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.