What do you think?
Rate this book
The Odyssey of Sergeant Jack Brennan
A bold and original graphic novelization of The Odyssey that is both a powerful story for our time—capturing its timeless lessons for returning veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq—as well as a vivid new way into Homer's classic for modern readers.
Jack Brennan is a Marine Corps sergeant whose infantry squad has been cleared to return home from a grueling deployment to Afghanistan. A few years prior, Sergeant Brennan lost one of his closest friends—a young combat veteran—to suicide and has vowed to do everything in his power to keep his Marines from a similar fate. On their last night in-country, Brennan shares his version of The Odyssey to help prepare his squad for the transition back to the home front. By retelling Homer's epic about Odysseus' difficult journey home after the Trojan War, and weaving in the stories of contemporary Marines, The Odyssey of Sergeant Jack Brennan powerfully conveys the profound challenges today's veterans face upon returning from combat even as it tells "the oldest war story of all time."
Jack Brennan is a Marine Corps sergeant whose infantry squad has been cleared to return home from a grueling deployment to Afghanistan. A few years prior, Sergeant Brennan lost one of his closest friends—a young combat veteran—to suicide and has vowed to do everything in his power to keep his Marines from a similar fate. On their last night in-country, Brennan shares his version of The Odyssey to help prepare his squad for the transition back to the home front. By retelling Homer's epic about Odysseus' difficult journey home after the Trojan War, and weaving in the stories of contemporary Marines, The Odyssey of Sergeant Jack Brennan powerfully conveys the profound challenges today's veterans face upon returning from combat even as it tells "the oldest war story of all time."
160 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 5, 2016
4 people are currently reading
254 people want to read
About the author
Bryan Doerries
12 books30 followersBryan Doerries is a writer, director, and translator. A self-described evangelist for classical literature and its relevance to our lives today, Doerries uses age-old approaches to help individuals and communities heal after suffering and loss. He is the founder of Theater of War, a project that presents readings of ancient Greek plays to service members, veterans, and their families to help them initiate conversations about the visible and invisible wounds of war. He is also the cofounder of Outside the Wire, a social-impact company that uses theater and a variety of other media to address pressing public health and social issues.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
April 10, 2018
A Marine Corps sergeant preps his battle-tested squad for return to civilian life by sitting them down for a telling of the Odyssey. He likens the trials of Odysseus and his men to those that soldiers face after deployment: drugs, denial, rage, purposelessness.
What a fantastic idea, and it....just could have been a lot better. This weighty ancient epic is being used to address some heavy themes--suicide and depression, duty and debt, the necessity that warriors accept the reality of possible psychological damage. Yet it reads like a kid's book. Like it's being careful not to overtax the reader.
I love that The Odyssey of Sergeant Jack Brennan exists and I enthusiastically approve of its goal and message.
I just wish it were better.
What a fantastic idea, and it....just could have been a lot better. This weighty ancient epic is being used to address some heavy themes--suicide and depression, duty and debt, the necessity that warriors accept the reality of possible psychological damage. Yet it reads like a kid's book. Like it's being careful not to overtax the reader.
I love that The Odyssey of Sergeant Jack Brennan exists and I enthusiastically approve of its goal and message.
I just wish it were better.
January 19, 2016
I won a copy of this very good graphic novel in a Goodreads giveaway. It uses the story of The Odyssey to illustrate the problems and challenges service combatants face upon their return home. The analogies are occasionally a little strained, but the overriding theme provides a very thoughtful and most worthwhile point, and I thought the story was quite well written. I was less impressed by the art, which was provided by five different people and seemed a bit uneven and generally not as high in quality as the script, but this copy is an advance copy in black and white only and the finished copy will be in color so that may make a big difference. I enjoyed reading it very much.
July 16, 2018
Doerries has written widely, trying to connect classic literature to the experience of returning soldiers.
In The Odyssey of Sergeant Jack Brennan he uses the graphic novel format to get his message through to a new audience. I think this is a really clever book, and it is definitely one that I look forward to sharing with students as well as fellow teachers who teach The Odyssey.
The book uses the frame of an American sergeant addressing the men in his platoon as they prepare to return home from deployment in Afghanistan. He goes through the saga of Odysseus's return (Books 9 & 10), while breaking into the narrative to make connections between Odysseus's experiences and those of returning servicemen (the Lotus Eaters, Circe, Scylla and Charybdis, to name a few).
A really good read--and a good resource for teachers of Homer's Odyssey.
In The Odyssey of Sergeant Jack Brennan he uses the graphic novel format to get his message through to a new audience. I think this is a really clever book, and it is definitely one that I look forward to sharing with students as well as fellow teachers who teach The Odyssey.
The book uses the frame of an American sergeant addressing the men in his platoon as they prepare to return home from deployment in Afghanistan. He goes through the saga of Odysseus's return (Books 9 & 10), while breaking into the narrative to make connections between Odysseus's experiences and those of returning servicemen (the Lotus Eaters, Circe, Scylla and Charybdis, to name a few).
A really good read--and a good resource for teachers of Homer's Odyssey.
October 29, 2016
Woah a 5-star for a book which everyone ranked as a 3.5? Did it change my life or what? Was it another 1984? No and neither did the art appeal to me much. But it was worthwhile because it helped me explore a classic in context of today. Always wanted to read Homer's myths but like so many treasures it needs effort to dig up. More than that I appreciated the retelling of the Odyssey not just as a story of warriors trying to get back home but of soldiers coming back from war with scars which never fade away and the struggles to return to normality.
"Son, the war doesn't end till the last veteran dies." At that time, I had no idea what he meant. But now I think I understand.
"Son, the war doesn't end till the last veteran dies." At that time, I had no idea what he meant. But now I think I understand.
March 28, 2017
Probably the most powerful retelling of the Odyssey I've ever read. It really puts into perspective the human reality of people coming home from war, whether in far distant times or today.
April 18, 2018
Bryan Doerries is an author and the founder of Theater of War--a project that seeks to help veterans, service members and their families open a dialogue on their experiences during deployment and on the home front. Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a local reading of Ajax and the following town hall meeting, during which veterans and civilians shared their thoughts on their experiences and talked about how to bridge the gap between soldiers/Marines/airmen and civilians.
Doerries's unique approach incorporates classical literature and the wisdom of the ancients as healing tools for the modern warrior. This book--a graphic novel and a quick read that draws parallels between returning Marines and Odysseus's epic journey home--is a great introduction to this concept. Up next on my to-be-read list is The Theater of War.
Doerries's unique approach incorporates classical literature and the wisdom of the ancients as healing tools for the modern warrior. This book--a graphic novel and a quick read that draws parallels between returning Marines and Odysseus's epic journey home--is a great introduction to this concept. Up next on my to-be-read list is The Theater of War.
May 22, 2017
The Odyssey of Sergeant Jack Brennan
by Bryan Doerries
This book follows the general outline of The Odyssey by Homer, but adapted to modern times. A Marine Corp squad is rotating home from Afghanistan and their squad leader is deeply concerned that they are not aware of the dangers, temptations, or trials, of reentry. Sgt Brennan explains the timeless nature of war, its effects on those that participate, and the attitudes, sometimes false, of 'the people back home'. Reentry may be very difficult.
This is a surprisingly well-told story. The comparisons to The Odyssey made sense, and, for me, add another way of looking at The Odyssey.
Later on:
The chapter titles are a helpful guide to the reentry: Introduction, Prologue, "The War Never Ends", "Straying Off Course", "Breaking The Spell", "Facing The Dead", "Monsters And Men", Epliogue.
Perhaps this story has more meaning for those who have had a combat tour. But the richness of the story and images do make it potentially accessible to a wider audience.
keywords: graphic war odyssey reentry
by Bryan Doerries
This book follows the general outline of The Odyssey by Homer, but adapted to modern times. A Marine Corp squad is rotating home from Afghanistan and their squad leader is deeply concerned that they are not aware of the dangers, temptations, or trials, of reentry. Sgt Brennan explains the timeless nature of war, its effects on those that participate, and the attitudes, sometimes false, of 'the people back home'. Reentry may be very difficult.
This is a surprisingly well-told story. The comparisons to The Odyssey made sense, and, for me, add another way of looking at The Odyssey.
... and [the police] then escorted me home.
It was then that I realized I was still in Ramadi. I was still in the fight. I wasn't home yet.
Later on:
... I tried to stuff all of my thoughts and feelings about what I'd seen and done
... and not done ...
into a bag.
I guarded it. Kept it close to the vest. Never talked about it with anyone.
But eventually, I had to open it and take a look inside.
When I did, all those memories came flying out.
I was home, but I'd never felt father away ... like Odysseus - I was lost at sea.
The chapter titles are a helpful guide to the reentry: Introduction, Prologue, "The War Never Ends", "Straying Off Course", "Breaking The Spell", "Facing The Dead", "Monsters And Men", Epliogue.
Perhaps this story has more meaning for those who have had a combat tour. But the richness of the story and images do make it potentially accessible to a wider audience.
keywords: graphic war odyssey reentry
August 9, 2017
I’m not a big fan of war, but the stories that come from it are some of the best, full of family, friendship, betrayal, enemies, love and the full spectrum of the human experience. And this version of the Odyssey is no different. My favorite part of this book was how each chapter started or ended with the Marines talking about events in their life or the life of those close to them that correspond with the story of Odysseus. Even if these short additions never happened in real life or were just adapted for this book, they bring out a truthfulness to the book that isn’t always there, especially in the old Greek stories. I’m definitely recommending this one to my father and grandfathers, who all served in the military at one point in their life.
March 16, 2017
Disappointing. The writing was terrible, the art was sophomoric, and the whole premise felt forced.
July 15, 2016
An interesting premise, framing Homer's Odyssey within the context of a contemporary group of soldiers returning from the Afghani war. We discussed this book on the podcast, http://comicsalternative.com/episode-....
May 12, 2025
The most generous thing I can say about this graphic novel is that it is full of missed opportunities for introspection and thoughtfulness.
If I had known that the creation of the book was supported by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) I might have avoided it altogether. That's at least one of the reasons why the text seems to pull its narrative punches. The effect is that for a book that seems designed to work through trauma and "hard questions" it manages to avoid a lot of really hard and uncomfortable questions.
In some ways the avoidance is not a new one. After all, the genre of the nostoi (homecomings) was very much of the "It's so sad that you hurt your arms from all the pillaging and stabbing when you sacked and burned Troy" school of thought that isn't new at all. It is now very much a particularly American genre of stories going back to the way Vietnam has been depicted.
Let's just say that while I understand this book has a purpose and some of that purpose is good (helping people process trauma is a good thing) avoiding the uncomfortable questions that go with that is just another way of whitewashing the problems of imperialism.
Leaving aside the framing narrative for a second (DARPA obviously doesn't want Doerries to touch on the problems of the contemporary part of the story) the way in which the author uses Homer is only superficially interesting because ultimately the places where the parallels cut deeply in any way are thoroughly avoided or hand-waved off.
I'm not the only one looking at the beginning of the story with a judgy face. Euripides is right there with me. Odysseus and his men are going home after having sacked and burned a city to the ground, killed all its men and enslaved all its women and children. They did horrible things.
Does it make them sad and give them nightmares? I'm sorry if my eyes are a bit dry. Must be the sand.
The Odyssey is a long epic and this is a short graphic novel so you have to pick and choose your episodes and while some of that might be for time (we all would have liked to see what the author would have come up with for Polyphemus the Cyclops) and some might not be included because they just seem extraneous (sorry Calypso) all of the choices are active decisions that have pointed results. Including the Lotus-eaters is an obvious inclusion--the one that probably formed the genesis of the idea of the parallel stories--because of the way in which it allows for a discussion of contemporary opiate addiction and other substance abuse as a means of coping with PTSD. I get it.
And I get that so many of the other episodes in the Odyssey don't lend themselves to an easy parallel.
And yet...there's one that might have been fascinating. And DARPA would have lost their shit and taken their money back if it had been in here.
Look at Uberto Pasolini's 2024 film The Return.
Now look at how this book ends. Spoiler--it ends with Odysseus landing on Ithaca. That's it. You're home. You're fucked up but you're home now and everything is different but it'll be okay because you can talk about it and your trauma. etc. etc.
That's a far cry from the Odyssey where having come home Odysseus proceeds to go on a serious bloody rampage and kills all the suitors and everyone who shook hands with the suitors (and hangs the maids) and generally covers his homeland in exactly the kind of bloody mess that he made overseas. Blowback. Imperial boomerang. Doerries avoids all of this messy discussion and this book is the worse for it. It comes off as weak storytelling at the least and disingenuous intellectual laziness (or stubborn avoidance) at worse. (Again, I can't expect the author to not play the tune his patron is paying for, but I can say I don't like the tune.)
Interestingly enough, even when Doerries includes something like the eating of the cattle of Helios (delicious Helios cattle burgers!) he avoids thinking about what that might be a parallel to for the modern story. (Seems like the only parts that were thought out were the opiates and the homecoming itself and all the absent friends). I mean, Odysseus says don't do a thing and then his soldiers do it and there's no discussion of the culpability there. (Same with the bag of winds--no introspection).
Even the trip to the underworld (catabasis) isn't really well examined. There are a lot of more interesting questions there and instead Doerries presents it as a superficial obstacle course.
So I just think this is a case of a good idea in theory that is nonetheless corrupted by both the narrative instincts that lead to the "war is all about fighting for the guy next to you" mentality and all of the glurgy nonsense around that which is exacerbated by the much worse corruption of being inclined to please your sponsors at DARPA.
If I had known that the creation of the book was supported by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) I might have avoided it altogether. That's at least one of the reasons why the text seems to pull its narrative punches. The effect is that for a book that seems designed to work through trauma and "hard questions" it manages to avoid a lot of really hard and uncomfortable questions.
In some ways the avoidance is not a new one. After all, the genre of the nostoi (homecomings) was very much of the "It's so sad that you hurt your arms from all the pillaging and stabbing when you sacked and burned Troy" school of thought that isn't new at all. It is now very much a particularly American genre of stories going back to the way Vietnam has been depicted.
Let's just say that while I understand this book has a purpose and some of that purpose is good (helping people process trauma is a good thing) avoiding the uncomfortable questions that go with that is just another way of whitewashing the problems of imperialism.
Leaving aside the framing narrative for a second (DARPA obviously doesn't want Doerries to touch on the problems of the contemporary part of the story) the way in which the author uses Homer is only superficially interesting because ultimately the places where the parallels cut deeply in any way are thoroughly avoided or hand-waved off.
I'm not the only one looking at the beginning of the story with a judgy face. Euripides is right there with me. Odysseus and his men are going home after having sacked and burned a city to the ground, killed all its men and enslaved all its women and children. They did horrible things.
Does it make them sad and give them nightmares? I'm sorry if my eyes are a bit dry. Must be the sand.
The Odyssey is a long epic and this is a short graphic novel so you have to pick and choose your episodes and while some of that might be for time (we all would have liked to see what the author would have come up with for Polyphemus the Cyclops) and some might not be included because they just seem extraneous (sorry Calypso) all of the choices are active decisions that have pointed results. Including the Lotus-eaters is an obvious inclusion--the one that probably formed the genesis of the idea of the parallel stories--because of the way in which it allows for a discussion of contemporary opiate addiction and other substance abuse as a means of coping with PTSD. I get it.
And I get that so many of the other episodes in the Odyssey don't lend themselves to an easy parallel.
And yet...there's one that might have been fascinating. And DARPA would have lost their shit and taken their money back if it had been in here.
Look at Uberto Pasolini's 2024 film The Return.
Now look at how this book ends. Spoiler--it ends with Odysseus landing on Ithaca. That's it. You're home. You're fucked up but you're home now and everything is different but it'll be okay because you can talk about it and your trauma. etc. etc.
That's a far cry from the Odyssey where having come home Odysseus proceeds to go on a serious bloody rampage and kills all the suitors and everyone who shook hands with the suitors (and hangs the maids) and generally covers his homeland in exactly the kind of bloody mess that he made overseas. Blowback. Imperial boomerang. Doerries avoids all of this messy discussion and this book is the worse for it. It comes off as weak storytelling at the least and disingenuous intellectual laziness (or stubborn avoidance) at worse. (Again, I can't expect the author to not play the tune his patron is paying for, but I can say I don't like the tune.)
Interestingly enough, even when Doerries includes something like the eating of the cattle of Helios (delicious Helios cattle burgers!) he avoids thinking about what that might be a parallel to for the modern story. (Seems like the only parts that were thought out were the opiates and the homecoming itself and all the absent friends). I mean, Odysseus says don't do a thing and then his soldiers do it and there's no discussion of the culpability there. (Same with the bag of winds--no introspection).
Even the trip to the underworld (catabasis) isn't really well examined. There are a lot of more interesting questions there and instead Doerries presents it as a superficial obstacle course.
So I just think this is a case of a good idea in theory that is nonetheless corrupted by both the narrative instincts that lead to the "war is all about fighting for the guy next to you" mentality and all of the glurgy nonsense around that which is exacerbated by the much worse corruption of being inclined to please your sponsors at DARPA.
August 21, 2018
The easy reader version (or worse) of Homer's The Odyssey. I hope this helps some of our troops but I'm not seeing how as it is extremely cursory and I fail to see how many combat vets will really connect and empathize with the characters and thus themselves.
By the by, this is based on a DARPA funded project. "This material is based upon work supported by the DARPA Program Office under Contract No. W31P4Q-13-C-0110. Approved for public release, distribution unlimited." I suspect more than "based on" with a release statement. Not saying this makes it good or bad, better or worse, just disclosing.
I read it about 30 minutes. Even if the vets who need it get it and read it and connect with these characters and situations I do not see near enough depth to make any difference, except possibly that 1 in a 1000--1 in 5000?--who might actually go on to read some full-length version of The Odyssey and be perhaps truly helped.
Sorry. I want to like this. I'd like to say I'll buy 10 copies and ensure they get into the hands of recently returned combat vets but I don't see it.
By the by, this is based on a DARPA funded project. "This material is based upon work supported by the DARPA Program Office under Contract No. W31P4Q-13-C-0110. Approved for public release, distribution unlimited." I suspect more than "based on" with a release statement. Not saying this makes it good or bad, better or worse, just disclosing.
I read it about 30 minutes. Even if the vets who need it get it and read it and connect with these characters and situations I do not see near enough depth to make any difference, except possibly that 1 in a 1000--1 in 5000?--who might actually go on to read some full-length version of The Odyssey and be perhaps truly helped.
Sorry. I want to like this. I'd like to say I'll buy 10 copies and ensure they get into the hands of recently returned combat vets but I don't see it.
May 5, 2024
“The Odyssey of Sergeant Jack Brennan” by Brian Doerries is about a Marine Corps sergeant addressing his marines about the reality of returning home after war. He uses Homer’s “Odyssey” to make connections between his men and the major themes of depression, addiction, PTSD, death and suicide, and reintegration. While I can appreciate that Doerries chose to create this story in a graphic novel format to reach a wider audience, I do feel that this limited the scope and depth of the story. Some chapters felt like a stretch to come together successfully. A little bummed. I wanted to feel more inspired and I wanted to relate more. Perhaps if it was a full-length novel it would have worked better for me.
November 12, 2024
The Odyssey is, in many ways, a story about the damage war does to a soldier. So, it makes sense to do an update that explicitly explores Marines and the aftermath of serving in contemporary combat. I saw a lot of my friends who've spent time in combat zones reflected in the characters and stories in here.
I don't know that I'd have enjoyed reading it, but I sort of feel like this book should be longer, so it could spend time going into more depth on some things. But maybe that's not the point.
Sometimes I really liked the art, finding some images quite compelling. Though I'm overall not really a fan of the style.
I don't know that I'd have enjoyed reading it, but I sort of feel like this book should be longer, so it could spend time going into more depth on some things. But maybe that's not the point.
Sometimes I really liked the art, finding some images quite compelling. Though I'm overall not really a fan of the style.
September 11, 2018
I’ve followed Mr. Doerries as a writer for a few months now and I have seen particular readings of his theater company Outside the Wire. Along with that extraordinary book, I enjoyed seeing his talent and paralleling takes on the military here in this graphic novel. I wasn’t prepared for the beautiful varying accounts from Sergeant Jack Brennan’s platoon and it was stunning. Bryan Doerries is doing incredible work and this book is no exception definitely give it a read.
April 26, 2018
This was a bold idea of the joining of ancient literature with cartoon images. Even though there are some differences in what was at stake for both sets of armed forces (plunder, rivalries and the quest for a woman) the day-to-day duties and aims seemed quite similar. I was not a big fan of the artists renditions, but, that was personal taste. Very well done all-around.
December 1, 2017
A brilliant use of an Ancient Greek story to examine modern veterans issues. The graphic novel format makes it easily accessible. Worth your time, especially for those interested in Ancient Greek mythology, veteran issues, and using art as therapy.
May 27, 2019
3.5 stars. Interesting take on The Odyssey, adapted to show what current combat veterans might deal with on their return home. Looks at drug use, depression, post traumatic stress, & more. Rather more simplified & shorter than I expected. But well worth the read. (Own)
December 31, 2022
Great connections with the Odyssey and important messages about mental health and taking care of each other.
Four stars because I wish it would have continued and told the story of Odysseus back at Ithaca.
Four stars because I wish it would have continued and told the story of Odysseus back at Ithaca.
October 4, 2017
A little heavy handed (sometimes it comes across as an "ABC After School Special") but I think it does a nice job of drawing the commonalities of war and men at war across the ages.
November 18, 2018
Modern relevance for an ancient poem
Excellent. It makes The Odyssey relevant to today. The author has done similar work with ancient Greek tragedy. Much recommended
Excellent. It makes The Odyssey relevant to today. The author has done similar work with ancient Greek tragedy. Much recommended
January 4, 2019
An interesting take on the relevance of a classic tale to emotional challenges facing contemporary veterans returning from the front.
September 22, 2019
A pretty good use of The Odyssey as a metaphor for the problems that veterans returning from war face.
October 31, 2021
A modern retelling of Homer's the Odyssey.
Read
December 10, 2021Quick adaptation of The Odyssey, related to Marines returning home from war. Pretty decent.
January 5, 2022
Powerful read, and a really interesting new perspective from which to view trauma. Excited to go down the rabbit hole.
January 24, 2025
Loved it! Poignant.
September 3, 2016
This graphic novel is a retelling of the Greek classic The Odyssey but with a modern twist. The author is a big advocate of using classical literature as a tool help military service members cope and heal with the aftermath of war. Bryan Doerries founded a project called Theater of War that presents readings of Greek plays to service members and veterans. The book itself takes that same concept but uses the medium of graphic novel. It tells the story of an infantry squad of Marines heading home from Afghanistan and their sergeant Jack Brennan telling the story of the Odyssey to help his junior Marines transition back home from war. A few pages into the book I was already thinking, “Man, this might be good for some fellow veterans I know…”
The book has five chapters and an epilogue. Each chapter gives us a certain episode from The Odyssey and also how it spoke to contemporary veterans’ situations. The author definitely have heard enough stories from veterans as some of scenarios are stories I have also heard from my fellow Marines. I was so blown away I actually went online to see if the author was himself a Marine (from what I can tell he was not). I was really impressed with the parallel and the analogies that the book draw concerning Odysseus’ journey back home and today’s warrior coming back from home. It reminded me that as much as technology has changed, the human condition is still essentially the same along with human nature. War is still an ugly business and the men’s journey home is itself not an easy adventure.
If there is one criticism I have of the book is that there is an inconsistency with the drawing of the Marines uniform. Suddenly in chapter four the Marines were wearing Army camouflaged uniform. There was also one panel that has one of the characters saying “…and he was one of the finest Marines I’ve ever met.” But the picture is of a man in an Army Class A uniform. I don’t know what happened. Those uniforms were very different than that of the Army in terms of design, colors, etc. I can only attribute this to the fact that the author had many various artists. Again my fault with the book might have to do also with the fact that much of the books are so accurate in its details of Marines uniform and mannerism that this strange phenomenon in chapter four stood out. Still it doesn’t take away from the story. But it’ll make a Marine pause a bit.
Overall I recommend the book.
The book has five chapters and an epilogue. Each chapter gives us a certain episode from The Odyssey and also how it spoke to contemporary veterans’ situations. The author definitely have heard enough stories from veterans as some of scenarios are stories I have also heard from my fellow Marines. I was so blown away I actually went online to see if the author was himself a Marine (from what I can tell he was not). I was really impressed with the parallel and the analogies that the book draw concerning Odysseus’ journey back home and today’s warrior coming back from home. It reminded me that as much as technology has changed, the human condition is still essentially the same along with human nature. War is still an ugly business and the men’s journey home is itself not an easy adventure.
If there is one criticism I have of the book is that there is an inconsistency with the drawing of the Marines uniform. Suddenly in chapter four the Marines were wearing Army camouflaged uniform. There was also one panel that has one of the characters saying “…and he was one of the finest Marines I’ve ever met.” But the picture is of a man in an Army Class A uniform. I don’t know what happened. Those uniforms were very different than that of the Army in terms of design, colors, etc. I can only attribute this to the fact that the author had many various artists. Again my fault with the book might have to do also with the fact that much of the books are so accurate in its details of Marines uniform and mannerism that this strange phenomenon in chapter four stood out. Still it doesn’t take away from the story. But it’ll make a Marine pause a bit.
Overall I recommend the book.
June 8, 2016
If you were raised in western culture and you heard any old stories that did not necessarily have chapter and verse and some red letters in there, you were sure to be familiar with the story of the Trojan War as tradition tells us was told by homer in the two epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey. Even if you don’t know the whole story (Trojan guy steals Greek wife, Greeks get mad and spend 10 years fighting outside of Troy (spoiler alert) then they leave but have a small army inside of a horse that the Trojans drag inside so the Trojans lose. Then the Greeks lead by Odysseus take another ten years to get back to Ithaca – a record in not asking for directions only surpassed by Moses. The he gets back home and has to beat up the guys that have been hanging out at his house waiting around to hook up with his wife who has been leading those guys on the whole time), then you know some of these parts of it – some of the more famous I left from the summary).
So there have been lots of versions of the text, but I like this version because it is able to make the story new by giving it not a contemporary by putting it in the current era as a setting, but using the story as a base to help understand the soldiers in current predicaments. It shows that though the stories can change, the soldiers over time have kept telling different versions of the same stories. It just seems that modern versions have fewer Cyclopes.
So there have been lots of versions of the text, but I like this version because it is able to make the story new by giving it not a contemporary by putting it in the current era as a setting, but using the story as a base to help understand the soldiers in current predicaments. It shows that though the stories can change, the soldiers over time have kept telling different versions of the same stories. It just seems that modern versions have fewer Cyclopes.
July 26, 2016
It's a clever idea to look for parallels between the ancient story of Odysseus and the ordeals of modern day soldiers returning from war. Unfortunately, the execution is clumsy and heavy-handed.
And this may seem petty, but no writer of a graphic novel has ever impressed me by putting only his name on the cover and title page while hiding the name of the artists who actually drew the work in the back of the book. Not classy.
And this may seem petty, but no writer of a graphic novel has ever impressed me by putting only his name on the cover and title page while hiding the name of the artists who actually drew the work in the back of the book. Not classy.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews