Age of Bronze Volume 1: A Thousand Ships

This book is the first in a series by author and illustrator Eric Shanower. This series combines the Classic stories surrounding the Trojan War with modern archaeology, and uses a graphic novel format to bring those ancient stories to life. Everyone is here: Priam, Paris, Odysseus, Menelaus, and (of course) the radiant Helen. This book begins with Paris's arrival in the court of King Priam, and follows through to Agamemnon's gathering of the Greek armada. This is a wonderful graphic novel, one that really brings the old stories to life, and puts them together to form a complete and logical whole. I really liked the way the author used our present knowledge of ancient architecture and clothing to make the stories seem so realistic. Now, I don't recommend this graphic novel for younger or more sensitive readers. If you are familiar with the Classical stories, you know that such topics as rape, incest, and homosexuality are an integral part of the story. As such, any book that deals with these stories *must* deal with these topics. But, even with that in mind, I must say that this is an excellent book. If you are a fan of the ancient Greek and Roman stories, and would like to see them in a modern format, then this is the book for you. I am very glad that I read this book, and can't wait for the next one to come out!

I have to confess - I have never read a comic book before and the only reason I got this was for research on the Bronze Age, since it seems the author did a lot of research to make all the drawings historically accurate, and I wanted to get a lively visual of their lives. I am getting all that, and to my surprise, I am getting much more! I never imagined it would be good or entertaining, but I have to say I am so impressed by Shanower's skill. His drawings are wonderful, capturing people and keeping those images through multiple expressions and emotions he puts them through. The dialogue is interesting and at times even funny. I am so amazed that by several small snapshots he's able to relate so much more than what is right there. The characters and story come to life. I think this is an absolute work of genius. He is both an artist, author, and story-spinner of top caliber. I will actually read the whole thing, when that wasn't my plan at all - need I say more?

"A Thousands Ships" is the first volume in a projected seven part series titled "Age of Bronze," in which Eric Shanower intends to tell the entire story of the Trojan War. Volume 1 collects the first nine issues of the comic book saga, beginning with Paris herding cattle on the slopes of Mount Ida and ending with the thousand ships of the Achean fleet supposedly sailing off to Troy to fetch back the face that launched them, namely Helen. The first part of the volume tells of how Paris learned that he was really Alexander, Prince of Troy, and after he abducts Helen the second half tells of how the Achean host was assembled, including wily Odysseus and the young Achilles. As a person who still collects comic books and teaches Classical Greek & Roman Mythology I can appreciate the problems that Shanower has to deal with in telling this timeless tale. In the past I have taught a giant unit on the Trojan War in which students had to read the stories about the Judgment of Paris and the Abduction of Helen from Edith Hamilton's "Mythology," the Euripides play "Iphigenia at Aulis," Homer's "Iliad," the Fall of Troy from Virgil's "Aeneid" and then continued with the story of Agamemnon in the "Orestia" by Aeschylus. Greek mythology is, as Shanower notes, hopelessly convoluted and contradictory, which means making all the stories fit together impossible. Shanower solves this Gordian knot by establishing ages for his characters with an eye towards how old they will be at the end of the Trojan War. Yes, this still presents problems (Helen, with her eight-year old daughter, seems much older than Paris, Achilles seems too young to be outraged in the next volume by the scheme by which Agamemnon dupes Iphigenia into coming to Aulis, and Neoptolemus will be 10 when he comes to Troy to take part in the slaughter at the end), but in each and every instance I understand exactly what contradiction Shanower is trying to resolve in the wealth of classical mythology from which he draws his tale. I find Paris to be too much the hot-headed brat, but since Shanower has decided that Helen submits to the abduction because she believes it to be her fate rather than out of love the characterization does not work against the story at this point (Paris is always the most problematic character in the story, in the same way that dealing with Judas forces authors to make hard choices in telling the story of Jesus). The most significant difference in Shanower's version is that the supernatural elements are downplayed in order to emaphsize the human element. There are dreams and visions, "But no gods i nthe flesh" (Shanower proves he has fully done his research when he points out that Dares of Phrygia had Paris dream the judgment in his "History of the Destruction of Troy"). What matters here is not so much the abduction of Helen, but the fact that Troy controls the Hellespont and commerce by ships between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Still, prophecies and port

This book is absolutely marvelous, a rewarding example of just how good a graphic novel can be and what a fine medium it is. Shanower's research is meticulous, his storytelling is very fine and his draughtsmenship makes him among the best illustrators working today. Shanower is wonderful. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who does, or doesn't read comics. This faithful and beautiful retelling of the Trojan War would not only delight teen readers, it would also be of great interest to adults. It brings life and energy to the tale of Paris and Helen and presented the story to me in a way that made me appreciate it as never before. Don't pass up a chance to get this terrific book. This is not hype. This is a very fine piece of work!

Graphic novelist Eric Shanower here presents a stunning interpretation of the age of the Trojan War in this, the first of a proposed seven-volume set of tales covering the events from the judgment of Paris to the fall of Troy. This one, the first, covers the judgment of Paris, the abduction of Helen, and the mustering of the Greek forces at Aulis. The attention to historical detail is well researched and convincing. The Trojans are convincingly placed within the cultural orbit of the Hittites and Anatolians, making the Trojan War simultaneously a clash of cultures and a geopolitical struggle as well as a jilted husband's quest for revenge. Supernatural elements and the presence of gods and goddesses are deliberately understated in order to focus on the human element. The characterisations of the protagonists are vastly assisted by the graphic novel format. Paris comes off as cocky and chaotic; Odysseus, a crafty elder statesman among the Greek kings; and Achilles is a pretty-boy, convincingly able to hide among the women at Skyros. Each character is drawn as an individual human being in the outstanding line art. It is especially welcome to see a literary interpretation of a mythological subject that seems minimally influenced by bogus notions out of turn of the century anthropology from Sir James Frazer, Robert Graves, and their followers. Instead, as the author-artist's afterword makes clear, current scholars have been consulted in the framing of this tale, and Dr. Manfred Korfman is singled out as having influenced this envisioning of the period. This is a beautiful book. I am eagerly awaiting the next of the series.