The Iliad: A Graphic Novel by Gareth Hinds
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I have an enormous amount of time for what Gareth Hinds does and have thoroughly enjoyed his other work (The Odyssey: A Graphic Novel in particular) and rather loved this as well. Adapting anything is hard and the impact of the source text is felt here; the ending, in particular, may not quite be what is expected for those familiar with the story of Troy and yet not particularly familiar with the Iliad itself. That brief note aside, this is a strong and beguiling piece of work. I really like the grace of Hinds’ work; there’s a softness to it and an understanding of colour and the landscape feels real, lived. It’s particularly striking when the Gods become involved and perspective shifts suddenly to see these enormous figures striding across the battlefield, a thousand times bigger than the biggest man, or stood alongside soldiers on the ramparts and helping to repel fighters.
There’s some incredible, subtle moments here that I really loved. We see figures dying, named only in that moment, in great lists of the dead. These faces appear and then disappear within the same panel and I found reading these names rather moving. So many people, so many stories, all of them bound up in this enormous thing, and even though they were here for a second, they bought a thousand stories with them. The humanity of it, I think.
I was also struck by how much this book reminded me of classic comic strips from things like The Eagle. There were a handful of artists who approached historical, biblical, and mythological stories and retold them for the readership. I remember reading one about the Good Samaritan and the style here is very similar. Hinds goes for fidelity to the original text but illustrates it for the reader and works to make it very accessible. There’s a nice little foreword where the players are introduced and Hinds explains that he’s integrated the first letter of the main cast onto their armour or shield and I liked this a lot.
I think this is smart work. I think it does smart work with a complex story and finds some great grace in it. The encounter between Priam and Achilles is beautifully handled and the afterwords from Hinds, where he provides a commentary on the decisions taken within the book is fiercely interesting. I like this sort of care about something a lot. It’s well worth picking this up.
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Daisy May Johnson 