Comics review: Age of Bronze

digresssmlOriginally published April 2, 1999, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1324

A couple of things…

I don’t usually do reviews, leaving such efforts to the extremely able talents of such folks as Tony Isabella, the man with two first names, one of which belongs to a famous queen. But there’s a relatively new title out (two issues on the stands as of this writing, possibly more by the time you read this) that I cannot recommend highly enough.

I hate to say that it’s the kind of title that we need, because that makes it sound like required reading or something that is similar anathema to most fans. Nevertheless, I think the title unquestionably falls into that category. And what I am speaking of is Age of Bronze: The Story of the Trojan War.

Although there are tons, I’m sure, of comics out there that their writers and/or artists feel passionately about, there are some that come across as a genuine labor of love. I’m not sure how one tells what those are, or if it’s even possible to define it as anything except the most subjective of perceptions. Astro City, for instance, seems a labor of love to me. Bone, I think, is. So was Sandman. Cerebus, I think, was at one time, but lately seems more labor than love, although lord knows I’ll stick with it until the end.

The first time I saw anything of Age of Bronze was when creator Eric Shanower, so brilliant with his work on the Oz books, was showing black and white photocopies of the first issue around at San Diego. I thought they were terrific, and even though Eric didn’t have a publisher for the series yet, I couldn’t wait to see the title finally being published.

Well… that’s overstatement. I mean, I guess I could wait, because obviously I had to. Fortunately enough, the wait is over, and we can only hope that the vagaries and hardships of publishing just about anything these days doesn’t plunge us all back into the waiting pool.

Not a lot of confusion as to what the series is about when one looks at the title. It’s exactly what it say sit is: The Story of the Trojan War. Unfortunately, there’s far too many folks to whom Trojan War suggested a prophylactic pricing battle, and if you say, “What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the name, Homer?'” the most likely answer you’ll get is “D-oh!” Probably the only exposure many young people have had to the struggles of Troy, outside of school, would be a couple of episodes of Xena: Warrior Princess which focused on the conflict.

Nonetheless, The Iliad, The Aeneid, and the Odyssey (or, if you will, Trojan War, Trojan War II: The Final Conflict, and Trojan War III: The Voyage Home) remains one of the great epic tales of all times. The struggle that ensued around the most gorgeous woman of all time, Helen of Troy (the face that launched a thousand ships) features a dazzling cast including such timeless heroes as Paris, Achilles (who was stronger than arrows), Ajax (who was stronger than dirt), Odysseus, and—my personal favorite in the cast—the unheeded Cassandra. It even introduced common sayings such as “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts,” although if the Trojans had looked a gift horse in the mouth, they would have seen all the Greeks hiding inside the Trojan horse and perhaps avoided a truly embarrassing defeat.

In addition to Homer and Virgil’s epic poems, the war inspired dramas by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides (of the acclaimed joke about the sign in the Greek tailor shop, “Euripides pants, Eumenedes pants.”) as well as other tales. In the meantime, although remains of ancient Troy have been found, scholars disagree as to the nature of the war itself, and whether it was a series of smaller battles circa 1500 to 1200 BC, or one great war around the mid-1200s. Epic works such as Homer’s attempted to fuse myth and legend, and Shanower has undertaken no less a task. In some ways, it’s even more ambitious than all previous efforts since, according to Shanower in the letter column, “My goal is to present a complete version of the story, synthesized from the many versions of the legend, while making it as consistent as possible with the archaeological record.”

The first issue introduces the catalyst for the entire epic, young Paris who will eventually fall in love with Helen, wife of King Menelaus of Sparta. His absconding with Helen back to Troy, and the ten-year siege subsequently laid against the city by Menelaus and his brother, Agamemnon, is the essence of the story which includes acts ranging from jealousy to pettiness (Achilles refused to take the field because he felt Agamemnon had insulted him; as a result, his best friend Patroclus was killed by Hector, whom Achilles later killed in revenge) to heroism.

It is an epic rich in material and potential, and Shanower appears prepared to mine it for all its worth. Shanower’s craft and attention to detail is peerless and, let’s face it: A story that survives for millennia has got to be worth hearing. Image Comics and publisher Erik Larsen are to be commended for giving Shanower the venue in which to tell it (although, for obvious reasons, the inclusion of a pronunciation guide gave me a bit of a personal giggle.)

I have no idea how this black and white, $2.95 package with no superheroes and no women with pneumatic breasts (although there is a hot sex scene in issue #1) is going to do on today’s market. But if you ask me (which no one actually ever does, but that’s the joy of the column: Dispensing unasked-for advice) retailers should be supporting this title and fans should be buying it. Kind of a symbiotic thing, don’t’cha know. If the stores don’t carry it, or carry it in sufficient quantities, the fans won’t buy it. If the fans don’t ask for it or buy it, the stores don’t carry it. So I’m telling everyone: Get this book. This is a series that definitely deserves to be seen through to its conclusion. Besides, I’m being selfish here. I’ve waited this long to see the book finally get into print, so naturally it’s in my interest to see it have a long and successful shelf life.

Eric Shanower. Age of Bronze. Buy it. Read it. Enjoy it. Pass it on to your kids. Use it to get good grades in literature and Greek mythology classes. Whatever.

* * *

DC has hired former Marvel editor Matt Idelson to begin with the company March 22. The hiring prompted Denny O’Neil, who will be overseeing Idelson’s joining the Bat-team, to say, “I could tell after 15 minutes’ conversation that Matt’s goals are the same as ours—to do quality material and have fun along the way.”

This amused me, because it prompted me to start envisioning the interviews with people who didn’t get the slot.

“So tell me, editorial candidate: What kind of comics do you want to produce?”

“Crap. Unadulterated crap. I want to oversee comics that appeal to the lowest common denominator. I want to flood the market with stories that are badly written and badly drawn. Stories that are incomprehensible, that say nothing new or provide anything except another opportunity to separate kids from their money.”

“Uhmm… okay… and how do you see your responsibilities as editor in terms of handling the job itself.”

“To be a miserable, unhappy, control freak who is determined to make working with me such an unappealing experience that everyone who comes into contact with me will say, Good God, that guy’s no fun at all.'”

Yeah, I laughed about that… until I realized there are editors out there who fit that description. Then it didn’t seem so funny anymore…

(Peter David, writer of stuff, can be written to at Second Age, Inc., PO Box 239, Bayport, NY 11705.)

 

6 comments on “Comics review: Age of Bronze

  1. Nice to see that we share a favorite character in Cassandra, whom Homer called “Golden Aphrodite’s peer”. Mr. Showalter emphasizes the tragedy by showing her as a frightened, and frightening victim, mad-eyed and spitting. I’m just as enthralled by the minor characters, to whom he gives fresh life–Cressida and Polyxena who would end up sacrificed on Achilles’ tomb. And Achilles, who never struck me as particularly endearing, seems far more human and understandable. One of the reasons I love comics, this Age of Bronze. Worth keeping, but better yet, worth sharing.

  2. [i]“Crap. Unadulterated crap. I want to oversee comics that appeal to the lowest common denominator. I want to flood the market with stories that are badly written and badly drawn. Stories that are incomprehensible, that say nothing new or provide anything except another opportunity to separate kids from their money.”[/]

    Doesn’t that describe 90% of whats out there.

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