Geoff Johns is one of the biggest names working in comics today. His work in revamping Hal Jordan in the Green Lantern series and his acclaimed work on Superman (including the popular Secret Origin limited series) for DC Comics gave him a strong reputation amongst fans and the comic industry alike. This reputation would lead to him being named the Chief Creative Officer of the company in 2010, a position he still holds today whilst still writing several of DC’s top titles including Justice League and Superman. However, he has on occasion stepped out of the DC Universe to work on projects for other companies including Marvel and Humanoids. One of which is the graphic novel Olympus.

Olympus was originally released in 2005 as a co-production between Humanoids and DC Comics. It saw Johns team up with frequent collaborator Kris Grimminger (Witchblade, The Possessed) and veteran comic artist Jackson “Butch” Guice (Winter Soldier, Captain America) to deliver a new take on Greek mythology. A brash group of archaeology students who are enjoying the last day of a field trip to Greece suddenly find themselves ambushed by a group of armed mercenaries. However, their situation goes bad to worse as both groups end up shipwrecked together on the legendary Mount Olympus – a mountainous island populated by the deadliest monsters known to Greek mythology.

Re-released last year by Humanoids in hardcover format, this new paperback edition is a great way to pick up this great read. Johns and Grimminger do a great job of not only creating a great group of characters and providing a witty and detailed script, but also of bringing in many popular elements of Ancient Greek Mythology and inserting out-of-place modern characters into their surroundings. Guice is the show-stealer though as although he is excellent as usual at depicting human interaction and great landscapes such as island the characters find themselves washed up on, it is when he gets to draw legendary monsters such as the Medusa, the Minotaur, the Cyclops and many more that he is clearly having the most fun.

Any fans of fantasy adventure will find this graphic novel right up their alley and if you’re a fan of Ancient Greek Mythology and classic Greek monsters, this is definitely one to check out.

Olympus p/b is published 3 February by Humanoids

Post by Leo Sutherland

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