Author/artist Eric Shanower will be the first to tell you (in his after word to this marvelous "comic book") that the story of the fall of Troy has had many tellings, not all of which can be harmonized. The same characters in simultaneously older in one tale and younger in another. Authors over the millennia have chosen to make their own original (if not consistent) contributions, as when 12th century minstrels created a romance between an entirely new character (Cressida) to complement a peripheral character (Troilus) known from the ancient texts. Most recently, the work of archaeologists has taught us much about life in the Age of Bronze, from which can be reconstructed the preoccupations, dress and habits of people who lived thousands of years ago.
From this mA lange of sources, Shanower has crafted an epic tale in the graphic novel format that is endlessly fascinating and impossible to put down. His tale begins with the youthful Paris, the restless firebrand who dreams (in spite his state as a cowherd) of martial glory. Soon, we are introduced into the word of Trojan and Achaean warrior-kings, and to their world in which economic advantage, solemn oaths, ever-to-be-propitiated gods and goddesses all meet in complex and interlocking ways. As the tale ends, Agamemnon, high-king of the Achaeans, has assembled his armada of a thousand ships and is headed to Troy to avenge the breach of hospitality opened by Paris, now a Trojan prince, when he abducted the beautiful Helen, wife of Agamemnon's brother Menelaus.
Shanower gives us a plausible Bronze Age world that may well be the closest we can get to the original. The warrior "kings" are all young men -- strong, virile and hale of heart and mind. The deities they beseech are notably absent from sight -- other than in visions and dreams; their activity is assumed (and their presence feared) when events occur in concert with prayerful pleadings. But these young men have more than war on their minds, and there is plenty of sexual energy pulsing through the tale. Women play important roles as wives, mothers and seers. The erotic element is kept mostly to a PG-13 level, but there is enough kissing and fondling of [...] to heat all but the coolest of hearts. Amusingly, Shanower keeps to the North American aversion to showing aureoles and genitalia. This aversion grows to almost ludicrous proportion as he strives manfully to hid his characters' naughty bits -- even when in full run -- with wisps of conveniently-draped hair.
All told, A Thousands Ships is fabulous on its own merits and as an introduction to the Homeric masterpieces, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Highly recommended for the 13-and-up set. |
Age of Bronze Volume 1: A Thousand Ships Books In Print, Audio Books.