Customer Reviews

Pantheon High Volume 1 (Pantheon High: Hades & Homecoming)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A cross between a DC Comic, an RPG theme, and a more modern style of manga, a really good find! And I'm not usually a big DC fan. If you're into to hooky mythological creatures and kick-but girls, it's even better, but Warning: Death (literally) runs the book (okay, so maybe it's his kid), so there are a couple of really juicy 'ends' for him here, but it doesn't really hurt the story if you don't mind the looks so much. Anyway, give it a try! It's something a little different from the everywhere of now!

This book can be a quick read, or a long exploration, depending on how you read it. If you're in it for the action, there is a great series of adventures. If you're interested in the mythology, look in the background of almost every page and you'll see great "inside" mythology jokes.

I love the art work and I love the story! In this world, the gods from the Norse, Egyptian, Greek, and Japanese divinities have had children with mortals. Each child has a special ability, relating to their parent's power. I had a chance to meet with the writer of this book, Paul, and I think this series really has great potential! I would really like to see more development on the characters' personal powers and maybe more background on their relationships with their parents.

Where do the children of the Gods go to high school? Well, Pantheon Hugh, of course! Pantheon High schools the children of various pantheons of Gods including Greek, Norse, Egyptian, and Japanese. Here, Grace Morgenstern, the daughter of Tyr, the Norse God of War attends classes and eats lunch with Griffin Pierce, the son of Hades, Greek God of Death. As with any high school there are the popular students such as the stunningly beautiful Aziza, daughter of Ra the Sun God, and the not so popular Fadil El Set, the classic school bully and son of Set, Egyptian Lord of the Dead. There are the usual squabbles between students just as in any high school, except for the fact that these children are Demi-Gods, and blessed with extraordinary powers and abilities.

Yukio, son of the Japanese Goddess of Luck, overhears a plot by Set and several other students, to use a sleeping potion to knock out all of the other students during lunch and siphon off their powers so they can become full-fledged Gods themselves. The plot takes shape and soon nearly all of the students fall into a deep sleep, with only Yukio, Aziza, Grace, and Griffin left to oppose the group of evil-intent students. But that's not all they have to contend with; Jormungandr, the Midgard Serpent, has been released and is threatening to destroy the entire campus. The school quickly becomes a battle ground for the young Gods-to-be. Griffin gets killed several times but as the Son of a Death God, he's immediately returned to life, whether he wants to or not. Griffin argues with Charon, the skull-faced boatman of the River Styx, to let him go onto see his father, but the Boatman turns Griffin away each time. It's at once funny, and yet sadly tragic as Griffin longs to spend time with his father.

The book is action-paced but with liberal doses of humor. Fadil el Set talks in Hip Hop slang which earns him derisive comments even from his friends. The perfect in every way beauty Aziza is like the Veronica Lodge of the God world....she's daddy's little girl and doesn't let anyone forget it. You'll quickly notice that this is not your typical TokyoPop manga. The art by Steven and Megumi Cummings is a more Americanized Anime style. Less cartoony and over the top than most Japanese Manga. The story by Paul Benjamin shows a grasp of modern high school kid's attitudes and behaviors...even if they are Demi-Gods.

For those who may not be well versed in Mythology, Benjamin also includes a Mythstory 101 section after the story to explain many of the mythological references in the book. Entertaining and educational...what more can you ask for! I will definitely be around for volume two of this exciting new series.

The modern day children of various Gods of various Pantheons are sent to special schools in Los Angeles. Sounds good, and it is. The authors are americans, so there is a strong representation of the Greek, Norse and Egyptian Gods, although there are others (and book 2 promises the traditional Mezoamerican Gods).

Quite fun, and it reminds me that I need to go out and get an obol!

I don't know what much I can say about this book. I honestly didn't like the art work; there were some that were nicely drawn and the rest looked 'sloppy.' I guess the story line was 'OK', but nothing more. I enjoyed the fact that mythology was involved (not many mangas with story lines of Greek Gods or Gods for that matter) and atleast the author tried at best to stick to the original myths about them. I utterly HATED the dialogue (dawg, slammin', word, etc. "gangsta" talk) had me annoyed throughout the end. I managed to read all the way through, but it's really not my cup of tea. I will however be reading Volume 2 to see if any improvements/changes were made fromt the first volume. Plus there are only 2 Volumes throughout the whole series. So, on with Book 2.

Don't get me wrong. I like manga, I like high school stories and I love mythology, but this book sucked. The characters don't speak like normal kids, but like morons. The authors dumbed down stories and characters from mythology in a way that anyone who's actually read it will detest. My only hope is that it will get someone who's never studied mythology interested enough to read more intelligent works. The art isn't even good enough to make up for the lacks in the story. So don't bother this manga and move on to the next. THere are plenty of good ones out there to try instead.