Review - Athena : Grey Eyed Goddess

Review - Athena : Grey Eyed Goddess
by George O’Connor
First Second

Greek gods are hot. Not as hot as vampires. Not even as hot as zombies. But they are inching their way up in the young peoples psyche. And George O’Connor is creating a series of graphic novels based on the myths of Ancient Greece which helps increase the awareness. This book tells a handful of stories relating to the goddess Athena is the second, and newest in the series.

Starting with the origin story of Athena, where she is cracked out of Zeus’ skull a fill grown adult woman. We are also told of how she won her aegis in a contest, how she and the other Olympians won an epic Battle of the Gigantes. And most entertaining for me was the tale of Perseus and his quest for the head of the Medusa.

I liked this story because anyone who reads comics has also seen the movie Clash of the Titans. Where Harry Hamlin kicks the ass of the Ray Harryhausen creatures with his great hair. This version of the story of Perseus shoes him kind of as a hick, who gets a lot of help from Athena and Hermes. In the book, Perseus even gets scoffed at when he asks for a helmet of invisibility (as he received in the movie).

I enjoyed the artwork. Its style is of line and ink. The colors are, for the most part, muted. But there are a couple pages, where the action is most intense, where more vibrant colors are used. What is also really nice is that O’Connor give all the gods very expressive features. After all, weren't the ancient gods subject to the same emotional foibles of us mortals? We see Athenas rage against Arachne. Her determination and despair is shown as she battles Pallas.

I suspect many libraries will be picking up this series. It has all the requisites to attract unknowing Children’s librarians. It’s well reviewed in all the usual sources, covers an area of the school curriculum that we are constantly being asked about. It’s not too expensive and thankfully, its a very good book.

Review - Peaceful Warrior: The Graphic Novel

Review - Peaceful Warrior: The Graphic Novel
written by Dan Millman
art by Andrew Winegarner
New World Library

Since I don’t pick up the graphic novels anymore, sometimes things come in that I would not even consider purchasing. Case in point is the graphic novel adaption of the book Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman. I had heard of this book, which first came out in 1980, but didn’t really know much about it.

Millman tells the tale of how he goes from a self absorbed undergrad obsessed with girls and gymnastics to a peaceful warrior at one with the universe. With the help of his mentor who he calls Socrates and others like Joy and Joseph, Millman is able to slough off his closed mind and body and achieve true awareness.

As I was reading this, I wondered if Millman had seen Star Wars too many times. Socrates is the Obi Wan trying to guide the impetuous Luke Skywalker/Dan Millman to look beyond himself to understand the big picture. Socrates tells Millman, “I call myself a warrior - a peaceful warrior - because the important battles we face happen inside us. And even now, as we speak, invisible forces - forces of light and darkness - are fighting a great battle.” And other gems like, “right now you’re like a fly sitting on a TV screen - you see the dots in front of you, but you’re missing the big picture.” The book is filled with dialog like this.

The artwork is pen and ink. It’s pretty good but somewhat undeveloped. Certainly not done in a superhero style. But the figures, backgrounds, and layouts are not anything special. The end biographical sketch of thew artist Andrew Winegarner mentions that he is working on an adaption of Gilgamesh. I’d be curious to see it to find out if he has learned anything from this project.

This book is not a classic and is certainly an optional buy for any library. Our copy of the text version of Peaceful Warrior has circulated over 30 times, so some people are interested in it. I’m not sure if people who read comics would be the same type of people.