The graphic novel by Nova Augustine
Odysseus could have just NOT.
The smartest man in Greece outwits a Cyclops, then shouts his own name across the sea. That is how a ten-year voyage becomes twenty years of bad luck. All twenty-four books of Homer's Odyssey, in 209 pages, funny when the story is funny and serious when it has to be.
Paperback, 6 x 9 in. 209 pages. Black and white inside, full colour cover. Best for ages 13 and up.
The whole Odyssey, not just the monsters
Every one of Homer's twenty-four books is an episode, in order. You get the Cyclops, the Sirens and Scylla, and you also get the parts most retellings skip: Telemachus growing up, the long wait on Ithaca, the beggar at his own door, and the bed.
Odysseus tells his own story at a dinner party of strangers, so the book keeps Homer's flashback frame. Back on Ithaca, Penelope holds off one hundred and eight unwelcome suitors with a loom and her brain.
The voice is modern and the jokes are real, but the book slows down and tells the truth when the story does: the dog who waited twenty years, the mother among the dead, the maids in the courtyard.
- Title
- The Odyssey Retold: The Graphic Novel
- Author
- Nova Augustine
- Publisher
- Pearmont Press
- Format
- Paperback, 6 x 9 in
- Pages
- 209
- Inside
- Black and white, with a line of narration under each picture
- Cover
- Full colour
- Ages
- 13 and up
- Based on
- Samuel Butler's 1900 translation (public domain)
A look inside
Real pages from the book. The interior is black and white, with a short line of narration under each picture.
Everything you need to keep track
- A map of the voyage and a cast list at the front
- A family tree of Ithaca, Sparta and Argos
- Who's who: the family, the Powers and the suitors
- A pronunciation guide for every hard name
- A page-to-Homer key, so you can read the original alongside
- Two discussion questions for every episode
For teachers and homeschoolers
Use the book as a bridge into the poem. Each episode points to its book of Homer, and the back pages give you questions for a class, a family or a book group, including a question on the fate of the maids and who gets justice.
A downloadable classroom pack, with quizzes, character cards and an answer guide, is in preparation. Meanwhile, the cheat sheet has the map, the cast and the family tree on four printable pages.
Download the cheat sheetQuestions
Do I need to know Homer first?
No. The map, cast list and family tree at the front and back are there so that a first-time reader can follow every name.
Is it faithful to the poem?
All twenty-four books appear in order, and the book follows Samuel Butler's prose translation. The voice is modern and funny, so the tone is different from the poem. The page-to-Homer key lets you read the original alongside it.
Why is the inside black and white?
Colour printing would raise the price a lot. The cover is in full colour.
Who is it for?
Teens from 13, adults, classrooms, homeschoolers and anyone who always meant to read Homer. There is stylized violence, including the execution of servants, without graphic blood. The content note below says more.
How were the pictures made?
The illustrations were created with AI image-generation tools from scripts, character designs and art direction by the author, and each page was checked against the script.
What are the Powers?
That is the book's name for the mighty beings who rule the sea, the sun, the winds and the war. You will pick it up by the second episode, and the who's who page lists them all.
Coming soon
The prose retelling
The same story, told in words only, in the same voice.
Classroom pack
Quizzes, character cards and an answer guide, as a download.
Colouring book
Scenes from the graphic novel to colour yourself.
About this edition
The Odyssey Retold is written by Nova Augustine and published by Pearmont Press. It follows Samuel Butler's 1900 prose translation, which is in the public domain, and tells it in a modern, funny voice.