Review: ODY-C Vol.1 by Fraction & Ward

Summary

An eye-searing, mind-bending, gender-shattering epic science fiction retelling of Homer’s Odyssey starting with the end of a great war in the stars and the beginning of a very long journey home for Odyssia and her crew of warriors. The journey to Ithicaa begins HERE.

My thoughts

I’m only going to review the first issue included in the volume because after reading that one I realized that this comic is not at all for me and there is no point in reading more of something that I know I won’t enjoy.

The story:

I haven’t read Homer’s Odyssey so I can’t really tell if the retelling itself is any good but what drew me in in the first place was that this is a gender-swapped retelling so that pretty much all characters are females. Yep, kick-ass warrior queens in space. This could have been a pretty awesome story, parts of it actually are quite amazing, but it just wasn’t for me.

The main problem for me was that I was just super confused and felt like I don’t get it. One might think that with pictures and text it can’t be that hard to understand what’s happening in the story but I was actually struggling during some parts. It took me really long to get into the story and to understand what is happening.

It didn’t help that this is not your usual comic that consists mostly of dialogue in speech bubbles. Instead every time someone says something you’ll find a “she says” on the page. This just confused me even more than I already was.

The artwork:

I should have taken a look at this comic via a preview or something before I got this because then I would have notices that this is not something I’m going to enjoy.

The cover with its vibrant colors totally drew me in and I expected something equally awesome on the inside. The colors were just as amazing in the panels as on the cover. Rich, vibrant colors and panels that are often dominated by just one or two colors. Looking at the overall page definitely makes it look like a piece of art. Taking a closer look at the details though was far from pleasant for me. I didn’t like the style of the characters at all. It’s drawing style that conveyed rather negative feelings towards the characters for me.

Overall:

ODY-C didn’t work for me at all even though I absolutely loved the concept. Warrior queens in space could have been epic but the combination of confusing story telling and art that I didn’t enjoy ruined it for me.