Review by Booklist Review
Classical epic gets stick-figure treatment, with equal parts of heroic adventure and lowbrow humor constituting an unusual take on Greek mythology. Zozimos escapes the wrath of the evil witch who killed his royal father. On a quest for vengeance, he meets a wise hermit and the plucky daughter of a mean sorcerer-king as he follows the prophecy of the gods to find his destiny or, at least, the culmination of this book in battle with a stick-figure colossus of Rhodes. Ford has distilled salient elements and themes of Greek heroic mythology and mixed them into an odyssey that, while fun and rousing at times, lacks full-blown mythological resonance. Of course, he isn't interested in depth as much as in jokey pastiche, and his stick figures and landscapes have surprising verve and expressiveness. Like Michael Townsend's Amazing Greek Myths of Wonder and Blunders (2010), this could serve as a humorous gateway to classical mythology for young readers.--Karp, Jess. Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-9-Banished from Sticatha by an evil witch, "far-wandering" Zozimos embarks on a voyage home filled with heroic battles, manic monsters, and heaps of irreverent humor. Ford's lithe-lined stick-figure characters run amok in a tale that incorporates a mishmash of myths, a delightfully meandering plot, and a tempting taste of the real McCoy. (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Loosely based on Homer's Odyssey, this graphic novel puts its own silly spin on Odysseus's epic adventure, emphasizing slapstick humor over action or drama. The pictures are easy to follow and are well suited to the manic pace of the storytelling. Most of the characters are stick figures with simple adornments or accessories so readers can tell them apart. Copyright 2010 of The Horn Book, Inc. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
This may be a book that's better on the second reading.In medias resis a dangerous trick to play on unsuspecting readers. In the first six pages of this graphic meta-goof onThe Odyssey, our stick-figure hero, Zozimos, nearly drowns, gets lost in a jungle, is captured by golems and gets thrown in jail. The pace never really lets up over the 200 pages of the book, as he tries to find his way home to Sticatha. Readers may feel as though they're flipping channels on a remote, and every channel is showing an action movie. There's too muchmedias,too muchresand not enough time spent developing the characters. Ford almost seems afraid to let them sit down and just talk. Some readers may need to page through the story a second time to realize that Zozimos is sort of charming, and a few turns of phrase are quite funny ("By Hades' pajamas").It would be easy, though, to get distracted by Zozimos' many selfish actions and his refusal to listen to anyone else. Early in the book, King Marnox says, "The way I see it, everything that happened was your own fault for being a shortsighted jerk." It's hard to disagree. A few leisurely pauses here and there might have given readers more opportunity to sympathize with the main character.A nifty concept that never really quite leaves the conceptual stage.(Graphic novel. 11-14)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
