School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-Comic-book artwork and vigorous rap-style rhymes highlight each Olympian's attributes and realm of power. The text regales aspects both heroic and terrifying as a furious Poseidon crumbles buildings and a jealous Hera proves "that the goddess supreme/can be the coldhearted/queen of mean." Punch-packing spreads portray appropriately idealized immortals and nasty-looking creatures. (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Future students of Homer get a handy checklist of muscle-bound Greek gods in this combo of mythology, comics and loose rhyme. Like a contemporary troubadour riffing on the ancients, Smith (Twelve Rounds to Glory) furnishes poems on 12 immortals, including Zeus, Apollo, Artemis and Athena. (A concluding "Who's Who" indexes the characters and explains why the Gorgon Medusa is included rather than, say, underworld goddess Persephone.) An uppercase comics typeface, peppered with bolds and italics, emphasizes Smith's parallel between jealous Greek gods and American mythic figures in the Superman mold. Graphic novel illustrator Russell, working in the relatively muted palette of his Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde series, pictures the heroes and villains with flowing hair, ripped bods and strategically draped togas--or, in Zeus's case, a well-placed eagle's wing. The characters' dramatic, pouty-lipped poses are undeniably mannered, and the loquacious rhymes can overstretch. Even with the excesses, however, Smith and Russell make the pairing of classical material and a comics-like format look completely natural, with a gee-why-didn't-we-think-of-that simplicity. Ages 8-12. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
This book is about the twelve Olympian gods (not Greek heroes as the title suggests). Written in singsongy rhyme, each vignette gives an overview of the god or goddess, explaining his or her role in the pantheon and associated activities and legends. The digitally colored illustrations and fonts used are in the style of American comic books. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Writing in hip-hop cadences and with a fine disregard for exact rhymes, Smith introduces a dozen Olympians, plus Cerberus and Medusa, in verses paired to melodramatic, superhero-style portraits inked and colored by veteran comics-artist Russell. Between an opening overview ("Playing people like pawns / in a grand game of chess / the gods of Olympus / infinitely test / assorted mortals / while testing each other, / like Hades, / Zeus, / and Poseidon, / true blood brothers . . . ") and a closing Who's Who that lists Special Powers and other attributes, readers will get some oblique references to various myths. However, more clearly the repeated message is that they'd better behave and pray that they never draw any immortal's attention, amorous or otherwise. Discreetly positioned but at best scantily clad, the gods, from Zeus--posed in wrath like the God of Michelangelo's Last Judgment--to half-mortal Dionysus, have never looked so ripped, nor the goddesses Artemis, Aphrodite, Athena and Hera (the "Queen of Mean") so voluptuous. Still, an emphatic, beat-heavy read-aloud of the verses may provide the more memorable experience here for young audiences. (source list) (Mythology/poetry. 10-13) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
