The Odyssey: A Graphic Novel By Homer

I recently got into Greek Mythology and I don’t exactly have the patience to read through the Odyssey that is the text version of the story. So the graphic novel adaptation was definitely the move for me. I loved every page, I was enthralled from the visuals on each cell, and I couldn’t put it down. It’s such a good buy and I highly recommend if you want to taste the beautiful classic that is Homer’s Odyssey.

This graphic novel was a perfect way to introduce my five year old son to reading and ancient Greek myths. The pictures allowed him to visualise the story and therefore better understand the plot. He could associate the text easily with the correct character as the pictures aided his understanding and at the same time helping maintain his interest in the story.

The graphic novel is lengthy so it represented good value for money and allowed the author to retell Homer’s epic in a thorough way. The artwork was skillfully drawn, however it was a little bland. But this is a very minor negative of what was overall, an excellent purchase.

“The Odyssey” and its companion text, “The Illiad,” are compelling reads, and a new way to experience these classic stories, which lend themselves to being illustrated. I bought this book for my 12-year-old, as it was one of the suggested books on his summer reading list. If you are looking for a new way to experience these classics, these books are it. Well done.

I’m not a huge fan of graphic novels, but this version of “The Odyssey” is superbly done. Mr. Hinds’s watercolours (I presume) are excellent. He is terrific at depicting the ocean in its many moods. The colours, especially the blues, are wonderful. He is able to present seascapes, landscapes, and characters’ figures and emotions convincingly in a realistic style. The “panels” illustrate the narrative in constantly changing close-up, medium, and long shots, and in such a way as the story is relatively easy to follow, though it does help to know the events beforehand. The action sequences, such as Odysseus being tossed around in a storm at sea, or the episode with the Cyclops, create the requisite thrills. Though I give the book five stars because overall it is worth it, there are, in my opinion, a few problems with how the tale is told by Mr. Hinds. First of all, occasionally the thread of the narrative is lost from panel-to-panel when the view moves from a close-up to an extreme long shot. You may be scratching your head wondering exactly where you are in the sequence. This is not a constant problem, but it does occur. This glitch, a sort of editorial concern, could have been easily solved by a bit of narration to orient the reader. Secondly, occasionally it is difficult to discern the characters, to tell them apart, because they can look alike. Is that character Telemachus? Or? Mr. Hinds tries to alleviate this difficulty through costume but still, to me at least, distinguishing characters took some work from time to time. Thirdly, the violence of the graphics could be problematic for some parents. I bought the book to send to my grandsons but seriously considered withholding it because Mr. Hinds does not soften the very violent scenes of “The Odyssey”. Contemporary films have nothing on the poem and Mr. Hinds’s rendering of it when it comes to this aspect. The garish Cyclops sequence is an example, and so is the final slaughter of the suitors, which literally turns red with blood and gore. The famous Book XI, rendered here purposefully in only shades of grey, in which Odysseus descends into the Land of the Dead to consult the prophet Tiresias, involves drinking the blood of a slaughtered animal, and the characters’ mouths turn red with it. At the very end of the story, there was, I think, no need to include a panel, however much in long shot, of the execution of Odysseus’s female servants who had been traitors to him while he was away. As to sex: Calypso is very buff and voluptuous and there is a bed scene with her and Odysseus; the same for a nude Circe (her hair flows down to provide a strategic modesty). This is honest to the story and to relations between adult men and women, but, again, parents will need to decide how age appropriate this material is for their kids. In this respect, the question may arise from more curious younger readers why, if Odysseus is married and loves his wife, is he sleeping with other women. Saying this, one could respond with approbation that Mr. Hinds has not, at least, bowdlerized this founding, classic epic of Western literature and culture. You get the real goods in this version and you get them well presented. Finally, Mr. Hinds’s note on how he read many of the English translations of the poem and incorporated some of the dialogue directly into his telling is worth reading.

Easy read. Great illustrations. Gets the gist of this classic, plus some full quotes.

Assigned summer reading, the book is fine, pictures nice.