George O’Connor does a brilliant job of retelling little-known stories of the Greek god Hermes. The text is minimal, but is perfectly supported by the artwork, making for a rich reading experience. The graphics are bright, colorful, and easy to interpret, and they bring a lot of humor to the tales. 

Of course, mythology is filled with cheating, murder, violence, and all manner of lascivious behavior, but O’Connor’s artwork treats these occurrences with a very light touch–they often have to be mentioned for story continuity, but he skims over them in a way that often makes it unclear whether anything happened at all. His battle scenes are just scary enough to be exciting without becoming the stuff of nightmares.

The supplemental material in the book is fascinating for those who want a deeper dive into the Olympus family tree or other information about mythology, but it’s unobtrusive enough that younger readers or those looking for something lighter will not be distracted or confused by it.

This short, quick read is a wonderful addition to the OLYMPIANS graphic novel library and will be enjoyed by readers of all ages.

This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by First Second Books

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  1 religious exclamation (referring to mythological deities)

Violence/Gore:  A whipping is threatened; a battle with a monster takes place in an extended scene (5 pgs) and again in a shorter scene–no gore; an immortal character is attacked, and body parts are removed–some gore; a character is put to sleep and killed–no gore

Sex/Nudity:  Two characters embrace–sex is implied; women are seen bathing–covered by towels or immersed in water; a baby is seen naked from behind; fertility is mentioned; several people are shown dancing–apparently naked with no private parts exposed.

Mature Subject Matter:

Marital infidelity, murder, cheating, theft.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

Social alcohol consumption (adults).