This book is the follow-up to Kovacs and Marshall's 2011 volume Classics and Comics (reviewed in CR 63 [2013], 288–90). These two linked works present the current totality of edited volumes on the reception of Classics in the medium of comic books, a medium as broad and varied as that of prose, combining narrative writing with sequential illustration. Comics are often serialised, releasing 22-page chapters on a monthly basis, but full-length single releases are also available in both physical and digital formats. The potential audiences of these works are varied, and both writers and artists often bring a high level of literary understanding and interest in mythography and storytelling methods to their work, particularly in the realms of fiction (on which this volume focuses in its entirety).
The field of Classics and comics is a rich one, thanks to connections ranging from direct graphic adaptations of ancient literature to the debt owed by superhero narratives to classical mythology; sequential narrative art itself is a medium with roots visible across culture and time in art forms including Greek vase-painting and narrative mosaics. This field is, however, an oddly sparse area in terms of academia, perhaps due to the perceived ‘highbrow’ nature of Classics and ‘lowbrow’ nature of comics. Kovacs and Marshall's volumes present an attempt at correcting this oversight, bringing this particular area of reception to greater prominence. Where Classics and Comics was a simple first attempt at introducing the idea of connecting the two fields in academia, Son of Classics and Comics offers a broader range of articles, showing a glimpse of the wider potential of this new academic field and encouraging further thought and development. The volume is divided into four thematic parts, each focused on a different specific area of Classics and comics.
The first part, ‘Postmodern Odysseys’, focuses on the reception of the Odyssey in a number of different comics, from D. Mazzuchelli's Asterios Polyp to G. Duggan and P. Noto's Infinite Horizon. This is the part of the volume to which both editors choose to contribute, and it provides a universally strong exploration of Homeric reception in vastly different comics. It is worth noting, however, that Kovacs's ‘Mythic Totality in Age of Bronze’ is the third Age of Bronze focused paper in this series of volumes, including one written by the comic's author. This focus on one single comic feels narrow-minded when attempting to introduce such a wide academic field, and it seems particularly egregious when Son of Classics and Comics entirely overlooks some major (and ripe for analysis) pieces of Homeric reception such as Ody-C (M. Fraction [w.] and C. Ward [a.], Image Comics, 2014–2016). This is a weakness in editing rather than writing, however, as the individual articles in this section are varied and valuable contributions to scholarship.
Part 2, ‘East's Wests’, covers Classical reception in manga, exploring some of the complexities of reading Classical allusions in the comics of an entirely different cultural context. The quality of these articles is variable, however, and one cannot help but suspect that the Western academic view of manga and its cultural context might be somewhat limited. The best of these articles is S.R. Johnson's ‘Xerxes, Lost City in the Desert: Classical Allusions in Fullmetal Alchemist’, offering a much more nuanced understanding of cultural differences than the others and acknowledging (p. 96) that to a Japanese audience Classical allusions seem alien and exotic, giving them a different resonance when used in sci-fi and fantasy stories than can be detected by most Western audiences. It is unfortunate, then, that this chapter is chosen to close the section, as this acknowledgement of cultural difference is important and informs the reader's understanding of manga greatly; as such, it might have been better placed at the start of Part 2. The other articles in this section are less eye-catching. For example, in ‘(Un)reading the Odyssey in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind’ N. Theisen argues that H. Miyazaki's Nausicaä should be read as a conscious revision and inversion of the Odyssey, primarily due to the fact that it is nothing like the Odyssey. This neglects the cultural context and lets down what could otherwise be an exceptionally interesting section exploring a hitherto untouched region of scholarship.
The third part is particularly closely focused; ‘All Gaul’ contains three articles engaging with R. Goscinny and A. Uderzo's Asterix series, covering a range of related topics. Once again, these are of variable quality and relevance, although the majority engage with Classical reception in Asterix with a high level of dexterity and thought. Of particular note is S. Barnett's ‘Asterix and the Dream of Autochthony’, connecting Greek ideals of autochthony with Asterix’s narrative of Gaulish resistance and magical powers with modern appropriations of these concepts for nationalist purposes. On the other end of the spectrum, however, is S. McElduff's ‘We're Not in Gaul Anymore: the Global Translation of Asterix’, an excellent survey of Asterix translations across the international market that fails to engage with anything meaningfully Classics-related beyond generic translation theory and the 50 bc setting of the series. Although this is a strong article in its own right, it is poorly chosen for this edited volume and would sit far more comfortably in a larger study of Asterix.
The final section, ‘Modern Classics’, is a strange collection of articles with no clear theme. Despite the title, this section covers a wide range of topics, some of which are concerned with secondary reception (F. Williams and E. Brunner's ‘Eliot with an Epic, Rowson with a Comic: Recycling Foundational Narratives’), others with direct reception of Classical texts and figures (I. Runacres and M.K. Mackenzie's ‘Classical Allusion in Modern British Political Cartoons’, M. Taylor's ‘Ozymandias the Dreamer: Watchmen and Alexander the Great’), and others still with topics only loosely related to most definitions of Classics (K. Polak's ‘And They Call That Poison Food: Desire and Traumatic Spectatorship in the Lucifer Retelling of Genesis’). Despite being a longer section than the others, this appears to be a collection of miscellany rather than a coherent, well-edited part of the volume. The closest this part comes to a unifying theme is a sense of attempting to expand the scope of the volume, covering comics as non-standard as political cartoons and Classics as loosely fitting the definition of the field as Genesis. Yet, this section features some of the most incisive and thoughtful writing of the volume, with the standard of the articles being universally high.
The volume is, overall, targeted more at Classicists with an interest in comics than at scholars of comics with an interest in Classics: the comics discussed are generally summarised and introduced in detail, while the Classical concepts are discussed with a high level of assumed knowledge. This is an unfortunately narrow target audience for an interdisciplinary volume, but perhaps an unavoidable one in this case. Despite being a strong introduction to the field of Classical reception in comics, the volume cannot escape from the fact that this is the second volume in a series. The majority of the articles are, with very few exceptions, valuable on their own merits, even if poorly chosen; the weaknesses here are editorial rather than down to the writers of the individual articles.
Aside from the unexpected and valuable section on manga, the selection of comics chosen for discussion shows a narrow view of which comics are worthy of academic discussion. Most of those discussed here are ‘worthy’ classics such as Watchmen (A. Moore [w.] and D. Gibbons [a.], DC Comics, 1986–1987); and to return again to Age of Bronze (E. Shanower, Image Comics, 1998–present), while entirely neglecting more complex pieces of Classical reception that happen to be aimed at a younger and more general market, such as The Wicked + The Divine (K. Gillen [w.] and J. McKelvie [a.], Image Comics, 2014–2019), shows a narrow view of respectability in comics that restricts this field from reaching its full potential. This approach is also visible in the bibliography, in which academic articles are cited but comics are conspicuous by their absence. (Classical primary sources are also omitted from the bibliography, but the volume's general assumption of specialist Classics knowledge but non-specialist comics knowledge demands full bibliographic citation for comics more so than for ancient primary texts.) This oversight in a volume theoretically focused on comics is uncomfortable and indicates the entire medium as somehow less academically valuable.
The range of articles contained within this work shows the potential of the field, despite the occasional poor editorial choices. Sections such as the part discussing Classical reception in manga show the need for more focused volumes discussing smaller areas of this vast field. The world of Classics and comics is broad and covers a wide range of different genres and formats within the medium of comics, and the introduction provided by Kovacs and Marshall's volumes has done an excellent job of establishing the field, despite the flaws. While Son of Classics and Comics may not reach its full potential as a volume, it shows that there is more than a single book's worth of discussion to be had of this rich field, opening the door for many further academic works with tighter focus on specific topics.
