead,” “The Vampire Queen,” and “The Immortal Power” all between the covers. The afterward by Bryant explains that he put in three years of work getting these all together and up-to-date with some new artwork and characters; and it concludes with a hearty promise of ‘more to come’ from the lovely Ms. Voltaire!
Bravo!
The ATHENA VOLTAIRE COMPENDIUM is published by Dark Horse Comics (with some cooperation or permission from Sequential Pulp Comics). While there are a variety of supporting personnel involved with the various individual stories included in this assortment, the stories are all penned by Steve Bryant; colorists Chad Fidler and John Hunt recur fairly consistently throughout. This volume includes an introduction from Tim Seeley, and there’s an afterward from Bryant himself, along with a gallery of covers, pencil sketches, and pinups of the lovely Ms. Voltaire in all her glory.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. So many of these ATHENA VOLTAIRE stories are just pure, good, old-fashioned pulp done for a modern day audience. They offer some good storytelling set against some exotic locales, but the one thing they feature universally is our lovely, daring heroine Athena in all her colorful splendor. She’s swell to look at, and she never makes a bad decision. If you have any interest in the pulps, then you’d do well to pick up a copy of this collection today.
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Dark Horse Comics provided me with a digital reading copy of ATHENA VOLTAIRE COMPENDIUM by request for the expressed purposes of completing this review; and their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.
January 23, 2015
Athena Voltaire is an aviatrix heroine who fights against Nazi's, vampires and mythical creatures while she earns a paycheck. She is beautiful and buxom and isn't distracted by the onslaught of attention that she receives from her male counterparts.
Bryant uses traditional pulp comic story-telling tactics with clear cut heroes and villains and turns it on it's head with a female protagonist. He uses puns and quick witted sarcasm- characteristic to story telling of the 1940's in which the stories are set.
The illustrations are bold and flowing, concise and crisp and give readers a great sense of the various exotic locales where Athena travels. Reminiscent of Indiana Jones, the Athena Voltaire stories are a great read for fans of escapist comics and those who respond to a direct and thrilling comic book.
Bryant uses traditional pulp comic story-telling tactics with clear cut heroes and villains and turns it on it's head with a female protagonist. He uses puns and quick witted sarcasm- characteristic to story telling of the 1940's in which the stories are set.
The illustrations are bold and flowing, concise and crisp and give readers a great sense of the various exotic locales where Athena travels. Reminiscent of Indiana Jones, the Athena Voltaire stories are a great read for fans of escapist comics and those who respond to a direct and thrilling comic book.
April 17, 2015
Like a lot of my reads lately, stumbled on this at work, drawn in by some vibrant, colorful art, decided to give it a shot. A collection of comics found originally on the web, Athena Voltaire is a traditional “cliffhanger” style of neo-pulp adventure, and doesn't really offer anything you haven’t seen before if you’ve seen Indiana Jones, the Mummy, or other such nostalgic action romps.
As a pastiche, Athena Voltaire does not deviate from the script set up by these prior pastiches. All of the stories here follow the standard formula, using all the standard tropes; someone hires our heroine to go on an exotic expedition of some kind, there’s an occult menace of some sort, and the Nazis/vampires/Nazis show up to all be confronted by some big boss monster/fight. The goodies are good and the baddies are bad, and often, there’s a zeppelin. As can be seen, this brings nothing new to the hoary genre. Aside from the attempt to subvert the stereotype by having this two-fisted adventurer be a woman, little of the genre’s attitudes towards race and sex are challenged; aside from Athena, the only two other women in the story, for instance, are a vampire seductress and a Nazi she-wolf.
Aside from her gender, there’s nothing interesting about aviatrix Athena Voltaire; even Indy was afraid of snakes, but Athena is never challenged, which is part of the fun of one of these “cliffhanger” style as our heroes prevail against death defying odds; here, Athena never feels in real danger, she is never rattled and is less a character than a plot convenience. After never missing with a gun in each hand and outflying German and Japanese aces alike, the one thing Athena cannot control is her role in the story; she is purely reactive, from being hired by some old acquaintance or another to do a thing, being inevitably betrayed, to reacting to what the villains do. It is very much set up like an RPG session, with a plot setup followed by combat scenes every few pages as the PCs, I mean, Athena Voltaire and her sidekicks, respond to the next “encounter” the GM sends at her, along with a few info dumps.
The art is pretty solid, as befits an artist coming from a gaming book background, but often come across as a bit stiff, particularly in the expressions of the characters, who often seem oddly unimpressed by the gunfights and werewolf attacks happening around them. In the end, Athena Voltaire can be a fun little diversion if you're looking something in the pulp adventure vein, but there’s not too much beyond that.
As a pastiche, Athena Voltaire does not deviate from the script set up by these prior pastiches. All of the stories here follow the standard formula, using all the standard tropes; someone hires our heroine to go on an exotic expedition of some kind, there’s an occult menace of some sort, and the Nazis/vampires/Nazis show up to all be confronted by some big boss monster/fight. The goodies are good and the baddies are bad, and often, there’s a zeppelin. As can be seen, this brings nothing new to the hoary genre. Aside from the attempt to subvert the stereotype by having this two-fisted adventurer be a woman, little of the genre’s attitudes towards race and sex are challenged; aside from Athena, the only two other women in the story, for instance, are a vampire seductress and a Nazi she-wolf.
Aside from her gender, there’s nothing interesting about aviatrix Athena Voltaire; even Indy was afraid of snakes, but Athena is never challenged, which is part of the fun of one of these “cliffhanger” style as our heroes prevail against death defying odds; here, Athena never feels in real danger, she is never rattled and is less a character than a plot convenience. After never missing with a gun in each hand and outflying German and Japanese aces alike, the one thing Athena cannot control is her role in the story; she is purely reactive, from being hired by some old acquaintance or another to do a thing, being inevitably betrayed, to reacting to what the villains do. It is very much set up like an RPG session, with a plot setup followed by combat scenes every few pages as the PCs, I mean, Athena Voltaire and her sidekicks, respond to the next “encounter” the GM sends at her, along with a few info dumps.
The art is pretty solid, as befits an artist coming from a gaming book background, but often come across as a bit stiff, particularly in the expressions of the characters, who often seem oddly unimpressed by the gunfights and werewolf attacks happening around them. In the end, Athena Voltaire can be a fun little diversion if you're looking something in the pulp adventure vein, but there’s not too much beyond that.
January 19, 2015
Athena Voltaire pertence àquela rara categoria de comics que são aquilo que pretendem ser. Clara homenagem sem pretensões ao pulp de aventuras, mergulha-nos nuns míticos anos 30 cheios de aventuras em paragens distantes. Mistérios arqueológicos, segredos ocultos, sociedades secretas, nazis sedentos do poder conferido por artefactos míticos, civilizações subterrâneas e até sedutoras vampiras europeias transplantadas para o México são os desafios que a intrépida aviadora terá de enfrentar. Tem o seu quê de Indiana Jones ou Doc Savage de saias, percorrendo o planeta em aventuras. Estas homenagens são as mais obvias, apesar dos filmes de terror da Universal, as milhentas aventuras nas selvas e até os esqueletos espadachins de Ray Harryhausen encontrem um recanto neste comic delicioso. São histórias simples e nostálgicas, desenhadas com um grafismo que poderia ser mais elaborado. Athena Voltaire tem sido um webcomic por vezes editado em séries limitadas, e é esse o material coligido neste Compendium, estando prometida uma série inédita da personagem, editada pela Dark Horse.
January 28, 2015
I could not get over the drawing, especially of the humans and dropped it. The story (the part that I read) was a typical mash of indiana/bond adventure without anything to keep me hooked passed the drawing.
January 27, 2015
12/30/14 Review tk.
1/26/15 http://www.iwantmytwodollars.com/2015...
1/26/15 http://www.iwantmytwodollars.com/2015...
February 2, 2015
A pulp heroine is pretty rare and its nice to get all the material in a nice hardcover
July 12, 2018
Exciting and fun. Some very funny moments. Some horror.
Wonderful artwork. She’s a new character but she could have been created in the 1930’s alongside The Shadow.
Steve Bryant writes and draws.
Wonderful artwork. She’s a new character but she could have been created in the 1930’s alongside The Shadow.
Steve Bryant writes and draws.
October 14, 2023
I'm a sucker for Indiana Jones and anything similar to it, and Steve delivered with Athena Voltaire!
Athena is an independent aviatrix who gets hired to do odd jobs that need a pilot. Across her adventures, she is shadowed by the mysterious Brotherhood of Shambalha, a group that is invested in her adventures and helping her to fulfill her as of yet unknown destiny.
I really enjoy Athena as a character! She's so fun to read, and I loved her sense of humour. She evolved really well over this compendium, even with all the supernatural things that she was faced with. I did want her to maybe freak out a bit in some of these situations where she was faced with something wild that she never imagined, but Athena is cool as a cucumber and it'll take more than some skinwalkers and a giant winged serpent to ruffle her feathers!
I loved the art style of this a lot. It drew my eye immediately when I saw it, and I was immersed in Athena's world right from the start. There were a few facial expressions that seemed a little off here and there, but it didn't really detract from my experience at all! The bright colours and detailed line work really brought everyone to life for me in a way that was new and exciting to see.
I can't wait to see where Athena's adventures take her next and how Ada comes back around to be a thorn in Athena's side!
Athena is an independent aviatrix who gets hired to do odd jobs that need a pilot. Across her adventures, she is shadowed by the mysterious Brotherhood of Shambalha, a group that is invested in her adventures and helping her to fulfill her as of yet unknown destiny.
I really enjoy Athena as a character! She's so fun to read, and I loved her sense of humour. She evolved really well over this compendium, even with all the supernatural things that she was faced with. I did want her to maybe freak out a bit in some of these situations where she was faced with something wild that she never imagined, but Athena is cool as a cucumber and it'll take more than some skinwalkers and a giant winged serpent to ruffle her feathers!
I loved the art style of this a lot. It drew my eye immediately when I saw it, and I was immersed in Athena's world right from the start. There were a few facial expressions that seemed a little off here and there, but it didn't really detract from my experience at all! The bright colours and detailed line work really brought everyone to life for me in a way that was new and exciting to see.
I can't wait to see where Athena's adventures take her next and how Ada comes back around to be a thorn in Athena's side!
August 13, 2021
The stories are nice and fun, but the artwork does nothing to help the storytelling. In fact, it hinders it greatly. The artwork is incredibly stiff and whenever there's any action scenes, it feels like you're just looking at still life photographs and not a climatic battle.
June 7, 2018
I liked the character and the situations but it felt choppy.
October 15, 2015
This was one of the books that I was turned on to at C2E2 2015. I flipped through the pages and like the idea of the character and the art so much that I also bought a piece of the art.
I finally got around to reading it and am glad that I did.
Athena Voltaire is a woman that combines the characteristics of Han Solo and Indiana Jones. She is an Aviatrix who quick with her wits, good with a gun, and always keeps her cool.
This book is packed with five stories of her exploits that have a slight tracking between them. She ends up working multiple times with the Brotherhood of Shambalha to stop the Nazi's from gaining supernatural powers and creatures to fight on their side.
The art here is really good and really brings Athena to life. The characters and settings jump off the page. The stories are fun and interesting and I blew through them during a couple of lunches.
The book itself if of really good quality too. The cover really stands out and it is very sturdy with a really nice quality of paper inside. I don't often notice these things, but except from the size, I would put this on par with the things like Library Editions.
It sounded like there would be more Athena Voltaire to come, and I really hope that is the case.
I finally got around to reading it and am glad that I did.
Athena Voltaire is a woman that combines the characteristics of Han Solo and Indiana Jones. She is an Aviatrix who quick with her wits, good with a gun, and always keeps her cool.
This book is packed with five stories of her exploits that have a slight tracking between them. She ends up working multiple times with the Brotherhood of Shambalha to stop the Nazi's from gaining supernatural powers and creatures to fight on their side.
The art here is really good and really brings Athena to life. The characters and settings jump off the page. The stories are fun and interesting and I blew through them during a couple of lunches.
The book itself if of really good quality too. The cover really stands out and it is very sturdy with a really nice quality of paper inside. I don't often notice these things, but except from the size, I would put this on par with the things like Library Editions.
It sounded like there would be more Athena Voltaire to come, and I really hope that is the case.
July 6, 2018
The female 1940's Indiana Jones style pulp fiction heroine has been done before, but this is the one that stands out to me. This comic compendium was well drawn and had good story lines. I only wish it had been longer. The character of Athena Voltaire is fascinating. The daughter of a stage magician who has traveled with various shows and barnstormers throughout her life has experiences that help her in her various predicaments. I particularly like the one line, "Did you know that Harry Houdini was my Godfather?"
January 29, 2015
While the premise seems to be one that would be tired or stale, it's not at all. This would make a great ongoing adventure series, if Bryant had the time and opportunity. Interviewed the artist for the podcast.
June 20, 2015
This story is a combination of Indiana Jones and Lara Croft without the gratuitous T and A. Very strong storytelling and historically accurate to the period. I am looking forward to the next Athena Voltaire novel.
January 24, 2015
Full review on HorrorTalk.com: http://www.horrortalk.com/comic-revie...
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews