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The Mythics #2
Teenage Gods
Earth is in peril as ancient evil, thought banished to Mars ages ago, has resurfaced all over the world. Now, six teenagers from around the globe are being recruited and gifted with extraordinary powers and sacred weapons to stop this plague of evil. See how 13 year-old Miguel of Mexico and 15 year-old Abigail of Germany, are approached by strange magical creatures who slowly reveal that they must leave their everyday lives and assume the roles they were born for: heroes of mythic proportions set to save the world and rid it from evil! They also encounter the very gods that they must oppose--if they survive.
160 pages, Hardcover
Published July 14, 2020
2 people are currently reading
27 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 30, 2020
12/22/2020 3.5 stars. Full review tk at TheFrumiousConsortium.net.
12/30/2020 This has got to be one of the most beautiful anime-inspired comic book titles for young readers out there today. Despite the creative teams varying between each of the three issues that make up this trade paperback, the quality is uniformly high, and the art style doesn't deviate so much between issues as to seem jarring. If anything, having different artists helps solidify the vastly differing personalities of the three heroes introduced here, one to each issue. My favorite art was probably in Alice Picard's illustrations of Parvati's story, with gorgeous colors by Magali Paillat. Which isn't at all to throw shade on Jerome Alquie's artwork of Miguel's story, or Frederic Charve's and again Ms Paillat's on Neo's. Parvati's was likely my favorite art-wise because the story lent itself to cuteness plus beauty a little more than the other two did. For cripes' sake, there's a tiger that turns into the most adorable housecat! I was the embodiment of the hearteyes emoji every time Shahruk-kitty was on the page.
Unfortunately, Parvati's tale was also the one that made me wonder whether a sensitivity consultant had been brought in to look over this book. As opposed to the Aztec and Ancient Greek mythos referenced in the other issues in this collection, Hinduism is a major living religion, and seeing the goddess Kali used as an embodiment of evil made even this non-Hindu reader cringe. I'll freely admit that I don't know for sure whether her depiction in this issue is actually offensive to Hindus but knowing that a sensitivity reader had gone through this would have allayed my fears significantly.
What did concern me as a secular reader was the odd attitude to vaccines, which smelled a lot like the nonsense anti-vaxxers in America have been spouting in recent times. It's true that any vaccine that's been rushed to market without sufficient testing should be considered skeptically, and it's true that we should be careful what we put in our bodies, but the vast majority of vaccines are beneficial and shouldn't be at all controversial: a nod to this latter would have gone a long way to reassuring me that this wasn't anti-vaxx dog whistling.
Those issues aside, it was a very cute story about a go-getting young Indian girl who discovers she's been chosen by the goddess Durga to be her avatar in the fight against Evil. Mumbai is suffering strange outbreaks of a super-rage disease, where the victims become mindlessly destructive zombies. Overachiever Parvati Patel is on a school trip to the zoo when another outbreak occurs, and the goddess Durga comes to her to reveal her powers. Parvati is eager to fight Evil, even if it means breaking her own heart a little in the process.
This is definitely a contrast to issue 2, where our hero Miguel is engaging in the modern equivalent of teenage street racing, skateboarding over the rooftops of Mexico City with his rival Joaquim, each representing their gang in a contest to determine control of the city. When the boys are busted by Miguel's Tio Roberto, who happens to be a cop, they're sent to do community service after school, helping out the rich, and allegedly one-time gangster, El Gigante distribute food and clothes to the poor. An accident at the warehouse where they're working triggers Miguel's connection to Quetzalcoatl, but Miguel is certainly far more skeptical of his ancestor god than Parvati was of hers.
Neo in issue 3 is even worse, wanting very little to do with Hercules even as the Greek god helps him save the lives of his very naughty younger siblings. Neo only wants to make a lot of money fast, embracing Hercules' gift of strength in order to better his cage-fighting abilities. Rather hilariously, he's still an ungrateful brat even after reluctantly defeating evil. Much of his terrible attitude stems from the fact that Neo and his family used to be rich until his father was ruined and subsequently died. Now his mother works three jobs to support her family, but her horrid children shirk school and responsibilities while dreaming of their old lives, even as their mom tries to get them to adjust to their new reality. That I didn't automatically hate any of those kids is a testament to Philippe Ogaki's writing: I might have not loved some of his choices in Parvati's story, but I do very much respect his ability to realistically depict diverse young people thrown into extraordinary circumstances. Patrick Sobral, who wrote the second issue with the help of Fabien Dalmasso, also does a wonderful job with Miguel and his relationships with his family, deity and friends.
Overall, this is a beautiful project with several questionable narrative choices in the first part of the book. Credit goes to the seamless translation from the French by Elizabeth S Tieri. I'll definitely be looking out for more installments, but can understand why other people might choose to skip this series.
The Mythics Vol 2: Teenage Gods by Philippe Ogaki, Patrick Sobral, Fabien Dalmasso, Alice Picard, Jerome Alquie, Frederic Charve & Magali Paillat was published December 29th, 2020 by Papercutz, and is available from all good booksellers, including Bookshop!. Want it now? For the Kindle version, click here.
12/30/2020 This has got to be one of the most beautiful anime-inspired comic book titles for young readers out there today. Despite the creative teams varying between each of the three issues that make up this trade paperback, the quality is uniformly high, and the art style doesn't deviate so much between issues as to seem jarring. If anything, having different artists helps solidify the vastly differing personalities of the three heroes introduced here, one to each issue. My favorite art was probably in Alice Picard's illustrations of Parvati's story, with gorgeous colors by Magali Paillat. Which isn't at all to throw shade on Jerome Alquie's artwork of Miguel's story, or Frederic Charve's and again Ms Paillat's on Neo's. Parvati's was likely my favorite art-wise because the story lent itself to cuteness plus beauty a little more than the other two did. For cripes' sake, there's a tiger that turns into the most adorable housecat! I was the embodiment of the hearteyes emoji every time Shahruk-kitty was on the page.
Unfortunately, Parvati's tale was also the one that made me wonder whether a sensitivity consultant had been brought in to look over this book. As opposed to the Aztec and Ancient Greek mythos referenced in the other issues in this collection, Hinduism is a major living religion, and seeing the goddess Kali used as an embodiment of evil made even this non-Hindu reader cringe. I'll freely admit that I don't know for sure whether her depiction in this issue is actually offensive to Hindus but knowing that a sensitivity reader had gone through this would have allayed my fears significantly.
What did concern me as a secular reader was the odd attitude to vaccines, which smelled a lot like the nonsense anti-vaxxers in America have been spouting in recent times. It's true that any vaccine that's been rushed to market without sufficient testing should be considered skeptically, and it's true that we should be careful what we put in our bodies, but the vast majority of vaccines are beneficial and shouldn't be at all controversial: a nod to this latter would have gone a long way to reassuring me that this wasn't anti-vaxx dog whistling.
Those issues aside, it was a very cute story about a go-getting young Indian girl who discovers she's been chosen by the goddess Durga to be her avatar in the fight against Evil. Mumbai is suffering strange outbreaks of a super-rage disease, where the victims become mindlessly destructive zombies. Overachiever Parvati Patel is on a school trip to the zoo when another outbreak occurs, and the goddess Durga comes to her to reveal her powers. Parvati is eager to fight Evil, even if it means breaking her own heart a little in the process.
This is definitely a contrast to issue 2, where our hero Miguel is engaging in the modern equivalent of teenage street racing, skateboarding over the rooftops of Mexico City with his rival Joaquim, each representing their gang in a contest to determine control of the city. When the boys are busted by Miguel's Tio Roberto, who happens to be a cop, they're sent to do community service after school, helping out the rich, and allegedly one-time gangster, El Gigante distribute food and clothes to the poor. An accident at the warehouse where they're working triggers Miguel's connection to Quetzalcoatl, but Miguel is certainly far more skeptical of his ancestor god than Parvati was of hers.
Neo in issue 3 is even worse, wanting very little to do with Hercules even as the Greek god helps him save the lives of his very naughty younger siblings. Neo only wants to make a lot of money fast, embracing Hercules' gift of strength in order to better his cage-fighting abilities. Rather hilariously, he's still an ungrateful brat even after reluctantly defeating evil. Much of his terrible attitude stems from the fact that Neo and his family used to be rich until his father was ruined and subsequently died. Now his mother works three jobs to support her family, but her horrid children shirk school and responsibilities while dreaming of their old lives, even as their mom tries to get them to adjust to their new reality. That I didn't automatically hate any of those kids is a testament to Philippe Ogaki's writing: I might have not loved some of his choices in Parvati's story, but I do very much respect his ability to realistically depict diverse young people thrown into extraordinary circumstances. Patrick Sobral, who wrote the second issue with the help of Fabien Dalmasso, also does a wonderful job with Miguel and his relationships with his family, deity and friends.
Overall, this is a beautiful project with several questionable narrative choices in the first part of the book. Credit goes to the seamless translation from the French by Elizabeth S Tieri. I'll definitely be looking out for more installments, but can understand why other people might choose to skip this series.
The Mythics Vol 2: Teenage Gods by Philippe Ogaki, Patrick Sobral, Fabien Dalmasso, Alice Picard, Jerome Alquie, Frederic Charve & Magali Paillat was published December 29th, 2020 by Papercutz, and is available from all good booksellers, including Bookshop!. Want it now? For the Kindle version, click here.
November 9, 2020
This series has some solid potential. Like the first volume this introduces 3 kids who get the power to channel an old pagan god from their home country. (demi-god technically for the adolescent boy from Greece...)
The three kids this time are a young girl from India who definitely falls into the category of a good kid. Sincere, helpful and lives to do the right thing. The teen Mexican boy is a decent kid in bad circumstances whom still tries to be good. The Greek teen boy is a bit sullen but he has a fair bit of an excuse for his teen angst.
I feel like these first two volumes are a set up for a bigger story and I’m curious to see if volume three introduces 3 more kids from around the world or if the 6 kids already named will be the main heroes.
The three kids this time are a young girl from India who definitely falls into the category of a good kid. Sincere, helpful and lives to do the right thing. The teen Mexican boy is a decent kid in bad circumstances whom still tries to be good. The Greek teen boy is a bit sullen but he has a fair bit of an excuse for his teen angst.
I feel like these first two volumes are a set up for a bigger story and I’m curious to see if volume three introduces 3 more kids from around the world or if the 6 kids already named will be the main heroes.
May 21, 2024
Evil has me very confused. I believe it is a bunch of different evil gods coming back, but when they leave, are they just regrouping with everyone else? I'm really curious to see where this is going. Parvati had a sweet and wholesome story. Miguel was a bit sad, but still really enjoyable. Neo was chaos. I would have been slapping my siblings, and I have a new fear of starting my kids out of privileges and then losing it all; I never thought about that before. Amazing story all around, but man, does this evil scare me. I think I have an idea of who the last evil is, but I also like that Neo wasn't interested in being a hero and just wanted to protect his family.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 22, 2021
Bare bones characterization (Neo had the most personality of all as the others really felt like cardboard cutouts). Reads like an educational comic. Surprisingly so the second story is quite bloody as a literal blood sacrifice takes place, which can be jarring as the series has such a kiddie tone.
the first story is going be awkward to read especially during/aftermaths of a global pandemic. spoiler: every medical company is evil here
the first story is going be awkward to read especially during/aftermaths of a global pandemic. spoiler: every medical company is evil here
Want to read
November 14, 2020Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.
August 6, 2021
A bit more variety in the three introductory stories in this volume than we had in the first one! I liked Neo best; he doesn't think like a hero. Finally, someone practical gets to be the chosen one!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews