Comics are really coming up in the world. Next month the Oxford University Press is releasing a completely un-ironic look at how comics have covered classical Greek and Roman mythology. Classics and Comics is edited by George Kovacs, a teacher at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, and C.W. Marshall, Assoc. Professor of Greek and Roman Theatre at the University of British Columbia.
CLASSICS AND COMICS is the first book to explore the engagement of classics with the epitome of modern popular literature, the comic book. The volume collects sixteen articles, all specially commissioned for this volume, that look at how classical content is deployed in comics and reconfigured for a modern audience. It opens with a detailed historical introduction surveying the role of classical material in comics since the 1930s. Subsequent chapters cover a broad range of topics, including the incorporation of modern theories of myth into the creation and interpretation of comic books, the appropriation of characters from classical literature and myth, and the reconfiguration of motif into a modern literary medium.
The book also contains a new 12 page comic by Eric Shanower, author of the gorgeous take on the Trojan War, AGE OF BRONZE. Shanower was kind enough to send us a preview of the comic:
Please note: the cover to this book would fit right into Bully’s screaming man tribute page.
Congrats to Eric. He deserves it. Age of Bronze is one of the best books out there, and having met him at SD I can say he’s a great guy!
Eric Shanower is frighteningly talented. This sounds liek a pretty interesting read, too.
I’ve had the opportunity to read the 12page story and it’s great stuff. Congrats and thanks to the authors and publisher for making it happen.
And don’t forget to give George O’Connor credit for that great cover he created for this book!
He’s all about the mythology:
http://olympiansrule.com/
To Amazon!
Love Age of Bronze and look how talented Shanower is, to switch from his ultra detailed style in Age of Bronze to cartoony for this preview and still look so damn good. Amazing.
OK, I got my head kicked in for arguing that Shuster swiped an old painting of Hercules for the cover of Action #1, even though I provided every single bit of evidence I was asked for. Roy Thomas and Gerry Jones thought I was onto something, and apparently so did the cover artist.
It’s extremely exciting that OUP is publishing this book. This is yet another step in the battle to give comics, and comics studies, academic credibility. In fact, one might almost say that OUP’s decision to publish this is proof that the medium already has academic credibility.
Really great news!
Glad to see people interested in the book! Eric’s contribution is great, one of my favorite pieces in the book. Cover art is by George O’Connor, who is doing a series on the Olympians over at First Second (http://olympiansrule.com)