Olympus

Olympus #1-2

by Geoff Johns, Kris Grimminger, Jackson Guice (Artist)

OLYMPIAN GODS. LEGENDARY MONSTERS. NOWHERE TO RUN. An action-packed tale as epic as the legends that spawned it.

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In this high-octane adventure, chaos is unleashed when a group of brash archaeology graduate students and a team of ruthless mercenaries are shipwrecked together on the legendary Mount Olympus - a mountainous island populated by the deadliest monsters known to Greek mythology. Written by Geoff Johns ("Green Lantern," "Superman") and Kris Grimminger ("Witchblade," "The Possessed"), with vivid line art by Butch Guice ("Captain America," "Ninjak").

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Fiction

116 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Geoff Johns originally hails from Detroit, Michigan. He attended Michigan State University, where he earned a degree in Media Arts and Film. He moved to Los Angeles in the late 1990s in search of work within the film industry. Through perseverance, Geoff ended up as the assistant to Richard Donner, working on Conspiracy Theory and Lethal Weapon 4. During that time, he also began his comics career writing Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. and JSA (co-written with David S. Goyer) for DC Comics. He worked with Richard Donner for four years, leaving the company to pursue writing full-time.

His first comics assignments led to a critically acclaimed five-year run on the The Flash. Since then, he has quickly become one of the most popular and prolific comics writers today, working on such titles including a highly successful re-imagining of Green Lantern, Action Comics (co-written with Richard Donner), Teen Titans, Justice Society of America, Infinite Crisis and the experimental breakout hit series 52 for DC with Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid. Geoff received the Wizard Fan Award for Breakout Talent of 2002 and Writer of the Year for 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 as well as the CBG Writer of the Year 2003 thru 2005, 2007 and CBG Best Comic Book Series for JSA 2001 thru 2005. Geoff also developed BLADE: THE SERIES with David S. Goyer, as well as penned the acclaimed “Legion” episode of SMALLVILLE. He also served as staff writer for the fourth season of ROBOT CHICKEN.

Geoff recently became a New York Times Bestselling author with the graphic novel Superman: Brainiac with art by Gary Frank.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reminds of those old Lost World / Greek mythology type Ray Harryhausen movies. Some archeology students and some pirates get transported to an island where they encounter all of the major Greek myths. It's all pretty surface level writing, almost as if it was a treatment for a movie (which it very well could have started out as).

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eine Archäologie-Dozentin und drei ihrer Schüler verbringen den letzten freien Tag auf dem Mittelmeer, als ihr Boot von Piraten überfallen wird und zugleich plötzlich wie aus dem Nichts ein gewaltiger Sturm aufzieht. Ihr Boot wird an den Strand einer Insel getrieben, wo die gemischte Truppe reichlich Abenteuer zu bestehen hat. Schnell wird klar, dass eine gefundene Amphore die Büchse der Pandora ist. Die Rettung der Gruppe hängt davon ab, dass sie auf dem Berg Olymp, der das Zentrum der Insel bildet, an ihren richtigen Platz gebracht wird. Bis dahin machen Zyklopen, Seemonster, Medusen, Harpyen und der Minotraurus unseren Abenteurern das Leben schwer.
Die Story führt im Schweinsgalopp durch die griechische Mythologie und erinnert an Lara Croft.
Kurzweilig und unterhaltsam ist sie erzählt, nicht mehr, aber auch nicht weniger.
Die Zeichnungen von Butch Guice in Kombi mit der Kolorierung von Dan Brown sind prächtig, und vor allem die beiden jungen Studentinnen haben es Guice angetan. Vor allem an Sarah, die die alle Abenteuer im knappen schwarzen Bikini bestehen muss, lassen sich hervorragend Anatomiestudien betreiben. Zugleich sind die Frauen sehr taff und den Männern keinesfalls unterlegen, was der vielleicht als sexistisch zu empfindenden optischen Darstellung entgegenwirkt.
Fazit: Eine sehr gut gezeichnete, wahrhaft "klassische" Abenteuergeschichte, bei der ältere Leser auch an die frühe Verfilmung der REISE ZUM MITTELPUNKT der Erde und die ODYSSEE denken mögen.

Alles fängt idyllisch an, die beiden hübschen Schwestern auf dem Boot im Mittelmeer:


Doch dann stranden sie auf der geheimnisvollen Insel:


Gleich zu Beginn trifft die Gruppe auf einen ganz üblen (Un=)Zeitgenossen:


Ich finde die Artwork wirklich cool:

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

This type of comics tends to be the characteristic of the american branch of humanoids. B-movie scenario, stupid dialogues, mediocre illustration, uninspired ideas, lame characters. This is simply an bad comic taking bits and bites of greek mythology and turning them to a shitty action flick full of cliches.

I keep getting surprised on how the publishing committee gives the green light to this crap. Unfortunately, a big chunck of the post-00s era BD are the same. Don't bother reading it or spending money on it.

[Newly Wardell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a huge fan of Greek lore and I was way too excited about this. Its not that it's bad I was expected far too much. College outing results in finding Pandoras box and get shipwrecked on Olympus. Its only like 65 pages so not a lot of character development but the illustrations are good. It has Pegasus aplenty but not enough Medusa

[Bill Coffin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really half-hearted story of a group of archaeology students and a bunch of modern-day pirates who get thrown into the world of Greek myth to perform a quest. The bad guys turn on each other, the monsters pick people off one by one, the characters don't make a lot of sense, and ultimately the whole thing feels like a quick browsing of the Greek Mythos section of Deities & Demigods. But, what the hell - somebody at Netflix will probably see this and think, "Greek myth-inspired survival horror? You have your money."

[Kelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

I really enjoyed this one, but it is a little fast paced. I would've liked to see some of the scenes with the creatures explored a bit more.

[Bill Larkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent read but I feel this could have been so much more. I really liked the Greek gods themes and especially the Mount Olympus/ Pandora's Box concept. I thought the artwork was decent but could have used a bit more detail in spots. I strongly feel the main problem at hand is time. This graphic novel would have benefited from at least 50 more pages. It seems like the end was rushed so quickly that the reader was left with little to no care of the characters. Like an unmotivated indie movie, it just ended so quickly.

[Tony Laplume · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like the movie A Perfect Getaway mixed with Into the Blue and Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson. Ends pretty abruptly, but otherwise pretty good.

[Joseph R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

An archaeology professor and three of her students end their European learning tour with a dive in the Aegean Sea. They discover a very old shipwreck and bring back a box. The archaeology program is about to be shut down because they haven't had any results, so the team decides to open the box rather than turn it over to the Greek authorities. They discover a strange and ancient vase inside. A storm suddenly comes up as another ship approaches too close. The other boat is full of mercenaries who board the archaeologists' ship. The storm gets worse, destroying the mercenary vessel. The science boat crashes on a sun-drenched beach. Suddenly the storm is gone. The shore is unfamiliar, especially the gigantic statue of Zeus on the hillside. The people discover they are shipwrecked on Mount Olympus and are soon fighting all sorts of mythical (or so they thought) monsters in an attempt to return the vase to its proper place at the top of Olympus.

The story is fun and action-packed. The violence is a bit gruesome at points (a Cyclops eats what a Cyclops eats) and the language is definitely R-rated. The mercenaries are generally unlikable, making them good cannon fodder for the island's inhabitants. The archaeologists are the heroes. One female student wears a bikini through the whole story, which seems unlikely and looks exploitative. That's the kind of action story this is.

Recommended for some light action reading.

[Raymond · Rating 3 out of 5]

Archaeology students on a boating trip in the Aegean get their ship hijacked by mercenaries during a storm, only to be shipwrecked on an island where the monsters of Greek mythology are very much real. The students and the mercenaries then have to learn to co-operate in order to survive the island.

It's the comic book equivalent of a popcorn summer movie you'd watch without many expectations. The artwork is quite decent with some cool-looking monsters and ancient Greek ruins.

[Rick Ray · Rating 1 out of 5]

An utterly forgettable comic that draws people in with an interesting premise and the promise of some unique artwork. This doesn't have the unique artwork found in other BD titles translated by Humanoids, nor does it have any semblance of an interesting story. It all plays like a bad B-movie - terrible dialogue from dull characters and rushed action set pieces. This is one of the more uninspired comics I've read in some time.

[Flora · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just found it lacking in many ways. The dialogue is definitely the main one, cause a lot of things could have been improved if there was a bit more of it. The only things the characters talked about was the myths that each "trial" was based on. How about telling us why we should care about their survival?? I did like the artwork.

[Anthony Rizzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a big mythology reader and fan, so I genuinely enjoyed this tale. Some reviews point out there isn't much character development and the plot is B-list action movie, but I personally had fun with the premise, execution, and weaving together of several famous myths and creatures.

[Vesper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tre stelle e ½

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent romp through somewhat mangled Greek mythology that could have used a bit more length and character development.

[Stanley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really cool story that was too rushed.

Having played and beaten the Tomb Raider 2013 reboot between reading this book and now, I find that there are a number of similarities between the two, which has been interesting.

The story of washing up on the shores of Mt. Olympus and battling many of the most famous monsters from Greek mythology was a cool portal story concept.

The art was really good as well. You feel the monsters immediately.

This is important as the book moves forward at breakneck speed. This means that you never have time to really get to know or connect with the characters and you jump from monster to monster so quickly that you don't have time to change gears.

Overall, the product is still very good, but it could have been great if given a little more time to breathe flesh out its main characters.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Am I super proud I read this book? Does it provide intellectual chatter about thought-provoking literature? No. What are its merits? Gorgons, the Minotaur, and Giants. The Giants are great! I've read many books with transportation to lands past, world's long gone but I like the added surprises each book brings and this has its gems.

[Marco · Rating 3 out of 5]

La sceneggiatura non è male, i disegni sono belli. Il problema è che la storia è troppo veloce, succedono un sacco di cose in poche pagine.
L'edizione della Editoriale Cosmo riporta in copertina la scritta "128 pagine a colori" ma la storia ne occupa soltanto 100 in verità, il resto è tutto materiale promozionale.

[Taylor Cayes · Rating 2 out of 5]

They were a lot of great parts of this book, but it could've been so much better. The art is very nice, but the story felt rushed and jumpy. Geoff Johns is not the best storyteller.

[Marianna Flessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring