Bibliotheke

Bibliotheke (also known as Bibliotheka, Bibliothece, or Bibliotheca) is a work by Pseudo-Apollodoros, a 2nd century (whether B.C. or A.D. debated) author from Ancient Greece. Also known by its translated title as "The Library" or, more specifically, "The Library of Greek Mythology", it is possibly one of the largest compilements of Ancient Greek myth actually written in Ancient Greece. Covered in 3 books and an epitome are the Theogony, the Interactions of the gods, the god-wars, the House of Mykenai, the House of Krete, the House of Thebes, the House of Athens, and the Trojan war and its results. In a way, this is the straight-up best possible introduction to Greek Mythology.
Which is why Books 1-3 and parts 1-3 of the epitome will be made into a comic. By me.
First page (Foreward):

Merry Christmas!

I know it's a little late but I wanted to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I hope everybody got lots of awesome gifts, like I did (I got 'The Complete Dracula', both of Ben Caldwell's art books, and one awesome crucifix necklace above other things), and I also hope everybody was able to be happily with their families on this joyous occasion celebrating good will, generosity, and the birth of Christ.

Oh yeah and Happy Holidays to the peeps out there who aren't Christians bah humbug yadda yadda.

Srry bt th dlys

Sorry about the delays, and I'm also sorry to say that due to technical difficulties, A Vasekhe Christmas Carol will be continued NEXT year.

Srry.

A Vasekhe Christmas Carol - 08

By the way, Vasekhe's name is pronounced:
Vas (say it like stuck-up, fancy people say vase) - ekhe (say it like icky but with eh- instead of ih-) - us (say it like moose without an "m".

A Vasekhe Christmas Carol - 07

The "Johnny" will be explained on the next page.

A Vasekhe Christmas Carol - 6

More on Roberta Kracet soon.

A Vasekhe Christmas Carol - 05

Here's the newest page. By the way, I'm not going to finish uploading the comic by Christmas (duh) but by New Years Day.    {: \

A Vasekhe Christmas Carol - 04

Another page. This time mirroring the Fred-scene at the beginning of 'A Christmas Carol'.

A Vasekhe Christmas Carol - 03

A Vasekhe Christmas Carol - 02

Here's the second page. If you don't know, I'm posting all my Random Nation comics on here now. So if you ask me when this comes out, I'm going to hunt you down, rip out your stomach, and force-feed it to you.

Oh yeah. One more thing.

Patents. Proofs. Originals. Dates. Sue. You lose. Got it.

A Vasekhe Christmas Carol-- 01

Saturnalia, if you don't know, was the ancient Roman version of Christmas, and is actually the source of Christmas presents and the Celtic "Birth of the Sun" which later was Christianized into "Birth of the Son [of God]", which evolved into Christmas.

Fun Fact: Though celebrated in December, Jesus' birthday would have actually been in mid-April, near modern Easter (I wonder if crucifixion and defiance of death were popular birthday presents back then).

Happy Thanksgiving from Random Nation!

Explanation: Me and my friends have been tossing around ideas for a while (2 years). The finished product was: "Adventures from Random Nation". The characters, shown in panel 2 left-to-right, are:

John-- "The youngest said, 'All right, Father. Just give me until daylight and I'll go off to learn how to get the creeps. Then I'll know a trick or two...'" -Brothers Grimm, The Story of the Boy Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was.

John is a young (anti-Nazi) American-German who, despite being  a scholar of history and literature, is too stupid to understand fear, let alone be afraid. He's filthy rich (even though he has no idea how to spend a penny) and is the discoverer of Random-Nation, an uncharted series of islands south of the Peloponese. John has also learned the art of manipulating the elements from the ghouls he entertained in the Haunted Castle, and also he seems to not be familiar with a thing called gravity.

November-- "Then the king said, 'You have saved the castle and shall marry my daughter!'...and the wedding was celebrated. The boy loved his wife dearly..." -Brothers Grimm, The Story of the Boy Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was. November is the daughter of January, King of Skarrip Lass, Germania. She can speak to animals, and is John's wife. She is kind and cares for nature, though she has a wild side.

B-Dog and C-Dog-- B-Dog is a bunyip (an Australian cryptid that resembles a walrus, dog, and horse combined) who John found in his travels and raised from a pup-coal-thing. B-Dog mated with a stray bunyip named C-Dog and the two now live together on Random-Nation.

Vasekhe(us)-- "So, having cleared the road, Theseus came to Athens. But Medeia, being then wedded to Aigeus, plotted against him and persuaded Aigeus to beware of him as a traitor." -Apollodoros, Bibliotheke (The Library). Vasekheus and Medos were the two sons of the exiled Kolkhian-princess Medeia and the late king of Athens, Aigeus. Vasekheus (or Vasekhe as his friends call him) learned the art of shapeshifting from his mother, a well-trained priestess of Hekate, the witch-goddess who Vasekhe incorrectly knows as "Great-Grandma". His arch-enemy is the drakaina Sphinka ("strangler"), a daughter of Ekhidna, who he lost his right eye. She also turned him into a newt, but he got betta (Monty Python humour!). He is also the founder of Random-Nation.

Nikh-- "For his second labour Herakles was instructed to slay the Lernaia-Hydra. The beast was nurtured in the marshes of Lerna, from where it would go out onto the flatland to raid flocks and ruin the land." -Apollodoros, Bibliotheke (The Library). A teenage Hydra who lives with Vasekhe (he's too proud to admit that he is Vasekhe's pet) who is so smart (and, apparently, British) that his middle head can talk.

Kaskada-- The awkward result of a forest-god and river-nymph getting married. She keeps her mother's obsessive-compulsive, boy-crazy personality, and (being a dryad) her father's powers over nature and the manipulation of trees. She can, therefore, become any wooden shape imaginable to get her hubby Vasekhe to do her every wish. Her hair and emotions change with the months.

Marissa-- A boy-crazy naiad who Xachiel had to tie to the ceiling (it's unspecified which ceiling) to keep her from clinging to him for the rest of eternity.

Lhi-- An elemental drakon (a flying serpent whose powers and color change with his emotion) who lived as Sphinka's slave as a child, constantly being called "Fluffy" by her. Vasekhe freed him, but dumb as he is, Lhi apparently believes he is his mother, so he loves and follows him unconditionally.

Sherry Lewis-- A talking chinchilla with dementia.

Xachiel-- "Soon the witch came back and said, 'Greetings, Xachiel!...'" -Brothers Grimm, Jorinda and Yoringel. A boy mentally-stuck in the Middle Ages who is impossibly lazy. He basically followed John and Vasekhe to Random Nation, and built a Middle-Age-themed town on his island.

Rusano (below Panel 1)-- "The Lord of the Castle granted his request with pleasure, but asked where he was headed. 'To the Griffin!' came the reply from Hans." -Brothers Grimm, The Griffin. Xachiel's pet griffon. He secretly wishes he had a smarter master.

The basics are: John, Vasekhe, and Xachiel are co-Kings of Random-Nation (have their own islands, mansions, yachts, etc.) and have crazy adventures. That's basically it. In case you don't get the comic, since everyone but John and November are Greek or European, they don't know what Thanksgiving or a turkey are.

Yo.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been busy perfecting my art style, starting "A Christmas Carol, or a Ghost-Story of Christmas" (I <3 Christmas Carol!), settling in with the school year, and renewing all my Internet-gaming accounts (Go Poptropica and ROBLOX!).

B.t.w. Hi George (O'Connor). Still waiting. But don't worry. You can upload those profiles anytime (quick pause while I purchase a plane ticket to NY to stalk you muttering "pro...fi...les" until you upload them).

P.S. Have you noticed how early Christmas advertisements were this year? The local PCB Wal-Mart was already stocking up on Christmas decor when I went mid-October to prep for my aunt's annual Halloween party.

Empousa

So just yesterday I got bored and did this.

By the way, I'm (im)patiently waiting for George O'Connor's new book "Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory", and his new profiles.

P.S. Legendary is 1/3 done. I know. Slow. For those of you who know me, do NOT critisize. If you personally know me, you also know that when I get the chance I can fall into a mentally-unconscious rut for days on end.

Jack

Remember my little Cairn Terrior Jack. The one with a brain big enough to be a peanut. The one who stares at fence posts for three hours for entertainment. Well, inspired by "Fantastic Mr. Fox" the Movie, I did this on Paint.

Swir...ly...

Note: This is a photo. All I did was edit it to give Jack "swir...ly... eyes..."

New pics! yeah!

Just finished selected sketches based on scenes from "All Action Classics' Dracula" and "The Big Book of Grimm". Check it out!

The Boy Riding The "Bed Of Doom"

--The Story Of The Boy Who Set Forth To Learn What Fear Was

Death

--Godfather Death

Three Elves and a Baby

--The Elfin Trilogy: The Changeling

Rapunzel lowering her hair

--Rapunzel

Red-Cap and the Wolf

--Red-Cap

Snowdrop in her Glass Casket (notice the lump of apple stuck in her throat)

--Snowdrop

These are all Copyright 2010 Lucas Brandon/Ben Caldwell/Vincent Deporter.

(only half-credit given to the last two names; I might've based my sketches on their's but I still changed them into Grimm scenes)

These sketches are for a book-in-production I'm doing (don't ask dates! Still not to publisher!) about select stories from the Brothers Grimm. Now I know what you're thinking: Fairy tales? Princesses? What?

I'd like you to know that the appearance of the Brothers Grimm over the years has been trajically altered! If you want prissy, pony-filled, rainbow fairy tales, go to Charles Perrault. Not the Brothers Grimm. No offense, but just to give you a snippet of what these world-traveling, horror-making brothers did, try reading their story "The Juniper Tree". And if you're really daring, try reading it from the book "Grimm's grimmest", where there are detailed pictures included! This will give you nightmares! And compared to some of the other stories, "The Juniper Tree" is a prissy, rainbow-filled tea-party! If you're thinking half-wit, poisoned Snow-White, think again. More like vengeful Snowdrop. In the Grimm-tale Snowdrop, the Snow-White character gets revenge on the evil stepmother... by forcing her to dance in fire-hot metal shoes until she died! Prissy Cinderella? More like Ash-Maid, a kick-butt chick whose magical birds vengefully peck out her stepsisters' eyes! Heck, "Red Riding Hood" and Granny even get revenge by boiling a wolf alive!

Stay tuned for sneak-peek pages.

Classical Club is back!

Some guick edits, a little bit of dirty work, and my great idea is back to life inside Re!

I'm finished! Whoo

I just finished drawing, coloring, bubbling, and writing...

Ain't it cool? Those in my news club get a special preview (Wow! Two people get a preview! I'm gonna be busy tonight!) By the by, you can enter the club by giving me an e-mail shout-out, though you can only enter Today, Tomorrow, and Monday of the week after next. The days in between those dates I'm visiting with the tiny yet best-loved portion of my family living in South Florida.
Anyway, I'm so happy I'm celebrating by sitting in my den watching ABC's Castle re-runs on my computer all day. Whoo!

(P.S. Haven't taken the comic to the pubisher yet, so if your reading this, don't ask when the comic will be released to the public. 'Cuz that'll tick me off. And I know where you live... okay, I don't really, but still... DON'T DO IT!)

If Looks could Kill...

Sekhmet's job would be much easier.

Again, patents.

I based the full form of Sekhmet on the way ancient Egyptian art depicted her kinda like a Greek Siren (except with a snout and tail replacing the feathers and fins). Plus, she has a part-time job as Hathor, the Egyptian goddess of Beauty and Love, so, you know...

Meanwhile, Happy 50th post! Yeah!

Give a warm (and scared) welcome to SEKHMET, the lioness-goddess of death and destruction!

Been working on a comic for Egyptian mythology. Here's a recently finished page in which that happy, cheery, bloodthirsty, destructive, hateful goddess of death Sekhmet is introduced. So far, Re the Sun-God is happily ruling Egypt as a mortal when every one of his subjects calls him a dirtbag and rebels. Let's watch what happens!

Say Hello To Egyptian Mythology

"Hello to Egyptian Mythology. There. What'd I win?"

I'm ba-a-a-ack!

Finally! My first post after getting back from that hellhole (just kidding, it was actually pretty cool). Sadly they cancelled my drama class and I had to settle with an amateur art class and a do-nothing-all-day film class. Still, though, the view was amazing.
I did do these sketches based on ones by Ben Caldwell for his book based on the Odyssey in the All-Action Classics series.

Zeus

Poseidon

Athene

Ares

Of course I added my personal Greek-god-sketching-touches...

Say your goodbyes

Monday my mom is dragging me to a super-cool yet super-low-tech camp for a week to be a "helper". I would be perfectly fine with it, considering I'll be taking a drama class there (I <3 acting!). But sadly, there are no cable, no TV, no computer, and no cell phones allowed. I hate that. I have to go 5 1/2 days without my technology! I will die! I need technology! I need my book from the series All-Action Classics based on the Odyssey which will be arriving UPS on Tuesday! They could at least let me bring a laptop! What is this? The Roman Age? (actually I've always wanted to see what it's like in the Roman Age, but last time I checked, this place doesn't have dinner-recliners, communal toilets, and bathhouses... plus, I'm pretty sure we won't be eating stuffed dormouse for dinner)

HELP ME!

At least I'll have enough time to catch the new episode of Unnatural History (yes, I watch that show and I watch that channel. Sometimes, people - and you know this is true - there're just no good "big-kid shows" on TV... <:D)

(gotta love bad grammer)

S'more drawin' and thinkin'

Just did this of me and my dogs, Jack and Max.

Jack is a Cairn Terrier (Toto!) and Max is a West Highland, me laddies. It was hard coloring the dogs because niether of them is one, solid color. Max is "white" which means he has a white back, yellow face and legs, and a brownish mouth. Jack is, um... well, he's kind-of a mixture of every hair color known to man and a few known to Marshians.

Just a'drawin and a'thinkin...

Recently did these. The first is a title I did for One-Thousand and One Nights, a book that I absolutely love. I saw the movie "Arabian Nights" yesterday, which is based on it. Have to say, Arabian Nights is a favorite of mine.

The second picture is one I drew, scanned, edited, and colored, while at the same time watching the movie. It's of Aladdin, and for those of you who don't know, if it wasn't for 1001 Nights he wouldn't have ever come into being. The only thing I hate about the movie Arabian Nights is that it makes all the djinni look self-absorbed and evil. Sure, in the book, some of 'em were, but Aladdin's weren't (yes. weren't. plural. In the book he had two djinni. another thing. it's djinni. not genie.). I really like the way djinni were portrayed in Disney's Aladdin (though I don't like how in Disney's movie they changed a lot about the story) by Robin Williams. He was perfect as the Djinn. Anyway, there you go.

Myth Talk! JP's picks, part 2

So Iason sailed to Kolkhis, where the Golden Fleece was, and after dealing with Kokhis' psycho-king Aietes, he left Kolkhis with not only the Golden Fleece but also a smokin'-hot, sorceress for a wife. The sorceress, Medeia, is madly in love with Iason, and is Aietes' daughter. She has risked her life twice to save Iason, but hey, third time's the charm. Or the fourth. Or fifth. Let's just say she's gonna do anything to protect him. So when the Argonauts get caught in a detour near Krete, she's sadly aware of what happens next. Talos, spotting the ship (his psycho-senses are tingling!), begins hurling boulders at it. (Welcome to Krete. Over there is the fabulous palace of Knossos, and over there is the psychopathic, bronze giant trying to brutally sink your ship. Come back soon... if you're still alive, that is) Medeia hurriedly shouts to Iason, "Quick! We have to get someone on Talos' rock! Talos has only one vein in his body! And his only weak spot is his right heel! We have to stab his heel to kill him!" Amidst the screaming and steering, one man volunteers: the armor-bearer Poias, who is practically a boy. At first the entire crew disagrees, but what's better to speed up a desicion than 10-foot boulders whizzing right past your head? It is agreed, and tiny Poias sneaks off the ship with Herakles' bow and arrows and readies himself behind a tree nearby Talos. The ship is sailed to the other side of Krete and pulls into the shadow of Mt. Ida, so that Talos will not see them. Medeia advances seductively toward our bronze psychopath, who is soon under her distracting charms. Just as Medeia cuddles in close to whisper smeet promises into Talos' Obama-shaming ear, Poias springs upon the giant's unguarded ankle and shoots the arrows through the weak metal. The entire heel bursts open as Talos screams, writhing in agony. Medeia, Poias and the Argonauts watch as golden ichor (god-blood) splashes and froths onto the beach. The metal collapses on itself, and soon a wet scrap heap is all that's left of Talos.

Poias is honored as a hero for the rest of the day, and Medeia might've been mad that she wasn't being given much credit, if it hadn't happened that Iason had been there to comfort her (and, if you wish, you may take that to mean he told her to brighten up before they dumped water on her... 'I'm melting... melting!').

Poias later married and had a son, Philoktetes (not the satyr from Disney's Hercules!) who fought in the Troian War. He even was said to have fought alongside the great Odysseus, who just happens to be our last character. It was Odysseus who came up with the idea of the Troian Horse, a gigantic wooden horse statue, which was used to trick the people of Troy into practically welcoming the Greek Army into their city. The Greeks defeated the Troians, but upon leaving Troy did not give any sacrifices or thanks to the Gods for helping them. So Zeus and Poseidon struck the Greek ships with a massive hurricane, blowing all of them onto different courses. Odysseus and his ships were blown far out to Lamos, the land of the Laistrygonians, cannibal-giants. These giant destroyed all the ships but one, which was carrying Odysseus, and this ship mades its way through what is now called the Odyssey, or Adventure of Odysseus. Along this odyssey, Odysseus met and battled the one-eyed Cyclops Polyphemos, the generous-yet-superstitious wind-god Aiolos, the seductive witch Circe, the evil-yet-hypnotic Syrens, the monstrous Skylla-and-Kharybdis, and the vengeful Sun-god Helios. When Odysseus' men made a terrible mistake and ate some sacred cattle, Helios had Zeus unleash another hurricane, one that killed the men, but spared the innocent Odysseus. Odysseus washed up on Ogygia, the remote island of the lovesick goddess Kalypso. Kalypso, madly in love with Odysseus, kept him with her for 9 years. Meanwhile, Odysseus' wife, Queen Penelope of Ithaka, pines for him, while suitors trying to convince her Odysseus is dead plague her and Odysseus' son Telemakhos, who vainly tries to find Odysseus. When Hermes has Kalypso release Odysseus and Odysseus this time is washed up on the Island of the Phaiakians, the Phaiakians treat him well and send him home on a real ship.

(featured in the above picture are, counterclockwise from bottom-right, Odysseus, Circe, Syrens, Skylla-and-Kharybdis)

Odysseus reaches Ithaka, and with help from Telemakhos and some loyal subjects, he sneaks into the palace unnoticed. Penelope, trying to calm the suitors, has come up with a plan: the first suitor to string Odysseus' bow and shoot with it through 12 holes in a row, gets to marry her. (It just so happens that the bow is deformed so that the string is too short and thus only someone of incredible strength or brainpower can string the bow. Odysseus has both strength and brainpower.) Odysseus, disguised as a beggar, steps up after watching all the suitors fail at the task. He is able to string the bow and shoot through the holes with more grace and ease than Julie Andrews at a tea party. The suitors are angered, and after revealing who he really is, Odysseus, along with Telemakhos and the faithful subjects, kills all the suitors. Penelope and Odysseus are free to live happily ever after until they die.

Myth Talk! JP's picks, part 1

In case you didn't know, those three things up in the title are in different myths than each other, though all are cross-linked in one way: they all have to do with water-fare.

Recently JP (for more on him you can read the first episode of George O'Connor's segment Fan Art Forum) sent me word about his three favorite myths (among other things having to do with my book LEGENDARY) which happened to be: (in order of mythological timelining) The Second Labour of Herakles, The Adventure of Iason and Talos, and the Odyssey (JP's picture of Odysseus is on the earlier-mentioned episode on George O'Connor's blog).

So to start off this three-in-one segment, I'm going to tell you about the interview I had with the Hydra...

Me: So Mr... Hydra? is it?

Hydra: Rooaarr.

Me: Oh you're a missus... honest mistake... no! Bad Hydra! No eating the camera-man.

Hydra. Roah-Rooaar? Roaarr!

Me: Okay... so... who were you're parents? Typhon and Ekhidna? And who exactly were they? Oh, okay... so lemme get this straight, your daddy, Typhon, he was 600 km high, breathed lava, had 100 heads, some of which were animal-like, had wings, had six monstrously gigantic snakes for legs and snake heads for fingers, and was able to lift Mt. Aitna in Sicilia without breaking a sweat. Eh, I've seen worse. And then you're mother, Ekhidna, was a beautiful nymph with a snake-tail instead of legs. [the correct name for that is "drakaina" (pronounced dray-keh-na)] Oh really, so you have the ability to grow two heads for every one head that is injured or destroyed. Fascinating.

Hydra: Roah-Roah-Roar? ROOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAR!

Me: No, you cannot eat me. Oh no! Not again! (dives behind chair as Hydra breathes acidic gasses)

Now, back to the story. You know Herakles? That ultra-strong guy with a thing for lionskins? Yeah, remember how he was driven insane by his stepmother Hera so that he killed his wife and kids and that when he came to he went to the Oracle of Delphi, correctly reffered to as the Pythia, and asked what he needed to do to gain back the gods' favor but thew Pythia didn't answer so Herakles tried to force her but Apollon appeared and told him what to do in person and Herakles had to go to his evil cousin King Eurystheus of Tiryns to apply for a 10-year job to reconcile but Eurystheus had other plans and made him do 10 (give-or-take a couple) labours, the second of which was to kill the Hydra. Oh, you didn't remember that... Well now you do!

So Herakles gets his nephew Iolaus, and they ride down to Lerna, the swamp-home of the Hydra. Herakles had Iolaus tie a thin sheet of tissue around his nose (the first gas-mask!) in order that Iolaus doesn't die if the aforementioned poison-breath of the Hydra is breathed in. Herakles is strong enough to handle it, though. As Iolaus sets up a campfire, Herakles begins shooting arrows into the swamp to coax out our scaly friend. As the Hydra rises from the swamp, the battle begins. The fighting is hard to do, because of the whole two-heads-grow-back rule, until Iolaus gets an idea. Fetching a torch, he follows Heracles carefully, and every time Herakles bashes a head, Iolaus (get ready for this!) sets the neck aflame so that the growing Hydra heads are charred and killed. This is repeated until an angry Hera sends the Hydra's sidekick into action. Who's the Hydra's sidekick? Oh just you're typical, run-o'-the-mill, 4 FOOT, MAN-EATING CRAB!!! The crab scuttles up to Herakles and in a (one-millesecond-long) bloodthirsty battle to the death!: Herakles steps on the crab and kills it. Yep. Just that easy. He just jumps onto the crab and squishes it like a cockroach. It must be fun being a demigod.

So this whole bash-n-char method keeps going until finally there's only one head left. The middle one. No big deal, right? Wrong. Because the middle head just happens to be IMMORTAL AND INVINCIBLE!! So in another (millesecond-long) bloody battle to the death: Herakles topples a mountain onto the Hydra and burys it, head and all, alive. To this day though, you can apparently still see venomous vapor pour out from under the rock. Herakles dipped his arrows in the Hydra's blood, which just-so-happened to be incredibly poisonous. He went back with Iolaus, and later joined the Argonauts, a band of heroes led by the hero Iason to find the Golden Fleece.

Now Iason had to get the Golden Fleece, but you'll never guess why... No not for his mother's freedom, like Perseus... no, not as punishment, like with Herakles... Give up? Okay: he did it for the heck of it. I know, I know, modern versions say he got for his uncle Pelias because Pelias said he'd make him king of Iolkos if he did, but no... ancient sources do agree that he got it for Pelias, but they mention absolutely NOTHING about Pelias promising to make him king. In fact, all sources agree the real reasons behind Pelias sending him there was because he hoped Iason would die on the way. But ancient sources don't say anything about Pelias coaxing him into it with a false promise. No, sirree. Iason did it for pretty much the heck of it. And no offense but I like that! Most heroes in mythology have a reason to go off and save damsels and slay dragons, like they have to for their parents or they have to as punishment... but not Iason. He became a hero FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER. I like that.

But back to the whole Talos-story: Talos, just so you know, was a ginormous bronze statue created by the god Hephaistos to guard the island of Krete. Talos stood up on a large rock near Krete, looking out to the horixon like a giant security guard. What was so special about Talos. Oh, just that he was an automaton. As in, he was a bronze statue THAT WAS ALIVE. Now when I say alive bronze statue I don't mean those cheap looking robots you see in movies and one TV that only look similar to a person. Now, I mean a real, living, humanoid, 1000 foot person made of bronze. As in he looked exactly like a normal, everyday, 1000-ft-tall human would, but he was shiny. Oh yes, and did I mention he was psychopathic?

For the Lady with the hot pink VW Bug...

You left your lights on.

Man in Crowd: Hey! I'm not a lady!


Oooooooh-kaaaaaaaayy theen. (For those of you who are slow to understanding, the pun to that is that a full-grown man owns a hot pink VW bug... HELLO!) (I'm talking to you, dad.)

I'm hosting an art contest.















The rules: You create a poster for your favorite myth/classical novel (Herakles, Dracula, Odyssey, Arabian Nights, etc.)
You send it to me.
After careful judging by me, my mom, and Will, the best will be the winner, and will be posted on my blog with the others on New Years.




Conditions: Any one can enter. You can use anything from markers to pencil to pastels, etc.

You must have this form with your piece when you send it:

Winner gets a 10-chapter peview of LEGENDARY (that's about a quarter of it, guys. don't even THINK of robbing me of it. plus, I'm only going to give it AFTER the book is published, but before it comes out in stores).

Also include your e-mail address. (For those of you with a brain, you should find irony in that)

New blog!

My mom just created her own blog on Blogger (and by that I mean I designed and decided everything except her posts). Go check it out:
http://www.holihealthy.blogspot.com/

(Notice I'm not putting it on my Cool Cytes list... >:D)

How to Draw Count Dracula

My desktop

My desktop, feauturing art by George O'Connor.

I don't care what you think! I am NOT obsessed! Now shut it while I wait for him to upload more art!

P.S. I'm still waiting for you guys to comment and suggest urban legends and Greek myths for MYTH TALK.     >:-D   (eMoticons! gotta <3 'm)

Some more junk about classical novels

Here's some pics I'm using for a project.

Dracula's upper body

Another version of Dracula's upper body, except with torch and his castle in the background.

The Kalydonian Boar from Greek mythology

Zeus as a swan with Leda's eggs (again: mythology)

Herakles ascending to Olympos to be greeted by Zeus, Hera, and all the other gods who helped him in his journeys (left to right: Hermes, Apollon, Hera, Zeus, Athene, and Hephaistos with his androids)

Legendary Book I

You know that book I mentioned before? Legenday, Book I: Quest For The Golden Fleece. Yep, it's growing. Basic plot: Sierra, a Floridian tomboy, has lived a very unusual life. Aside from having been orphaned in an incredibly mysterious fire and adopted by a family with a reclusive son, Max, she could come out to seem normal. Then the Smiths, her adoptive parents whom she grew up with, disappear, and her adoptive brother Max reveals a startling secret. Now Sierra finds herself plunged into a world of modern Greek myth, and is on a quest to find her "parents" and save them. In a whole new world that is part of our own, she must face petrifying creatures, electrifying sea-serpents, and a horrible dragon, in order to claim the Golden Fleece and find her "parents", on the way discovering twists and traps, and even finding out what really happened to her biological parents.
Again, patents. sue. get it.

Hera! duh-duh-duh-DUH...

All hail the Queen of the gods!

True, False, or Legend?

Calling all Classical Club readers! For a secret project (I'm a multitasker, don't judge me) I'd like all of you to tell me about your favorite urban legend [n. a story passed down for years reported to be true which takes place in modern setting and is usually said to have happened to an FOAF (friend of a friend: My grandmother's third cousin's bingo-partner's daughter's niece's cousin's BFF's aunt)] in the Comments below! Do it! Do it! (if you wanna see it on the big screen) Remember: some urban legends are true, and you can use them!

The Bathhouse

Here's a one-panel comic I recently did that I like to call "The Bathhouse":

Again: patents! >:)

Sad News

Whole greek-myth-comic-thingy dead. Mi Caso sad. (Not really. I'm actually really not caring.)

I can still do comics on here though...

Perseus Profile

Again, patents. sue. get it.

Miley Cyrus/I'm Waiting, George

While usually I wouldn't talk about this, I have to say: Miley Cyrus might be growing up a little too fast.

How many of you seen the new music video for her song Can't Be Tamed? In it, she frequently is strutting in a museum, the escaped new attraction of it. She dances through with her (very big and, well, developed) back-up birds. Throughout she wears only two outfits: A black leotard with feathers and knee-high boots, and a very low-cut one piece covered in silver scales and peacock feathers.
No offense, but did Britney Spears and Lady Gaga have a baby somehow?


In the meantime, I'm waiting for you, George O'Connor. I get all my hero-profile information from you. If you don't post any more hero-profiles on your site, I can't have them in my book (No, I'm not stealing them... okay, yeah I am... kinda...not really... I mean...) Plus, are you going to upload my pic of Psykhe, George. Was it hackers? A virus? WWWWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!

P.S. Yesterday, my dog Jack sat in the backyard staring at an empty wooden post for three hours straight. No relation to anything her, but I just wanted to say it.

Review: Olympians: Athena - Grey-Eyed Goddess

I decided to do a review of Athena by George OConnor.

First of all, the beginning:

At the beginning of the book is a basic summary of what happened in the previous book, Zeus - King of the Gods, in which the Titan-son of Earth and Sky, Kronos, swallowed all his children but one, who rose against him, made him vomit the children up, and then locked him and the other evil Titans in Tartaros. These children rose up as the 1st of the Olympians, the 12 major gods. Here in Athena, the Moirai (Moirai), goddesses of fate, tell the story of Zeus, king of the Olympians, who tricks his wife Metis into a game of shapeshifting after a terrible prophecy from Earth. Personally, I loved this part. Why I love watching a girl turn herself into various flying creatures including a dragon-like snake and then getting swallowed whole by her shapeshifting husband, I know not.

Of course, as I just revealed, Zeus swallows her. Unknown to him, though, she is already pregnant. She gives birth to a daughter, and uses her last powers to forge the girl armour. Then, in a headache and a hammer-swing, Zeus' head opens and his daughter by Metis, Athena/Athene bursts out. The next parts of the book are basically just of how Athena recieved and revised her Aegis. Athena, goddess of wisdom, battle, and art, is not fitting in on Olympos, and goes to Camp Triton in Libya, a camp for girls (tomboys to be exact) founded by the merman Triton. Athena is friends with Pallas, Triton's daughter, who seems affixiated by Zeus, or to be exact, his power. His symbol of power: his cloak, the Aegis. During a disarmment contest between Pallas and Athena, Zeus uses this as an advantage to distract Pallas and allow Athena to win. Pallas, distracted too much, drops defenses and is stabbed by Athena, who does not realize her friend's distraction and was trying to disarm her. Pallas dies with the final words, "Did Zeus see how I fought..." Zeus, ashamed, gives the grieving Athena his Aegis and gives her a throne on Olympos.

This is, in my imagination, a brilliant translation of the many Pallas and Athena stories, all in which Athena kills Pallas accidentally because of Zeus, and all of which are very, very nondescriptive. In fact, I hope George doesn't mind if I "borrow" it...

The next story in the Aegis selection is that of Athena and the Gigant Pallas (for those of you who don't know, a Gigant is a giant rock/mountain-monster with tremendous size and strength sometimes also depicted with snakes for legs). In my version of the story, Pallas attacked with Typhon (no, I'm not explaining who Typhon is, get over it and read a book for once you no-good, lousy sloths), but here, George shows him as attacking with the other Gigantes in the Gigantomakhy (Gigantes vs. Olympians battle, which I know is impossible because Herakles had to help out in it but this part of the Aegis was completed before Herakles' grandad was even born, hence my theory of Typhon and Pallas). Anyway, here the Gigantomakhy starts as the Gigantes, in one full page comic, begin building a mountain-ladder to Olympos so they can confront the Olympians. The Olympians fight back, but are held back by two facts: the Gigantes can't die if they touch Gaia (Mother Earth)'s sacred ground, and the leader (Alceoneus in the original myth, pallas in this version) is huger than the others. Athena confronts Pallas, kills him, and skins his fur for her Aegis. I loved this part, even though in my opinion this is the one that changed the myth the most.

The next Aegis story (of course) is the myth of Perseus, the hero who slew the goddess Medusa and gave her head to Athena. Again, read a book. I'm not going through the entire Perseus story. Athena makes Medusa's head part of the Aegis (in this version, only the snakes. In the original myth, she used the face too). And yes, that picture above is about Pegasos. Any of you who read know he came from Medusa after she died.

The last tale (not about the Aegis) is of Arachne/Arakhne. Arachne is a skilled weaver who boasts to be better than even Athena at weaving. A weave-off is held between the goddess and the girl, Athena weaving a tapestry of her father Zeus defeating his father Kronos. But Arachne, who ends up winning, has woven a bold statement: weaving all the scenes in which Zeus and Athena had seemed dumb, ruthless, or ignoramical. What happens now is perhaps my least favorite ending to the Arachne story. Out of simple jealosy and anger, Athena turned Arachne into a spider. This, as said before, is my least favourite ending to this story. In mine version's ending, arachne, struck guilty by Athene, kills herself, and Athene pitiously turns her into a spider then.

Over all, Athena was very good. Loved it. On a scale of 1-5, 4.

Pictures by George O'Connor. Don't steal and say they are you're own. Cuz' he'll sue you.