The Iliad

Product Description

In a companion volume to his award-winning adaptation of The Odyssey, the incomparable graphic novelist Gareth Hinds masterfully adapts Homer’s classic wartime epic.

More than three thousand years ago, two armies faced each other in an epic battle that rewrote history and came to be known as the Trojan War.
The Iliad, Homer’s legendary account of this nine-year ordeal, is considered the greatest war story of all time and one of the most important works of Western literature. In this stunning graphic novel adaptation — a thoroughly researched and artfully rendered masterwork — renowned illustrator Gareth Hinds captures all the grim glory of Homer’s epic. Dynamic illustrations take readers directly to the plains of Troy, into the battle itself, and lay bare the complex emotions of the men, women, and gods whose struggles fueled the war and determined its outcome. This companion volume to Hinds’s award-winning adaptation of
The Odyssey features notes, maps, a cast of characters, and other tools to help readers understand all the action and drama of Homer’s epic.

From School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up—Hinds, who has adapted numerous classics into comics format, brings the Greek epic to life with this full-color graphic novel. Beginning with an illustrated cast of characters and concluding with extensive back matter consisting of maps, page-by-page notes, a bibliography, and an author’s note, this version will strike a chord with newcomers and those familiar with the source material alike. The story begins by invoking the Muse to sing about Achilles’s anger toward King Agamemnon in the 10th year of the Trojan War. The Achaeans seek treasure from Troy and wish to bring back Menelaus’s wife, Helen, whom Paris, prince of Troy, seduced with the help of Aphrodite. Hinds seamlessly transitions from close-ups to battle scenes, from emotional streams of dialogue to wide angles of scenery, effectively establishing setting. Dialogue-heavy panels are well integrated, and the gods make grand and dramatic appearances. Names of characters who were killed in battle are listed. Battle scenes are graphic though not gratuitous, fitting with the message about the consequences of war. VERDICT A well-researched and successful adaptation; recommended for most public and high school library collections.—Marissa Lieberman, East Orange Public Library, NJ

Review

In his latest graphic novel adaptation of a classic text, Hinds (
The Odyssey) condenses Homer’s epic poem of gods and mortals at war, covering most of the major events and adding supplemental material that expands the story slightly beyond the original…The most striking scenes are the battles, presented in intimate detail and in awe-inspiring, sweeping overviews. Hinds’s relatively plain language retains just enough meter to hint at the cadences of the work, and, together with the dynamic art, creates an accessible entrée to an enduring classic.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Clear scaffolding, well-chosen abridgements, readable prose, and stunning art invite readers into this exceptionally compelling version of the episode of the Trojan War handed down through Homer’s Iliad…Readers who have struggled to follow the poetry of the standard text or to become emotionally invested in a summary will have no such difficulty here; Hinds has truly produced an easy-to-follow, engrossingly cinematic blockbuster on the page.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)

“Sing to me, O Muse, of the rage of Achilles”: a rousing graphic rendition of Homer’s great epic…An expertly crafted rendition and a welcome invitation to younger readers to immerse themselves in the ancient past.
—Kirkus Reviews

This modern graphic novel retelling of Homer’s epic immediately draws in readers with its artistry and readability…This is a well-done adaptation of an important, thought-provoking poem.
—School Library Connection

As with his treatment of
The Odyssey (rev. 1