Here’s a roundup of the amazing (to me) press coverage The Iliad has received.
“Magnificent…..Mr. Hinds has had to trim a great deal from Homer’s tale, but he retains most of the best-known scenes, much of the violence and poetry, and all of the pathos. The graphic-novel form works well to give us a sense of the cinematic vastness of the conflicts of gods and men, of the strange beauty of a thousand fires winking on the plain at night, of Bronze Age warriors cutting their way into each other “like reapers who start from either end of a rich man’s field and with sharp scythes bring the barley tumbling down in armfuls.”… Those who know the epic will find an engrossing and rewarding account: gory, affecting, unforgettable.” —Wall Street Journal
“Unpacking The Iliad as a reader is one thing; adapting it for comics is a hurdle of a different magnitude. Enter Gareth Hinds, the Vermont-born artist who has reworked literary classics from Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe and more. His magnificently realized graphic telling of The Iliad — in its wealth of muted watercolored hues and evocative landscapes… Hinds’ figure-drawing strengths are made known when the first spears are hoisted — battle sequences are awash in gouging and decapitations, with bearded, brawny warriors, in detailed scale-armor breastplates, brandishing swords and ornate shields. Teeth bared and faces bloodied, they leap and lunge at one another, encircled by single-stroke motion lines as horse-drawn chariots conjure clouds of dust. Even as Hinds excised some battles for length and clarity, it’s a bloodbath. Anything less would dishonor the sentiment so critical to Homer’s text.”—Los Angeles Times
“This is no mere comics adaptation of an ancient classic. Through his intricately illustrated panels, Gareth Hinds brings us The Iliad’s depth, brutality, and power. A Herculean effort worthy of the original.” — Gene Luen Yang, Michael L. Printz Award winner for American Born Chinese
“Gareth Hinds is responsible for breathing new life into the ancient epic.” — Hollywood Reporter
“Sing to me, O Muse, of the rage of Achilles”: a rousing graphic rendition of Homer’s great epic…An expertly crafted rendition and a welcome invitation to younger readers to immerse themselves in the ancient past.—Kirkus Reviews
“With his graphic novel retelling of The Iliad, Gareth Hinds has created a work of such scope and power that it boggles my mind. It truly lives up to the — dare I say it — epic scale of the original poem.”— George O’Connor, author of the New York Times best-selling Olympians series
“Through brutal and beautifully rendered imagery, the book adds a level of translation to the original epic.”—Comics Beat
“Hinds takes painstaking efforts with his fine-lined watercolors to depict each character in a readily distinguishable way, even while in pitched battle, fully armored. The excellent visual guides, maps, and notes aid in this task and further contextualize the epic’s time, place, and significance. The most striking scenes are the battles, presented in intimate detail and in awe-inspiring, sweeping overviews. Hinds’s relatively plain language retains just enough meter to hint at the cadences of the work, and, together with the dynamic art, creates an accessible entrée to an enduring classic.”— Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Hinds has excelled in creating literary adaptations that remind you what an artistic achievement bringing literary classics into the comics medium can be.” — Comicon.com
“This modern graphic novel retelling of Homer’s epic immediately draws in readers with its artistry and readability.”—School library Journal
“Epic—and painstakingly researched.” — Paste Magazine
“Exceptionally compelling version of the episode of the Trojan War handed down through Homer’s Iliad. …. Readers who have struggled to follow the poetry of the standard text or to become emotionally invested in a summary will have no such difficulty here; Hinds has truly produced an easy-to-follow, engrossingly cinematic blockbuster on the page.” — The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
“Monumental.”—Impulse Gamer
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY review
https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-7636-8113-5
KIRKUS
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/gareth-hinds/the-iliad-hinds/
PW Profile
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/79322-q-a-with-gareth-hinds.html
COMICON.COM Interview
http://www.comicon.com/2019/02/22/the-bronze-age-gets-eloquent-gareth-hinds-brings-us-the-illiad/
FANBASE PRESS
http://fanbasepress.com/index.php/press/reviews/item/9716-gareth-hinds-shares-his-insights-into-the-iliad-in-advance-of-his-graphic-novel-adaptation
GRAPHIC POLICY 10 Reasons to Read THE ILIAD
https://graphicpolicy.com/2019/02/26/10-reasons-to-read-or-re-read-the-iliad/
ALTERNATIVE MINDZ News Story
http://alternativemindz.com/2019/02/candlewick-press-to-publish-gareth-hinds-graphic-novel-adaptation-of-homers-the-iliad/
COMIC CRUSADERS News story
https://www.comiccrusaders.com/candlewick-press-to-publish-gareth-hinds-graphic-novel-adaptation-of-the-iliad/
FIRST COMIC NEWS News Story
https://www.firstcomicsnews.com/candlewick-press-to-publish-gareth-hinds-graphic-novel-adaptation-of-homers-the-iliad/
CONVENTION COLLECTIVE News Story
http://theconventioncollective.com/sandbox/3945
FANBOY FACTOR News Story
http://fanboyfactor.com/2019/02/candlewick-press-to-publish-gareth-hinds-graphic-novel-adaptation-of-the-iliad/
MAJOR SPOILERS
http://majorspoilers.com/2019/02/27/candlewick-press-to-publish-ogn-adaptation-of-homers-the-iliad
HYATTSVILLE WIRE
https://www.hyattsvillewire.com/2019/02/27/gareth-hinds-iliad-graphic-novel/
HYATTSVILLE LIFE AND TIMES
http://hyattsvillelife.com/local-artist-brings-new-life-to-classics-with-his-graphic-novels/
COMICS BEAT
https://www.comicsbeat.com/exclusive-peek-behind-the-creative-process-of-gareth-hinds-adaptation-of-the-iliad/
COMICS THE GATHERING
https://www.comicsthegathering.com/content/stephengervais/12420/candlewick-press-publish-gareth-hinds%E2%80%99-graphic-novel-adaptation-iliad
FREAK SUGAR Exclusive Water coloring Video
http://www.freaksugar.com/check-out-our-exclusive-reveal-of-this-watercolor-process-video-for-the-iliad/
RIVERFRONT TIMES
https://www.riverfronttimes.com/artsblog/2019/03/01/the-best-things-to-do-in-st-louis-this-weekend-march-1-to-4
IMPULSE GAMER interview
http://www.impulsegamer.com/gareth-hinds-interview-the-iliad/
IMPULSE GAMER News Story
http://www.impulsegamer.com/candlewick-press-to-publish-gareth-hinds-graphic-novel-adaptation-of-the-iliad/
GRAPHIC POLICY press release
https://graphicpolicy.com/2019/03/04/candlewick-press-to-publish-gareth-hinds-graphic-novel-adaptation-of-the-iliad/
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY Comics To Read This Month
https://ew.com/books/2019/03/06/march-comic-preview-invisible-kingdom-detective-comics-ms-marvel/
WALL STREET JOURNAL Review Round up, 3/11
https://www.wsj.com/articles/childrens-books-ancient-battles-and-accidental-twins-11552058081
PASTE MAGAZINE Excerpt
https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2019/03/rediscover-the-iliad-in-gareth-hindss-rousing-grap.html
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/iliad-graphic-novel-read-an-preview-1193447