Perseus Comic

The Perseus comic I was doing is now complete. You can check it out here:

New panels will resume soon, I finished inking another piece today, so keep an eye out.

New Updates to Resume in November

New panel is up here, but I’m taking a bit of a break from updates for a while. I have another myth related project in the works that’s related to the course work for my masters degree, so posts should resume in early November. It’s a fun project, but frankly, I don’t have time to both complete it and continue work on this site. When I’m finished I’ll be sure to share. ‘Til then!

Laissez le bon temps rouler

Hello from New Orleans! I’m down in the Big Easy for the NCEA Conference this week, but I still have a few hours before I can check in to my hotel, so I’m killing time at Sound Café, enjoying a cup of joe and a clementine for breakfast.

I just updated the website, here’s the new panel, the fourth in the Amphion and Zethus sequence. Progress has been slow and steady, but rest assured: some of the best panels (in my opinion at least ) are just around the corner. I can’t wait to share them with everybody!

Amphion & Zethus

So the Amphion and Zethus sequence is underway. It’s been a while since I last updated this blog, but rest assured that things are progressing smoothly. When this sequence is finished we’ll get to the Laius sequence, which promises to be short, then on to Oedipus. I’d say the Thebes sequence is about halfway done. Exciting times.

Time for a Regular Schedule?

The new panel, pentheus27, has been posted.

One of those things that literal critics wonder about in Greek drama is the cause of Cadmus’ exile from Thebes, which is mentioned at the end of The Bacchae. After all, he was not guilty of impiety like his grandson, Pentheus. Tiresias and he were even prepared to go out into the countryside to worship Dionysus, before Pentheus caught and shamed them. One criticism that I have read conjectured that his punishment was due to his belief not being genuine. Instead he was motivated to acknowledge Dionysus as a god by the selfish hope that doing so would bring honor to their family.

I myself never bought into this sort of reasoning. Euripedes had Cadmus exiled at the end of his drama because that was his traditional fate according to mythology. To be sure dramatists did change Mythological “facts” to suit their dramatic needs. But I believe that here Cadmus’ exile was always fated to happen. What’s in question here is whether his exile always had something to do with Dionysus’ dishorable treatment by Pentheus or was it due to something else. Like perhaps some wrath of Ares that carried over from the slaying of the Draco? Many ancient dramas that may have helped explain this are now lost… and even a rather large portion of Dionysus’ speech at the end of The Bacchae is missing from the Greek text. We may never know the answer for sure.

But on a more personal note, I’ve decided to try a schedule for regular updates. I’ll be updating twice a week (for the forseeable future, at least) on Mondays and Thursdays. Most web-comics are either once a week (Like Maakies), three days a week (like Penny-Arcade or xkcd) or five times a week (like PvP or Diesel Sweeties). The typical schedule for a three day a week comic seems to be Monday, Wednesday, & Friday (though the now completed 8-bit Theater ran Tuesday, Thursday, & Saturday). I have decided to “meet in the middle” and update Monday and Thursday. If I can increase my productivity I may move to a Monday, Wednesday, & Friday schedule… but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Hecaton (That’s Greek for ‘a Hundred’)!

So today is a banner day…the 100th panel has dropped. It’s a fortunate coincidence that this panel features Cadmus as an old man, he was in the first panel that I did and it seems right that he should be around 99 panels later.

There’s an interesting story to go with this panel too. Sit a while and I’ll tell you! You may remember from high school history about the first triumvirate, which was made up of Julius Caesar, Pompey the Great, and some other guy. That other guy was Marcus Licinius Crassus. He was older than Caesar and Pompey and perhaps a little jealous of their accomplishments. Trying to win glory, Crassus went to war with the Parthian Empire to the east and was rather ignobly defeated and killed.

So what does this have to do with Mythology? Well the Parthian Empire was formed out of part of Alexander the Great’s old empire. Greek influence upon the upper class of Parthian society was significant, and it turned out that the Parthian king Orodes II was not only fluent in Greek, but was also a fan of the theater. After being given the severed head of Crassus, he had it used as a prop in a performance of the Bacchae of Euripides. Crassus got to play the part of Pentheus, the poor sod…

So enjoy the latest panel, I’ll have the next ready later this week. Do check back!

Consolidation

The newest panel, pentheus20, has been posted and work continues. I have decided to consolidate the story of Polydorus (Pentheus’ uncle and king of Thebes after Pentheus) into the Pentheus sequence, rather than create a separate sequence. The result of this is that the Pentheus sequence will continue for a short while after Pentheus himself expires. I promise not to drag out the sequence too long after the titular character’s absence. I’ll change the Myths page to reflect this revision shortly.

So my summer begins today. Seven weeks of glorious freedom from responsibility. I’ll try not to let the lack of structured time render me completely unproductive… but it might be tough!

Welcome to the New Blog for Illustrated Mythology!

Welcome to the new front-page for Illustrated Mythology (dot com)! This change in appearance was due to Blogger recently discontinuing support for pages updated via FTP (such as mine). Apparently supporting these pages (which made up less than 1% of all Blogger pages) was consuming 14% of their resources. So as a result I’ve moved my new blog to Wordpress. The old blog (which will no longer be updated) can be found here.

But enough with the tech-talk… the story of King Pentheus of Thebes continues and is nearly complete. The newest panel is currently pentheus19, and the next panel will be posted later this week… probably on Wednesday or Thursday. I am still trying to work out a regular schedule for updates, but once I decide that for sure I’ll be sure to post that info here.

Many thanks to my buddy Nathan Wiegand for his help with moving my site to Wordpress.