The Iliad: A Graphic Novel

First of all, I am biased: I believe that The Iliad is both the pinnacle and the foundation for all Western literature, and one of life's great joys for me was learning to read the immortal words of Homer in ancient Greek when I was a teenager. So imagine the thrill of seeing those immortal words translated into a graphic format! This is a complex tale, told in complex language, with an impossibly wide cast of characters in a culture that seems far away from our modern world, and yet it all comes alive on the pages of this graphic novel, just as relevant to our current events now as it was almost 3000 years ago. I am the parent of two students with learning challenges, and I am using this book to make the classics accessible to them. There is nothing simple or easy about the Iliad. The author streamlines the story somewhat, and uses different types of visual cues and reader guides to facilitate reading comprehension. At the same time, the author uses many of Homer's narrative tricks to bring specific moments to life. This book does contain plenty of violence, human trafficking and references to rape (it's about a war), so parents should exercise their judgement about appropriateness for children or young teens. It's approximately a 7th grade reading level. But it's ideal for getting young adventure-lovers hooked on heavy-hitting literature - definitely not for the Charlotte's Web crowd. As soon as the book arrived on my doorstep, I went straight to the scene of Priam clasping the knees of Achilles, and it was exactly as I'd hoped, exactly as Homer describes it. That scene answers some of life's big questions: How do you forgive the unforgivable? What does it mean to be human? What does anything mean? The author's artwork includes some archaeological touches from the time period of the Trojan War, very nice to see. The overall effect is stunning, and captures the spirit of Homer's epic poem. I didn't think the author could possibly top his editions of Beowulf, King Lear or The Odyssey, but here it is: the cornerstone of Western literature. Highly recommended for adults, teens and tweens who are curious about this ancient tale.

This book is beautiful. The text is true to the original poem, and the illustrations are colorful and engaging. It's also a great price for the quality.

Let's start by stating that I first read Homer's epic around the age of 12 and it truly was epic - but the translation was less than smooth and the poem had lost some of its magnificence. Over the years I read it twice more, enamored by the story so much that I longed to share the joy with my daughter. But facing the clunkiness of the translated versions, I decided to see if I can find something else. I found this graphic novel. It's excellent in that it misses none of the major details. There's some gore (I would call it PG-13 level) but that's part of Homer's original story and I'm glad they didn't omit those details.Great way to introduce a child or an adult to the Iliad. Very recommended

Our students love graphic novels for English class. Beautifully done and easy to follow!

This is the BEST way to teach the Iliad to high school students. I have been teaching the Iliad for twenty years and have used Fagles’ translation until this year. The response of students to this masterful graphic version (both Hinds translation and incredible illustrations) has been incredible. This is a work of scholarship as well as a work of art. Stunning visually and intellectually!

I've always found reading Iliad pretty tiring. I always liked the Odyssey better. There are too many names in Iliad and very little happens in the story other than because of some god, x suddenly became a killing machine and killed a whole bunch of other people. That being said, the art makes the book more interesting. If you want to own and read the classic, this is an interesting way to do that.Note that the paintings are fairly goary with a lot of blood and thoats being cut. So keep that in mind if you're buying this for your kid.

This graphic novel adaptation of The Iliad brings the ancient epic to life with powerful visuals and a fast-paced retelling. While it skips some depth from the original, it captures the heart of the story—honor, rage, and fate—beautifully.

So I was trying out two different versions of the Iliad before I settled on this one one was the Elliot illustrated by marvel and then this one here personally I prefer this Iliad It seemed to focus less on the battles and really talked about what was going on at the camps and the politics and the human aspects of war not just the battle and really enjoyed the betrayal they had the gods and their mix and twist within the war.And I read this to my dog and he really enjoyed the pictures and the battle scenes. Those kept his attention the most.