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hippoponymous's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
lsparrow's review against another edition
3.0
Considering this is an English language canon - I was glad for the effort to include writings that were from non- English tradition.
sindri_inn_arsaeli's review against another edition
3.0
As with any anthology, there are some hits and some misses, but on the whole more quite enjoyable pieces. Some otherwise tedious works, like Dante, definitely benefit from having some illustrations to help with comprehension. It was fun to see some works I was otherwise unfamiliar with, and the attempt to be internationally inclusive was very good. I think my personal favorite was the interpretation of Shakespeare's Sonnet 18.
violentvixen's review against another edition
2.0
This just didn't work for me. The very short (often one page) selections were jarring, and a lot of the intros didn't give enough context for the selection they had. But my biggest issue was that I just didn't like a lot of the comics! The majority of the art is that 70s druggie style which I hate. A few are specifically described as having a "grotesque" style in the intros and that makes classic literature impossible to follow. Many more had writing that was messy/too stylized and extremely difficult to read. Also I've never seen so many extremely unattractive naked boobs, so many of these drawing styles don't work with nudes. Since the styles are so different and the selections so short I couldn't get into any of the styles enough to keep up with them. It made the whole thing an incredibly slow and frustrating read.
Overall it had the feeling of a 90s high school zine. I like the idea but couldn't get into any of this. I'd have enjoyed it more and read it faster if it had been a text compilation, which is pretty sad.
Overall it had the feeling of a 90s high school zine. I like the idea but couldn't get into any of this. I'd have enjoyed it more and read it faster if it had been a text compilation, which is pretty sad.
balletbookworm's review against another edition
5.0
Very much enjoyed the breadth of work both geographically and artistically. My favorite pieces are The Letters of Abelard and Heloise, Coyote and the Pebbles (gorgeous art), Shakespeare's Sonnet 18, The Flea, and The Tale of Genji.
I laughed so hard during The Woman With Two Coyntes.
I laughed so hard during The Woman With Two Coyntes.
krpollard's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent! I was very impressed by the range of stories that move beyond the "Western Canon" and acknowledge not only a variety of cultures but also the range of gender, both in the retelling of the stories and in the work's choice of artists. I do wish some of the stories had moved beyond simple character panels to dive more into the stories, but appreciate what the collection tries to achieve nonetheless.
mattycakesbooks's review against another edition
4.0
Pretty great. Looking forward to reading the second one. My favorite pieces were the ones that actually told full stories rather than snippets and scenes from stories: the Coyote story and the 1001 Nights stories were my favorite parts then. Also, the guy who compiled this anthology seemed pretty focused on the bawdy, raunchy stuff in the stories. Not that it's a problem, but it definitely seemed pretty frequent.
wheresthebirds's review against another edition
challenging
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
cryo_guy's review against another edition
4.0
So this was pretty cool. Given to me by a friend for xmas because I like graphic novels and such, I was particularly looking forward to the ancient Greek adapted sections.
The editor of the collection, Russ Kick, put little introductions to each work that not only gave you some background on the work that was being adapted, which was often insightful if brief, but also some background info on the adapter of the work (He also has sections in the back, which are also brief, and expand on such things).
The adaptations were as different as any adaptation can be varying from faithful attempts to portray whatever time period and setting of the work to humorous adaptations to shifting the story into a different period of time. Most retained the original text (or a common translation), but a few branched out even in this area.
Mostly very enjoyable. I'm a fan of the graphic novel as a medium. The Iliad adaptation was in particular very good. Overall, it read like a series of short stories. For many of the longer works only a piece was adapted and inserted into the collection.
Definitely worth checking out.
The editor of the collection, Russ Kick, put little introductions to each work that not only gave you some background on the work that was being adapted, which was often insightful if brief, but also some background info on the adapter of the work (He also has sections in the back, which are also brief, and expand on such things).
The adaptations were as different as any adaptation can be varying from faithful attempts to portray whatever time period and setting of the work to humorous adaptations to shifting the story into a different period of time. Most retained the original text (or a common translation), but a few branched out even in this area.
Mostly very enjoyable. I'm a fan of the graphic novel as a medium. The Iliad adaptation was in particular very good. Overall, it read like a series of short stories. For many of the longer works only a piece was adapted and inserted into the collection.
Definitely worth checking out.