A very quick read (took all of 30 minutes, maybe 45) but the art is beautiful and the stories fun and thought provoking.

What would Poseidon do faced with our current total disregard for the world's oceans?

What would Prometheus think of what his gift has wrought?

What if Isaac was old enough to engage with Abraham on the mountain, what would he have thought of the whole thing?

These and a few more questions are tackled in the pages (well, page since the book is one long accordion reminiscent of the scrolls on which these stories are based) of this book.

As a side note, I really want to find a way to showcase the entirety of this accordion of pictures at once. But the length of wall necessary to do so is rather out of my price range. ( )

Nilsen makes several stylistic choices with this book that I had a hard time embracing, but it's still an interesting look at how we construct stories/images of humanity versus those of some supposed "higher" order of being (Greek mythology, Judeo-Christian religion).

The use of second person narrative viewpoint in the text is one of those love it/hate it things, I suppose. Some readers seem to feel that it places them "in" the story. Others find it very distancing in almost the exact opposite way. I don't generally enjoy reading second person very much. Here, I think it sort of works in making the viewpoint of a godlike character more mundane, which seems to be the aim. But I couldn't help wondering wether first or third person wouldn't have felt more alive.

The artwork utilizes silhouettes, which emphasizes the flat, inhuman, unkowable-ness of the diety characters. Once again, this seems like a double edged sword that helps to juxtapose the mythological element against the contemporary human world Nilsen is twisting them into, yet also removes most of the possibility for visual nuance or emotion in the drawings. Probably very intentional on Nilsen's part, but I didn't find it to be all that effective. I'll admit that I also just miss the amazing detail that makes a lot of his previous artwork so beautiful to me.

Lastly, the accordion fold book construction. I can't see what this achieves at all. The art on individual pages does not really interact much visually when you look at a section of a bunch of pages accordioned "out". It makes the book a bit physically awkward to read. And once again, if anything, I can only see it as a further distancing effect on the reader.

I think Nilsen is an amazing and ambitious artist/writer (his Big Questions is a monumental piece of comics/graphic novel work), but this one was more of a curious experiment for me. ( )

Nilsen makes several stylistic choices with this book that I had a hard time embracing, but it's still an interesting look at how we construct stories/images of humanity versus those of some supposed "higher" order of being (Greek mythology, Judeo-Christian religion).

The use of second person narrative viewpoint in the text is one of those love it/hate it things, I suppose. Some readers seem to feel that it places them "in" the story. Others find it very distancing in almost the exact opposite way. I don't generally enjoy reading second person very much. Here, I think it sort of works in making the viewpoint of a godlike character more mundane, which seems to be the aim. But I couldn't help wondering wether first or third person wouldn't have felt more alive.

The artwork utilizes silhouettes, which emphasizes the flat, inhuman, unkowable-ness of the diety characters. Once again, this seems like a double edged sword that helps to juxtapose the mythological element against the contemporary human world Nilsen is twisting them into, yet also removes most of the possibility for visual nuance or emotion in the drawings. Probably very intentional on Nilsen's part, but I didn't find it to be all that effective. I'll admit that I also just miss the amazing detail that makes a lot of his previous artwork so beautiful to me.

Lastly, the accordion fold book construction. I can't see what this achieves at all. The art on individual pages does not really interact much visually when you look at a section of a bunch of pages accordioned "out". It makes the book a bit physically awkward to read. And once again, if anything, I can only see it as a further distancing effect on the reader.

I think Nilsen is an amazing and ambitious artist/writer (his Big Questions is a monumental piece of comics/graphic novel work), but this one was more of a curious experiment for me. ( )

Nilsen unerringly points out why some faiths, myths and ad hominems are the marathon-winners across time and civilizations. The presentation and style are woodcut-like throwbacks that hint at some grim origins and lend humour and the handcrafted feel in an accordion format. These all help to emphasize the mythological subject matter, especially with several scenes comparatively visible at a glance. Faith, immortality, mortal concerns, war, the invisible, ethics, virtue and metaphysics are all skillfully brought to life in a tiny book with monumental presentation. Those post-secondary institutions that wish to establish relevant and meaningful classics and philosophy courses would do well to incorporate visual narrative climaxes such as those found in Rage of Poseidon, if only for comparative and discussion purposes. Four stars for being almost as accessible for children as the author's Big Questions (2011). ( )