A Couple More Myths and Legends

Today's look at Lerner Publishing's Graphic Universe books features a couple written by Jeff Limke. He is an educator who has written many comics, and he seems to specialize in historical myths and fantasy stories.

Jason: Quest for the Golden Fleece is sort of like the Greek myth version of The Expendables, with a band of Greek heroes, including Heracles and the twins, Castor and Pollux, led by Jason on a series of adventures. In terms of this story, both brute strength and intelligence are necessary elements. I also have to say to those who are familiar with this story that the characters here are more clever than duplicitous (there are a bunch of double crossers in the versions I remember). On the plus side, the story has all kinds of great action/adventure elements, with Jason contending against fire-breathing bulls, skeleton warriors, and even a dragon.

I liked the energy and pacing in this story. The artwork, by Tim Seeley, co-creator of Hack/Slash and Revival, was crisp and very enticing. He also draws great monsters and attractive human beings in a dynamic style, which is very well suited to this particular narrative.

If I had a quibble with this book, it is with the ending, which has Medea tossing her kid brother into the ocean rather than cutting him up into little bits and a happy scene with Jason and Medea pledging their love to each other. I get that this book is geared toward younger readers, but I did blanch a little that the gory details and abject state of affairs Jason finally fell into were omitted.
 

This second book, King Arthur: Excalibur Unsheathed, is an excellent introduction for younger readers into the world of Arthurian legends. Adapted from Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur, this book recounts tales of King Arthur from his youth, from his pulling the legendary sword from the stone, to his struggles to assert his rule as a young king. He vies with King Pellinore (who will later be his ally), meets Lady Guinevere (who will later be his wife), and adventures with Merlin as he seeks his birthright and a new sword. These are fun, exciting, and extremely well rendered episodes in the time before Arthur grew his beard and came to more complicated and treacherous affairs. Like the Jason book above, the narrative ends before the grim parts of these heroes' lives.

 

Also like the Jason volume, the highlight (not to detract from the good story) is the artwork, here by Thomas Yeates, a very respected comics veteran. His style is intricate, realistic, and somewhat soft, smacking of his influences, Hal Foster, N.C. Wyeth, and Wally Wood.

So, to sum up today's books. They both have well presented stories, excellent artwork, and I recommend them as introductions into the world of myth and legend. I think they would both be popular with upper elementary readers who like action and adventure tales especially.

Atalanta: The Race Against Destiny

This book tells a pretty exceptional Greek myth: girl is born and rejected by father who wanted a boy. She is left in the wilderness to die but is raised by a she-bear. Afterward, a family of hunters take her in and teach her to be human, but she is the fastest, strongest human ever. S0 she becomes a great hunter and goes to the Oracle at Delphi to hear her fortune. Warned of a disaster that would accompany marriage, she decides she does not need any man.

BUT, she is so beautiful that men throw themselves at her. So to give herself some peace she makes a contest where any man who beats her in a race gets to marry her, but anyone who loses is put to death. Not many men take her up on this opportunity, but still there is a fellow named Hippomenes, who has a plan and a few golden apples...

This rare example of a powerful, positive female in Greek mythology is retold in this entry from Lerner Publishing's Graphic Universe series. The story was done with an eye to historical detail in terms of the clothing and locales (no one who go on record to say if the gods and goddesses were portrayed accurately). It was written by Justine and Ron Fontes, a married couple who writes children's books and graphic novels. They have written a few other titles from this series and over 500 titles overall. The art was provided by Thomas Yeates, the artist of the Robin Hood entry in the series as well as a long-time comic artist who specializes in horror and fantasy tales.

It was difficult to find reviews for this book, but here is a rather short, glowing one from a younger reader on Amazon.com. I felt that this was one of the stronger books in the series, especially with the attempts to make Atalanta more personable and human than the cardboard characters usually found in such stories. Also, the academic resources included in the book make it ideal for classroom use.

A short preview and more information about the book and authors are available here from the Lerner Publishing Group.

Robin Hood: Outlaw of Sherwood Forest

Robin Hood is a well-known figure in the English speaking world, a legend whose story has been told in print, art, and movies. This version's hero is cut from the swashbuckling Errol Flynn/Cary Elwes cloth. There are five different stories within. The first shows how Robin Hood was tricked and had to become an outlaw. The second and third show how he meets Maid Marian and grows his band of Merry Men. The fourth and fifth stories follow his disputes with the Sheriff of Nottingham.

This book is another of the Graphic Universe graphic novels from the Lerner Publishing Group. It was written by Paul D. Storrie, a frequent contributor to the series about myths and legends, whose other titles include Hercules: The 12 Labors and Amaterasu: Return of the Sun. The art was provided by Thomas Yeates, a graduate of the Kubert School of Art who has had a long career illustrating a variety of comic books such as Swamp Thing, Tarzan, and Conan.

The School Library Journal's Joy Fleishacker reported that this book would be a good one for struggling or reluctant readers, especially because it"includes a map, glossary, and pronunciation guide, and list of print and web resources, [which] may encourage readers to delve more deeply into Robin’s adventures." A few more brief reviews are available at Goodreads.

The publisher's preview is available here.