The Odyssey (review)

A hair-raising adventure tale that's lasted well over two millennia can hardly be said to need new life breathed into it. A fresh retelling, though, is always welcome, and with this graphic-novel interpretation Hinds will hook some of those holdouts who have thus far resisted The Odyssey's lure. Hinds notes in an afterword the translations consulted and favored for his opus, and his own narrative style stays true to the epic in both tone and form. With the text broken into "books" according to Homeric organization, readers encounter Odysseus' travails, the gods' intervention, and the Ithacan homefront drama in nonlinear fashion that may require extra concentration from those unfamiliar with the plot. However, the depth of the dialogue, the outstanding individuation of characters, and the patient and lovingly developed flow between frames—often in wordless stretches—make the work accessible. Hinds' delicate pencil lines and softly blended watercolors coax an amazing variety of moods and settings from the sandy beiges and sea blues dictated by the Mediterranean milieu. Monstrous encounters and the suitor slaughter are satisfyingly sanguinary, and although Odysseus' dalliances are perhaps less discreetly presented than some middle-school collections will permit, librarians who subscribe to the "They've seen worse in the movies" school of thought will happily extend this to a junior-high audience. "Near-direct quotes" from other translators are credited in the concluding note, along with a few Greek terms and comments on visual representation of the setting.