Release date: April 2014
Writer: Hamish Steele
Artist: Hamish Steele
Cover: full color
Interior: black/white
Genre: Comedy/mythological retelling
Synopsis: The true stories of the Egyptian Gods. Serves as a prequel to the main Pantheon story coming out late 2014. This prequel tells the story of how night, death and the pharaohs came to the Egyptians.
The Deal
I was just browsing the internet looking for cool self published comics when I came across this one. I didn't think about it for too long after I saw the work that Hamish Steele had done (I bought it from his website) and bought it on a whim.
The Feel
The entire comic is printed on silky paper and the cover is slightly thicker than the interior pages. The cover is full color while the interior pages are black/white line drawings. There are no flaws in the print and/or binding of this comic, all the pages are straight and kept together with two saddle stitches. The pages fall to the sides easily for an easy read without having to keep your hands on the book to keep the pages open.The Story
It's a comic retelling of the mythological stories of the Egyptian Gods. This story tells how it all started with Ra and how the Egyptians ended up with death, night and the pharaohs. The story will have you laughing out loud in some places and quietly chuckling in others. I like how Ra seems to have very human qualities and comes close to swearing in some places. Life as a god is never easy, I think that's the moral of this story.
The Look
Line drawings, not a fan myself, but combined with this story line it fits very nicely just like the old Egyptian drawings. The panes are not heavy on the details, not in the figures and not in the background and that's good because you don't want a lot of clutter in line drawings. Steele even manages to give Ra some facial expressions though we only see one eye. I think along the 24 pages of this comic I've become a fan of the art of line drawing. When done properly you get a good book and honestly that's all I'm looking for.The Conclusion
I wholeheartedly back this book. I don't know much about the Egyptian mythology but I do know that I've always been interested. My aunt collects everything Egyptian and I think that's also what lured me into liking Stargate (quite the leap there). My suggestion is that if you like mythological stories, if you like comic stories, then you can't go wrong with this one. It will have you laughing and you will say 'crap' just as Ra did.How to get a copy?
You can score a copy for yourself trough Steeles own website store. It's 3 GBP plus shipping. I got mine within a week and I live oversees so trustworthy guy to be sending your money off to. He also sells cool art via his webstore, so well worth the visit.
