Publisher: Seven Seas Entertainment, Hiveworks
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Tropes: Hades & Persephone retelling, mythology, grumpy-sunshine
***
I’ve always been a fan of Hades and Persephone retellings. I’ve reviewed quite a few on my blog including Lore Olympus, Neon Gods, A Touch of Darkness, and many more. There’s something about the myth of Hades and Persephone that simultaneously captivates people and frustrates them in equal amounts. Insta-love, kidnapping, angry mothers causing drama, and meddling gods. It creates quite an interesting basis for a story, one that many people have drawn upon over the years.
Allison Shaw draws upon this myth again in her retelling, with a few changes, ones that arguably make the original story even better. In the original myth, Hades happens upon Persephone when she is out picking flowers and takes her to the Underworld to be his Queen. Demeter kicks up a fuss when she finds out, refusing to make the crops grow until her daughter is returned to her. Zeus intervenes, but before Persephone can be taken back to her mother, Hades supposedly tricks her into eating food from the Underworld, trapping her there. She now can spend no more than half a year on the surface before she has to return to the Underworld. Thus, accounting for the changing of seasons.
What I love about Allison Shaw’s interpretation is not only her alterations to the story, but the art itself. The linework is simple, but also expressive while the colors are bold but ultimately flat with minimal shading. The combination makes for a very stylized yet expressive comic that’s art style seems to draw inspiration from the very Greek myths it’s retelling. Shaw pairs black and white so well to create contrast between Hades and Persephone, emphasizing their difference both in personality and Godly role. It plays into the dynamics of their relationship, using visual interest to bring attention to their personality differences.
While Shaw is essentially retelling this myth, she does alter it a little, and I think this is to the story’s benefit. For one, she adds in Hades being struck by an arrow from Eros to help explain his instant attraction to Persephone and also some more Godly mischief. It also adds more visual interest when we see the all black form of Hades riddled with bright red arrows. Every time he tries to resist the call of Eros’ magic, another arrow is added.
The largest aspect she added was the fact that Persephone did in fact fall in love with Hades and she did want to go with him to the Underworld to be with him. Hades didn’t kidnap her, that was just the angry accusations of her overbearing mother, Demeter. She wasn’t trapped in the Underworld because she ate some fruit, that was just the excuse she told the gullible Hermes to trick him and Zeus into letting her stay. I love this interpretation of this Greek myth. It brings into question whether or not the original recorders of the myth unfairly represented Persephone in her marriage to Hades, either because of rampant misogyny or a propensity to disparage more ancient pagan mythos that may have spawned the creation of Persephone’s character (but that is a much more complicated debate, and I’ll leave that to people smarter than me).
If you are someone like me who also wants a little spice with their comics now and then, I think you’ll like this as well. There’s definitely a few scenes between Hades and Persephone that are steamy and so great, and one scene where Minthe (a previous enemy and victim of Persephone’s anger) joins them for a menage in a hot spring. I loved all of that. The comic isn’t super graphic in these instances, but definitely not safe for work since it does have very obvious boobs and sex.
If you love this particular Greek myth as much as I, you should definitely check out Allison Shaw’s comic. After you’re done, be sure to come back and let me know what you thought!
~~Thanks for Reading!~~
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