Progress Report

Just finished the first quarter of the Herakles comic. Here's the scene where Alceides strangles the serpents.

The Classical Club -- Book I

So... my new series, The Classical Club, is under way. Right now, Book I is Greo-Roman Myths, about some of the famous myths from Greece and Rome.Once publisher-approved I'm going to redo my blog and make a website to match the concepts of the series. The Table of Contents for the first Book is:

1. Introduction: the Titanomakhy
2. The Ages of Man: Births of the Gods of Olympos, Prometheus, Pandora, Deukalion, Io, Persephone
3. The House of Thebes:
   1. Kadmos and Europa
   2. The Marriage of Harmonia
   3. Typhoeus and the Attack on Olympos
   4. The Adventures of Dionysos
   5. Oidipus and the Sphinx
   6. The Seven Against Thebes and the Epigoni
4. The House of Mykenai
   1. Danaus and Aigyptos
   2. Perseus and the Head of Medusa (finished)
   3. The Labours of Herakles
5. The House of Athens
   1. Cekrops and the Battle Over Athens
   2. Cephalos and His Wife
   3. Prokne and Philomela
   4. Daidalos and Ikaros
   5. Theseus and the Minotauros
6. Iason and the Argonauts
7. Orpheus and Atalanta
8. Midas and the Golden Touch
9. Sisyphos and Bellerophontes
10. Thetis and the Judgement of Alexandros
11. Romulos and Remos: Birth of a Nation

What's Black, White, and Red that I am absolutely ecstatic about?

This sample from my finished comic of Perseus (one of fifteen I'll be using in my book)

OMGosh! 50% Off Sale at the Toga Store! Get out of my way! No, I don't care that your the King of Larissa! Let me into that Store!
PS. For those of you who don't know (which would be everyone who hasn't hacked into my computer) the name of the series my book will (hopefully after publisher-approval) be part of is... wait for it... The CLASSICAL CLUB!
PSS. Just got ATHENA: GREY_EYED GODDESS today. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New Cover!

Here's the latest cover for my new (unfinished) book!

MythTalk: Daidalos and Ikaros

Time for yet another installment of:

Daidalos and Ikaros

To grasp the tale of Ikaros and Daidalos, we must grasp first the story of Minos. In my last installment, you found out about Minos' cruelty toward Skylla after she evilly killed her father to help him. In short, Minos was not nice. He had an entire fleet of ships in his navy, which took down everything in their path. As king of Krete, Minos was surrounded by water, which makes it seem stupid that when Poseidon, god of water, gave him a magical white bull to be sacrificed, Minos disobeyed commands and kept the bull as a pet. Poseidon wasn't happy. So he came up with a plan.

Meanwhile, in Athens lived an inventor named Daidalos. Daidalos was the wisest man alive, and was able to design boats that never sank, tools that could flatten mountains, and statues that looked alive. But that was nothing compared to Daidalos' nephew, Talos. Talos was only a small boy, yet knew how to ivent tools that flattened forests in a day, statues that were almost really alive, and design houses that were indestructable. Daidalos hated him.

So when Talos fell off the roof of Athene's temple, Daidalos had to flee for his life because of the severe suspicions people had. Daidalos fled to Krete, and fell into the services of Minos. And Minos' wife Pasiphae grew an attraction to him. Maybe Daidalos noticed them, those subtle gestures Pasiphae made: a wink, a smile, a hair-toss. And then she one day approached his shop and told him a secret.

Poseidon had made Eros shoot Pasiphae with a love arrow. And now Pasiphae was in love...with the Kretan Bull Poseidon had given. Daidalos was horrified, but had to obey her commands: for him to make a hollow cow statue so she could be with the bull. The rouse worked... but too well. The bull mounted Pasiphae as she sat in the tiny statue. What happened next is too horrible and abominable to imagine, but in nine months Pasiphae gave birth to a hideous creature with a bull's head, a shark's teeth, and a man's body and strength: The Minotauros.

So Daidalos recieved another assignment... this time from Minos: To build an underground prison, so winding and narrow and trap-filled that any who entered became lost and unescapable in seconds. As Daidalos expected, the Minotauros was put inside. But what Daidalos didn't expect was worse: because his son was accidentally killed while in Athens, Minos proceeded to force Athens to send seven boys and seven girls, all virgins, to Krete every nine years to be left in the maze, the Labyrinth, to either starve or be found and mauled and eaten by the Minotauros.

But Daidalos then made a huge mistake. He tried to leave Krete. But he knew too much. So Minos wouldn't allow it. He locked Daidalos in his workshop and put guards at the docks to watch for Daidaos and his son Ikaros and make sure they didn't leave. That wasn't enough to stop Daidalos. He gathered millions of feathers, and jars full of wax and honey. He mixed all of it together, all the while building frames of sturdy lumber. And when everything, the feathers, wood, honey, and wax, were compiled, there were two pairs of giant wings, big enough for men. The day he finished, Daidalos hooked one pair to his clumsy son Ikaros. He hugged the boy, and said, "Leave. Follow me from Krete. Don't go to high, or too low. Remember that my son. Remember." And once Daidalos had his wings, they both jumped from the cliffs of Knossos. Up they flew, Daidalos steady and watching, Ikaros clumsy and swift. Ikaros felt pride, and began flapping higher and higher.

Then the Sun proved Daidalos' warnings true. The wax and honey holding everything together melted in the growing heat, and everything crumbled. Ikaros fell, and Daidalos saw him fall. The boy seemed to fall so long Daidalos thought Ikaros was flying without wings. But the sea below caught up to Ikaros, enveloped him, and killed him. And Daidalos was forced to have to fly on, unable to go low or he would drown also. He landed at Sicily, hung the wings in Apollon's temple, and went into the service of King Kokalos there.

Minos later arrived, searching for Daidalos, and the inventor's wisdom allowed him to be found when he answered the king's unanswerable riddle. Minos prepared to drag Daidalos back to Krete, preparing for a celebration feast, preparing with a bath in Sicily's new bathhouse. He didn't know Daidalos was there, or that Daidalos had designed the bathhouse. Daidalos poured a mixture composed of boiled poisons and venoms in the pipes, the exact ones entering Minos' private bath. Minos shriveled as the mixture hit him, and was was found of him later was nothing but dusty bones.

And so Daidalos fell from grace, falling even deeper and farther than his son. Before he died, a man visiting his workshop found it filled with miniature statues, statues of a boy with wings, millions of them, crafted by one inventor: a man who had loved, a man who had hated, and a man who died alone and depressed.

(stay tuned for art)

Now...

Now that Greko-Roman Gods is absolutely dead, I'm doing heroes (stories, not profiles. Those I'm only doing for gods). So a graphic book of heroes should be expected. Cover Coming Soon...

Medusa

Here's the first page of Medusa.

Even More Profiles

More Profiles

Profiles for Gods

More profiles! (If you steal them, I have patents. I'll sue you)

Sad News

I have good and bad news.
Bad news: Big Book of Greko-Roman Gods isn't being published.

Good news: Though last Wednesday BORDERS denied having a copy of Athena: Grey Eyed Goddess. But I ordered one, and tomorrow it's ATHENA!

Europa, Part 2

Europa bent down and picked a peculiar bunch of sandy, purple wildflowers. She stuck them around the horns of the bull, tying the stems. The white bull nuzzled her shoulder, grunting. It sank to the ground, sighing almost. Europa sat on its back, petting his head. She laid her hands on his horns.
Suddenly the bull jumped into the air. Europa grabbed the horns, holding on for her life, screaming. She looked around: They were ten feet in the air. The bull crashed on top of the water, its feet padling furiously. Looking back, Europa noticed she was 20 feet from the shore. Looking down, she was amazed. The water below was filled with slim, beautiful women, dressed in translucent, blue gowns. Seaweed green hair covered most of their bodies. The Haliades: the nymphai, nature-spirits, of the sea. The water below crashed, smooth yet curving. The bull ran on top of the water like some magic horse. Up ahead, waves froze in midair like ramps or bridges over the water. Dolphins and Sea-Serpents brushed the water, with the handsome young bodies of men clinging to them, waving their fish-tails and blowing conches: the Tritones, mermen. That was when the bull spoke.
It was a deep voice, commanding yet gentle. "Do not fear, my love. I am the Great God Zeus, come to make you a queen." Europa froze, hands clinched to the horns, saying, "But... Here is Queen of Heaven!" Zeus laughed, bellowing over the waves, "No, my sweet. Not Queen of Heaven." A dot of land rose on the horizon, becoming closer and closer, bigger and bigger, the towers of a red and blue palace stretching into the heavens. The bull bellowed again, "Welcome to Krete!"

That night, when Europa fell asleep in the arms of Zeus, now in his true form, she had a dream. In it, the nameless woman from her previous dream stood before her. But now, she was clothed in rich garments. The title of her new name stretched above her head. And Europa recognized the woman. It was her.

Europa

Not original pic!

"The mythographers tell that Zeus was enamored of Europa and decided to seduce or ravish her, the two being near-equivalent in Greek myth. He transformed himself into a tame white bull and mixed in with her father's herds. While Europa and her female attendants were gathering flowers, she saw the bull, caressed his flanks, and eventually got onto his back. Zeus took that opportunity and ran to the sea and swam, with her on his back, to the island of Crete. He then revealed his true identity, and Europa became the first queen of Crete."                 -- Wikipedia, the source of all knowledge

Here's my version.

Europa stood drearily on the sands. The water swirled in front of her, like in a storm. The sky above her was clear, though, and no noice seemed to disturb the breeze. There before her stood two women. One was black-haired and pinch-faced, like those tales had been told of over in the East. Then, the other stood, brown-haired, brown-skinned, and naked. The Eastern one shouted, "You don't even have a name! Why should you get the Phoinikian princess?" The naked shouted, "Asia, bite your tongue. Just because she was born in your territory does not mean you own her." The dream faded. Europa woke, and that morning called together her maids. They walked down to the beach with their towels and perfumes and soaps and Europa sat by the beach, picking the wildflowers and watching the sea before her calmly shifting. The lowing of her father's cattle echoed behind her. Something nuzzled her shoulder. She turned her head. There behind her stood a young bull, horns shining, with his fur as white as snow. It stood there staring down at her wide-eyed. She hopped to her feet. Her father had warned her, "If the cattle approach, leave slowly. They don't like being bothered. She walked calmly through the sand to the water. MOO. She turned again. There stood, the bull, watching her. He walked up and looked at her, almost big enough to be face to face to her. She smiled, "You look nice."

(...to be continued...)

mEXICAN hOT cHOCOLATE

Lucas told me to upload this, even though it's not winter no more (Yes, I know I'm Lucas. I just have a split personality. It's just that both those personalities are the same. Sue me. Don't judge me. Like I said, I know it's not winter no more) (Oh yeah. That's right. I'm using improper grammer).

http://thelegendletters.blogspot.com/2008/12/hot-chocolate.html

Yep.
P.S. My mom has just informed me that this is what people who use bad grammer turn into.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1QW1OtccZU

Satyr

Here's my representation of a satyr (a monkeylike horned, horse-tailed forest-spirit).

Which Olympian Are You Descended Of?

Email me your answers at mythlover@comcast.net:

1. What would you say your element is?
Water
Earth
Fire
Air

2. What's your favorite Animal?

3. What's your personality?
Ruling
Musical
Lovy-Dovey
Competitive
Wild

I know it's hard but try to finish it.

Another pic

Yep. There's my pic of Perseus killing Ketos-Aithiopios with the head of Medousa as Andromeda watches. No. I'm not going to explain that. Ha!

My Comments

...Please! I'm begging you! My comments-boxes are starving! So is the brain-sucker on my head, but that's not important! Please! You can save Haiti, I mean, the comments-boxes! (They're way more important than Haiti, gosh).

P.S. I don't really mean that about Haiti, for those of you who don't understand that. There's a thing called sarcasm.

P.S.S. GIANT... FLYING... BUNNIES...

WELCOME (again)

Myth-Talk

Welcome to my first installment of:

Ask me about your fave myth, (in comments, of course) and it could end up on here (with sketchs and such). My friend Will (you heard about him if you read one of my first posts which I later deleted because I felt it made me look just a little bad talking about myself an entire post) reminded me of one which I think we'll do today.

Nisos and Skylla

When King Minos of Krete was young, he set siege on the city of Megara, which was at that time ruled by the invincable Nisos and his daughter Skylla. Nisos was son of the war-god Ares (below) and had a wonderful secret that made him invincable against any opponent.

So, of course, Minos stood no chance. At least until Nisos' daughter fell in love with him. Skylla began to spend her days dreaming of Minos, absolutely captivated by his beauty and strength. So she, the duplitive big-mouth she was, told Minos Nisos' secret: Nisos had a lock of deep purple hair on his head, which gave him his wonderful strength. And then Skylla took it a bit too far. That night, she crept upon Nisos, and snipped off his purple lock. He became so weak instantly that he shriveled up and died on the very spot. Skylla, overjoyed, ran to Minos to tell him the "good" news. But Minos was horrified. He had never intended to even kill Nisos, just take over the city. So he called his guards, and as he stood on the cliffs watching, he had Skylla thrown into the sea. Skylla beat against the water to keep alive, but as she did, news began spreading like wild fire across Megara: King Nisos' body was missing.

Meanwhile, Skylla swam toward the cliffs, ready to grab onto the rocks and pull herself up, when out of thin air soared a sea-eagle, swooping and ducking: the transformed spirit of Nisos. The eagle swooped and dug its claws into her arms. Skylla let go and plummetted into the water. The eagle forced her underwater, and as bubbles rose about her, she became the ciris, the bird that always flees the sea eagle's approach, always in fear of its father-eagle's wrath.

Well, there's the story of Skylla and Nisos, the explanation for the ciris bird in Greek Myth. Stay tuned for more later!

ATHENA!!!

Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess by George O'Connor came out today! Whoo! Yess! Uh-huh! Oh yeah! Uh huh! I love the Olympians serie (at least what has been so far released)! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Athene Profile

There's my profile for the goddess Athene.

Perseus *you may cabbage-patch gleefully now*

That's a preview of my book of gods. Of course I had Medousa in it (technically she and her sisters, the Gorgones, were goddesses, Medousa was just the only one that could die). And if I have in it Medousa, I have to have Perseus (duh). Here's a preview, in which Perseus is told what to do be Athene and Hermes. He travels to the Graiai, the three Gray women, the goddesses of the mist and sea foam, to ask them for help. I based the Graiai's swanlike appearance on the way Aeschylus portrayed them as half swan. Yay!

mY DOGS

today my dad sent me a picture (well, two, actually) taken of my two adorable dogs, Jack and Max, from when they were babies. (Jack's a Cairn Terrior (Toto!) and Max's West Highland, me laddies).

Max

Jack

Aren't they just adorable. But now that they're 4 3/4 Jack is fat and black and Max is skinny and black (they both love dirt).