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Once Upon A Time Machine #2
Once Upon a Time Machine Volume 2
“Ancient” Greece: the year 3016 AD. And 4079 AD. And 6060 AD. From the trials of Heracles to the love songs of Orpheus, the myths and gods of the past are reborn in wondrous and scarcely imaginable futures. Witness exciting new visions of the Greek tradition from the hands and minds of Ronald Wimberly (PRINCE OF CATS), Paul Pope (BATTLING BOY), Toby Cypress (RODD RACER), Conor McCreery (KILL SHAKESPEARE), Andrea Tsurumi (ACCIDENT!), Hugo & Nebula Award-winning science fiction author Michael Swanwick (STATIONS OF THE TIDE), and many more of today’s most inventive creators. Edited by Andrew Carl & Chris Stevens, of the Eisner & Harvey Award-winning LITTLE NEMO: DREAM ANOTHER DREAM.
224 pages, Paperback
First published April 11, 2018
2 people are currently reading
39 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Carl
18 books21 followersAndrew Carl is an Eisner & Harvey Award-winning editor & writer for comics and co-founder of Locust Moon Press. He is currently based in San Francisco.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 3, 2021
I liked these a fair bit better than the first volume's stories. They had a much tighter central theme, and better writing overall. I hope there'll be more.
June 2, 2018
There is finally, FINALLY, a sequel to Once Upon a Time Machine. Finally. Thank God.
Hopefully, there will be another volume too?
Pretty please.
Unlike the first volume, which dealt with a wide variety (and at times elastic definition) of fairy tales, this volume centers on Greek myths, though the setting isn’t ancient Greece but a futuristic world of some type. Like its predecessor, Volume 2 features story with a wide variety of characters – strong women, people of color, and gender-bending/swapping.
Therefore, Daedalus is a black man who is wants to time travel. Hercules is a woman, and Persephone is a space alien.
The best retellings and adaptations of well known tales keep a kernel or two, but also make us look at the story differently, and several of the adaptions here do that. I have long had problems with the story of Hercules and his labors, but Andrew Carl’s tale “The 12 Labors of Mech-Detective Heracles” illustrated by Sebastian Piriz with coloring by Paul Little and Letters by Cardinal Rae turns the tale slightly on its head and makes a far more powerful story for that. It addresses more directly the question of free will.
It is not the most haunting story either. The contenders for that title are “Persephone” and “Pygmalion”. While not haunting, “Daphne” is a timely recasting of Apollo’s “love story”.
Quite frankly, Mike Sgier’s “Andromeda” is now my favorite version of Perseus. It really, really is.
The artwork is varied but each illustrator does her and his best to match the illustrations to the story.
There were a couple misses for me, like the story about Hermes, but it is a pretty good collection.
Hopefully, there will be another volume too?
Pretty please.
Unlike the first volume, which dealt with a wide variety (and at times elastic definition) of fairy tales, this volume centers on Greek myths, though the setting isn’t ancient Greece but a futuristic world of some type. Like its predecessor, Volume 2 features story with a wide variety of characters – strong women, people of color, and gender-bending/swapping.
Therefore, Daedalus is a black man who is wants to time travel. Hercules is a woman, and Persephone is a space alien.
The best retellings and adaptations of well known tales keep a kernel or two, but also make us look at the story differently, and several of the adaptions here do that. I have long had problems with the story of Hercules and his labors, but Andrew Carl’s tale “The 12 Labors of Mech-Detective Heracles” illustrated by Sebastian Piriz with coloring by Paul Little and Letters by Cardinal Rae turns the tale slightly on its head and makes a far more powerful story for that. It addresses more directly the question of free will.
It is not the most haunting story either. The contenders for that title are “Persephone” and “Pygmalion”. While not haunting, “Daphne” is a timely recasting of Apollo’s “love story”.
Quite frankly, Mike Sgier’s “Andromeda” is now my favorite version of Perseus. It really, really is.
The artwork is varied but each illustrator does her and his best to match the illustrations to the story.
There were a couple misses for me, like the story about Hermes, but it is a pretty good collection.
September 5, 2018
Collection of short stories that have little to do with the theme at times and not very entertaining.
December 27, 2020
Really fun modern graphic novel adaptation of classic mythologies, volume 2 both are excellent and cover different stories
October 3, 2018
Icarus
A father-son team on a space voyage; guess which one doesn’t survive the trip?
Theseus and Metrotaurus
Theseus needs to board a train to meet his beloved. The metrotaurus isn’t having any of it!
Pandora
The Slaying of the Pseudors (Odysseus)
Odysseus returns home to find aliens have taken over and turned his family into pterodactyl-like creatures. The rest, as they say, is history!
Footsteps (Hermes)
The divine messenger cannot survive going digital. Or can he?
Arachne
Persephone
An alien heroine tries to convince her mother she loves Hades. A sad ending!
Hyperion
Flying Horse Style (Pegasus)
Why even a chimera isn’t a match for Pegasus!
Aphrodite
Daphne
Even a modern-day Zeus doesn’t know when to give up!
Minotaur
Hades
Andromeda
Andromeda isn’t going home and Perseus can go hang himself.
Eurydice
He tries to bring Eurydice back with a software.
The Muses
Game Changers (Athena and Poseidon)
Game developers try to bring back their creation to order.
Away Mission (Actaeon)
A friendship that survives several alien transformations until it doesn’t!
The Twelve Labors of Mech-Detective Heracles
She doesn’t know how to give up!
Pygmalion
The classic tale, except this time, Galatea returns the favor!
A Heavy Stone for all the Peoples (Sisyphus)
A tale as old as time, but with a twist!
Eros
Jason and the Argonauts
Gang wars break out over the golden fleece err jacket.
Metal Illiad
Achille’s exploits at the Battle of Troy turned into a comic strip.
Cerberus
Cosmogony (Uranus)
The dominant species always ends up wrecking the world!
Ares
The Long Bow (Telemachus)
Is it set in Ancient Greece or the modern times, who can tell? But Ulysses comes through for his son!
Zeus at Large
A comic strip about Zeus’ sexcapades.
Riddle of the Sphinx
I loved all the illustrations and most of the stories in this comic compilation.
Also reviewed at:
BL
BS
WP
LI
ME
FB
A father-son team on a space voyage; guess which one doesn’t survive the trip?
Theseus and Metrotaurus
Theseus needs to board a train to meet his beloved. The metrotaurus isn’t having any of it!
Pandora
The Slaying of the Pseudors (Odysseus)
Odysseus returns home to find aliens have taken over and turned his family into pterodactyl-like creatures. The rest, as they say, is history!
Footsteps (Hermes)
The divine messenger cannot survive going digital. Or can he?
Arachne
Persephone
An alien heroine tries to convince her mother she loves Hades. A sad ending!
Hyperion
Flying Horse Style (Pegasus)
Why even a chimera isn’t a match for Pegasus!
Aphrodite
Daphne
Even a modern-day Zeus doesn’t know when to give up!
Minotaur
Hades
Andromeda
Andromeda isn’t going home and Perseus can go hang himself.
Eurydice
He tries to bring Eurydice back with a software.
The Muses
Game Changers (Athena and Poseidon)
Game developers try to bring back their creation to order.
Away Mission (Actaeon)
A friendship that survives several alien transformations until it doesn’t!
The Twelve Labors of Mech-Detective Heracles
She doesn’t know how to give up!
Pygmalion
The classic tale, except this time, Galatea returns the favor!
A Heavy Stone for all the Peoples (Sisyphus)
A tale as old as time, but with a twist!
Eros
Jason and the Argonauts
Gang wars break out over the golden fleece err jacket.
Metal Illiad
Achille’s exploits at the Battle of Troy turned into a comic strip.
Cerberus
Cosmogony (Uranus)
The dominant species always ends up wrecking the world!
Ares
The Long Bow (Telemachus)
Is it set in Ancient Greece or the modern times, who can tell? But Ulysses comes through for his son!
Zeus at Large
A comic strip about Zeus’ sexcapades.
Riddle of the Sphinx
I loved all the illustrations and most of the stories in this comic compilation.
Also reviewed at:
BL
BS
WP
LI
ME
FB
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 10, 2018
Some really awesome stories with amazing artwork that I would love to read full comic books about...and then some stories I didn't get or like at all, that I breezed through. Overall, a fun collection!!
February 3, 2019
Futuristic Greek myth mash up. Vignettes, some beautiful, some okay, some interesting some obtuse. Overall good.
March 13, 2022
Much better than the first volume.
January 8, 2023
Didn't enjoy this one as much as the first one. Maybe because I'm not too knowledgeable about Greek legends.
March 17, 2024
The art is frequently astonishing but my god almost every bit of writing is just corny old nonsense. Hard going to put it mildly
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews