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Title | Zeus: King of the Gods
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Author | George O'Connor
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Illustrated By | George O'Connor
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Publisher | First Second - 2010
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First Printing | First Second - 2010
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Title | Athena: Grey-eyed Goddess
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Author | George O'Connor
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Illustrated By | George O'Connor
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Publisher | First Second - 2010
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First Printing | First Second - 2010
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Title | Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory
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Author | George O'Connor
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Illustrated By | George O'Connor
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Publisher | First Second - 2011
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First Printing | First Second - 2011
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Title | Hades: Lord of the Dead
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Author | George O'Connor
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Illustrated By | George O'Connor
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Publisher | First Second - 2012
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First Printing | First Second - 2012
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Title | Poseidon: Earth Shaker
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Author | George O'Connor
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Illustrated By | George O'Connor
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Publisher | First Second - 2013
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First Printing | First Second - 2013
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Title | Aphrodite: Goddess of Love
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Author | George O'Connor
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Illustrated By | George O'Connor
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Publisher | First Second - 2014
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First Printing | First Second - 2014
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Title | Ares: Bringer of War
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Author | George O'Connor
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Illustrated By | George O'Connor
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Publisher | First Second - 2015
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First Printing | First Second - 2015
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Title | Apollo: The Brilliant One
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Author | George O'Connor
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Illustrated By | George O'Connor
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Publisher | First Second - 2016
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First Printing | First Second - 2016
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Title | Artemis: The Goddess of the Hunt
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Author | George O'Connor
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Illustrated By | George O'Connor
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Publisher | First Second - 2017
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First Printing | First Second - 2017
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Title | Hermes: Tales of the Trickster
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Author | George O'Connor
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Illustrated By | George O'Connor
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Publisher | First Second - 2018
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First Printing | First Second - 2018
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Title | Hephaistos: God of Fire
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Author | George O'Connor
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Illustrated By | George O'Connor
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Publisher | First Second - 2019
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First Printing | First Second - 2019
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Title | Dionysos: The New God
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Author | George O'Connor
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Illustrated By | George O'Connor
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Publisher | First Second - 2022
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First Printing | First Second - 2022
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Category | Graphic Novel
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Warnings | None
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Main Characters | Zeus, Athena, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, Aprhodite, Apollo, Hermes, Demeter, Pesephone, Ares, Hephaestos, Artemis, Dionysos, Kronos, Gaea, Hercules...and a whole lot more
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Main Elements | Gods, monsters, heroes
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Website | www.olympiansrule.com
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This series is about heroes with fantastic powers. Strong, larger-than-life characters who can summon lightning, control the sea, turn invisible, or transform themselves into any animal they choose.
Superheroes? No! Greek gods. Get ready for adventures you've only dreamed of as the Greek gods comes to explosive life in OLYMPIANS. Epic battles, daring quests, and terrible monsters away you...
 Zeus: King of the Gods
Here's were it all starts: the beginning of everything - the world, the gods, and even humanity. Mighty Kronos, the most terrifying of all the Titans, reigns as the unchallenged tyrant of the cosmos...until his son Zeus, stands up and takes on his own father in a battle intense enough to shatter the universe! Who will emerge triumphant?
Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess
Step into a world of fearsome battle, cruel treachery, and fierce loyalty. Your guides are the three Fates, eerie figures who weave the tale of life. Their subject today is Athena, warrior goddess. Five astonishing tales of brave Athena's adventures lie ahead...
Hera: The Goddess and her Glory
There's only one thing Zeus, the King of the Gods, is afraid of. It isn't the many-headed Hydra, or the towering Gigantes. It isn't his powerful, jealous brother Poseidon, the god of the seas. Monsters, gods, Titans - none of them make the might Zeus blink an eye.
The only thing Zeus fears is his wife: Hera. Goddess of the air, the sky, and the heavens, patroness of the cunning Jason, and scourge of the might Heracles, Hera rivals Zeus in power - and surpasses him in wrath.
Hades: Lord of the Dead
Nothing ever changes in the land of the dead. Deep in this hidden kingdom beneath the earth, countless spirits await the end of time. Hades, the lord of this dire realm, waits with them...until one day the Lord of the Dead takes a wife. Or tries to anyway.
And then all Hades breaks loose.
Poseidon: Earth Shaker
Poseidon, the god of the ocean, is wrathful as a tidal wave and sullen as the ocean's stormy depths. But he cares tenderly for his children, monstrous though they are. The winged horse Pegasus, the merman Triton, the one-eyed giant Polyphemus, and perhaps the worst of them all, the hero Theseus...Mighty Poseidon loves his sons.
Aphrodite: Goddess of Love
Behold the wonderous beauty of Aphrodite, goddess of love and embodiment of the intagible Eros. A creature born of pure force and destinced for power and fame, so lovely that the Earth and all its inhabitants bend to please her.
Pitted against Athena, warrior goddess, and Hera, goddess of the heavens, the lovely, cunning Aphrodite must find a way to outwit her opponents in a high-stakes beauty contest, the outcome of which will affect the destiny of mortals and godes alike. Will she do what she must to succeed? After all, all's fair in love, war, and vainty...
Ares: Bringer of War
The myth continues in the tenth year of the fabled Trojan War where two infamous gods of war go to battle. The spotlight is thrown on Ares, god of war, and primarily focuses on his battle with the clever and powerful Athena. As the battle culminates and the gods try to one-up each other to win, the human death toll mounts. Who will win this epic clash of power? And how many will have to die first?
Apollo: The Brilliant One
From high atop Olympus, the nine Muses, or Mousai, recount the story of the powerful and quick-tempered Apollo, the Brilliant One. Born of a she-wolf and Zeus, King of the Gods, Apollo is destined for the greatest of victories and most devastating of failures as hi temper, priviledge, and prid take him into battle with a serpent, in pursuit of a beautiful but unattainable nymph, and into deadly competition with his beloved. Watch closely as Apollo navigates the tumultuous world in which he lives. Will he rise above the rest and fulfill his destiny as the son of Zeus, or will he falter, consumed by his flaws, and destroy all that he touches?
Artemis: Goddess of the Hunt
Shunned even before she was born, and destined to live a life of solitude, Artemis, Wild Goddess of the Hunt, finds power through her skilled hunting ability and mighty bow. She slays those who prey on the young and helpless. She is the protector of women and young girls, helps in childbirth, soothes the fearful, and is an unrivaled hunter. Follow mighty Artemis as she outwits brutes, protects the innocent from violence, and fights to take charge of her own world.
Hermes: Tales of the Trickster
In volume ten of Olympians, George O’Connor delves into the myth of Hermes, the trickster god. From his infancy, when he bewitches animals and bends them to his will (stealing a herd of Apollo’s prize cattle in the bargain), to his adolescence and adulthood when he becomes father to the equally mischievous Pan, Hermes’s story is wildly entertaining as he brings a little bit of chaos to everything he touches or creates. This volume is sure to be a fan favorite with its wit, charm, and storytelling.
Hephaistos: God of Fire
Thrown from Mount Olympus as a newborn and caught by Thetis and Eurynome, who raised him on the island of Lemnos, Hephaistos had an aptitude for creating beautiful objects from a very young age. Despite his rejection from Olympus, he swallowed his anger and spent his days perfecting his craft. His exquisitely forged gifts and weapons earned him back his seat in the heavens, but he was not treated as an equal. His brothers and sisters looked down at him for his lame leg, and even his own wife, Aphrodite, was disloyal, Witness Hephaistos' wrath as he creates a plan that’ll win him the respect he deserves.
Dionysus: The New God
Born from the thigh of Zeus and a mortal mother, Dionysos is just maybe, the first of a new type of God. His story is told by the first Olypian herself, Hestia, Goddess of the hearth and home. From her seat in the center of Olympus, Hestia brings the Olympians saga to a close with the story of Dionysos' discovery of wine, battles with madness and conquering death itself, and, finally, his ascent to Olympus and Godhood.
I'm not a big graphic novel reader, but ever since I started getting interested in manga, it seemed a logical jump, especially if the topic were just right.
I read the first six of these books back-to-back, about one a day, and I can't really say anything bad about them. They stick to the original stories, or at least as original as one can get from something that started as an oral tradition and got modified over hundreds and thousands of retellings. But O'Connor also tosses in his own little touches, which are frankly, hilarious. While I would never suggest laughing in the face of an Olympian, Zeus getting caught by Hera having "a picnic with a cow" just had me cracking up (in Hera's book). The look on Zeus' face when he gets in trouble is just priceless (and frequent). The personalities of the different characters really come through in O'Connor's drawings. You also just have to see Discord at Thethis' wedding, as O'Connor said, it was just too bizarre to leave out.
And don't forget to read the notes at the end, they add to information that is provided in the book itself, and point out things you might otherwise have missed. And they are funny too (...point and laugh...)
While written with a younger audience in mind, the subject matter is taken seriously (funny moments notwithstanding) and can be equally enjoyed by adults. While Riordan's books are fun, he takes great liberties with the original stories, while O'Connor's goal is ultimately to educate the reader.
And I have to give him kudos for managing to draw a Hekatonchiere, a being with 50 heads and 100 hands (and there's three of them to boot)...it's no easy thing to try to wrap your mind around what something like *that* would look like. The art style is intriguing, and while I didn't care for how some of the monsters were portrayed (the Cyclopes were explained but he draws really overweight snakes...), others were awesome (such as the Titans, they really looked great and poweful sitting on their mountain thrones).
O'Connor also tries to dig a little deeper into the motivations of the various gods. While Athena, Hera and Aphrodite offer Paris various prizes for picking them as the most beautiful of the goddesses, it wasn't really about beauty, but power (after all, he picked the gift he wanted most, not the prettiest face). Of the conflict inherent in Artemis, both a taker of life and the protector of it. It is interesting to see how powerful the goddesses were in a society where women had very little power indeed.
The books tie in together, events that are just touched upon in one are explained in more detail in another. And he covers not just the gods themselves, but their origins (the Titans), their influences (the Heroes), and of course their children (monstrous or otherwise). And you have to admit there are some freaky stories, such as Athena being born out of Zeus head. You wonder where the ancient Greeks came up with some of this stuff.
While the Egyptian gods are kind of dark and aloof, and well, not human, the Greek gods are very human (superpowers aside) so they get themselves, and the poor mortals that get in their way, into all kinds of trouble. Vain, arrogant, fun-loving and ultimately flawed, they represent human vices and limitations writ large, and as such make for some interesting tales.
Can't wait to see the rest of series. I read that there might be 11 of them, so I'm looking forward to seeing Ares, Apollo, but especially Hermes who seems to be quite the fun guy in his frequent cameo appearance.
June 2022
After a long wait, I was able to finish the last in the series. And I must say I love all of them. Sure, the Hermes on was more fun, as was Dionysos then say Ares or Hephaistos (I meant there's not a lot to laugh about in war...though the guy had a tendency of getting himself in trouble). I'm eager to reread the collection from start to finish, though disappointed there won't be any more of them...unless O'Connor does go ahead with a series of the Greek Heroes, I can always hope!
Hehe, I loved how O'Connor had to be creative with some bits, I mean showing Dionysos being born from Zeus' thigh with the help of Hermes is kind of hard to draw with looking really weird or downright horrifying. After all these books are for kids so you can't get into all the naughty bits those ancient gods used to get into.
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