Promethea, Book 1 [Paperback]

Alan Moore (Author), J. H. Williams III (Illustrator), Mick Gray (Illustrator), Charles Vess (Illustrator)

Book Description

Release date: July 1, 2001 | Series: Promethea (Book 1)

Written by Alan Moore; Art by J.H. Williams III and Mick Gray Sophie Bangs was a just an ordinary college student in a weirdly futuristic New York when a simple assignment changed her life forever. While researching Promethea, a mythical warrior woman, Sophie receives a cryptic warning to cease her investigations. Ignoring the cautionary notice, she continues her studies and is almost killed by a shadowy creature when she learns the secret of Promethea. Surviving the encounter, Sophie soon finds herself transformed into Promethea, the living embodiment of the imagination. Her trials have only begun as she must master the secrets of her predecessors before she is destroyed by Promethea's ancient enemy

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Alan Moore, like Neil Gaiman, constantly flirts with the too-smart-for-his-own-good aesthetic without alienating his readers. Promethea weaves Moore's trademark scholarly mysticism with wild, fun swipes at post-everything culture in a complex tale based on the importance of story. Following a teenage girl, whose interest in an obscure and possibly real heroine leads to her assumption of the heroine's role, Promethea draws on a century of comics art to express themes of history and fiction. Action, intimacy, fantasy, and ennui all find their place, and when it's over, the reader will hunger for the next collection. --Rob Lightner

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: WildStorm (July 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563896672
• ISBN-13: 978-1563896675
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 0.4 x 10.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #43,832 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 33 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Alan Moore introduces us to the mystic warrior Promethea April 17, 2004

By Lawrance M. Bernabo HALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

After reading both "From Hell," where Alan Moore detailed in endnotes where he was getting his historical facts and speculations regarding Jack the Ripper, and the original story of "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," where he created a team of comic book superheroes out of some of the most famous literary creations of the late 19th century, it is easy to read Moore's prologue in Book 1 of "Promethea" and buy it hook, line, and sinker. Entitled "The Promethea Puzzle: An Adventure in Folklore," Moore explains how the character of Promethea has appeared in works from the epic sentimental fantasy "A Faerie Romance" by the New England poet Charlton Sennet to the comic books written by Steven Shelley. Next thing you know you are off doing a Google search to find out more about these "real" people and finding out that what you should have been thinking in reference to Moore's work is "The Watchmen" with its memorable group of faux super heroes.

Book 1 of "Promethea" collects the first six issues from America's Best Comics with the script by Moore, pencils by J. H. Williams III, inks by Mick Gray, and lettering by Todd Klein. The story begins with a prologue set in Alexandria, 411 A.D., in which a strange old man with mystical powers saves his daughter from a group of killer monks. We then jump ahead to a New York existing in the year 1999 that has cabs hovering without wheels, police in flying saucers, and a successful comic book about the "Weeping Gorilla." Here we meat Sohpie Bangs, who is writing a term paper and visits Barbara Shelley, the widow of the last guy to write the Promethea comic book. However, Sophie gets a big time brush off and the following advice from Barabara: "You don't wanna go looking for folklore. And you especially don't want folklore to come looking for you."

There is something of misdirection to this advice, not only because it is too late for Sophie, who is gong to become the new "host" for Promethea, but also because ultimately Moore is not really writing about folklore here but about the female super hero. In modern times that pretty much takes us back to the creation of Wonder Woman, but Promethea harkens back to ancient Greece and elements of Artemis, Athena, and Atalanta. However, in a similar way Moore is also dealing with the archetypal nature of comic books, which is where the folklore part really comes into play in his concept of the Immateria, a realm where stories are real. If you can believe in the power of Story, then it can transport you to the Immateria, as young Sophie finds out.

The first three stories deal with Sophie getting indoctrinated into the ways of Promethea, although there are always more questions than answers. Meanwhile the city's resident superheroes, the Five Sweel Guys, are dealing with their arch-enemy the Painted Doll. But in issue #4, "A Faerie Romance," Moore adds a great conceit to the mix, as the various incarnations of Promethea sit around in the Immateria discussing the newcomer. The idea of the archetype becomes reinforced, not by going back to the beginning, but rather by showing how each generation has had a Promethea it could call its own. This is where the series slips into the next gear and exhibits the most promise.

There is a Promethean movement, which is "dedicated to advancing human life through self-expression, augmented by authentic freedom, experimentality and individualism." Now, I am not really sure if looking at these comic books as valuing the liberated and realized person while opposing repression, orthodoxy, and collectivism is the way to go, but the important thing is that you need a foundation for approaching Moore's work. Fortunately Moore is always worth reading and you can get by the scholarly mysticism by just taking the story at face value. After all, Moore is just making this up as he goes along.

30 of 35 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great comics from Moore (again) September 1, 2000

By Erik K

Format:Hardcover

Alan Moore's America's Best Comics has spawned several wonderful titles (along with the middling Tomorrow Stories), but Promethea stands out. The art is outstanding, the color perfect, the lettering spot-on for the different speech types employed, and the writing entertaining while also waxing philosophical. Sympathetically drawn characters tie up the whole package in a beautiful ribbon.

Moore dares to tackle the very nature of creativity and comes away with much more than the Wonder Woman clone some were expecting. While exploring the world of fantasy, he examines through the changing face of comics (the tribute to Little Nemo is marvelous), sexuality, religion and pure wish fulfilment. Comics are still growing up, maybe, but this may be some of the most mature work from the man who brought us The Watchmen.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Graphic layouts and a trippy story December 7, 2004

By Gagewyn

Format:Paperback

The plot: Promethea is an idea - the goddess myth that changes depending on who sees her and how. "If she didn't exist we would have to make her." Yes this plot is tenuous and mystic and intends to be deep. We follow the story of college student Sophie, who is doing a term paper on the Promethea character, who reemerges in literature, pulp fiction and comics. Strangely many of the people involved in creating the art that shows Promethea also claimed to have met her. Sophie soon finds an idea that can enter our world (or at least her world - a very technologically advanced 1999 in which cars fly through a world of neon billboards).

The plot and story here were surprisingly coherent. First of course Sophie meets Promethea and begins to understand how an idea can enter the realworld and become physically real. Interspersed are back stories on how Promethea originally came to be and on the artists she has touched in past manifestations.

The graphics: The artistic style is the normal comic booky style done very well. However the layouts are spectacular. Often there is a border surrounding the frames on a spread - and in that border part of the scene is taking place. Almost any spread of two pages hangs together as one coherent whole. Anyone interested in graphic design and comics should check this one out.

Overall Promethea was a good comic book. The graphics were spectacular. Even though the plot is a bit artsy and pretentious, by about half way through I was hooked. There is enough action and "good parts" to keep things flowing well.